How is money distributed among the different american states?

[Barnabas]

In the cases I know, Bolivia and Argentina and Spain, the wealthy provinces subsidise the poor provinces, you know, "solidarity"

A wealthy province x may give the state 3 billion dollars, and only get back 2 billions, with one billion dollars being redistributed by the state among the poor provinces.
This obviously pisses off the inhabitants of the wealthy provinces.


How is it in the USA?
I ask because I dont think it is like that there, since it is a more free-market kind of country, and all the states are quite wealthy.

People not from the USA can also tell how it is in their countries

[SlowwHand]

Texas supports the rest of the states.

[Kuciwalker]

Money flows from the blue states (liberal and wealthy) to the red states (conservative and poor) :P

[SlowwHand]

Texas bought the short bus for Kuci to ride in.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Kuci's mostly right, Sloww's dead wrong.

Page 2 of this document contains a nice table summarizing the balance of payments between the federal government and the various states. The second-to-last column is the key; states with a "return-on-investment" (of their federal income tax dollars) less than 1 are giving the feds more money than they get back, states with a return on investment greater than one are getting more federal money than they surrender in taxes.

The states with lowest return on investment seem to be New Jersey, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Connecticut, and Nevada -- not all blue, but more blue than not. The big blue states -- New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michhigan -- all also have a return on investment < 1.

By contrast, the States getting the most federal dollars (I'm going to leave out DC), compared to what they contribute, are New Mexico, Mississippi, North Dakota, Alaska, and West Virginia -- not all red, but more red than not.

And Texas? A return of exactly 1. Texas doesn't give squat to anybody, but at least it supports itself.

[Berzerker]

aside from the crooks getting money strictly based on political power, federal money to the states depends on a variety of factors, foremost being the amount of federal land within the states and federal institutions/facilities/parks etc (Indian reservations). Alaska and New Mexico are 2 and 3 while Virginia is home to much of the Washington elite and W Virginia is home to Robert Byrd (Alaska is home to Ted Stevens).

[Kuciwalker]

I'm going to have to put in an excuse for Virginia though ( ). We (for obvious reasons) house a huge portion of the federal bureaucracy, including the Pentagon.

[Starchild]

There's no formal transfer of payments in the UK but basically the wealth of London and the South-East pay for the rest of the country.

[Winston]

Why do you have to immediately bring the red / blue state distinction into it, without it being asked? I don't see the relevance as to the OP at all.

Besides, you present it like all Liberals pay to all Conservatives in the states involved, when in reality it's more like 55% Liberals and 45% Conservatives in some states paying to the reverse constellation in others. And some states going against that trend, while still others break about even.

Foaming-at-the-mouth partisanship is a beautiful thing, but only when and if it's warranted and ever so slightly relevant to the issue at hand.

There's sarcasm in that last paragraph somewhere. I just know it.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Winston
Why do you have to immediately bring the red / blue state distinction into it, without it being asked? I don't see the relevance as to the OP at all.

Besides, you present it like all Liberals pay to all Conservatives in the states involved, when in reality it's more like 55% Liberals and 45% Conservatives in some states paying to the reverse constellation in others. And some states going against that trend, while still others break about even.

Foaming-at-the-mouth partisanship is a beautiful thing, but only when and if it's warranted and ever so slightly relevant to the issue at hand.

There's sarcasm in that last paragraph somewhere. I just know it.

My sense here is that Kuci was getting a dig in at Sloww, who was...well, let's just say "misinformed." Me, i was just backing up Kuci.

In the American context, though, the red/blue distinction is always worth bringing up because only because the states that vote for conservative candidates, who tend to rail against "tax-and-spend liberals," are actually the states that benefit most from tax-and-spend policies.

But, yeah, it's got bugger-all to do with the OP.

[Winston]

I'd wager that the bulk of tax-and-spending goes on inside the individual states without involving others.

Besides, if more people voted Conservative in affluent states the point would turn entirely moot.

Glad to see we're agreed that it's totally off-topic. Still, it's kind of interesting to talk about, I must admit.

[SlowwHand]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly


And Texas? A return of exactly 1. Texas doesn't give squat to anybody, but at least it supports itself.

What do you want, bright eyes?

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
I'm going to have to put in an excuse for Virginia though ( ). We (for obvious reasons) house a huge portion of the federal bureaucracy, including the Pentagon.

...........not to mention the nation's primary naval construction facility. Likewise isn't Alabama the home of NASA's main construction facility? Carriers, submarines and space shuttles ain't cheap.

[Patroklos]

...........not to mention the nation's primary naval construction facility. Likewise isn't Alabama the home of NASA's main construction facility? Carriers, submarines and space shuttles ain't cheap.

The second largest being in Mississippi (the third, fourth and fifth being in Maine, Texas, and Connecticut respectively. In fact, the vast majority of the countries military infrastructure and forces are in "red" states.

The majority of Federal land grant colleges are located in the South and Mid/Non coastal West as well.

[SlowwHand]

And at least we have good highways.
California has good highways that just end because of running out of money to complete. Nice planning.