Newsom Lets Loose On GOP Trashing Blue Cities: We Create '71% of the Country's GDP'

[SickOfTheOnePct]

15. I think there needs to be more clarity...

...on the type of spending that places states into the taker category.

Take West Virginia (red state), for example. Median income of ~$32,000, population of ~1.8 million, ~1,200 active duty military members, and ~26,000 federal employees

Low income, small population -> not much going to the federal government in taxes
Small federal/military workforce (~1.5%) -> not much coming into the state for federal/military salaries

Based on these numbers, it's fair to assume that the ~$20 billion that WV received in excess of what they paid in 2023 was weighted heavily towards social programs (TANF, SNAP, Medicaid, etc.)

Now look at Hawaii (blue state).

Median income of ~$44,000, population of ~1.5 million, ~55,000 active duty military members, and ~25,000 federal employees.

Low income, small population -> not much going to the federal government in taxes
Decent size federal/military workforce (~5.3%) -> larger amount of money into the state for federal/military salaries

Based on those numbers, it's fair to assume that the ~$11 billion that HI received in excess of what they paid in 2023 was weighted much less towards social programs than the money in WV.

All of this is just to say that it's not enough to look at the numbers, we have to look at what's behind the numbers, because all taker states are not created equal as to why they're taker states.