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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
IIRC, NC's 2016 (400 million-ish)surplus was credited more to the fact that the state pursued tax collection much more aggressively than they had before. Especially among the poor Mc Crory's sales tax increase was also thoroughly reviled and probably cost him a few voters in the end.
Under Mc Crory the surplus never really made it back into the economy either. Instead he put it into what he called a "rainy day fund" with a very loose interpretation of what counted as a rainy day. We'll see how things change,if at all, under the new guy.
edited 30th Apr '17 6:56:27 AM by carbon-mantis
My local newspaper (Reading Eagle) ran a front-page story today covering Trump's "first 100 days" rally in Harrisburg, with a picture showing him in front of a ginormous banner proclaiming: "PROMISES MADE — PROMISES KEPT."
Oh, puh-leeze. I think I'm going to be violently ill.
The Great Pumpkinhead has made lots of grandiose promises, but to the best of my knowledge, he hasn't lived up to a single one of them. Ever, in his entire life.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank.From The Daily Beast, "Outside the Bubble", The Arrogance of Blue America
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It argues that blue policies have really hurt red areas. I wonder how true this is.
Ironically, many of the most exploited people reside in blue states and cities. Both segregation and impoverishment has worsened during the decades-long urban “comeback,” as even longtime urban enthusiast Richard Florida now notes. Chicago, with its soaring crime rates and middle class out-migration, amidst a wave of elite corporate relocations, epitomizes the increasingly unequal tenor of blue societies.
In contrast the most egalitarian places, like Utah, tend to be largely Trump-friendly. Among the 10 states (and D.C.) with the most income inequality, seven supported Clinton in 2016, while seven of the 10 most equal states supported Trump.
If you want to see worst impacts of blue policies, go to those red regions—like upstate New York—controlled by the blue bourgeoise. Backwaters like these tend to be treated at best as a recreational colony that otherwise can depopulate, deindustrialize, and in general fall apart. In California, much of the poorer interior is being left to rot by policies imposed by a Bay Area regime hostile to suburban development, industrial growth, and large scale agriculture.
Is any of this true? Why or why not?
edited 30th Apr '17 8:15:26 AM by BonsaiForest
The part on housing shortages is partly true insofar as blue areas tend to have that problem. Alas, if memory serves often Republican voters tend to be particularly bad about it, at least in San Diego.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman![]()
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One of the big advantages red-states have is that they are typically much cheaper then their blue-state counterparts, because of lower taxes, lower property values, etc. It's something that red states love to tout in order to bring more people in.
What often doesn't get said is that job opportunities and wages in these areas are much more middling or even stagnant, and also public services are much weaker as well. You would be hard pressed to find a red state metropolitan area with decent mass-transit or sometimes even roadways (see Atlanta highway fire and collapse).
edited 30th Apr '17 8:30:57 AM by Mio
The example of an egalitarian state is Utah. Uh, Utah is kind of weird for a red state, because the state government is dominated by the Mormons. Culturally it's not the same as, say, Missouri. Utah is a red state yes, but it can't be held up as an example of all red states.
It doesn't help that a lot of those things mentioned as downsides of blue states are just a part of having a major metropolitan area.
edited 30th Apr '17 9:02:30 AM by Zendervai
Attorney General Jeff Sessions signals to Colorado Governor that he may not go after Recreational Marijuana.
He even is reported to have said the Cole Memorandum, an Obama era Executive Order that makes Federal Law enforcers ignore State-Legal Marijuana use, is 'not far from a Good Policy.'
That'd be nice if it's true, but the Trump Administration really likes to Flip Flop a lot, so I'm not sure if he's just saying that, or if he means it but will change later, or if he means it and won't go after it at all, or what...
edited 30th Apr '17 9:15:56 AM by DingoWalley1
Republicans maintain their hold on these areas despite their policies being objectively worse for the people living there in two ways. First, social issues. Rural areas lean conservative on social issues for a variety of reasons, and this means they align more with Republicans with Democrats. Second, propaganda. Republicans have very successfully convinced rural America than Democratic economic policy doesn't benefit them, it steals from them to benefit other people. This attitude is largely rooted in conscious or unconscious racism — it began back in the 1960s, when there was a huge backlash among working-class white people against the Civil Rights Movement (a social issue, as I mentioned above). The Republican party used what's called the "Southern Strategy" to flip areas (mostly in the South, thus the name) that had voted largely Democratic on economic platforms to vote largely Republican on social platforms... by convincing them that they were doing so on an economic platform. This is where a very large number of racist dogwhistles (like "welfare queen" and "thug") comes from.
More specifically, though the article mentions "economic equality", it doesn't mention that most of the more-equal places it's talking about are more equal because they're universally poor.
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.Donald Trump on if he could start war with North Korea: 'I don't know. I mean, we'll see
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!
New Survey coming this weekend!![]()
Well that's just delightful, and somehow Hillary was the warmonger. Everyday he weakens our national interests, god I loath the GOP base.
edited 30th Apr '17 10:31:45 AM by Fourthspartan56
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangOn the blue states bankrolling red states funding, while that does seem to be overwhelmingly true, I'd image that would still be the case even if the tax system was reformed to be overwhelmingly progressive. What with the likes of California, New Jersey and New York, and the New England, overwhelming having the most super wealthy, and even just high income people.
I understand the complaint gets lodged because of the irony of the situation, but the implication that taxation should be 1:1 always struck me as weird with what most liberals say (and believe) on the actual reasons for taxes.
I get that there are other factors involved, but it strikes me as the likes of "the blue states would be better off as their own countries because they give more money" bit, which apparently much more complicated than that statement implies.
edited 30th Apr '17 11:29:56 AM by LSBK
I never interpreted it as complaining, just that they complain about the Liberals and Liberal policy while heavily relying on both. So many Liberals notice the irony. And I highly doubt that blue states being their own country is in any way a non-fringe position.
edited 30th Apr '17 11:31:24 AM by Fourthspartan56
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang

She cited North Carolina as a state that cut individual and corporate tax rates while expanding the sales tax base.
However, she said, tax revenue ‘‘is just one side of the equation. If you just cut tax revenue but don’t cut spending, the state of course is going to have a budget issue.’’
edited 30th Apr '17 6:29:28 AM by CenturyEye
Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives