One of the biggest expenditures was repairing the flood control system in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The great state of Louisiana, then governed by Bobby Jindal (a onetime wonder boy of the Republican party; what happened to him?), received over $10B of federal funds for this project. I don't think the state contributed much at all to this project. Ironic that our current House Speaker wants to condition aid to California when no such conditions were put on aid to his state. How quickly and conveniently politicians forget.
They don't forget, they just do not care. Republicans are just evil. That is the start, middle, and end of the story. They just do not care.
The only way it stops is when a Democratic president and Congress threatens to do the same to a Republican state. So when Texas needs its next bailout for whatever befalls them, when Democrats are in power, maybe the reply for aid should be, "Fine. We'll provide X amount of dollars, but you need to put in place a small income tax (even a temporary one) so you can help pay for the mess yourself." That would be truly appropriate for a non-natural disaster like the saving and loan mess.
Let them throw all sorts of hissy fits and clutch their pearls. Like them, I would simply not care.
I know we're not supposed to say members of any party are "evil" -- the tongue-clicking from proper pundits all over the country will be like the emergence of 17-year cicadas.
Pretending this is anything other than good vs evil is silly at this point. The Republicans have made ot clear there is no rule, norm, or moral they will not abandon or violate in their quest for power. They must be stopped forever, defeat is not enough. Until they are exposed and discredited and their bankrupt movement dead for a generation, this nation will not be safe. The good people of this nation have to rise up though and be heard, or we will all be living under a fascist dictatorship this time next year. 2025 is the year America decides between being a good country or an evil one, the very soul of the nation is now at stake.
I disagree. I think it will be more like a neo-monarchy. Trump is too dim to understand the concept of "fascism" but he sure understands tacky palaces and the adoration of groveling subjects.
Agree. You're no longer limited by the 800-word format and the need to dumb down for maximum popular audience. My many thanks for your sending some of your many readers my way.
The media has been completely compromised by the rich. The fact thst Krugman could not tell the truth any longer at the NYTimes shows how derp the rot runs. Substack has no reach compared to them, sadly on heree he is only preaching to the choir. Its one of many reasons why the rich have seemingly permanently won the class war.
In 1968 I was living in Topanga Canyon. One day I walked into the living room of the house I was sharing, and there stood Linda Ronstadt! She was so sweet and unassuming, if I hadn't already been a big fan, that would have made me one. Now that the fires are raging, I've been thinking a lot about Topanga.
It’s not just the red state bailout of the past for emergency purposes. The Confederate States of America, or better known as the Welfare Queens of America as a whole, receive approximately $2.50 from the government, for every dollar they give to the government (taxes). While the blue states get back approximately $ .60 on the dollar, for every dollar they pay to the government. Obviously, Texas and Florida are exceptions, but they still give less to the government than both NY, CA, and MA, in comparison.
Additionally, red states have selective memory. This happens whenever a natural disaster strikes the North. They rail against waste and abuse for emergency funds for Hurricane Sandy, which hit NY and NJ, but beg for funds when Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, or when Sally hit Alabama, or Irma hit Florida causing almost $100 billion in damages. And guess what, blue states (especially democrats), are always happy to help.
It’s no difference than with Medicaid funds. Democrats want to expand coverage for everyone, while republicans continually try to contract it; only giving a damn about themselves and tax cuts for the rich. Go figure!😎
Dems have always believed that a rising tide raises all ships. That noble thought doesn't seem to meet the current moment and they should be prepared to fight as dirty as the GOP does. The next time a disaster hits a red state, they shouldn't be so quick to bail them out
Florida's & Texas' Reps generally grandstand, and vote against hurricane aid to Florida & Texans ONLY because they know the responsible adults will vote to help. Maybe democrats should have "deferred to local wishes" and also voted against aid.
Lewis, many voters do not know the facts. It may be preaching to the choir here, but it also gives readers concrete information to share with uninformed citizens. Perhaps it is a lost cause. One lesson from the election is voters based their decision on feelings. They felt the economy was terrible. Why? Because that "fact" was blasted out by conservative media, day after day. Democrats have to respond in kind.
