For nearly a century, citizens of North America having a problem with a business, particularly the way it does business, have been able to turn the the Better Business Bureau for assistance:

The Better Business Bureau (BBB), founded in 1912, is an organization based in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The BBB states its purpose is to act as a mutually trusted intermediary between consumers and businesses to resolve disputes, to facilitate communication, and to provide information on ethical business practices. Its website lists BBB's core services as: Business Reliability Reports, Dispute Resolution, Truth-in-Advertising, Consumer and Business Education, Charity Review.

According to its website, the BBB has as its mission "to be the leader in advancing marketplace trust." Steven Malanga writes yesterday that there in some states in North America, you have few options but to depart if you run a business and it's the state that's ruining the marketplace. And nowhere is this apparently more true than in certain blue states, chief among them a northeastern blue state with a large city with five boroughs:

Shortly after he was confirmed as governor of New York earlier this year, David Paterson told a group of business executives that when he received congratulations from old friends he hadn’t heard from in years, he was surprised how many no longer lived in New York. "All of them basically said the same thing," Paterson told the group. "'Good luck in New York state, but we can't pay the taxes. The opportunities aren't there.'”

After that experience, Paterson presumably can understand the complaints of corporate executives recently surveyed by Development Counsellors International, which advises companies on where to locate their facilities. More than four in ten of them have ranked New York as the worst state to do business in--second only to California in unfavorable mentions. The most common gripes included high taxes and anti-business regulations. Joining New York and California on the list of most unpopular states were New Jersey, Michigan and Massachusetts.

The consequences for the high tax states are reflected in their budget shortfalls, as well as the lost opportunities that other states are all happy to accommodate:

The DCI study, coming as it did amidst growing talk of state fiscal crises around the country, is particularly revealing. Of the approximately $48 billion in accumulated budget shortfalls that the 29 states with projected deficits are facing, $33 billion, or two-thirds of the gap, is concentrated in those five states considered by corporate executives to be the least friendly to business. Meanwhile, among the five states ranked as having the best business environment, Texas and North Carolina have no projected budget gaps, and Georgia, Tennessee and Florida are facing shortfalls amounting to about $4.1 billion, or less than one-tenth of the states’ total.

The contrast in the geography of the top and bottom five states is as noteworthy as the policy differences. It appears that after years (perhaps decades) of being told by tax-happy legislatures and congressional delegations to stick their complaints where the sun don't shine, business people have instead begun to migrate to the Sun Belt to better business boroughs.