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I don't think your understanding.....
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What's your point? Yeah, Blue states have a higher amount of people on welfare per capita. We also tax ourselves to pay for it, AND our taxes are so high that we also have enough left over to help pay for the red states. I don't think you're understanding.
Is it that difficult to understand how population levels can affect this? For example I-80 runs from San Francisco to New York and is one of the main corridors for freight traveling coast to coast. I-80 runs through many low population rural states, per capita the federal government spends much more more money on that road in those states but that funding benefits the entire country in particular San Francisco and New York. Get it?
No, they don't.
That's the "public good" that the study itself utterly ignores.
Put a military base in Alabama, put a nuclear waste depository in New Mexico, put a bunch of ICBM silos in South Dakota? Those are all (according to the study) federal dependency dollars going to the state.
It's a basic economics term, I guess some people never had to take an economics course....or slept through it.
What's your point? Yeah, Blue states have a higher amount of people on welfare per capita. We also tax ourselves to pay for it, AND our taxes are so high that we also have enough left over to help pay for the red states. I don't think you're understanding.
Issue 1: The reason blue states pay a disproportionate amount of taxes into the Federal pot is because blue states tend to have a vast majority of millionaires and corporations that pay the bulk of Federal taxes.
Nearly 40% of ALL welfare recipients live in California and New York alone. The massive amount of taxes from the wealthy who are also concentrated in those states offsets that, as both states are in the top 5 highest states with the highest income inequality.
Issue 2: Like others have mentioned, a lot of what some consider "subsidizing red states" is simply Federal spending in states where land is cheap and plentiful. These articles and reports NEVER break down Federal spending into where its actually going because it would destroy the point they're trying to make. This paints a very different picture when you consider what this all goes towards. Much of this is projects that benefit everyone -- Interstate highways, military bases, NASA, national parks, research facilities…
Case in point -- the most "dependent" state is New Mexico, a solidly blue state. Why is it such a massive "welfare state"? Well, first of all its a sparsely populated state and has two massive Federally-funded research facilities -- Sandia National Labs and Los Alamos. Los Alamos alone has a $2 billion dollar annual budget. These massive government expenditures in New Mexico make it appear that its the biggest moocher state of all, but its not. It barely makes the top ten in welfare cases per capita.
Not even close. But it seems the latest excuse is the reason red states need more Federal money is because they don't have enough population to support themselves. That's a new one.
No it's not new, it was pointed out to you 10 pages back and in every thread just like this one that is started by some ignorant liberal trying to bash conservatives by broadly painting entire states red or blue.
Then you're not a solid conservative. You're a moderate. Even the Republican platform says marriage must be one man and one woman. That's their platform. Look it up.
Hmmm....he said he was a solid conservative, not a Republican. They are not the same thing.
Lots of Democrats support the right to carry weapons and oppose Democrat positions on guns.
People make choices when they choose candidates. It isn't clear cut based on party - too often it is a lesser of evils choice.
In other words blue states are more productive. What's new?
No, blue states are just home to more corporate headquarters. They're a part of the equation -- the other part often being resources they collect from red states to produce the food, materials or energy they sell or require to operate their business. The top ten producers of oil, coal, corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, etc. are overwhelmingly red states.
Every state would like to have military bases located there as it means influx of federal dollars, new jobs and increased tax revenue.... States are lobbying for government facilities the same way they are lobbying for manufacturers to open factories in their states. Duh.
Responses,
1. Doesn't change the definition of a public good, nor do I suspect Massachusetts is clamoring for ICBM silos or nuke waste dumps lol.
2. Wouldn't the states with all the representatives get them then? How do you lure govt. bases with tax incentives exactly?
3. Yes, duh sums up your post nicely.
Poor, uneducated white people tend to vote Republican. And there are more poor, uneducated white people in the U.S. than poor uneducated people of any other race.
So this comes as no surprise.
And what's sad is that these poor white people are voting Republican almost solely out of fear and xenophobia. They're voting themselves a pay-cut over and over just because they fear the eeeebil blacks and gays and muslins. It's sad... and a little bit poetic that their hate costs them so much. But mostly just sad.
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