Why then am I supporting myself and paying taxes and my neighbors playing video games and getting checks for doing nothing! New Jersey is a welfare state!

Endless theft. But yes if we reform our economy we could put both on a sound basis.

Excellent point, jb, Lots more states are somehow getting more than they pay. If true, its a recipe for disaster.

I know that and now others are paying mine - fine! ALL I said was I wanted ALL I paid + interest, back. That does not change the fact that SS & Medicare are monies that I paid in - Welfare, WIC and all the other handouts are not monies paid in by the recipients.

"a return to states rights where each state can impose it own taxes if it so desires."
Yes. This is how Thomas Jefferson imagined it would always be.

hear hear

Actually you paid for other people's Social Security and Medicare. Neither are a real insurance or savings program.

I came to the same conclusion as Sara Robinson a decade ago, minus her snide predictions about which places would be better. Let's just leave people alone to live their own way.

OK, the north is supreme so says this self appointed guru. Let's take him up on his offer, let's quit taking money from the "producers". I propose that the red states quit paying federal taxes of all kinds and the blues can do what they want with their money. I also propose a return to states rights where each state can impose it own taxes if it so desires. Something must be wrong with the system if every child in Alabama is so warped and undereducated to the quality of the northern schools. Let's also have two currencies, the north can keep their US dollars and the red states can print their dollars called US Red Dollars. Let the market pace decide which has more value. Surely we ignorant res staters have no chance and therefore how could they possibly turn this down? They are so used to cramming their utopian way of thinking down our throats that they can't see the misery that they have inflicted on people. It funny how most all of the big northern cities are imploding because of debt and they are all run by democrats. Well we red staters say keep your money and we'll be glad to have our rights back that they have stolen from us.

The chart is flawed because they include Social Security and Medicare - I PAID FOR THOSE - give me all my money back (along with my employer's contribution plus compound interest - since it was part of my compensation) and I will be very happy!

It amazes me that what seems patently obvious is some kind of new idea: "By way of a modest proposal, I hereby declare the birth of a new Progressive Objectivism — a frankly producerist personal-responsibility crusade aimed at getting these whiny red leeches off our collective blue hide."

I agree wholeheartedly with her but not her end goal. I don't want rural places to discover how badly they need monies from liberal urban areas. I would actually prefer to keep the wealth here. Rural areas can keep their mining, farming, paper mills, etc. Liberal urban areas can keep their biotech, software development, private equity firms, etc. People can always move back and forth, work remote, make money and then retire to a rural area, etc. We don't need gov't to spread the wealth around.

Political ideologues don't want this, though. They want gov't to carry on being a huge percentage of GDP and to carry on making money by calling each other names like children.

Interesting that the author NEVER mentions that the "tax base" is being stolen from them through force...
As I told a friend if mine: "Tell them that we will do just fine without them...they won't be able to eat without us!"

I think that something is very "fishy" with these "numbers". Several years ago I asked a guy high up in Maryland government bureaucracy what is the main basis of Maryland. His answer: defense, health and education. You do not need to guess who foots the bill for most of those activities. How is that fitting in the "producers" category? The author is good at lying.

The population centers skew political voting also. My district is mostly rural but we have Santa Fe, which is very liberal (the People's Republic of Santa Fe), so we have a Democrat as our Representative. The Western District has Albuquerque and Rio Rancho, also liberal, so they have Dem also. The only district that is red is the southern district and that is because it almost part of Texas, big oil and gas country (Permian Basin), Fort Hood, White Sands, and Holloman AFB. The big 3, Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Rio Rancho skew the political landscape to the left and that is the major reason we could not oust the other Udall from the Senate.

But the middle might.

But I don't think they are counting the federal labs and AFBs as government benefits. They are counting them as producers.

It's simply this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies,_damne...

Oh go post that in the comments!

After I was done reading this North Korea-style puke, I could not help noticing that the socialists are now attempting to hijack another descriptive term and destroy it. Just like they hijacked "liberal" and "democratic," they are now trying to destroy "Objectivism" with "Progressive Objectivism." Never mind that it is a meaningless oxymoron; the purpose is to confuse and destroy. Don't let the parasites have this one.

Even if she were a total fraud and we could prove it on her, the lefties simply wouldn't listen. They've already decided which news sources to trust, and it isn't the trustworthy ones.

If lefties want to "go Galt", they'll have to enact the same kinds of measures we would, namely, they'll have to reduce or take away the feds' ability to transfer money from one state to another. Let them go on thinking it will hurt us. The more they do it, the better.

Sara Robinson - You have convinced us! Please now go do what you said. Even if it leaves us unprepared and trying to clean up the fallen house of cards that is a century in the making. Just do it! Let the cards fall as they may.

It will be better in the long run.

Jan

The author is absolutely NOT a moron. She is misguided, and perhaps evil in using data to manipulate the masses. Unless we just want to shrug, we need to learn to illustrate the facts to prove our point.
We need to unwind her arguments and wipe out her credibility.

The first major assumption she makes is that red states are supporters of Rand. Red is republican, and the platform of that party is not equivalent to Ayn Rand's, either fiscal or social. As often as not these states are stronger supporters of social conservatism than fiscal conservatism.
Another key point is these benefits are the result of years of legislation, not an instant. Go back and redraw this map in 2008-9, and lets see what it shows.
Then what are the actual constituents of "payments"? I notice Indian costs are in, but it appears roads, military bases, payments to defense contractors, grants, renewable subsidies... and all other costs of government are missing. for example, we all know Obama-friendly states, like Massachusetts, got inconsistently high sums from the stimulus fund.

I know there are many more. This is the fight. They are good at it. We have to get better! The fact that Ayn is coming up in the news more than ever is a clear indication these manipulators of the masses are scared.

The thing that no one has noticed is how, regardless of red or blue or purple, the average paid out in benefits exceeds that paid in taxes. WTF!

Wow! I'm fascinated and shocked that there are Progressives out there who actually think that they can take credit for being "Producers." They are actually more like the Wesley Mouch and Jim Taggarts of the world. I have always worn many hats, many years ago when I was an aspiring Front-Man Lead Singer for a Rock'n'Roll band, I wrote a song called S.O.S. (Strike on Society) which really fits in with the idea of Producers just Shrugging on everyone. In reality, its just Lyrics because I was never able to master the Guitar to be able to put music to them, and I was eventually kicked out of my own Rock Band shortly after we performed a cover of Motley Crue's "She's Got the Looks that Kill" at our High School Talent Show because I really could not sing at, just yell and scream at the top of my lungs. (But it sounded good anyway just because our two guitarists and our drummer was highly talented.) I ended up becoming a successfull Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) and have had the opportunity to serve as an Advisor and Right-Hand Man to many different Producers throughout my career. I also serve as volunteer Treasurer/Bookkeeper for the Tea Party Patriot/Christian-Faith-based group Founders Values that seeks to educate the public on the values of the Founding Fathers such as George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson and Constitutional Values and restore them to the Public Interest. and Consiousness. In my free time I am working on inventing the Prototype for a Family Board Game which I have shared with the Leadership Team at Founders Values.