I am also grateful to have the truth acknowledged. Red politicians are constantly repeating their misinformation, ingraining it into people's minds. The truth gets buried. We need more voices speaking and repeating the truth, so it can be heard and known.
Yes. There needs to be push back in the red spaces. They need to be called out on FOX, right wing podcasts and talk radio. Democrats sitting back in academia sneering at the uninformed is causing a disaster. They, the uninformed, have far more votes than the college educated. They feel the condescension and resent their "betters".
What’s obvious to you and me, isn’t so obvious to most. Not everyone understands that true amount of subsidies we give to red states, and not just in the form of emergency management.
MAGA government does not use real facts when making policy decisions. That's what made up, manipulated, or taken out of context alternative facts come in.
Just like with the Iraq war, it takes time but eventually...
Too bad Democrats aren't also tied so tightly to the wealthy. This would be a good time to start talking about the dangers of taking a "chainsaw" to financial regulations.
Look at you so quick to want to break up our union when someone points out your hypocrisy. Shows you what the party of "patriots" really thinks about their country.
I think if you really care about America you should campaign for peaceful separation. There are too many strongly held mutually exclusive ideas about how socialization must work among the elites, heritage Americans, and recent immigrants for us to find consensus. Separation would be best for everyone.
The alternative is continued escalating conflict and grievance.
Nah, their plan is to *loot and strip the assets* from the US Government, like Romney did with companies at Bain, and private equity is doing with hospitals across the country.
The loss of the 5th largest economy in the world would be a much bigger drag. Consider, for example, the loss of 40 percent of the total American agricultural production on the remainder of the US.
Nothing has pissed me off more than to listen to Republican politicians talk about how California should manage its environment when it’s clear from the first two words they don’t have a clue about what’s really happening. I’m tired of paying for hurricanes that hit Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas year after year after year. Tornados in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and the rest of the Midwest. How many times does Houston have to flood before Texas does something about it? What democrat run government has ever denied, or put restrictions on money to Republican controlled states during natural disasters? This is pure BS, and as unAmerican as anything I have experienced in my 74 years.
Florida too? You against baling them out on future hurricanes? Why allow people to continue building homes that blow over in a wind? That would be an easy fix, instead of looking for federal help two or three times a year. Why are they so afraid to pass laws in Florida that protect people and their property.
"Florida too? You against baling them out on future hurricanes?"
At this point? Yes. Kick them out of the f---ing union until they are willing to act like a part of our team. No seditious states in my country. We've seen where it leads. Let's nip it in the bud.
Refugee status will be granted to any Florida citizen willing to take a loyalty oath to our Constitution.
I've wondered how much of Florida's political transformation over the last 20 years stems from there being a high likelihood that somebody who willingly moves there is a climate denier.
Mismanaging the environment is one thing but doing it *and* chasing the insurance companies out was completely insane. I really don't think CA should be bailed out after that.
Florida is similarly uninsurable, so is it government chasing insurance companies out or the climate chasing them out? I drove through Eldorado National Forest twice last summer. Both times there were controlled burns in progress. These LA fires have nothing to do with forest management; LA is surrounded by chaparral scrub, not forests.
It's *expensive* but the premia aren't capped they way they are in CA and insuring it is still profitable. I know because I was invested in a smaller insurance company providing condo insurance there last year and made a lot of money that way.
California was already offered help and rejected it with price controls in a way Florida didn't.
So it seems you really object to it on two principles: 1) is that California legislated to make insurance affordable for its citizens, and 2) because an insurance company you were invested in went out of business. Just as a note, 30 insurance companies went out of business in Florida.
Price controls don't make things affordable, all they do is remove liquidity. You can see this in many of other markets in California where this has been tried.
Again if you think this is a good way to run a state, ok, but don't bitch when it blows up exactly the way we warned you it would and then force the rest of us to pay.
As to (2.) I'm not sure what you're talking about. It's still in business and worth nearly 10x what it was a few years ago.
And just to be clear: I'm not saying Florida is all that well behaved either, I've criticized the situation there in the past as well, but they didn't make the situation intractable the way California did and the result is a much less horrible situation for the poorer majority of the population who can't afford to self insure.
