Mitch’s itchy palm: McConnell wants blue states to go bankrupt while Kentucky relies on massive federal largesse
By Daily News Editorial Board
New York Daily News |
Apr 23, 2020 | 1:09 PM
Mitch McConnell, the most powerful man in the U.S. Senate, is kindly suggesting New York and other places throttled by the coronavirus and associated economic shutdowns swallow the fiscal cyanide of bankruptcy rather than get federal aid, what his staff calls a “Blue State Bailout.â€
No, the feds shouldn’t prop up rickety pension systems and otherwise unsustainable state spending habits. But the New York’s nightmare — which, ahem, annually sends $30 billion-plus more to Washington than it gets back — has almost nothing to do with that, almost everything to do with the spread of COVID-19.
Mitch McConnell, the most powerful man in the U.S. Senate, is kindly suggesting New York and other places throttled by the coronavirus and associated economic shutdowns swallow the fiscal cyanide of bankruptcy rather than get federal aid, what his staff calls a “Blue State Bailout.â€
No, the feds shouldn’t prop up rickety pension systems and otherwise unsustainable state spending habits. But the New York’s nightmare — which, ahem, annually sends $30 billion-plus more to Washington than it gets back — has almost nothing to do with that, almost everything to do with the spread of COVID-19.
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What explains the stubborn reliance on federal largesse by McConnell’s home state?
We speak of Kentucky, where in a recent fiscal year, 39.5% of the state’s overall budget came from Washington, making it the fourth most DC-dependent state in the nation. By another measure, Kentucky is the nation’s second most federally dependent state.
Kentucky, which, despite having 3.8 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 residents, collected $1.7 billion from D.C. in the massive new virus-focused stimulus, which works out to $377 per resident. New York, with a per capita death rate 20 times that, got roughly the same amount per resident.
https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-edit-mitchs-itchy-palm-20200423-xefai32pszahxna5v64dwhmwyu-story.html