re: "Americans, if you had to trade an American state out, which state would it be?"

quote:

---

Where would Alabama's subsidies from the federal government come from then?

I love how tons of southerners talk about how much they "hate" liberal states like California and New York, when those states are the ones that keep states like Alabama afloat.

---

I hear that line a lot, i.e., "Rich states subsidize poor (mostly southern) states." It usually gets extrapolated to say "Blue states subsidize red states".

Honest question: Where is the data to support that the actual balance of payments is blue states paying more and red states taking more? I have looked (for a whole almost 2 minutes), but couldn't find it.

EDIT: Never mind. I found this. As they say, TGFMs.

EDIT 2: Then again, I want to know more about the specific methodology before I accept this. Looks like states like Texas get penalized for having large military bases, and I am not sure what value a blanket category like "federal funding" does. Welfare and medical research are both "federal funding", but hardly the same thing when it comes to measuring dependence.