Wednesday, March 29th, 2017

‘Bathroom Bill’ Costs North Carolina $3.76 Billion in Lost Business, Analysis Finds

Author: Emery P. Dalaesio and Johnathon Drew
Source: Associated Press/Time
Publication Date: 28 March 2017 | 7:04 p.m.
Link: ‘Bathroom Bill’ Costs North Carolina $3.76 Billion in Lost Business, Analysis Finds

Stephan: Social policies that foster wellbeing are always and universally cheaper, more productive, more efficient, easier to implement, nicer to live under, and more enduring. And here is the counter proof. Republicans told the people of North Carolina that their bathroom bill would have no financial impact of consequence. Surprise... surprise. It has cost North Carolina almost $4 billion dollars, which is to say ordinary working people took a big hit. Here is the sorry tale and, as you will see, it is an ongoing wound. The only good news is that it seems former Republican governor Pat McCrory can't find a job, no one wants to employ him.

Credit: Al Drago/CQ Roll Call

Despite Republican assurances that North Carolina’s “bathroom bill” isn’t hurting the economy, the law limiting LGBT protections will cost the state more than $3.76 billion in lost business over a dozen years, according to an Associated Press analysis.

Over the past year, North Carolina has suffered financial hits ranging from scuttled plans for a PayPal facility that would have added an estimated $2.66 billion to the state’s economy to a canceled Ringo Starr concert that deprived a town’s amphitheater of about $33,000 in revenue. The blows have landed in the state’s biggest cities as well as towns surrounding its flagship university, and from the mountains to the coast.

North Carolina could lose hundreds of millions more because the NCAA is avoiding the state, usually a favored host. The group is set to announce sites for various championships through […]

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