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You seem to think that Illinois, New Jersey and the lot must be in a great fiscal situation because they are "net contributors". As I explained in another comme

You seem to think that Illinois, New Jersey and the lot must be in a great fiscal situation because they are "net contributors". As I explained in another comment, the money these states "receive" is mostly payments to individuals and has little meaning to their state budgets. Paying out a lot more to the federal government than they receive back does not mean these states are doing well and others poorly. It really just a natural consequence of having a lot of high earners in a progressive tax system. The states in question have been racking up huge amounts of debt and/or have underfunded pensions funds, which is why they are consistently ranked lowly in terms of fiscal health. I am a little surprised you had you not heard of the financial problems coming out of Illinois, New Jersey and the like? There's even a dedicated Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_pension_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_pension_crisis

bilbo0s 6y ago
>Paying out a lot more to the federal government than they receive back does not mean these states are doing well and others poorly. Sigh. Even if we look at a list of states by GDP, Illinois, New Jersey, and Massachusetts would still be perennial top 10 states. Even a list of states by GDP per capita, they all still are perennial top 10s. Per capita, I would bet that Massachusetts is number 1? (Maybe NY might edge them out? But I'd definitely bet they're number 1 or 2.) Listen man, I don't even like Illinois. I hate Chicago. But facts are facts. They make a $#!t ton of money. And not the easy way doing financial engineering like New York. They do it the hard way with a huge diversified economy. Few states are like that. It's just a fact man. Are you going to say that GDP is not a good indication of what a state produces?
- Acrobatic_Road 6y ago
  Their high GDP per capita is not going to fix their insolvent pensions or runaway spending. Illinois has a BBB credit rating (just above junk!). Are you really just going to ignore that because of high GDP? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_credit_rating https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_credit_...
- selimthegrim 6y ago
  There’s plenty of financial engineering in Chicago last I checked.

bilbo0s 6y ago

>Paying out a lot more to the federal government than they receive back does not mean these states are doing well and others poorly. Sigh. Even if we look at a list of states by GDP, Illinois, New Jersey, and Massachusetts would still be perennial top 10 states. Even a list of states by GDP per capita, they all still are perennial top 10s. Per capita, I would bet that Massachusetts is number 1? (Maybe NY might edge them out? But I'd definitely bet they're number 1 or 2.) Listen man, I don't even like Illinois. I hate Chicago. But facts are facts. They make a $#!t ton of money. And not the easy way doing financial engineering like New York. They do it the hard way with a huge diversified economy. Few states are like that. It's just a fact man. Are you going to say that GDP is not a good indication of what a state produces?

Acrobatic_Road 6y ago
Their high GDP per capita is not going to fix their insolvent pensions or runaway spending. Illinois has a BBB credit rating (just above junk!). Are you really just going to ignore that because of high GDP? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_credit_rating https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_credit_...
selimthegrim 6y ago
There’s plenty of financial engineering in Chicago last I checked.