Who are the real "takers?"

Overheard on Twitter:

GOP is going to disappear anyway. Demographics (i.e. people who want to take rather than give) favor Dems.  

Really?  Here are the twenty states receiving the most federal spending, per tax dollar paid

• New Mexico  
• Mississippi
• Alaska: 
• Louisiana 
• West Virginia 
• North Dakota  
• Alabama  
• South Dakota
• Virginia:  
• Kentucky  
• Montana
• Hawaii  
• Maine
• Arkansas
• Oklahoma
• South Carolina
• Missouri
• Maryland   
• Tennessee
• Idaho

Of these top taker states 13 are red, three are blue and four are purple (I made them green so they'd stand out better.) I used this map to decide how to color the states.

Now the problem with this sort of list, as you might know, is that "federal spending" includes procurement  salaries, and the like. That's not "taking", object conservatives, who noramlly wish to see the Federal givernment wither away, "That's earning!"

But even if we ignore their hypocrisy and accept this objection, it's still an error to charecterize Dem voters  as "takers" . Here are the states that are home to the most welfare recipients

# 1 California: 1,085,627
# 2 New York: 341,004
# 3 Texas: 333,435
# 4 Pennsylvania: 207,429
# 5 Michigan: 202,469
# 6 Ohio: 188,108
# 7 Tennessee: 180,466
# 8 Washington: 140,721
# 9 Indiana: 140,571
# 10 Georgia: 132,003
# 11 Florida: 119,080
# 12 Arizona: 111,334
# 13 Missouri: 108,561
# 14 Massachusetts: 108,469
# 15 New Jersey: 101,854
# 16 Illinois: 99,952
# 17 Minnesota: 93,665
# 18 North Carolina: 83,906
# 19 Kentucky: 76,688
# 20 Virginia: 70,199

Nine blue states, 3 purple, and eight red.

So to sum up: If we look at all Federal spending, the red states take much, much  more, and if we look at welfare caseloads alone the red states still do plenty of taking.

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