You are correct that price controls on hazard insurance are a bad idea. Regulating corruption (in insurance or any other business) is a good idea, but price controls nearly always backfire and benefit the wrong people to boot. So, the California legislature made a mistake. In Florida and Texas, the legislatures take pride in piling up stacks and stacks of mistakes, many of them supporting blatant corruption. If we’re going to start regulating state legislatures from the federal Congress, let’s start doing it where the acton is. California will be very far down the list.
This was a very expensive mistake and one California consistently makes.
I don't think the federal government should be "regulating" state legislatures, I don't think it should be bailing out states at all. Send FEMA in to help? Sure. But when stuff like this happens the businesses and people who voted for and tolerated this need to eat it not the rest of us.
"I hope that my post made it clear that I’m fine with this cross-subsidization; it’s part of what being a nation is all about."
I wonder if America is really a nation, given that there is so much indifference and even adversity from parts of our country to other parts. And we have put, I believe, A LOT of effort and resources into promoting the idea that we are a single nation, mostly through enforced and indoctrinated "patriotism."
Good stuff, and it's great to understand how these bailouts have worked, but again, it's much too complex for the Magats to read or understand. The Magats are angry, feeling they have been left behind. The problem is we've ALL been left behind. $50 Trillion has been moved to the top 1% since Ronald Reagan started his "trickle down" economics. That's enough to pay off the national debt COMPLETELY and still have enough to provide for Medicare for All, fix Social Security, build some bridges, fix some potholes, and educate a lot of folks! Imagine the economic stimulus of that money going into OUR paychecks! We need to let those Magats know over and over and over again that we're ALL victims of this theft.
NOW is a great time to make this point loudly and clearly, as Trump begins to give the 1% even more tax cuts, paid for by, guess who, in the form of cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and only God knows what else.
Not disagreeing, but to put a finer point on it, bailing out Silicon Valley Bank depositors over the FDIC limits was a subsidy for tech across the country; especially Silicon Valley.
Maybe net contributor states should require austerity programs in net beneficiary states as a condition of aid? Just like Greece. (This could rip our country apart, but that seems to be what’s on the menu these days)
Nope your obviously an appeaser with do nothing solutions . The subhuman magats have to be purged from society at large. Like Ukraine are doing to the orcs.
One of the biggest expenditures was repairing the flood control system in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The great state of Louisiana, then governed by Bobby Jindal (a onetime wonder boy of the Republican party; what happened to him?), received over $10B of federal funds for this project. I don't think the state contributed much at all to this project. Ironic that our current House Speaker wants to condition aid to California when no such conditions were put on aid to his state. How quickly and conveniently politicians forget.
They don't forget, they just do not care. Republicans are just evil. That is the start, middle, and end of the story. They just do not care.
The only way it stops is when a Democratic president and Congress threatens to do the same to a Republican state. So when Texas needs its next bailout for whatever befalls them, when Democrats are in power, maybe the reply for aid should be, "Fine. We'll provide X amount of dollars, but you need to put in place a small income tax (even a temporary one) so you can help pay for the mess yourself." That would be truly appropriate for a non-natural disaster like the saving and loan mess.
Let them throw all sorts of hissy fits and clutch their pearls. Like them, I would simply not care.
I know we're not supposed to say members of any party are "evil" -- the tongue-clicking from proper pundits all over the country will be like the emergence of 17-year cicadas.
But it sure looks to be objectively true.
Pretending this is anything other than good vs evil is silly at this point. The Republicans have made ot clear there is no rule, norm, or moral they will not abandon or violate in their quest for power. They must be stopped forever, defeat is not enough. Until they are exposed and discredited and their bankrupt movement dead for a generation, this nation will not be safe. The good people of this nation have to rise up though and be heard, or we will all be living under a fascist dictatorship this time next year. 2025 is the year America decides between being a good country or an evil one, the very soul of the nation is now at stake.
I disagree. I think it will be more like a neo-monarchy. Trump is too dim to understand the concept of "fascism" but he sure understands tacky palaces and the adoration of groveling subjects.
"Bring me my SCEPTER!"
What monies did Texas receive to bolster its power grid?
If I remember, in 2021, the state known for its oil, could not heat itself in winter.
the party of hypocrisy.
I hope somebody reminds Mike Johnson
He won’t care. At all.
