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Occasionally some people in New York State have floated the idea of cutting Long Island loose as the 51st state. This has never came to pass, but the possibilities are intriguing.

I think this would have been possible if LI kept its defense industry (i.e. Grumman). But nowadays the defense industry has left the Island, so independence might be impossible in a service economy. So the POD here is late 70's/early 80's, when there was still some defence industry on LI.

Questions:

1) Where would the capital be? I think Hauppauge, since its in the middle of the island.

2) Would Nassau and Suffolk Counties splinter into smaller counties?

3) Would Queens and Brooklyn join the new state? (probably not, but they are physically on the island)

4) Economics (GDP, jobs, infrastructure) -- enought to support a few million people?

5) Could the new LI keep up its highways, etc? (LI is highly suburbanized with a lot of public works)

Ideas?
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