What exactly is the implication here? I'm not sure I understand why it matters. As a New Mexico resident I can understand how we top the list. For a state of population of just two million people, we have two national laboratories, three air bases, and a missile range, all of which employ thousands. For whatever reason the Feds located those things here, and it's not like they're only doing work that benefits New Mexico. Is this supposed to mean that New Mexico is leaching off the federal government? As a devil's advocate I could say that New Mexico is providing a disproportionate amount of the work that goes into maintaining the nation's needs, so we could just as easily say that other states aren't carrying their share of the load.
I don't know exactly what it means, but it seems odd to me that the states that are most heavily Republican receive the most federal gifts. It's almost as if their reality of "things going great" is favorably tainted by the very thing they rally against. I'm not sure if it's informed, and therefore admirable, or ignorant and hypocritical.
Interesting. I am sure it has a lot to do with what states' congressmen lobby the hardest for fed money to be spent in their state. I am hesitant to call it all gifts though... there's a lot of people here who work for that money. Government research (and associated contracting) is our biggest industry. Without that we'd have nothing but indian reservations and broke ranchers. So it is definitely good for our state, but it's not a giveaway, this state is doing a huge amount of work for the government. The fact that it's often a red state doesn't surprise me though... those guys love defense contracting.
3 comments:
What exactly is the implication here? I'm not sure I understand why it matters. As a New Mexico resident I can understand how we top the list. For a state of population of just two million people, we have two national laboratories, three air bases, and a missile range, all of which employ thousands. For whatever reason the Feds located those things here, and it's not like they're only doing work that benefits New Mexico. Is this supposed to mean that New Mexico is leaching off the federal government? As a devil's advocate I could say that New Mexico is providing a disproportionate amount of the work that goes into maintaining the nation's needs, so we could just as easily say that other states aren't carrying their share of the load.
I don't know exactly what it means, but it seems odd to me that the states that are most heavily Republican receive the most federal gifts. It's almost as if their reality of "things going great" is favorably tainted by the very thing they rally against. I'm not sure if it's informed, and therefore admirable, or ignorant and hypocritical.
Interesting. I am sure it has a lot to do with what states' congressmen lobby the hardest for fed money to be spent in their state. I am hesitant to call it all gifts though... there's a lot of people here who work for that money. Government research (and associated contracting) is our biggest industry. Without that we'd have nothing but indian reservations and broke ranchers. So it is definitely good for our state, but it's not a giveaway, this state is doing a huge amount of work for the government. The fact that it's often a red state doesn't surprise me though... those guys love defense contracting.
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