I know. Makes me crazy.
Somewhat grateful you left the NYT. The posts here have been brilliant, the best of the good American essay.
I concur.
So do I.
Agree. You're no longer limited by the 800-word format and the need to dumb down for maximum popular audience. My many thanks for your sending some of your many readers my way.
The crossword puzzles are the only thing saving my online NY Times subscription.
I subscribe to their puzzle app and that’s it. Canceled my sub to the actual newspaper.
Same here. I would get too angry every day.
Good to know.
Thanks
The media has been completely compromised by the rich. The fact thst Krugman could not tell the truth any longer at the NYTimes shows how derp the rot runs. Substack has no reach compared to them, sadly on heree he is only preaching to the choir. Its one of many reasons why the rich have seemingly permanently won the class war.
Agree with this ☝️
Agreed all around, except I'd delete the "somewhat"!
Thanks for remembering Linda Ronstadt. Beautiful rendition of "It don't matter anymore."
And please tell your readers about the new website - "The Contrarian" hosted by Jennifer Rubin, Joyce Vance and many others.
I've signed up.... another pro-democracy news-source is very welcome.
Simultaneously cancelled my WaPo Subscription - I was really only reading Jen Ruben.
I'm just not interested in MAGA bootlickers.
In 1968 I was living in Topanga Canyon. One day I walked into the living room of the house I was sharing, and there stood Linda Ronstadt! She was so sweet and unassuming, if I hadn't already been a big fan, that would have made me one. Now that the fires are raging, I've been thinking a lot about Topanga.
One of the purest, most beautiful voices out there.
Just subscribed.
I just subscribed.
Just subscribed
It’s not just the red state bailout of the past for emergency purposes. The Confederate States of America, or better known as the Welfare Queens of America as a whole, receive approximately $2.50 from the government, for every dollar they give to the government (taxes). While the blue states get back approximately $ .60 on the dollar, for every dollar they pay to the government. Obviously, Texas and Florida are exceptions, but they still give less to the government than both NY, CA, and MA, in comparison.
Additionally, red states have selective memory. This happens whenever a natural disaster strikes the North. They rail against waste and abuse for emergency funds for Hurricane Sandy, which hit NY and NJ, but beg for funds when Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, or when Sally hit Alabama, or Irma hit Florida causing almost $100 billion in damages. And guess what, blue states (especially democrats), are always happy to help.
It’s no difference than with Medicaid funds. Democrats want to expand coverage for everyone, while republicans continually try to contract it; only giving a damn about themselves and tax cuts for the rich. Go figure!😎
Dems have always believed that a rising tide raises all ships. That noble thought doesn't seem to meet the current moment and they should be prepared to fight as dirty as the GOP does. The next time a disaster hits a red state, they shouldn't be so quick to bail them out
Florida's & Texas' Reps generally grandstand, and vote against hurricane aid to Florida & Texans ONLY because they know the responsible adults will vote to help. Maybe democrats should have "deferred to local wishes" and also voted against aid.
100% Agree!👍
tell us what we don't know.
Lewis, many voters do not know the facts. It may be preaching to the choir here, but it also gives readers concrete information to share with uninformed citizens. Perhaps it is a lost cause. One lesson from the election is voters based their decision on feelings. They felt the economy was terrible. Why? Because that "fact" was blasted out by conservative media, day after day. Democrats have to respond in kind.
I am also grateful to have the truth acknowledged. Red politicians are constantly repeating their misinformation, ingraining it into people's minds. The truth gets buried. We need more voices speaking and repeating the truth, so it can be heard and known.
The Big Lie plus repeating it over and over makes it "true."
the people must be educated in order to understand. good luck with that
when the faux news spigot spews only nonsense. an idiot in alabama cried
that bernie's plans would give away their money. as if...
Yes. There needs to be push back in the red spaces. They need to be called out on FOX, right wing podcasts and talk radio. Democrats sitting back in academia sneering at the uninformed is causing a disaster. They, the uninformed, have far more votes than the college educated. They feel the condescension and resent their "betters".
Corporate media too, not just Fox, WaPo and the NYT were propagandists as well. Hell, a Murdoch UK tabloid criminal runs Wapo.
