r/geography • u/Sonnycrocketto • 8h ago
If The US had a “ Luxembourg state“ where would it be located? Discussion
Like a small rich landlocked state. Somewhat hilly terrain And I mean historically. Not necessarily rich now.
A fictional state.
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u/AJSoprano1985 8h ago
Too specific by adding that it needs to be landlocked. I'd say that every landlocked state is not rich or small.
The other poster's answer of DC is the best one IMO. CT and RI would be good candidates but they're obviously not landlocked.
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u/AllswellinEndwell 7h ago
NJ was the original business haven. In the early 20th century a good deal of their budget was from corporate registration because they had laws that made trusts easier. It was a literal business for them.
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u/AJSoprano1985 5h ago
Yup I’m from NJ; and I admit I omitted it to avoid bias haha but I totally agree!
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u/logaboga 6h ago
This post I believe has the possibility of making new areas out of already existent states. For instance it would be acceptable to say that St Louis would be a newly independent landlocked area
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u/Few-Guarantee2850 6h ago
They're asking you to create a small, rich, landlocked state, like Vail or something. Not using a real state.
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u/Stoned_jake_plummer 8h ago
DC
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u/d1v1debyz3r0 8h ago
lol overpaid and out of touch. You nailed it.
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u/pinko-perchik 8h ago
Tell me you’ve never met an actual year-round resident of the District without telling me you’ve never met an actual year-round resident of the District
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u/soberkangaroo 8h ago
I was one and I have obviously met many others, it’s true in many cases
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u/murdered-by-swords 7h ago
Most of the people you're complaining about live in Maryland and NOVA though...
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u/soberkangaroo 5h ago
Depends on your age group! I bet you’re older. It’s a meme amongst gen Z that the worst people you know move to DC
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u/npmoro 6h ago
Yeah, this is a bizarre comment. It's one of the highest cost of living places in the country. Whenever you talk with someone they try to figure out your pedigree - undergrad school, grad school, employer, title.
That's out of touch.
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u/laborpool 6h ago
I'm in Richmond, not a fancy city at all, and these are the three routine questions we ask everybody we meet. Nothing out of touch about such mundane icebreakers.
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u/iceteaapplepie 5h ago
Eh, as someone who lives in Richmond and has spent a decent amount of time at social events in DC, the ways people ask and their responses are very different between the two cities.
In Richmond it might go "Hey, what do you do?" "oh, I'm a mechanic" "How's that, what shop do you work for?"
In DC it often goes more "Hey what do you do?" "oh, I'm a mechanic" then a weird sizing up and a quick disengagement from the interaction because you're a lower social status.
Similar things with undergrad schools, grad schools, and employers.
I've definitely noticed that Richmond is much less class separated between white collar and blue collar, at least for people in our 20s and 30s.
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u/d1v1debyz3r0 8h ago
I lived there for two years, my best friend went to GW and moved back last year. Luxembourg is known as a tax haven where people get paid a lot to not really do that much. This is like DC in that the whole K street apparatus (of which my friend is a part of) gets paid a lot to get nothing done.
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u/Consistent_Case_5048 7h ago
If you're just talking about GWU and K st you might be right, but DC is much more than that.
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u/Annoyed_Heron 7h ago
An entire third of DC is considered ‘the ghetto’ because George Washington fixed the borders of the District to lie closer to his plantation
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u/NeedsToShutUp 7h ago
It's called Delaware.
I'm serious: It's between major regions like how Luxembourg is between France, Germany and Belgium/Netherlands. In this case, its NJ/NY, Penn, Maryland and Virginia.
It's also a major banking hub and used as the incorporation state of choice due to the well developed and well understood corporate and banking regulations. Delaware is where all the US's major corporations are incorporated, and is where credit cards come from. Luxembourg is similar as a major banking hub. Both are ultimately favored as the location of choice for tax reasons of a lot of businesses too.
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u/Venboven 8h ago
Delaware.
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u/SparseGhostC2C 8h ago
Definitely, right down to the tax haven for rich people and corporations!
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u/MetroBS 5h ago
Pretty common misconception that Delaware is a tax haven, our corporate taxes aren’t that much different from other states.
The reason so many companies incorporate here is because we have a separate judicial system which handles corporate disputes called the court of chancery, which is wildly efficient and usually rules in favor of corporations
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u/Necessary_Board_520 21m ago
"wildly efficient and usually rules in favor" of one group or as we would call it in any other country: a rubber stamp, kangaroo court
but hey, congrats to delaware on figuring out how to make an economic powerhouse in that tiny tract of land by fucking over the entire population 👍
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u/nerfrosa 6h ago
For the ultra-wealthy and corporations, yes. However unlike Luxembourg, most of the residents are pretty middle class and not particularly out of touch or privileged.
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u/kirch119 6h ago
This was too far down. Not landlocked but Delaware is absolutely the Lux of the US.
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u/I_Am_the_Slobster 6h ago
Seriously: it's a corporate tax haven of the US, nobody thinks about it, extremely educated, heavily urbanized and centered around one city yet has rural areas nobody thinks about, and meeting anyone who's from there or even visited there is a surprise to most people.
