02/13/2012
Aaron CarrollThere was a story in the NYT this weekend on the disconnect between people’s desire to see less government spending in handouts versus the amount they receive. Paul Krugman had a quick post on that this morning, with an accompanying chart.
I actually did a post on this last year, where I charted this exact idea along with political leanings. Unfortunately, my data were a bit old. If anyone would like to send me more current data, I’d be happy to remake that chart!
by bjcefola on February 13th, 2012 at 11:37
Instead of tax outlays, how about charting based on over/under spending on Medicare? I’m thinking of this
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1113059
by Gary on February 13th, 2012 at 19:48
Glad that someone finally showed how states with the largest percentage of Blacks and Hispanics get the largest amount of government assistance. Can you imagine: Krugman thinks the issue is political affiliation and that he’s disclosed a paradox! Imagine!
by ibotobob on February 14th, 2012 at 05:38
I’ve always wondered if regressive taxes are to blame for the paradox that poor people would vote for less taxes despite the relatively large handouts they receive. To them the burden of taxes is much more real than for, say, Mitt Romney or, say for a less extreme example, an average university professor.