What direction should the Country take?
By bobmnu
@bobmnu (8157)
United States
November 29, 2012 1:27am CST
The founding fathers had an idea that the states could do things differently and if people liked one way over another they could move to that state. Now the media has divided the country into Red States and Blue States. One of the differences is that people in Red States tend to favor lower taxes and less government while the Blue States favor more government control and are willing to pay higher taxes as a result. This gives us a chance to see which system works best. According to an article in USA Today people who live in Red States tend to be making greater economic gains and have seen a greater gain in individual income over the past few years, while those in Blue States have seen a much smaller growth and smaller increases in individual income.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-09-26/red-blue-states-income-economy/57846600/1
Then there is another article in 24/7 Wall Street a financial newsletter that lists the best run and worst run state based on several factors explained in the article. Of the top 10 best run states 6 are Red States, 2 Blue States and 2 swing states and the top 10 worst run states show 4 blue states, 3 red states and 3 swing states.
http://247wallst.com/2012/11/27/the-best-and-worst-run-states-in-america-a-survey-of-all-50/
It seems as though we are being told that the government can do it better for almost everything but is that what the facts are showing us?
1 person likes this
5 responses
@knoodleknight18 (917)
• United States
30 Nov 12
I think it would be nice if states were run significantly differently but that just doesn't happen any more. They're all this homogenous mix of whatever looked good, and whatever was pushed at the federal level. I don't even think the difference in states reflect the so-called politics of the parties. For instance of the 5 states that don't have a sales tax, only 1 of them is actually, quite the opposite of what you would expect. There are lot of other interesting things too, next time you look at a more objective list, like per capita income by state, look at the color of the states as well.
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
1 Dec 12
The Federal Government has been holding the State Governments hostage with matching funds for a long time.
But now we see State governments saying we will NOT implement Obamacare. WHY? Because the citizens VOTED not to. I'm waiting to see how it all plays out. What will the Federal Government do? Use force? Bribe them to change their minds? And how will the citizens react to either one of those scenarios? Things are fixing to get real interesting in America.
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
30 Nov 12
The less government control over each person's private life would be how I ranked them.
Economic opportunity considered second.
@mensab (4200)
• Philippines
29 Nov 12
i think the economics is pretty much affected by politics. what happens in a country has something to do with the kind of governance that country is implementing. at this time of crisis, i think the ideology of the republicans are more suitable to the economy in decline because the people want lower taxes to keep their money to themselves to fend of the crisis. the government can only do so much.
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
29 Nov 12
Bob, it isn't just the news media that is dividing the country, it is also our political parties, and we as Americans.
I would like to know how they figured out how good a state is run. I personally would think that if your poverty percentage is over 15% your state isn't managed well. But, this list doesn't consider that to be that important. Mississippi is ranked 40th with the highest poverty rate in the country. The lowest ranked state is California which of all of the categories, they only lead the country in unemployment (shockingly they don't lead the country in debt). These ranks are so objective that you usually have to look at one category, because taking all of them into account creates a list based on the bias of the author. I really don't waste my time on list like this, but thanks for information.
@Jeffery_superman (179)
• China
30 Nov 12
It is a very obvious reflection for the government to think about why government control will not spur the economy and individual income.
If the regional economy wants to be elevated, we need to build an open market and a loose foreign trade policy. With more interference by the govenment, the fewer opportunities the private co. can get to exert their energy. While if less control was pressured on the private ones, their development will be restricted under all kinds of policies. We know that the private sectors are the main army yo provide quantities of jobs to the new graduators. If they are not given enough attention, fewer positons will be offered, thus influencing the individual income finally.
Proper govenment control is need, but how to make the contrl produce economic benefits is a real subject for the politicians to consider.