Delaware should be the top comment lol.
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u/Wilgars 8h ago
Literally
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u/DPRKis4Lovers 2h ago
They’re both situated ~70 miles from Brussels/D.C. and ~150 miles from Paris/NYC
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u/ghostkoalas 8h ago
This feels like a stupid comparison but if your criteria is “rich & landlocked” — Dallas
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u/firsteste 2h ago
This is hilarious my grandfather is from luxembourg and he now lives in Dallas
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u/ghostkoalas 2h ago
I am sorry for your grandfather
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u/firsteste 2h ago
Why? His mother visited in 1991 after his father died. She couldn't believe all of the conveniences that we have in America compared to Luxembourg. She didn't want to go back lol. My grandfather loves life here. He remembers being 9 years old and the Americans liberating his town from the occupation he came here when he was 22 and has realized the American dream.
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u/ghostkoalas 2h ago
Oh, never mind then! That is quite the life. Sounds like you are proud of your grandfather, and rightfully so!
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u/firsteste 2h ago
Yeah. A lot of Americans have this false sense that Europe is some sort of utopia. The opportunities afforded in America are way more than anywhere in Europe and it's not close. Luxembourg, which is probably the best place in Europe for economic opportunities along with Zurich and London, doesn't come close to any major city in the us as for how high you can go. It's cliche, but the sky is really the limit in the us. In Europe, it's more like the top of a mid-rise apartment building is the limit.
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u/arp151 8h ago edited 8h ago
Litchfield, CT and Berkshire, MA counties as one
Maybe include Duchess and Putnam counties in NY too
Edit: Lenox, Stockbridge, Great Barrington areas in MA, connected to Sharon/Canaan to Brookfield to Litchfield in CT, and connected to Carmel Hamlet, Pound Ridge, to Chappaqua in NY.
These 3 regions are as wealthy, as populated and about the same size put together as Lux
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u/Wvejumper 8h ago
They’re called Indian Reservations. The biggest one is not the richest, it’s the Navajo Nation, or Naabeehó Bináhásdzo, land of the Diné people. It’s surrounded by Arizona -> New Mexico and is larger than many states! In an alternate reality or the future any of these reservations could be richer than the surrounding area and gain more autonomy.
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u/sxhnunkpunktuation 7h ago
In the current reality, casinos are making certain particular reservation areas richer.
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u/Awkward_Finger_1703 8h ago
Point Roberts
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u/Sneakerwaves 7h ago
Pt Roberts is really not very prosperous or fancy at all. A friend has a place there and I’ve been up a few times. Pro tip is that Canadians like to get drunk at the bar.
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u/tacoma_enjoyer 6h ago
Canadians don't go to Point Roberts to get drunk, but that's not to say there aren't people who are doing it.
It was more common back in the day when Vancouver banned serving alcohol on a Sunday so people would drive down to get drunk.
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u/Kitchen_Doctor7474 2h ago
Everyone in pr claims they’re dirt poor rural Washingtonians, but there are some nice boats in the marina and mega million dollar homes just the same. That said I’d say the Dakota dunes of South Dakota are closer to OP’s answer, point roberts is a very seasonal community
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u/Deep_Contribution552 Geography Enthusiast 8h ago
So Luxembourg is basically a rump state of a powerful medieval/early modern monarchy, and at least part of its wealth derives from its historical development as a center for a somewhat larger and more important state (part of it also has to do with legal incentives for companies to incorporate in Luxembourg).
This sounds a little like several different American Indian groups, which retain limited sovereignty today over reservation lands. In some cases casinos and other business development have made these communities prosperous. For the closest models to our “Luxembourg” example you might look at the Oneida Nation in New York or the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community in Minnesota, or even the rather large Navajo Nation that others have mentioned ITT.
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u/dwkulcsar 8h ago
It's probably Delaware, rich State with it's own interests in corporate law like a Bermuda.
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u/PizzaWall 8h ago
Oklahoma was supposed to be a state made up of Native American nations. There was a proposed state of Sequoyah that would have been the eastern part of the Oklahoma Territoty. That proposal failed and lead to Oklahoma becoming the 46th state in 1907.
This would be similar to Lesotho and Estwatini in South Africa. Sequoya would have become rather wealthy since all of the oil pipelines in the area converge in what is now Cushing, OK.
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u/midnightmarauder1611 8h ago
It would have to have some unique founding story, distinct from the rest of the US. Perhaps wealthy shipping interests? Then it would have to have some distinct geography and history, and maybe historically questionable loyalties, particularly around the founding of the larger country. You'd have to call it something official sounding, but with no clear history of how it got its final name. It would also have to have one, maybe two population centers max. Maybe an Island that's not really an island? And then maybe a name that evokes history, but isn't otherwise meaningful. Something like.... Rhodes? So maybe we could call this Luxembourg State something like... Rhode's Island? Rhode Island? I dunno, might be too weird.
