Thursday, August 21, 2014

The 10 Most 'Socialist' States in America

Kurumi Fukushima writes at The Street:
Socialism at its core is a political term applied to an economic system in which individual property, like money, is held and used in common, within a state or a country as an attempt to equalize the standard of living for the average citizen.

In a completely socialist society, there would be no money. Basic needs such as food, shelter, education and healthcare would be available and provided to everyone, so division of classes based on wealth would not exist.

But if America is really turning into a more socialist country, then where can we see evidence of this happening? Are any states becoming socialist before our eyes? And if so, how do we define the most socialist state, you ask?

In order to measure the degree to which different states reflect socialist principles, we determined state expenditures and state GDP as the best indicators because socialist states tax and spend a higher percentage of their GDP. We used data on the total state expenditures for fiscal year 2013 from the most recent National Association of State Budget Officers report and pulled 2013 gross domestic product by state data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The math? Simple. The FY2013 state expenditure divided by the state's 2013 GDP.

After all the number crunching, we have come up with the 10 least socialist states in America followed by the 10 most socialist..

The  Least Socialist States

10. Illinois

 9. Georgia

 8. Utah

 7. Indiana

 6. Florida

 5. Missouri

 4. Washington

 3. New Hampshire

 2. Nevada

 1. Texas

The Most Socialist States

10. Wisconsin

 9. -Rhode Island

 8. Hawaii

 7. New Mexico

 6. Vermont

 5. Arkansas

 4. Mississippi

 3. Wyoming

 2. Alaska

 1. West Virginia

More detailed data here.
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7 comments:

  1. A little surprised that neither NY or CA were on the ten most socialist list. But then it appears the reporter is using government data to compile the lists so who knows what the real story is?

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  2. The list took me completely by surprise.

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  3. I think normalization by population would be better than GDP so you could do a better state comparison. $ spent per person or per 1,000 people would be a better determination of a socialism number because a huge GDP can distort how much is actually being spent in comparison to other states. Eg, Texas has a huge GDP of $1.39 Trillion, but it also has huge expenditures of $96.9 billion. #1 Most Socialist is WV with $23.4 Billion in spending, or 1/4 of what Texas spends!

    2010 census data shows Texas at 25,145,561 people with $96.9 billion in expenditures or $3,853.56 per person. West Virginia 2010 census population is 1,852,994, with $23.4 Billion in spending or $12,628.21 per person. Hawaii 2010 census population is 1,360,301 with $11.6 Billion in spending or $8,527.52 person. Nevada 2010 census population is 2,700,551 with $8.9 Billion in spending, or $3,295.62 per person, beating out Texas.

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  4. "Basic needs such as food, shelter, education and healthcare would be available and provided to everyone, so division of classes based on wealth would not exist."

    Seriously!?

    Are they sure they didn't pick this story up from The Onion.

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  5. The list is ridiculous. No idea what the criteria are, and some of it might be correct, but much seems murky. And btw - as far as 'god bless Texas' for being 'least socialist' - socialism is where unless you are rich you will be taxed much more heavily in Texas than in socialist states. Socialism spreads money evenly so that all services are cheaper for most people.

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