What’s obvious to you and me, isn’t so obvious to most. Not everyone understands that true amount of subsidies we give to red states, and not just in the form of emergency management.
Especially since Fox lies and tells them they support our blue cities.
That was the topic of yesterday's column.
I didn’t read yesterday’s article. I guess that’s the disconnect…:)
Linda Ronstadt will always do.
Wow. She has the voice of an angel. Song was written by Paul Anka for Buddy Holly.
That’s lovely, isn’t it? And I didn’t know LR was such a good guitar player.
Her father was a musician as well.
Indeed.
MAGA government does not use real facts when making policy decisions. That's what made up, manipulated, or taken out of context alternative facts come in.
They don't let facts or truth interfere with their propaganda.
Just like with the Iraq war, it takes time but eventually...
Too bad Democrats aren't also tied so tightly to the wealthy. This would be a good time to start talking about the dangers of taking a "chainsaw" to financial regulations.
If we're such a drag CA should secede.
Look at you so quick to want to break up our union when someone points out your hypocrisy. Shows you what the party of "patriots" really thinks about their country.
I think if you really care about America you should campaign for peaceful separation. There are too many strongly held mutually exclusive ideas about how socialization must work among the elites, heritage Americans, and recent immigrants for us to find consensus. Separation would be best for everyone.
The alternative is continued escalating conflict and grievance.
Nah, their plan is to *loot and strip the assets* from the US Government, like Romney did with companies at Bain, and private equity is doing with hospitals across the country.
The loss of the 5th largest economy in the world would be a much bigger drag. Consider, for example, the loss of 40 percent of the total American agricultural production on the remainder of the US.
It sounds like a massive win for California.
now if we add the tariffs...
DUH
Nothing has pissed me off more than to listen to Republican politicians talk about how California should manage its environment when it’s clear from the first two words they don’t have a clue about what’s really happening. I’m tired of paying for hurricanes that hit Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas year after year after year. Tornados in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and the rest of the Midwest. How many times does Houston have to flood before Texas does something about it? What democrat run government has ever denied, or put restrictions on money to Republican controlled states during natural disasters? This is pure BS, and as unAmerican as anything I have experienced in my 74 years.
I believe that there were Republicans in Congress grandstanding against aid to NY/NJ after hurricane Sandy twelve years ago.
Yep, Chris Christie hugged Obama for coming to help, and pretty well lost his standing with racist republicans.
Florida too? You against baling them out on future hurricanes? Why allow people to continue building homes that blow over in a wind? That would be an easy fix, instead of looking for federal help two or three times a year. Why are they so afraid to pass laws in Florida that protect people and their property.
"Florida too? You against baling them out on future hurricanes?"
At this point? Yes. Kick them out of the f---ing union until they are willing to act like a part of our team. No seditious states in my country. We've seen where it leads. Let's nip it in the bud.
Refugee status will be granted to any Florida citizen willing to take a loyalty oath to our Constitution.
as long as fools build on flood plains and now sea's rising we'll have problems...
I've wondered how much of Florida's political transformation over the last 20 years stems from there being a high likelihood that somebody who willingly moves there is a climate denier.
Because the developers own our politicians.
Mismanaging the environment is one thing but doing it *and* chasing the insurance companies out was completely insane. I really don't think CA should be bailed out after that.
Florida is similarly uninsurable, so is it government chasing insurance companies out or the climate chasing them out? I drove through Eldorado National Forest twice last summer. Both times there were controlled burns in progress. These LA fires have nothing to do with forest management; LA is surrounded by chaparral scrub, not forests.
It's *expensive* but the premia aren't capped they way they are in CA and insuring it is still profitable. I know because I was invested in a smaller insurance company providing condo insurance there last year and made a lot of money that way.
California was already offered help and rejected it with price controls in a way Florida didn't.
So it seems you really object to it on two principles: 1) is that California legislated to make insurance affordable for its citizens, and 2) because an insurance company you were invested in went out of business. Just as a note, 30 insurance companies went out of business in Florida.
Price controls don't make things affordable, all they do is remove liquidity. You can see this in many of other markets in California where this has been tried.
