Example of Federal Government Subsidizing a Hostile Red State

Another oldie that seems worth posting as evidence of this conventionally downplayed data point. 

The federal government provides a lot of support to U.S. citizens via Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid; even poor states receive the full benefit of these programs. But poor states pay relatively little in federal taxes, which support these programs. So the result is huge federal aid to lower-income states. Here, for 2022, are federal spending and tax receipts from West Virginia (excluding Covid-related programs), as percentages of the state’s gross domestic product:

Rockefeller Institute, Bureau of Economic Analysis

In effect, the state received “foreign aid” from wealthier states of almost 12 percent of GDP, which is huge. Paul Krugman, NY Times