http://www.brookings.edu/metro/census_states.aspxAs I look here, it appears that the Conservative States are literally supported by the Blue ones. They get more back in federal funds than they pay in.
There are quite a few tea partiers who come from states that are quite happy to suck at the Federal teat. Of course, many people have known for years that Blue States tend to support Red States financially. There are a few exceptions (such as Texas), but they are the exceptions that prove the rule. If you want to cut from the Federal budget so badly, cut it from your state first I say. Let’s look at a few great examples of Tea Party hypocrisy.
Before I get to the congressmen, let’s look at Haley Barbour, Mississippi governor and well-known big mouth. This is the guy who thought FEMA did a bang-up job after Katrina. This is the guy who is trying to grease the presidential wheels for himself by claiming he balanced his state’s budget. This is the guy whose state ranks #1 at taking way more money from the Federal government than his state puts in. This is a classic Welfare State – taking money from the blue states to “balance its budget.” If we cut that largesse – and just gave Mississippi and Good Ole Boy HB back what they put in, we would save $7 billion a year.
Now let’s move on to Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who is becoming the poster boy for destroying social safety nets. I mean, where is Sarah Palin and her talk of death panels? You want to kill off old people, just make them buy private insurance with vouchers (this has to be the funniest and most absurd idea in the history of dealing with spiraling medical costs – what a boondoggle for insurance companies!). And if you want to kill off poor people let corrupt states like Mississippi that ranks last in the nation for education figure out how to help their sick. I mean, if they can’t figure out how to educate someone beyond an 8th grade reading level, how are they going to figure out paying for cancer treatments?
If we took Wisconsin’s Federal subsidies that go beyond what the state puts into the kitty, we’d save another BILLION dollars a year. Wow, I’ve already cut 8 billion a year!
I’ll cut about another 40 billion thus:
Big mouth Joe “Liar” Wilson and Jim DeMint of South Carolina can give back $7 billion and change a year. What the hell? Are we subsidizing tobacco?
Steve King of Iowa (holy moly this guy is a real charmer – who actually votes for someone like this?) can give back the extra $2 billion his state gets – likely for farm subsidies so we can all get fatter on corn and potatoes.
Rand Paul of Kentucky? No, it can’t be? Another welfare state with one of the biggest tea party big mouths representin’ in Congress? Yup. $7 billion a year. Give it back.
Marco Rubio and a bunch of other tea party whiners from Florida can give back the extra $10 billion a year they get.
Alabama’s rep Robert Aderhold self-identifies as a tea partier while his state rakes in an extra 10 billion than they pay in every year.
None of this takes into account just how big the percent of the money in the federal coffers comes from states like New Jersey, New York, California, Massachusetts…yes, for decades the blue states have subsidized red states. NO MORE.
Of course there are some exceptions – District of Columbia takes beaucoup bucks – mainly to support Federal programs – from the IRS to the CIA to the Department of Defense. It’s expected because it is the seat of the Federal Government. But Iowa? Kentucky? South Carolina? Give us our money back. Let us spend it on states that don’t whine about taxes and like having bridges that don’t collapse, cities with sufficient law enforcement, and citizens with roofs over their heads.
Some might argue – that’s not fair to the people of those states who will be harmed. I agree. We could do something Republicans love, a voucher system. Let’s use Mississippi again as an example since it’s such a miserable, poorly managed state. You could use some of the saved money to give people “get out of Mississippi free” cards. If you are at the poverty level – or let’s say 2-3 times the poverty level since, face it, the poverty level number is so low you couldn’t live on dog food at it – you get a Voucher – worth say $10K – to move to a better state. We’d still save a lot of money. They would likely fare better in states that are better managed.
Frankly, in the end, if people don’t want the Federal government spending money, those people should not get extra Federal money. Fair is fair.
Oh, and if they shut down the government I hope they make sure no one’s cleaning the toilets on Capitol Hill. Let them stew in it while they hash out a so-called budget.
PS – forgot to mention Alaska – 2 billion a year more – thanks for the check, Sarah.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2010/ ... ensus-data
http://www.visualeconomics.com/united-s ... x-dollars/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/1 ... ississippi
http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/201 ... ral-taxes/
It would appear that Conservatives take money from us and then redistribute it amongst themselves. And then they b*tch about government spending.Over the last year, tea party groups across the country have staged rallies and pressured politicians to protest big government and demand reduced public spending.
