Based on U. S. Census & U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reports, we know that the residents of red states make up only 30% of the U.S. population and a meager 18% of the national GDP. Furthermore, the most recent U.S. Census Bureau’s; Tax Foundation’s “State by State Tax Burden Allocation Model” shows us that the folks in the red states are in fact and by far the most fortunate recipients of government spending.

Here is how it works and no matter what any politician on either side of the aisle say’s to the contrary; these are the stone cold facts. The states send federal taxes to Washington and receive federal spending in return. However, some states benefit more from federal taxing and spending policies than others. Some “beneficiary” states receive a positive return from Uncle Sam, making other states “donors” who pick up the tab.

The average blue state receives only 99 cents in federal spending for every dollar spent in federal taxes. Only 13 out of the 28 blue states (less than half) receive one dollar or more. The average red state receives $1.41 for every dollar spent in federal taxes and a whopping 20 out of 22 (over 90%) receive more than a dollar. Eight red states receive more than $1.50 as opposed to only two blue states. To look at a spreadsheet with all the numbers stated thus far, is truly an eye-opening document to behold.

Perhaps Republican voters should examine numbers such as these to better understand exactly where it is that their bread is buttered in terms of true stimulus, instead of holding on to economic theories and mistruths that still drive them to vote against their own interests.

Each time some Republican representative of Congress or Senate stands to address their respective body or some under informed and misleading entertainer like Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity brazenly preach the same principles that got our country in trouble to begin with, Republican voters might ask themselves the same question that Democrats have been asking for years: Just who are Republican politicians talking to?

Hubert Humphrey once said something like: “How many times do you have to be hit over the head before you realize who it is that’s hitting you?” All of that reaching out to Republican politicians stuff was a nice and all, but maybe this is the dose of reality that voters in this country need to stomach before any true healing can begin.

Sorry, there does seem to be an ideological difference. The neo-conservatives are the “Spend and don’t pay for it party”. They leave it to future generations. Seems to be OK with them. So, wonder who is benefiting from this “spend and don’t pay for it” philosophy? Ummmmm.

Notice I didn’t use the word Republican. They don’t exit anymore - their party has been hijacked. You gotta love greed.
John in Denver

The article comments: Interestingly [borrowing from social security], this most likely was not even a conscious decision by Clinton.

So, what did Clinton do, that the others did not?

I’ll probably turn this into a plugin at some point, but haven’t 100% figured out what the best way of doing that would be. I don’t think it would be quite as cool as a widget on my site… but maybe it would elsewhere. Hmm.

(Bonus: The colour of the sparkline changes with the hourly colours of my blog theme!)