"Blue States Are the Providers, Red States Are the Parasites"

[SHIVAN]

http://www.alternet.org/story/154338/ayn_rand_worshippers_should_face_facts:_blue_states_are_the_providers,_red_state_are_the_parasites?akid=8320.276861.0bsy4I&rd=1&t=2

The framing of these statistics presumes that the voters who elected the senators are the same people who produce the income that drives the taxation revenue. It also discounts that the consumers of the aid are of the same political persuasion as the senators of these states.

It's a fallacy in the logic used to arrive at the hypothesis.

Without discrete data on how the aid was distributed, and how the tax income was derived, we can draw no solid conclusions.

The graphic is nice though, isn't it?

[Kfgk14]

They can say they'll go Galt, but they don't have the practical knowledge to. They don't know how to survive in the wilderness. They don't know how to hunt and fish and farm and fight. They can't drive an 18-wheeler, or use a milling machine, or weld, or any other useful skill.
Let them go. We'd be better off without them. The men and women of Galt's Gulch were people of practical skill. These liberals are not. They are the intelligentsia. If they go Galt, who friggin' cares? More land and less oppression for us.
I applaud them.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Virgina is a net payer? I find that hard to beleive with all the govt around there. DC is at $0.30 and a net payer??? Are they serious?

[SPARTAN HOPLITE ARMS]

Has that imbecile of an author ever visited a real "blue state producer" city like New York, Chicago, Detroit or LA? Sorry but the real producer of tax revenue is wall street and the real drain is uneducated masses, especially in inner cities. Ever seen a housing project? That article is actually quite delusional to any sense of reality.

[thopkins22]

DC is at $0.30 and a net payer??? Are they serious?

Presumably it's framed in such a fashion that the tax revenue of all the government workers, lobbyists, politicians, and what not counts whether or not they live in the district.

The income is earned there, the taxes are payed there, and they disregard that government spending is part of the drain in the first place.

[Abraxas]

http://www.alternet.org/story/154338/ayn_rand_worshippers_should_face_facts:_blue_states_are_the_providers,_red_state_are_the_parasites?akid=8320.276861.0bsy4I&rd=1&t=2

The framing of these statistics presumes that the voters who elected the senators are the same people who produce the income that drives the taxation revenue. It also discounts that the consumers of the aid are of the same political persuasion as the senators of these states.

It's a fallacy in the logic used to arrive at the hypothesis.

Without discrete data on how the aid was distributed, and how the tax income was derived, we can draw no solid conclusions.

The graphic is nice though, isn't it? Very typical of them to manipulate and omit data to support their wonderland thinking.

[obucina]

https://twitter.com/#!/sararobinson

yeah, she looks like a real "producer".

[The_War_Wagon]

If we had REAL backbone, Blue states would be sold back to England. For scrap. :mad:

[crusader377]

It is a stupid article on so many levels. First, America is a team and every state benefits the country as a whole. Second, the author is cherry picking data by highlighting blue states contributions in finance and tech sector while minimizing red state contributions in manufacturing, energy, defense, agriculture etc... Third, if red states were so bad, why are many major corporations relocating their HQs to red states and many foreign firms are building mfg. facilities in red states? When foreign automakers like Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, BMW, Mercedes, and VW decided to build auto plants, none of them built in blue state Michigan instead the majority were built in red southern states. Finally, the author ignores that most of the failing cities such as Detroit, MI, Camden, NJ, etc.. are in blue states and had Democratic mayors for the last 50 years.

[Kfgk14]

If we had REAL backbone, Blue states would be sold back to England. For scrap. :mad:

Are the English that dumb?

[maximus83]

The linked article is no doubt beguiling to those who already want to believe it. Strokes for the folks.

However, the deception in the article doesn't even rise to the level of "sophistry." It's really that bad. This blogger in the linked article has really taken what was a minor (and debatable) point from the original NYT article (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/us/even-critics-of-safety-net-increasingly-depend-on-it.html?pagewanted=all), citing some Dartmouth social scientist's research, and blown it out of all proportion. This was not even the primary point of the NYT article.

The main point in the NYT article was stated in the fourth paragraph:

"But Mr. Gulbranson and many other residents who describe themselves as self-sufficient members of the American middle class and as opponents of government largess are drawing more deeply on that government with each passing year."

In other words, the point is that more of the middle class critics of large government are actually DEPENDING on various forms of government assistance than they used to. This is fairly well known argument, and may even be true on a national scale. But that is a far cry from what this blogger is trying to argue, plus I'm not sure exactly where the NYT is going with that point, even if it is true. Even if middle-class critics of the government are increasingly forced to rely on it for benefits, that doesn't mean that is a HEALTHY or desirable state of affairs. It means that our socialistic, government-influenced economy is increasingly reducing the population to serfdom, where productive work is punished and it's more "profitable" to collect benefits like unemployment and Social Security. In any case, we need to reverse that state of affairs, not encourage it.

[Javelin]

This data they provide is totally false!

Texas pays more to Federal Taxes than it receives. Where is she getting her data?

[obucina]

This data they provide is totally false!

Texas pays more to Federal Taxes than it receives. Where is she getting her data?
Rick Perry even stated that on Greta (IIRC). Somewhere along the lines of "we send more money to that place than we get back".

[SHIVAN]

Why some southern states get more federal aid than others....

Exhibit A: http://news.yahoo.com/storms-wreck-ind-town-flatten-houses-elsewhere-210950187.html

Exhibit A1:
http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/YrOILCW7_BgzrTjPYgSdTw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD0zMjI7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/152/2012/03/02/AP120302143660-jpg_190944.jpg