Again if you think this is a good way to run a state, ok, but don't bitch when it blows up exactly the way we warned you it would and then force the rest of us to pay.
As to (2.) I'm not sure what you're talking about. It's still in business and worth nearly 10x what it was a few years ago.
And just to be clear: I'm not saying Florida is all that well behaved either, I've criticized the situation there in the past as well, but they didn't make the situation intractable the way California did and the result is a much less horrible situation for the poorer majority of the population who can't afford to self insure.
You are correct that price controls on hazard insurance are a bad idea. Regulating corruption (in insurance or any other business) is a good idea, but price controls nearly always backfire and benefit the wrong people to boot. So, the California legislature made a mistake. In Florida and Texas, the legislatures take pride in piling up stacks and stacks of mistakes, many of them supporting blatant corruption. If we’re going to start regulating state legislatures from the federal Congress, let’s start doing it where the acton is. California will be very far down the list.
This was a very expensive mistake and one California consistently makes.
I don't think the federal government should be "regulating" state legislatures, I don't think it should be bailing out states at all. Send FEMA in to help? Sure. But when stuff like this happens the businesses and people who voted for and tolerated this need to eat it not the rest of us.
So you'd be fine if we did away with the National Flood Insurance Program?
Yes and I've been arguing we should for over a decade now.
greedy insurance companies should really find new jobs...
They did, that's the problem. If you think there's arbitrage here you could have set up a pool with your neighbors.
There isn't. The risk was high and the state caped the premia at an unprofitable level similar to what's done with rent.
Federal aid to Florida after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 included $400 mil from the Army Corps of Engineers alone aside from other bailouts and subsidies inherent in and in addition to the system of automatic subsidies. https://www.usace.army.mil/About/History/Historical-Vignettes/Relief-and-Recovery/055-Hurricane-Andrew/
Texas and Florida have certainly memory holed those crises….
Thanks for the Linda Ronstadt, though! She’s unforgettable.
Thank you for shining a spotlight on the hypocrisy and cruelty of today’s Republican Party. I hope it makes a difference.
"I hope that my post made it clear that I’m fine with this cross-subsidization; it’s part of what being a nation is all about."
I wonder if America is really a nation, given that there is so much indifference and even adversity from parts of our country to other parts. And we have put, I believe, A LOT of effort and resources into promoting the idea that we are a single nation, mostly through enforced and indoctrinated "patriotism."
Good stuff, and it's great to understand how these bailouts have worked, but again, it's much too complex for the Magats to read or understand. The Magats are angry, feeling they have been left behind. The problem is we've ALL been left behind. $50 Trillion has been moved to the top 1% since Ronald Reagan started his "trickle down" economics. That's enough to pay off the national debt COMPLETELY and still have enough to provide for Medicare for All, fix Social Security, build some bridges, fix some potholes, and educate a lot of folks! Imagine the economic stimulus of that money going into OUR paychecks! We need to let those Magats know over and over and over again that we're ALL victims of this theft.
NOW is a great time to make this point loudly and clearly, as Trump begins to give the 1% even more tax cuts, paid for by, guess who, in the form of cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and only God knows what else.
https://time.com/5888024/50-trillion-income-inequality-america/
https://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WRA516-1.html
Not disagreeing, but to put a finer point on it, bailing out Silicon Valley Bank depositors over the FDIC limits was a subsidy for tech across the country; especially Silicon Valley.
And banning tickety tockety is a quid pro quo to Zuckermusk, et al.
I am so glad I can read your column every day. Lots of insights, analysis overlooked elsewhere.
If I were California I might just secede. Seriously, they'll be better off in the long run without the dead weight of red states.
Maybe net contributor states should require austerity programs in net beneficiary states as a condition of aid? Just like Greece. (This could rip our country apart, but that seems to be what’s on the menu these days)
That would punish the needy because of its politicians. A lot of the needy don't vote or lack information. We need to improve communication.
No we don't. We just need to get rid of them. Either through forced starvation, the next pandemic or other methods. MAGAts choose to be stupid.
You are obviously a pro-MAGA provocateur looking for usable reactions.
Nope your obviously an appeaser with do nothing solutions . The subhuman magats have to be purged from society at large. Like Ukraine are doing to the orcs.