STOP RED STATE WELFARE!

From "The Great Divide: Retro vs. Metro America" by John Sperling.

Retronomics is supported by two pillars:
(1) the extraction industries—agriculture, oil, gas, metals mining, and forestry—and (2) national political power based on the alliance between the Southern, Prairie, and Rocky Mountain states. This political power ensures a flow of subsidies for the extraction industries and the siting of federal facilities—military bases, shipyards, atomic energy, and military testing grounds—that in turn ensure a flow of payments for personnel and maintenance. Altogether,
the excess of these payments over tax revenue collected amounted to just under a trillion dollars in the decade 1991–2001. They constitute welfare for the rich and middle class in Retro America, while Republicans do everything in their power to eliminate
welfare for the Metro poor. In short, Retro America prospers because it is on the dole and aggressively anti-Metro.

The Metro winners are Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. The Retro losers are Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas. The 30 winners win largely because they receive subsidies
for their extraction industries and/or funding for national defense, including atomic energy. Among the Metro winners, Arizona and Florida receive agricultural subsidies but also significant Social Security payments. Alabama was first in the winner column,
taking in more than $100 billion beyond what it paid in taxes in the decade. Texas was the only Retro state that was a significant loser, but its losses were dwarfed by the big Metro losers. California led the way, paying $253.5 billion over what it received in subsidies. But California was not alone as a big loser: Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and even little Connecticut had losses of more than a hundred billion dollars.

http://www.retrovsmetro.org/downloads/chpfull/ch2_full.pdf