San Francisco’s 28 State Boycott Fiasco: A Lesson in Bad Economics

In a twist that would surprise no one outside the echo chambers of progressive politics, San Francisco’s ambitious boycott of 28 states, which was meant to be a statement on anti-LGBT, anti-abortion, and voter suppression laws, has hit a snag - or rather, several snags. The city, in an almost comical display of irony, is now wrestling with the fallout from banning itself from conducting business with over half of the United States. In 2016, then Supervisor Scott Weiner, now a California state senator, passed an ordinance that led to the city’s self-imposed commercial exile. The initial boycott targeted states with anti-LGBT laws and was later expanded to include states with anti-abortion laws in 2019, and voter suppression laws in 2021. What the city failed to account for, however, were the very real business repercussions of these politically charged decisions. Weiner now admits to having “mixed views“ on the approach, an admirable admission, if belated. As a result of the boy