And then there's the windfall from the stimulus bill itself. As a recent analysis in the Wall Street Journal ("After Voting No, Republicans Tout Funds") showed, Alaska was near the top of the list in several areas of ARRA spending
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Editor's Note: Not sayin' Republicans have a monopoly on the Hypocrisy Market, just sayin' Republicans have been among the loudest and harshest critics of federal earmarks and the stimulus program.
As a 2007 analysis of federal spending per tax dollar received by state shows, the reddest states generally reaped the most green. Eight of the top 10 beneficiaries of federal largesse voted for John McCain for President. Unsurprisingly, all 10 states at the bottom of the list - those whose outflow of tax revenue is funding programs elsewhere in the country - all voted for Barack Obama in 2008.The data for Sarah Palin's Alaska (type in Alaska in the graph search window) is particularly telling. Back in the early 1980's, Alaska was a net contributor of tax revenue to the federal government in Washington, DC. But in recent years, the state has been the beneficiary of a massive geographic transfer of wealth from the Lower 48. By 2005, Alaska ranked third in feeding at the federal trough, taking in $1.84 from Washington for each dollar sent there. That performance puts Sarah Palin between fellow stimulus refuseniks Haley Barbour of Mississippi ($2.02 payback on each dollar) and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana ($1.78) atop the charts.
But when it comes to earmarks, the woman who mythically said "thanks, but no thanks" to the Bridge to Nowhere almost always says, "yes." In the $410 billion omnibus spending bill passed this spring by Congress, Palin's Alaska led the nation in per capita earmark spending. Alaskans hauled in almost $210 per person in earmarks, while Californians got $16 and New Yorkers $13 in comparison.
And then there's the windfall from the stimulus bill itself. As a recent analysis in the Wall Street Journal ("After Voting No, Republicans Tout Funds") showed, Alaska was near the top of the list in several areas of ARRA spending. Alaska ranked #1 among the states in the per capita allocation of $72 billion in education funds contained in the stimulus bill. The state came in second as a per capita recipient of housing (HUD) funds, anti-crime spending and money for job training. For per person spending on water projects and health care, Alaska is third and 10th, respectively.
2 comments:
The stimulus bill was a Democrat creation and the Republican run States are shameless in their accepting of the money, which was stolen from the citizens. Perry, Barbour, Jindal and Palin should hang their heads in shame. This is exactly why the Republican Party is in shambles today. Not to mention that Governors of both parties took the money, which stimulated absolutely nothing. Since the Democrats are in power, the main blame belongs with them.
Oh, so you want to play the blame game, huh? As Ronald Reagan would say, "Well, there you go again." If I recall correctly your President Strategery handed out billions in rebate checks which didn't last two minutes in the pockets of taxpayers and did absolutely nothing to relieve the economic depression that he and his all-republican merry band of thieves created. Don't forget the $16 billion annual socialized subsidy to big pharma. And the billions more to socialized big oil. Then there was Mr. Strategery's 11th hour crawling on his knees to congress to beg for the first 100 billion dollar Wall Street bailout. Said the global economy was about to collapse. Let's not forget who got us into this gigantic mess in the first place, and who the real private sector socialists are. I sure won't forget. GOP should be changed to GOH, Grand Old Hypocrites. I blame the republicans first and foremost. Shameful, do-nothings all.
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