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The states in the US may vary, but so do regions in Spain and other countries. And the differences are often way bigger than between any pair of states. It wou

by kukx 10y ago

The states in the US may vary, but so do regions in Spain and other countries. And the differences are often way bigger than between any pair of states. It would be more unfair to compare separate US states with European countries. While US states share a common fate, the same can't be said about say Germany and Greece even though they are both in the EU.

duaneb 10y ago
> The states in the US may vary, but so do regions in Spain and other countries. From whose perspective? A us state, Spain, or a third party?
- angry-hacker 10y ago
  Probably he referred to Spain's situation where several regions want independence and they also happen to be wealthiest - Basque country and Catalunya. They have their own culture and own language. That happens inside (!!! ) a country in Europe .
  - NetStrikeForce 10y ago
    No, it's more about the GDP per capita difference between Matadepera (58k EUR) and Montefrío (9k EUR), both Spanish towns. Source: http://www.lavanguardia.com/vangdata/20150520/54431341415/ranking-municipios-ricos-pobres-espana.html http://www.lavanguardia.com/vangdata/20150520/54431341415/ra...
acchow 10y ago
> While US states share a common fate Can you elaborate on what you mean by this? Individual US states are pretty close to sovereign. Other than ability to tax and a few other things, the US federal government doesn't have much power.
- kukx 10y ago
  > Individual US states are pretty close to sovereign. Other than ability to tax and a few other things, the US federal government doesn't have much power. But the idea of the geographical transfer of resources is there. While Texas may not want to refinance american banks, the FED doesn't care. Germany may not want to refinance Greece, and the European Central Bank can't enforce it. [0] >> While US states share a common fate > Can you elaborate on what you mean by this? It's a great question. You can get the best answer from the following article: https://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100510_europe_nationalism_and_shared_fate https://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100510_europe_nationalism_... [0]: https://geopoliticalfutures.com/lehman-brothers-and-germany-an-opera-in-two-acts/ https://geopoliticalfutures.com/lehman-brothers-and-germany-...
- hibikir 10y ago
  A few other things, like interstate commerce, which the supreme court interprets as so broad as to cover a whole lot of things. The amount of shared laws are staggering compared to the EU equivalent. There's also how medicare and social security are national, which makes a world of a difference when it comes to interstate mobility. The shared taxes that you mention are also huge: how different would Europe be if Germans were really on the hook for Greek budgetary issues? Look at this in practical terms: if the US states really resembled sovereigns, you'd have far wider differences in economic performance. Outcomes would diverge more widely if states were really doing things that were really all that different. We'd see incredibly different unemployment rates too. But in the US that can't really happen, because ultimately the federal government has everyone's back, and you don't see big, country threatening arguments about how California federal taxes are spent in other states: Those situations were possible back when the federal government was really weak, but the aftermath of the civil war took care of all of that. Along with the legislative differences, there's also a far more unified culture across states, if just for the shared language, and thus media. I can move from Missouri to California pretty easily: Better weather, higher taxes, but most of the rest stays about the same. Moving from an EU country to another is far more traumatic in comparison, which also makes each country be far more unique than US states.
- gozur88 10y ago
  >Individual US states are pretty close to sovereign. At this point US states are mostly satrapies of the federal government, since the feds can withhold block grants to the states who don't fall in line.

by kukx 10y ago

duaneb 10y ago

> The states in the US may vary, but so do regions in Spain and other countries. From whose perspective? A us state, Spain, or a third party?

angry-hacker 10y ago
Probably he referred to Spain's situation where several regions want independence and they also happen to be wealthiest - Basque country and Catalunya. They have their own culture and own language. That happens inside (!!! ) a country in Europe .
- NetStrikeForce 10y ago
  No, it's more about the GDP per capita difference between Matadepera (58k EUR) and Montefrío (9k EUR), both Spanish towns. Source: http://www.lavanguardia.com/vangdata/20150520/54431341415/ranking-municipios-ricos-pobres-espana.html http://www.lavanguardia.com/vangdata/20150520/54431341415/ra...

acchow 10y ago

> While US states share a common fate Can you elaborate on what you mean by this? Individual US states are pretty close to sovereign. Other than ability to tax and a few other things, the US federal government doesn't have much power.

kukx 10y ago
> Individual US states are pretty close to sovereign. Other than ability to tax and a few other things, the US federal government doesn't have much power. But the idea of the geographical transfer of resources is there. While Texas may not want to refinance american banks, the FED doesn't care. Germany may not want to refinance Greece, and the European Central Bank can't enforce it. [0] >> While US states share a common fate > Can you elaborate on what you mean by this? It's a great question. You can get the best answer from the following article: https://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100510_europe_nationalism_and_shared_fate https://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100510_europe_nationalism_... [0]: https://geopoliticalfutures.com/lehman-brothers-and-germany-an-opera-in-two-acts/ https://geopoliticalfutures.com/lehman-brothers-and-germany-...
hibikir 10y ago
A few other things, like interstate commerce, which the supreme court interprets as so broad as to cover a whole lot of things. The amount of shared laws are staggering compared to the EU equivalent. There's also how medicare and social security are national, which makes a world of a difference when it comes to interstate mobility. The shared taxes that you mention are also huge: how different would Europe be if Germans were really on the hook for Greek budgetary issues? Look at this in practical terms: if the US states really resembled sovereigns, you'd have far wider differences in economic performance. Outcomes would diverge more widely if states were really doing things that were really all that different. We'd see incredibly different unemployment rates too. But in the US that can't really happen, because ultimately the federal government has everyone's back, and you don't see big, country threatening arguments about how California federal taxes are spent in other states: Those situations were possible back when the federal government was really weak, but the aftermath of the civil war took care of all of that. Along with the legislative differences, there's also a far more unified culture across states, if just for the shared language, and thus media. I can move from Missouri to California pretty easily: Better weather, higher taxes, but most of the rest stays about the same. Moving from an EU country to another is far more traumatic in comparison, which also makes each country be far more unique than US states.
gozur88 10y ago
>Individual US states are pretty close to sovereign. At this point US states are mostly satrapies of the federal government, since the feds can withhold block grants to the states who don't fall in line.