State data comparisons: California Budget crisis did not need to happen. Is your State next?
Everyone has heard of how California has been locked in gridlock over its budget mess for the past 5 months until getting it approved this past week. Much of the debate was centered around the Republicans wanting not to increase taxes and instead to cut spending, postulating that our State government has grown out of control and fiscally irresponsible. No real data has been published to validate this fact except for the fact we have had a $41 Billion dollar shortfall, so of course the Republicans blame this on too much spending. So I decided to do a little fact checking myself and see for example, does California have too big a government compared to other States around the country and what I found out was truly surprising. I looked at the number of State Employees we have versus the size of our population to see what was the percent of employees of our total population. I then did this for every State in the country. I then ranked them by the lowest percentage to the highest percentage. Before I show the data, where would you guess California ranked, one of the best, one of the worst or about in the middle? Here's the data. Look for your State's data here as well.
State % of State Employees as a % of Total population
Illinois 0.82% (President Obama's home State)
Arizona 0.89%
California 0.91%
Florida 0.93%
Nevada 0.97%
Wisconsin 0.97%
Ohio 1.04%
Texas 1.07%
Colorado 1.07%
Pennsylvania 1.14%
Georgia 1.15%
Michigan 1.19%
Indiana 1.20%
Idaho 1.21%
New York 1.21%
Tennessee 1.22%
New Hampshire 1.22%
Minnesota 1.24%
Massachusetts 1.30%
Missouri 1.35%
Virginia 1.37%
North Carolina 1.38%
Oregon 1.39%
Iowa 1.39%
Kansas 1.41%
Maryland 1.48%
South Dakota 1.51%
Connecticut 1.52%
Nebraska 1.52%
Washington 1.54%
Utah 1.54%
South Carolina 1.57%
Maine 1.57%
New Jersey 1.65%
Alabama 1.69%
Kentucky 1.70%
Oklahoma 1.71%
Mississippi 1.72%
Montana 1.76%
Louisiana 1.76%
Rhode Island 1.76%
West Virginia 1.90%
Arkansas 1.91%
Vermont 2.20%
Wyoming 2.22%
North Dakota 2.28%
New Mexico 2.28%
Delaware 2.61%
Alaska 3.45%
Hawaii 3.98%
One could make a good argument that the problem California has is that it HASN"T raised enough money from taxes to support itself, contrary to what has been the Republican position. However, without including the spending part of the equation, this would be irresponsible. I will look to see if I can also get that information and post it here. But let's be clear about one thing, California needed to pass a budget and what the Democrats were trying to do for the past 5 months was very reasonable and what the Republicans were doing in preventing passage of the current Bill was irresponsible. California voters should remember this stance next time they vote. California is not irresponsible nor are its citizens. The irresponsibility comes from ideological Republicans who, as a national Party, are doing everything they can to see President Obama fail. Shame on you all!
Sources of this data comes from the Government Census Bureau.
State % of State Employees as a % of Total population
Illinois 0.82% (President Obama's home State)
Arizona 0.89%
California 0.91%
Florida 0.93%
Nevada 0.97%
Wisconsin 0.97%
Ohio 1.04%
Texas 1.07%
Colorado 1.07%
Pennsylvania 1.14%
Georgia 1.15%
Michigan 1.19%
Indiana 1.20%
Idaho 1.21%
New York 1.21%
Tennessee 1.22%
New Hampshire 1.22%
Minnesota 1.24%
Massachusetts 1.30%
Missouri 1.35%
Virginia 1.37%
North Carolina 1.38%
Oregon 1.39%
Iowa 1.39%
Kansas 1.41%
Maryland 1.48%
South Dakota 1.51%
Connecticut 1.52%
Nebraska 1.52%
Washington 1.54%
Utah 1.54%
South Carolina 1.57%
Maine 1.57%
New Jersey 1.65%
Alabama 1.69%
Kentucky 1.70%
Oklahoma 1.71%
Mississippi 1.72%
Montana 1.76%
Louisiana 1.76%
Rhode Island 1.76%
West Virginia 1.90%
Arkansas 1.91%
Vermont 2.20%
Wyoming 2.22%
North Dakota 2.28%
New Mexico 2.28%
Delaware 2.61%
Alaska 3.45%
Hawaii 3.98%
One could make a good argument that the problem California has is that it HASN"T raised enough money from taxes to support itself, contrary to what has been the Republican position. However, without including the spending part of the equation, this would be irresponsible. I will look to see if I can also get that information and post it here. But let's be clear about one thing, California needed to pass a budget and what the Democrats were trying to do for the past 5 months was very reasonable and what the Republicans were doing in preventing passage of the current Bill was irresponsible. California voters should remember this stance next time they vote. California is not irresponsible nor are its citizens. The irresponsibility comes from ideological Republicans who, as a national Party, are doing everything they can to see President Obama fail. Shame on you all!
Sources of this data comes from the Government Census Bureau.
Labels: California, gridlock, irresponsible, Republican party, State employee count
posted by Charles Amico at 8:08 AM
2 Comments:
Many States perform functions that cities and counties do here so this sort of comparsion is irrevelent and missleading.A better comparsion is total State and local government taxation or spending per capita which shows California near the top.
Yes, California does spend more but you would be surprised that they do not spend the most per capita. It is 6th in spending per Capita. States like Wyoming, New York, District of Columbia and maryland lead California in spending per Capita and you would be surprised how many other States are close to California. I may publish this data son.
One additional piece of data you may have forgotten, California has 1/3 of all illegal immigrants in the U.S. and must pay for their costs for healthcare, and other State services which are affected. So again, california gets a bad rap but its people care about people, legal or otherwise.
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