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I've read that analysis of relative government payouts, but it seems to rely on government payouts to retirees, which really doesn't speak to that dependence or the economies of the red/blue states. For one, it ignores private transfers of wealth, as happens continuously w/food
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The biggest bit is things like ag subsidies that indirectly sustain the region not personal welfare state. In fact Red rhetoric is based on larping individualism one degree removed from direct welfare.
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Very indirectly; ag subsidies keep the market even; it doesn't pay for farmers to larp as individualists, it pays to keep their production in reserve as the market demands; just like power production. Respectfully, I think you speak from the same ignorance you project on them.
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For example, would Silicon Valley be the tech epicenter it is without Northrup Grumman parking there or DARPA funding an internet? Government contracts continue to fund the private technical advancements in California, Maryland, NoVa and Texas...
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We’re talking about 1985-2020, not 1945-70. At least I am. If you think red and blue are economically equal partners today there is no real conversation here.
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The defense economy bootstrapped Silicon Valley — in the 50s-70s. It is a fraction of that economy today. The Googles and Amazons have emerged from that state bootstrapping to create a thriving private sector. No similar vitalism took root in what us now Red America.
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I think part of that is that we produce product whose cost for distribution is pretty much sunk in AT&T's past; write once, run anywhere, right? WAY different in commodities markets, which you acknowledge; a harder market, but equally if not more important to everyday living.
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You seem to be arguing 3 things: 1. Both regions were bootstrapped through state support (true) 2. Both regions are equally dependent on state support today (I believe this is false) 3. Red has a moral case for greater state support (food security), which I reject
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Sure; almost.. 2. I think the (well studied) economic effect of secondary industries (like the high-priced iPhones ubiquitous to the Bay Area and few others) makes the blue regions /more/ dependent on federal contracts and subsidies. 3. it's not a moral case, it's a practical one
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Except for the dubious case of fracking boom, there has been no new positive economic story out of Red America in decades. Only decline and gloom that they blame on absolutely everybody except themselves. NAFTA. Evil Chinese. Black moms on welfare in cities. But never themselves.