I've been wonking out a bit over this figure from the Rockefeller Institute, showing rich states in the Northeast heavily subsidizing Trump states. What underlies it? 1/ pic.twitter.com/QhsfjNJ68R— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) June 30, 2019
The feds spend slightly more per capita in poor states, presumably bc of means-tested programs like Medicaid and food stamps (and the Medicaid formula also means the feds pay a higher proportion in poor states) 3/— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) June 30, 2019
The result is that we engage in huge redistribution to poor states. This redistribution doesn't just support incomes, it supports jobs: people spend that money on health care, social services, retail. We don't explicitly aid declining regions, but in practice we do, massively 5/— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) June 30, 2019
The irony, of course, is that voters in these states support a political party that is determined to destroy this whole system. A low-tax, low-benefit federal government would basically leave WV, KY, AL, MI economic wastelands 6/— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) June 30, 2019
