Message to the Democratic states: It’s not working
Bookworm on Aug 04 2010 at 9:06 am | Filed under: Democrats, Economics
My brilliant brother-in-law put together a chart showing the correlation between a state’s debt load and it’s government (Democratic or Republican). The chart’s statistics won’t come as a surprise to conservatives, but I bet they’d come as a big surprise to a whole lot of liberals:
I wish there was a simple, pithy way to suggest to the citizens of Democratically run states that they might want to try something different for a change.
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8 Responses to “Message to the Democratic states: It’s not working”
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Yes. Brilliant! Spread it far and wide.
It would be good to see some fits on that to at least a linear regression, and some R values.
It would be good to do a time-lagged version of this; ie, Dem legislators at time X versus debt load at time X plus 5 years.
I agree with David Foster. A good way to make this airtight would be to correlate debt to average % Democrat occupancy of state over 10-year period or so. That would require a huge amount of work, however.
This could be absolutely devastating to the Dems.
You can chart this data on an Excel sheet and get a correlation coefficient.
“You can chart this data on an Excel sheet and get a correlation coefficient.”
Well, maybe you could, Danny. My Excel skills are somewhat better than my dog’s, and somewhat worse than everyone else’s. Add to that the fact that I had to look up the phrase “correlation coefficient,” and you’ll see that I’m not the woman for the job.
A thrilling excerpt from The National Review on Chris Christie (and Winston Churchill), on leadership. Off topic, perhaps. But Christie *is* battling a heavily Democrat state government…. so here it is.
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Will Governor Christie prevail in the Battle of New Jersey? He himself leaves it an open question. I will repeat here the point that I have made previously in this series of posts.
Even Churchill had his doubts about the outcome of the Battle of Britain. While he was driving home from Buckingham Palace on May 10, 1940, after having received the King’s appointment as prime minister, Churchill said to an aide: “I hope that it is not too late. I am very much afraid that it is. We can only do our best.”
In the decisive Cabinet meeting of May 28, Churchill addressed members of the government who were considerably less resolute than he was: “I have thought carefully in these last days whether it was part of my duty to consider entering into negotiations with That Man…. And I am convinced that every one of you would rise up and tear me down from my place if I were for one moment to contemplate parley or surrender. If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end only when each one of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground.” The effect on his colleagues was electrifying.
Commenting on this episode in Churchill on Leadership, Steven Hayward writes: “[F]rom time to time, and especially in a crisis, the genuine leader must simply exert his personal force and summon up his willfulness.” One senses that Governor Christie has absorbed this particular Churchillian lesson (not that he wouldn’t appreciate a copy of Hayward’s superb handbook for inspiration).
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Leadership: What the national GOP lacks.
On a somewhat similar theme, although not solidly scientific, here’s a little trend I noticed awhile back:
Maryland
New Jersey
Connecticut
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
Hawaii
Alaska
Virginia
Rhode Island
Minnesota
Colorado
California
District of Columbia
Washington
Delaware
Illinois
New York
Wyoming
Nevada
Wisconsin
Utah
Vermont
Pennsylvania
Kansas
Michigan
Iowa
Oregon
North Dakota
Arizona
Nebraska
Georgia
Ohio
Indiana
Florida
Maine
Missouri
Texas
North Carolina
Idaho
South Dakota
Montana
South Carolina
Tennessee
Oklahoma
Alabama
Louisiana
Kentucky
New Mexico
Arkansas
West Virginia
Mississippi
The indented states are the blue states of 2008; non-indented are red. They are sorted by median family income. There is indeed a “party of the rich,” but not the one most people assume.
Dang it, sorry about that! Grrr! OK, the asterisked states are the blue states!
* Maryland
* New Jersey
* Connecticut
* Massachusetts
* New Hampshire
* Hawaii
Alaska
* Virginia
* Rhode Island
* Minnesota
* Colorado
* California
* District of Columbia
* Washington
* Delaware
* Illinois
* New York
Wyoming
* Nevada
* Wisconsin
Utah
* Vermont
* Pennsylvania
Kansas
* Michigan
* Iowa
* Oregon
North Dakota
Arizona
Nebraska
Georgia
* Ohio
* Indiana
* Florida
* Maine
Missouri
Texas
* North Carolina
Idaho
South Dakota
Montana
South Carolina
Tennessee
Oklahoma
Alabama
Louisiana
Kentucky
* New Mexico
Arkansas
West Virginia
Mississippi