Historically, among the country’s wealthiest states in per capita income are New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Because taxes are sky-high in these deep-blue states, they are losing their citizens’ tax base at a rapid pace. Florida is gaining 1,000 people a day from the northeastern states.
Moreover, the northeastern states engaged in the tightest economic lockdowns and forced business closures earlier this year. They decapitated their own businesses.
And for what? New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts have had by far the highest death rates from the virus. So, no lives were saved.
Now, these states are teetering on bankruptcy thanks to the virus and their inept leadership, which has led to gaping holes in their budgets. Governors such as Andrew Cuomo of New York and Phil Murphy of New Jersey are begging Washington for money to pay off the massive debts they racked up. Cuomo said his state is $30 billion in the red this year. Congratulations.
Nancy Pelosi wants $1 trillion for states and cities even though many are not in financial distress. At least a dozen states, including Nebraska, Iowa, Arizona, Texas, Utah, and Idaho, have already balanced their budgets. South Dakota, with Gov. Kristi Noem at the helm, managed to record a budget surplus.
No one on the Left seems to see the irony and unfairness that poor Alabama, Tennessee, or South Dakota residents are getting asked to bail out rich Connecticut and Illinois residents. A measure that will worsen income inequality is the top priority for Democrats around the country.
What makes this plea for federal handouts even more outrageous is that the states already received some $225 billion in Uncle Sam’s aid earlier this year. The American Legislative Exchange Council, the state legislative group, found that less than half of those dollars have been spent yet. So much for this money being a “stimulus.”
Governors such as Cuomo and Murphy are threatening that they will have to lay off school teachers, nurses, and first responders if they don’t get their money. Why is that? There are billions of dollars of state and local budgets that could be pruned to balance budgets without having to cut vital services. They could start by reining in their $4 trillion unfunded pension plans for government workers.
Maybe we need to send lawmakers in the blue states to places such as Texas and Utah to find out how to balance their budgets without raising taxes or federal bailouts.
This whole debate about a blue-state bailout gives aid to state and local government employees. The Democrats care a lot more about government workers such as the teachers unions because they are prominent check writers to the Democratic Party. But what about private sector workers? Private workers were twice as likely during the deadliest months of the pandemic to get laid off than government workers. Local governments just hired close to 100,000 additional workers last month even as major cities are slashing police.
What makes far more sense than a state bailout is a tax cut for all workers. A payroll tax cut puts money into the hands of all workers. The public prefers that idea to the blue-state bailout, but Democrats are the party of government, and they want more of it.
