I am originally from Wilkes-Barre. My dad worked at RCA back in the early 1960s. We moved to Arizona in '66 when he joined Motorola and then Dallas in '67 when he joined Texas Instruments.

I have plenty of relatives back in PA, but am thankful I did not grow up there. The history of politics there (I base on what I have heard both from my dad and from other relatives) is a little bit like that of Louisiana - very corrupt. Companies that tried to establish a presence there, where there is a huge hunger for good jobs in the vacuum left by the demise of the old rust belt industries, have often backed away as soon as the local politicians tried to extort them for nepotistic favors and such. At least this is what I am given to understand - maybe this is just what goes on in Luzerne County and not other areas of the state... 

Just curious for some perspective from someone who understands how Allentown managed to develop this environment that actually attracted companies like Cisco and Macom.