I can’t decide whether to watch the video.

The country is erupting in protest over the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and I haven’t watched the video. I know how upsetting it will be and I won’t be able to unsee it. Five years ago I watched the Walter Scott video, watched the South Carolina man struggle then run away only to be shot at eight times in the back. I watched a man die and it haunted me.

By Liz Farmer | March 26, 2020, 8:40 AM EDT

States and localities have been leading the nation’s response to the coronavirus — and unless Congress further intervenes, they’re going to pay for it.

While the Senate’s $2 trillion stimulus bill includes relief for individuals, families and businesses limping through the current slowdown, it’s barely going to dent the impending budget increase for state and local governments. Medicaid and retiree pension costs — already the two most problematic spending areas for governments — will balloon as result of the Covid-19 crisis. Congress can help with both.

Apr. 7, 2020 | by Liz Farmer

Working from home? The world’s in a miserable and frightening pandemic right now, but try for a moment to think of only this: Do you prefer working from your home, skipping the commute and the time wasted at the office?

If so, give yourself a side project in the weeks and months ahead when so many of us are sheltering in place and won’t be going to the office or other workplaces: Document for yourself, and possibly your employer, your time saved, improved productivity, better life balance and personal well being. All difficult to separate out amid a crisis that has many worried, literally, about staying alive. But when the dust settles from COVID-19, you may be armed with the information to show to a newly flexible boss that coming to the office isn’t so important.

And that could have an enormous impact on your happiness, your personal finances and your health. And it’s entirely possible that the long-expressed resistance of companies and individual bosses to WFH arrangements will decline markedly after they see how well the arrangement has worked during this emergency.

Living amid economic and population growth puts the wind at your back. Demand for housing rises in these areas, so homes appreciate. Highly skilled workers abound, so businesses new and old can prosper. And local and state governments remain solvent, ensuring better services.

How to identify such cities? Just look for places that have a successful immigrant population.

The biggest coastal cities in America are the obvious places to find thriving populations of immigrants, but there are plenty of hot spots around the country with a similar vibe and without the big price tag and traffic.

If you live in or near Connecticut or New York state, you may have heard about mansion taxes and what they’ll mean for home sales in the posh real estate markets of Manhattan or Greenwich. And then, because you don’t live in a mansion in either of those states, you dismissed the notion that such taxes would ever apply to you.

Not so fast. Mansion taxes are simply the latest term for a new tier of transfer or deed taxes, which are common in most states. The twist is that more cities and states are now making their transfer taxes progressive. That means they’re creating higher transfer tax rates for more expensive homes. So, if you are buying or selling a condo in a hot real estate market that has a so-called mansion tax, it could still apply to you.

You’ve heard of moving incentives: companies offering a signing bonus to lure workers to relocate. Now, state and local governments are getting into the game, offering tax credits or actual cash to lure residents.

If you’re considering a move, knowing about these incentives might help tip the scales. Perhaps you’re a soon-to-be college graduate and entering the workforce. Or, like me, are one of the millions of Americans who have a mobile job.

America’s suburbs grew out of a simple and appealing notion: Earn top pay working in the city and enjoy a more idyllic life by commuting. Communications technology — and the steady if grudging enlightenment of employers — is turbocharging that concept for millions of Americans. Now, many knowledge workers can earn top pay from a big-city employer and live wherever they want — including across the country or halfway around the world.

Five million or so U.S. workers toil from home for the majority of their work hours, various studies report, and the total is rising. Employers are increasingly understanding the cost savings (fewer desks, parking spots and etc. to pay for) and increased worker happiness and productivity (no hours lost to ugly commutes, better quality of life) that telecommuting can create.

Imagine if, months after settling in to your dream house, your local government began threatening to lay off police officers, close some schools and cut transit service? And on top of those reduced services, property taxes and other levies and fees began rising steeply?

It could happen if your chosen city is in deep financial trouble — and those troubles can make a city unappealing, forcing down home prices as new buyers shy away from the mess. And that can make it hard for you to sell and leave. Even some employers flee, as the rising tax burden on business crimps profits.

That scenario is entirely possible in a handful of big U.S. cities. While the traditional home buying process is full of due diligence — title searches to make sure you’ll actually own what you’re paying for, appraisals to make sure you’re not over-paying — it lacks any warning system about civic finances.

On a Saturday afternoon in late September, I observed my 6-year-old son repeatedly doing two things we’ve always told him not to do: run into the street and pick up candy off the ground. We were watching the annual tractor parade roll down Main Street here, inhaling the festive atmosphere along with a fair amount of diesel fumes. The parade features more than 100 steam- and gas-engine tractors (most of them with riders tossing candy) and is the highlight of Smithsburg’s annual Steam Engine and Craft Show.

In this town of about 3,000, the weekend of the fair is a big deal. It draws visitors from all around Maryland’s Washington and Frederick counties. This was only the second year we’ve gone to the parade. Last year we barely knew anyone. This year we ran into more than a half-dozen people we knew through school or youth sports. Some were simply friends we’ve made in the community. One of them invited us to watch the parade on her front porch. As we left that evening for the five-minute drive home through mostly farmland and woods, I smiled and thought, “This is why we moved here.”