More Like This Please

Ezra has a map (via the Fourth Branch) showing which states receive more than a $1 back in terms of federal funding for every $1 they spend in taxes versus those states that receive less than a $1. Personally, I would have titled the post a little differently (he calls it the red state ripoff, but it's not a ripoff - it's how federalism works - we're all in this together). And various commenters make excellent points about the subtlety of federal funding (for instance, how do you quantify federal tax dollars that support the CDC? technically those are dollars going to GA, but that's spending that benefits the entire country). But my point is, this is an excellent visualization of the already-occurring (and, I would argue, necessary) redistribution of money happening in our country. No one here is truly self-sufficient, making it on their own, pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. I'm just so tired of people wailing about big government and how bad that is and then completely failing to acknowledge just how much they're sucking off big government's teat.