Blue Balls

 Donald Trump Is Sucking the Life-Blood Out of America

Brains Misinformed By Republicans Shouldn't Get A Public Platform

The cognitive dissonance is great in this one.

Scott Walker, former Wisconsin governor and Milwaukee county executive who left both those posts in worse fiscal shape than he found them and the bozo that gave away billions to Foxconn, opines States mismanaged by Dems shouldn't get a bailout over pandemic.

Yes, like his dear leader Donald Trump, Walker believes that if you're not on his team - if you're a Democrat - your state shouldn't get help from the Federal government. Which is just what we all want in a leader, right? If you didn't vote for him/her, you're on your own.

Walker oddly cites Kevin Hassett as support for his rant, as if, by association, this bolsters his argument. Kevin Hassett, if you'll remember, is the same right-wing, know-nothing apparatchik that wrote Dow 36,000 - one of the worst and most laughable pieces of economic forecasting ever published.

These few lines from Walker were especially laughable, "Instead of bailing out state and local governments, the federal government should continue to support programs to keep workers on the payroll and to keep small businesses alive. While so many workers are experiencing layoffs, closures, furloughs or pay cuts, many state and local governments have yet to make meaningful reductions — even in “non-essential” areas."

This from the same guy that made Wisconsin a right-to-work state and gave away billions to a massive foreign corporation. Part of Walker's budgetary game-plan as governor were lay-offs and firings. It doesn't take a genius to cut programs and fire people to make budgetary numbers look better. It looks particularly worse when you turn around and take some of that money and give it to your cronies in the form of tax breaks and subsidies.

This is all typical Republican blathering. Talk about how much you care about workers and the little guy, and then turn around and give tax breaks, cut regulations and bend over backwards for big corporations and the wealthy.

Finally, if these Democratic ("blue") states are so mismanaged, why is it that these states are the ones subsidizing the Republican ("red") states? As an article from the Business Insider details, "Red States — the ones governed by folks who think government is too big and spending needs to be cut — are a net drain on the economy, taking in more federal spending than they pay out in federal taxes. They talk a good game, but stick Blue States with the bill."

As usual Scott Walker and the Republicans are just wrong. And, they are lying about their policies and the outcomes. They don't give a shit about workers, the little guy, small business, budgets, etc. They only care about themselves and power.

Weekend Reading

The Reagan Boom, Kind Of Like The Ford-Carter Boom
The Washington Post's NAFTA Fantasy: 10 Years Later
Yes, Robert Samuelson Says It's Time To Cut Social Security And Medicare
Red Versus Blue States In The Job Recovery
Never Mind The 1 Percent, Let's Talk About The 0.01 Percent
The U.S. Economy Is Creating Millionaires At An Astonishing Pace. But What's It Doing For Everyone Else?

Weekend Reading

Another Budget Trick From Lyin Ryan And Company
What Red States Are Passing Up As Blue States Get Billions
More Guns Do Not Stop More Crimes...Why Do So Many Americans Believe The Opposite?
The Theory Behind Trump's Tax Cuts Is Exactly What Gave Us The Failed Bush Economy
Gov. Walker Endorses The Federal Tax Scam That Favors The Rich
Making America More Like Scandinavia
Who Wants To Market The Streetcar?
Don't Be Fooled By GOP Tax Reform Promises
Milwaukee's Riverwalk Earns Prestigious International Award
What More Evidence Of Collusion Do You Need?
Slippery Scott Is At It Again
GOP Bill Cuts Taxes For Private Jet Owners, Hikes Taxes On Students

Weekend Reading

Choice Schools Must Share Data
Tom Barrett Signs Milwaukee Lead Pipe Removal Ordinance
5 Ways of Redrawing The U.S. Electoral Map That Actually Makes Sense
All This Talk of Voter Fraud? Across The U.S., Officials Found Next To None
Did Voter ID Laws Hurt Election Turnout? Look At Milwaukee
Tom Brady's Personal Guru Is A Glorified Snake-Oil Salesman
The Electoral College Is Great For Whiter States, Lousy For Cities
The Irrationality Within Us
Keynesian Economics: Is It Time For The Theory To Rise From The Dead?
Under Trump, Red States Are Finally Going To Be Able To Turn Themselves Into Poor, Unhealthy Paradises
Obama's Economy
Trump Inherits Obama Boom
Seattle Offers Lesson For Milwaukee
Minimum Wage Foes Tripped Up By Facts
Memo To Corporate America: Pay More. Treat People Better.
The Really Rich Got Richer, According To IRS's Top 400
The U.S. Is A Low-Tax Nation

Weekend Reading

Wisconsin's Voter ID Law Requires Education Campaign, Which The State Hasn't Funded
The End Of Research In Wisconsin
Six Achievements Of Obamacare
What Happens When Walmart Dumps You
How Federal Lending Programs Served As A Big Shadow Stimulus
Americans' Home Wealth Recovers $7 Trillion As Prices Firm
House Speaker Paul Ryan Becomes Leading Opponent Of DOL Fiduciary Rule
Republican Governed Red States Are Economic Parasites

Republican States Are More Dependent On Government

Republican States Are More Dependent On Government

That's according to a recent analysis from the personal finance site WalletHub, which ranked states based on how much they rely on Uncle Sam to support their state finances. 

To calculate states' dependence, WalletHub analyzed three metrics: how much a state gets in federal funding per every dollar it pays in federal income taxes, the percentage of state funding that comes from the federal government and the number of federal employees per capita, both military and civilian...

New Mexico is the most-dependent state in the U.S., according to WalletHub's data. The state gets $2.19 in federal funding for every dollar paid in federal income taxes. In contrast, New Jersey, which is the least-dependent state, gets only about 50 cents in federal funding for every dollar paid in taxes, WalletHub calculated. 

The analysis found that red states, or those that voted Republican in the 2012 presidential election, were much more likely to depend on the government than blue states. 

That's somewhat ironic, considering the Republican Party's general reluctance to support federally funded initiatives like Medicaid expansion, and its long-term dedication to across-the-board budget cuts to slash the federal deficit.

The Unhealthiest States

The top 10 unhealthiest states are all Republican. Big surprise.

Who needs health care!

Unhealthiest States

Indiana
South Carolina
Alabama
West Virginia
Tennessee
Oklahoma
Kentucky
Louisiana
Arkansas
Mississippi

Red States Are Most Dependent On Federal Government

10 States Most Dependent on the Federal Government

10. Arizona
9. South Dakota
8. West Virginia
7. Tennessee
6. Montana
5. Maine
4. Louisiana
3. Alabama
2. New Mexico
1. Mississippi

Red State Welfare Queens

 

[source]

Unions, Public Sector & Wages

Yet more reporting/research debunking the claims of an oversized public workforce and of overpaid public workers.

GOP's State Project Of Slashing The Public Workforce
Red States See Massive Public Sector Job Losses
Unions & The Wage-Productivity Gap
Union Wage Advantage: Myth Or Reality?

For Further Reading:
About Those Public Workers
Deferred Wages
Plutocrats In A Bubble
Public Disregard
Reality & Public Sector Compensation
The Undercompensated Public Employee
We're All Workers

Welfare

Disrobing The Welfare Queen

Red States Are Welfare Queens

What's The Matter With Poverty?

What do the poorest counties in the U.S. have in common?

They're all red.