GoonSquad
Gadfly or Fly Food?
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Age: 43
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 Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 10:57 am Post subject: Which U.S. counties rely most on government benefits? |
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CLICK!
Interactive Map
| Quote: | Some of the key findings:
• In some of the country's poorest areas -- eastern Kentucky, northern Michigan, south Texas on the Mexican border, and parts of Arizona and New Mexico -- benefits account for over 40 percent of all income.
• Social Security is by far the largest single government benefit program, accounting for nearly 6 cents out of every dollar taken in by Americans in 2009. Not surprisingly, it makes up an especially large share of income in retirement havens like Sarasota, Fla., the Carolina coast, and parts of Arizona.
• Unemployment benefits play a relatively small role in the overall government safety net. They accounted for just 1.1 percent of all income, or about 6 percent of all benefits income. They're most relied upon, of course, in areas hit hard by the jobs crisis -- southern Oregon, northern Michigan, central Pennsylvania, and Nevada.
One additional point: As an accompanying story noted, many of the counties that are most dependent on these benefits are rural, and lean politically conservative. It wasn't hard for the paper to find residents who decry the growth of the government safety net -- while relying on it themselves. |
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NorthPark
Velociraptor
Joined: Dec 23, 2011
Age: 17
Posts: 440
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 11:24 am Post subject: |
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I'm surprised that Alameda County, CA isn't dark. They harbor one of the most dangerous cities in the US. It's probably because that county is too liberal. So I'm thinking, politically tainted info because the NYT is a paper that usually leans to the left. 
Another surprise, LA County. Sure, they have Hollywood, millionaire celebrities, and Liberal politics, but it's home to Bloods, Crips, the gang war between the two, a lot of hoes (prostitutes) and the Ghetto-est ghetto in the US.
So the "statistics" in this map, while may be true, may be wielded for political reasons. Just making a point here .
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visagrunt
Polymath
Joined: Oct 17, 2009
Age: 45
Posts: 5754
Location: Vancouver, BC
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| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 4:00 pm Post subject: |
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It's interesting, in so far as it goes.
But consider--government moves money out the door in three principal ways:
1) Wages and benefits. Public sector employees live directly off of public sector payments. These aren't the "benefits" that are being studied here, but when government sets up a service centre in a particular location, the wages and benefits paid for those employees have a direct economic impact on the location.
2) Contracts. Many employers survive on the basis of contracts for government. When government buys 100,000,000 paper clips from a factory in the middle of nowhere, that's a lot of economic impact that gets created.
3) Direct Transfers. This is government putting money in the hands of individuals and organizations with no expectation of a return of services (i.e. there is no purchase of goods or services). Welfare, Social Security, Indian band program support, state and local government transfers all fall with this rubric.
I think it's a big mistake to look at transfers to individuals in isolation from other public sector spending. While buying 100,000,000 paper clips involves an exchange of value, and the creation of employment, that is not necessarily "better" public sector spending than fiscal transfers under entitlement programs. Government procurement can be intensely distortive to the marketplace, and that becomes all the moreso when government procurement decisions are made on the basis of demographic considerations.
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unduki
Phoenix
Joined: Oct 22, 2011
Posts: 651
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| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 4:07 pm Post subject: |
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Cool interactive map.
You can see where all the old people live.
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John_Browning
ON A LIST SOMEWHERE
Joined: Mar 23, 2009
Posts: 4456
Location: The shooting range
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| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 5:22 pm Post subject: |
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The map also shows the highest unemployment tends to be in more liberal regions, so at least the conservatives are able to give back to society and help sustain that system until a better regional economy can develop. Everybody over 65 and some disabled people get medicare so that's not a conservative thing. I've never heard of anyone enjoying SSI but their other option is to starve in the street, but they can't improve themselves and get a self-supporting job so that is not a matter of political affiliation. Regular social security is earned and saved, so it is their money and they are entitled to it regardless of political affiliation.
That map is just a New York Times hitpiece. The rural regions' need for government services could be reduced to varying degrees with the removal of job-killing liberal red tape! Then alien invader sanctuary states will have the larger percentage of government services being used.
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