Who Subsidizes Who? Western or Eastern? (Republic: moving, money, population)

[CrazyDonkey]

Does Western Washington subsidize Eastern Washington? Or does Eastern Washington subsidize Western Washington?

https://www.ofm.wa.gov/sites/default...s_revenues.pdf

[PS90]

Why did you make this a poll? A poll is to gather OPINIONS.

All you're doing is trying to ask people to make arguments about something that has been debated on this forum many times.

And all of those times, multiple different opinions and citations are skewed and twisted to fit the poster's point of view.

What exactly are you hoping to accomplish?

[CrazyDonkey]

Just curious. Relevant in light of some Eastern Washingtonians wanting to secede and form their own state.

I'm open to any evidence-based arguments, regardless of where they might fall.

[pnwguy2]

No, it is a wash. The two parts of Washington State compliment each other very well. Any breakup of the State is really a pipe dream by some Republicans in Eastern WA. They will never win this battle until the population suddenly switches republican. And the chance the State will get to this? Virtually nill.

[PS90]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

Just curious. Relevant in light of some Eastern Washingtonians wanting to secede and form their own state.

I'm open to any evidence-based arguments, regardless of where they might fall.

Right. If we are using evidence-based data, then an opinion poll is irrelevant.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by PS90

Right. If we are using evidence-based data, then an opinion poll is irrelevant.

Two different things. Data can sometimes, but not always, inform opinion. Opinion, on the other hand, is a data point in its own right.

[PS90]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

Two different things. Data can sometimes, but not always, inform opinion. Opinion, on the other hand, is a data point in its own right.

No, it can't. Ignorance of the data is not the same thing as an opinion.

In this instance, the data is obviously complicated because few people understand it completely. But to say that a hard fact - like movement of money from one place to another - is based on opinion, is fallacy. The money moves from one place to another - that's a simple fact, and you can't argue against that because you may not completely understand how it works.

That's exactly how things like the anti-vaccine movement started - people who didn't understand evidence-based medicine started voicing their "opinions", even though their opinion was proven wrong.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by PS90

No, it can't. Ignorance of the data is not the same thing as an opinion.

Did I say that opinion is the same thing as ignorance? No. It can be encumbered, or unencumbered, by the facts.

[PS90]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

Did I say that opinion is the same thing as ignorance? No. It can be encumbered, or unencumbered, by the facts.

An opinion does not have a right or wrong answer.

A poll is created to gather opinions.

The question of "who subsidizes who" DOES have a right answer. The subsidies are moving in one direction or another. That's not an opinion, whether you understand it or not.

You don't create a poll to ask for facts. Facts are gathered by doing research.

Simple as that.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by PS90

You don't create a poll to ask for facts.

Where do I say that's the reason for the poll? I've only said I think it is relevant due to some eastern Washingtonians proposing seceding from the state to form a new state. That's my opinion. If you want to dispute 1) that there is any such proposal or 2) the relevance I'm claiming, good luck with that.

Of course, if 99 out of 100 say they believe something to be a fact doesn't make it a fact. However, the fact that they, therefore, believe it to be a fact can hardly be disputed.