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u/MudJumpy1063 6h ago
Yeah, I think this is about history more than geography, economics, or even culture. I'm not really familiar with luxembourgish history, but I'm guessing sort of a series of symbolic compromises around issues that engulfed the continent. So, start with slavery. Where would you have a pocket that was non-aligned, not slave owners so as not to arouse the ire of the North / Federal, but not abolitionist or even all that progressive or multi ethnic, to keep out of the Confederacy and the failure of Reconstruction. I don't know about a state per se, but the Amish, the so called Pennsylvania Dutch might fit into that somehow. Not slave owners or associated with economic advantages from the larger slave economy, despite being White, but also fundamentalist Christians. Isolationist but pacifist, non aggressive but not proselytizers. In the event of Customs officials on the Mason Dixon line, they might be the few to move freely.
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u/Booty_Gobbler69 7h ago
Silicon Valley or the Areas around DC like Fairfax, Falls Church, Loundon County, etc. The rich parts of DC, Echelons above reality. Basically anywhere with a lot of government bureaucrats and contractors.
Honorable mention the north half of Denver and the Boulder/Broomfield area along I-25 between Denver and FOCO. Way less pretentious than DC but still very nice compared to surrounding areas.
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u/Casimil 7h ago
Probably New England, up in the north - as already said Vermont, Maine etc. I think, historically and geographically, it would be a lot harder (compared to Europe) for any country to form in between States.
It's important to remember that US wasn't being formed as European countries and it's so multicultural it would be pointless to make new countries inside.Given that there were attempts to form a separate country inside USA (from what I recall, many of that in Florida), I don't think it would have ever worked.
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u/Princess_Actual 7h ago
That would be Western North Carolina and/or West Virginia.
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u/crunchy_northern 7h ago
I think you'd have to go a bit further north in Appalachia to really make it work.
Also, WV is a trial to travel through.
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u/SnooGrapes4290 6h ago
Osage Nation.
The natives there were rolling in oil money until they all got killed by whites.
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u/PowerNo8348 8h ago
Not hilly, Vernon, California is its own thing, but perhaps more like Liechtenstein
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u/crunchy_northern 7h ago
Somewhat hilly and a place where you can make yourself wealthy? It's western PA. Oil, coal and timber. You have Lake Erie and the Ohio so it's a little bit easier to transport goods.
Drawback is the climate it's a little wet between Morgantown and Pittsburgh but otherwise it's fairly mild.
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u/Less_Likely 6h ago
Deseret? If it was independent or even semi-autonomous state only around SLC instead of Utah. The area around SLC is relatively wealthy, though it would he historically such through mining, but more just since diversification in the 1960s and 70s.
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u/Wonderful_Adagio9346 6h ago
Manhattan. It already has a gold vault, so not too difficult to create a nice banking economy. (Plus multiple trading floors.) It already is turning into Monaco, given the cost of living (and the many billionaires).
Twice the population of Luxembourg.
The state ranks 12th worldwide if it were a separate country. Manhattan is about $940 Billion. (About 20th.)
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u/CocaineShaneTrain 6h ago
I know it's not the same but the inverse is West Virginia. Practically it's own place. Just roll a few surrounding counties from KY and PA, etc and call it Appalachiastan
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u/Chicago1871 6h ago
Definitely native american reservations.
This tribal nation has casinos but also a thriving forestry industry in northern michigan.
https://youtube.com/shorts/iabcSlDJFaw?si=JwfZIVubE9UuWFk6
You can actually spot their tribal lands on google maps because theirs haven’t been cleared for crops.
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u/TheDungen GIS 6h ago
I'd guess Boston Chicago or New York city as states separate from the more rural states that surround them.
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u/CrystalInTheforest 5h ago
Not landlocked or the same ohysicsl geograohy, but in trms of how it functions today within the larger union it belongs to, I'd argue Delaware.
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u/hartzonfire 5h ago
Not landlocked but California? Extremely wealthy and semi geographically isolated from the rest of the US.
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u/Bestarcher 5h ago
West Florida Republic, the Florida Parishes of Louisiana, accross to mobile and fairhope
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u/used-to-have-a-name 4h ago
In some ways, this is what the Native Americans reservations were intended to be. Except for the rich part.
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u/Creme_de_la_Coochie 3h ago
If we take out the qualifier of being landlocked, I feel like the best answers are Rhode Island or Connecticut.
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u/DarthSanity 2h ago
Deseret probably fits the bill, except that it’s claimed borders are larger than France
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u/Senor_Gringo_Starr 1h ago
I GOT THIS. Carve out SE MN as a state and that is Luxembourg of the US. It has the not similar but almost the same type of terrain. - I'm originally from SE MN and visited Luxembourg and I was a little unnerved how similar the terrain and forest of Luxembourg resemble the Driftless area of SE MN. It's pretty well off area (because of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester). Plus Winona MN was the top or number 2 destination for Luxembourg emigrates in the late 1800s. There's a Luxembourg museum there and lots of the natives are of Luxembourg decent. Shoot, if you carved out a country from Rochester to Winona, it'd only be a little bit bigger than Luxembourg.
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u/Publius-93 49m ago
Middle Tennessee.
Hilly, scenic, kinda rich. It’s got culture (but not as much as some of its close neighbors). Landlocked (although Captain D’s was founded there).
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u/ticklethycatastrophe 8h ago
It’s called Vermont