Lessons From LeBron: What Clevelanders Should Really Be Pissed About

LeBron James has decided to move to Florida and play for the Miami Heat rather than bear another season with the Cavaliers.

Everybody is piling on: How could a dude with a tattoo of the word loyalty on his chest abandon "the mistake on the lake?"

But LeBron is only doing what more than half of Cleveland's population has done over the in the last 60 years: Getting the hell out of the place.

He didn't leave because of money, though some analyses show that he can take home more in pay in Florida despite a lower salary. Ohio used to be one of the lowest-tax states in the country. Now it's one of the highest.

That's what Clevelanders should be outraged about. Their economy has enough to deal with already without being put in a full court press by high taxes.

Cleveland needs to get rid of its savior complex. LeBron James could never have saved Cleveland--no single sports star or entrepreneur or bailout can--but there are definite, proven steps that any city can take to improve
life for its citizens.

Reason.tv highlighted a whole host of possible steps in our series "Reason Saves Cleveland" available at www.reason.tv.

"Don't Blame LeBron" was produced by Dan Hayes and Nick Gillespie. Production Assistant Joshua Swain.

Go to http://reason.tv for downloadable versions of this and all our videos, and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live.

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[treehuggersteve]

Does money make people happy? Do we want money, or do we want love, health, and well-being for all?

[TheSheaDizzle]

@El3ctricPenguin Not at all. I was being sarcastic. Try to have roads to drive on with out taxes. lmao or schools. Or the Military that protects us. or firefighters to save us. or parks for our children to play in. Or .. anything that you see around you.

[El3ctricPenguin]

@TheSheaDizzle good idea

[TheSheaDizzle]

If lower taxes is always the answer then why not just get rid of them?

[rileymayhem20]

Cities like Charlotte (i've been there) and other sunbelt cities are "can do" cities with leaders whom cut pass the social bullshit and get things done and the same is working for Greenburgh and Spartansburgh South Carolina (where BMW's come from) and this is all really due to the fact Sun Belt Cities don't have the oligarchy government of a city like Cleveland or Buffalo and the folks of Detroit proper just flat out get what they deserve as they descend into the 3rd world

[rileymayhem20]

@Mestilf22 this was the dumbest response i seen today

[Mestilf22]

@jetrpg22 Having higher taxes has really nothing to do with increased corruption. In fact the lower taxes are the more CEO's tend to take out for personal bonuses that are then used to lobby congress for lower taxes and deregulation. Sorry but your libertarian fiscal conservative buddies have been gypped

[jetrpg22]

@Mestilf22

And they don't make money from kickbacks and jobs from their friends who they use your money to finance, right?

[Mestilf22]

@ihmen Politicians pay is capped, raising taxes has no fiscal benefit to politicians, in fact it's often bad for them in general because it makes them look bad politically. Also we have some of the lowest taxes in our country's history and our economy has collapsed so what you're saying doesn't make any sense.

[Mestilf22]

@FreeAgain2 Except for the past 10 years