“Republicans are right to aim big if they mean to reduce the deficit through cuts alone. By most measures, seniors are the major spongers on taxpayers, chiefly through their insistence on not working productively once they hit 65, 78, 92 or whatever,” according to the Washington Post. “But for the sake of argument, suppose we don’t want to put that burden on our mothers, fathers, grandparents and ourselves. Where else can we identify a comparably large group of drainers of the public till?
“Happily, the Tax Foundation — a conservative Washington-based think tank — has, however unintentionally, provided the answer. In 2007, the foundation published a survey of 2005 federal spending in each state and compared that with each state’s contribution in federal taxes. In other words, the foundation identified the states that sponge off the federal government and those that subsidize it. The welfare-queen states and the responsible, producing states, as it were.
“The list, alas, hasn’t been updated — in part, no doubt, because conservatives didn’t like what it revealed: that those states that got more back from our government than they paid in were overwhelmingly Republican. The 10 biggest net recipients of taxpayers’ largess were, in order, New Mexico, Mississippi, Alaska, Louisiana, West Virginia, North Dakota, Alabama, South Dakota, Kentucky and Virginia. The 10 states that paid in the most and got back the least were New Jersey, Nevada, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Illinois, Delaware, California, New York and Colorado.
“Now, that list has surely changed since the middle of the last decade — Virginia has probably gotten richer and paid in more; Nevada has surely gotten poorer and paid in less. But today’s ranking are probably much the same, unless farming and manufacturing suddenly pay more than finance and high-tech. Even allowing for cyclical variations and political transformations, it’s patently clear that the states that drain the government also constitute the Republicans’ electoral base, while those that produce the wealth constitute the Democrats’. Far from strengthening our moral character, the red states plunge us into the slough of dependency.”
The rest of the article is here.
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How about just a virtual Great Divide, where we balance out the payments and receivables to net zero for each state?
I’d sign up for that in a heartbeat.
Jeff,
This could be a result of the superior intelligence of those who reside in the Red states or because of the backward nature of those who think they need to be conservatives which obviously requires some government assistance to get over: Guess it depends on your political point of view.
Anyway I would vote for Michael plan as well, with an added reduction of about 30% on the expenditure side to get our debt under control.
If we don’t think that the debt is a problem consider this column from the man who was laughed at on national TV in 2006 when he tried to warn us about the problems in the housing markets. http://lewrockwell.com/schiff/schiff125.html
John
Of interest would be comparing education and income levels of these states also. My bet would be that those states paying in less and getting more from the feds would also rank lowest for income and education, and the opposite for states paying more and getting less. Not saying that voters in red states are poorer and less educated, exactly, but bet that red states listed might likely come closer to third world profiles than states better off economically and with better educational opportunities.
Exactly Pat. Look at Mississippi and Kentucky, whose governors just shrug their shoulders and whistle past the graveyards of poverty and addiction, death that their corporate cronies (gambling, insurance,pharmacy, energy) have, quite actively and literally, created–on purpose–to line their craven, Godless pockets. Leave the federal government to pick up the pieces and then beat them and beat the feds while the feds do the REAL work…One glance at Florida and Scott is all it takes…its revolting. Kate
And don’t forget those “red cities” like Washington DC, Detroit, New York, Los Angeles and of course where the President as a community organizer eliminated all ignorance and poverty: Chicago!
John
Cities are not States Stoos…they aren’t governed by State Governors, John. I like Browns roll, for the record…BUT, these hypocrites, the RED State Governance, like the pig California got rid of, are doing exactly what I stated…which makes them criminally negligent, spiritually empty, and cravenly greedy–many with lovechild, argentinian mistresses, prayer breakfast mistress proposals– Good grief– in a word, Godless. So Stoos, do me a favor and drop the brainwashed sockpuppet routine, awrighty? Kate
Kate,
Even though most of the cities that I mentioned are bigger than most states, I can see that I have been taken to the wood-shed and will try to be a good boy tomorrow.
John