How The Left And Right Think
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 11:07AM Once again our friends over at Blue Hampshire proved how they view the world differently from everyone else.
In an article posted HERE the posted 2 charts showing the average per person expenditure by state government broken down by state. The first chart left the states off and they asked you to guess where NH fell in compared to other states.
To cut through the chase here is the 2nd chart with the state names included:
As you can see NH came in as the 3rd lowest spending an average of $2,488 which Blue Hampshire also points out is 30% percent below the national average of $3,557 per person.
Now take a few minutes and really think to yourself what these numbers mean. Ask yourself whether or not you think this is a good thing or a bad thing.
First thing a thinking person says is where do these numbers come from. Lucky for us BH provides links at the bottom. Where we can agree is the 2009 population in NH is 1,324,575.
For us to have a per person spending of just $2,488 the state budget would have to be just $3,295,542,600.
If the last state budget was $11.5 Billion that would mean spending would have had to have jumped from $3.2 billion in '09 to $8.3 billion for '10 in which case Democrats would have serious explaining to do for why they increased spending so much. However using the link they provide you see on page 6 that the state spending in 2009 was $4,978,000,000 which comes out to be $3,758.19 per person.
But this is Blue Hampshire we're talking about so I'm willing to take their numbers with a grain of salt from the start.
Before continuing I'd like to point out a comment from Blue Hampshire's article:
Funny how you never see charts (4.00 / 3)
like this from the right-wing, er, "non-partisan" think tanks in this state.
the other New England states (4.00 / 2)think more of their people. I've been saying for years that NH provides a level of services that would cause a third world country to blush.NH taking a back seat to Mississippi - there's something to be proud of.
by: susanthe
The level of services? What services exactly are we missing in NH? This statement is the sum of all of the differences between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats look at states where people rely heavy on government and say see how we help so many people, meanwhile Conservatives such as myself look at charts like this and say see how few people actually need government services and see it as a GOOD thing.
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." Thomas Jefferson
Let's look at a few more comments:
This can't possibly be true... (0.00 / 0)
Tens of Millions of campaign time dollars were spent, dozens of editorials in the UL and Fosters were published and endless press releases and speeches by John Sununu ALL saying that NH's budget was exploding under the Democrats.Could it really be that they were ALL lying?
Yup.
"If you are going to be in politics, you have to be a soldier in the battlefield."Hubert H. Humphrey
by: Ray Buckley
Now here's a perfect example of left wing misdirection. If a job takes $100 to be done right then there is no reason to spend $200 on it even if everyone else is.
That said, I also refer back to my early comment questioning where these numbers came from in the first place. If you use the link they provide to the National Association of State Budget Officers found HERE and jump to page 6 you can see that the state's spending total jumped from $4,807,000,000 in 2008 to $4,978,000,000 in 2009 and $5,465,000,000 in 2010. That's an increase of 658,000,000 in just 2 years or an increase of 14% at a time when our economy was in the toilet. How many of you saw household incomes increase 14% in the past 2 years?
Moving on...
State Spending in the Light of Data (4.00 / 6)
I believe the fact that we are already close to the bone is the very reason (and our lack of existing tax base)that NH was chosen as the target for de-constructing government. This is not really about living within our means...it is about furthering a political agenda that believes the only individual rights matter and the collective good truly is irrelevant.
by: kcollman
Read that last line slowly folks.
Perhaps I'm a bit off but when I read the bill of rights I do not see anything about a collective but I do see rights granted to individuals.
"... rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our own will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law,' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual"
— Thomas Jefferson (Letter to Isaac H. Tiffany - 1819)
What would he say about Mr. Jefferson's views? Is he too a deconstructionist seeking to further a political agenda?
Once again this is a perfect example of how both sides think and see things differently.
Blue Hampshire, spending in Democrats, Republicans, taxes
Reader Comments (7)
And I don't think he was either "left" or "right."
With thousands of our children, our disadvantaged, our homeless, and our mentally and physically challenged being hurt by the hundreds of millions of dollars of cuts in the NH Health and Human Services department, real people are being hurt.
Real people. Some people should be ashamed of their greed.
Some people should be ashamed at thier inabilty to do simple math,but they are'nt ,are they?
Some people should be ashamed at thier inabilty to tell the truth.
Some people should be ashamed for spending 900 million dollars of OTHER PEOPLES MONEY that they did'nt have and then LIE ABOUT IT,but they are'nt are they.
Seems we all have a little to be ashamed about,right Jim?
Ghandi never said let the State take over your life and regulate your salt mines. Ghandi protested intrusive government.
Some people should be ashamed of thinking of other people as their own collective bank account.
Read NH Dept of Health and Human Services status report, they describe NH people as doing very well. Further it states that having a job and a bit of education is the main driver of health and that the other services have little impact, Fig 1 Page 8 Health Pyramid.
That aside, what you are claiming with your fear mongering isn't holding true. You would think based on the discussion at Blue Hampshire, NH would have the highest rates of all these problems since we spend so little but truth is otherwise.
In the US there is an average of 22 homeless per 10,000 people. NH has just 17. MA as comparison has 23 per 10,000. Maine has 20 per 10,000. In fact only 6 states had lower homeless percentages then NH.
(numbers from http://www.endhomelessness.org)
As I pointed out, our schools are among the top of the nation.
Our crime rate is among the lowest in the nation.
NH was voted the best state in the country to retire by Money magazine:
http://www.walletpop.com/2010/09/23/best-worst-states-to-retire/
State master voted NH the best state in the country to live:
http://www.statemaster.com/graph/lif_bes_sta_to_liv-lifestyle-best-states-to-live
They list us as the 2nd healthiest state in the country, the 10th lowest state suicide rate, 10th lowest alcohol related traffic fatalities as a percentage of population, lowest teen birthrate in the country...
Since we spend the 3rd lowest in the country where are the problems you're claiming happen with low spending?
If Mr. Splaine and others who feel as he does do not want to see the funding for these programs cut, then I propose the following solution:
Create a NH state income tax (say 50%) for those who vote Democrat. All monies colleted thru this tax would go to support Health and Human Services programs. This will accomplish two things. 1) It will keep the programs at the same or higher level, and 2) those who are
contributing can feel good about themselves and their generosity. A double win/win for them.
P.S. I see that Greyghost is wasting everyone's time here now that the discussion boards have shut down. I offer a word of advice to you all. Don't waste your time reading his posts. His attempts at humor only seem funny to him and a couple dimwitted friends. Of course, many people here will say the same thing about me!
Yes NH is among the top in the nation in education. That is a confirm-able fact.
The Nation is also trailing much of the rest of the world in education. That to is a confirm-able fact.
As is evident by not only the fact that NH leads most of the country yet spends far less, but also that the US spends far more then much of the rest of the world but fails far behind... money does NOT equal better education.
That is a fact that you and your Blue Hampshire friends don't seem to put together.
If you look at the top country (which I wrote about in a past article) one difference you see with them and us is that they allow school choice. And if you look at the difference between NH and much of the rest of the country is we allow more local control. Unions here aren't as powerful as those in the failing districts such as NY and DC were locals don't have as much say on what happens with their children's educations.
So the position is VERY clear.... if you give parents more control and provide more local choice you get better for less. A voucher system will help drive cost even lower and push us even higher in testing. More for less. Where's the confusion in that message?