States

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by PaulS

I've pointed out how your conclusion is totally wrong. I've always posted many stats here how the liberal states are much better than the conserve. states on a lot of things other than taxes.

"am all for helping out other states/people"

I know you are, I do.

"But to not recognize that money is flowing from the richer liberal states to the poorer conservatives states is asinine"

I also agree with that. But in this case, what set McConnell off, was a state senator in IL asking for money specifically to fund state pensions. That's a state issue, not a federal issue.

The states with good balance sheets didn't get there easily, you have to make tough choices to pull that off. Our state made different choices, and we own 100% of the responsibilities for that.

I'm not sure it's KY's fault (entirely) that it's not like us. To a fair extent, our wealth comes from our blind luck of being so close to Manhattan. That's an oversimplification, as people in KY are more likely to make choices that lead to poverty than people in CT are. But for sure, we did hit the lottery by virtue of being a state with nice coastline that's commutable to Manhattan. Did we earn that, or was it blind luck?

Before the income tax, CT was known as "the land of steady habits", because we did so many things right. Then we had income tax revenue, and casino revenue, and it was ringing the dinner bell for the crooks in the union and their stooges in the legislature, most of whom are democrats. Now we are the land of the spending orgy.