Mitch’s itchy palm: McConnell wants blue states to go bankrupt while Kentucky relies on massive fede

[Chosen Daughter]

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.”
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.”
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.
Advertisement


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

[Smokin Joe]

Looking at urban areas hard hit, Seattle, Detroit, Chicago, New Orleans, St Louis, New York, D.C., and others, policy is wrought there by Democrats, and often contradicted advice from the POTUS, often out of spite and hatred for him. The argument can be made that initially, in defiance of the President, and later exacerbated or exaggerated in order to try and use the pandemic from China as a weapon, politically, against Trump.

Right now, with his seat up in the coming election, McConnell is on his best GOP-ish behaviour, trying to pull support however he can, despite failing to deliver in the first two years of Trump's first term on the very populist issues which contributed heavily to the outcome of the 2016 election. If he is going to keep his job, he has to be seen as bringing home the bacon for his State as well.

But if you are measuring the bailout money per capita, why isn't it fair to give each the same amount of help per person? After all, just New York City has twice the population of Kentucky, so they will get twice as much money.

[PeteS in CA]

Ridiculous apples-coconuts comparison.

Why in Hades should the Federal government bail out NY's, IL's, and CA's - to name a few - decades of stupid financial decisions, books-cooking, and ludicrous union contracts?

[truth_seeker]

Since Kentucky is far from the most dependent, the premise of this article is false.

The premise is a low-intelligencecheat shot at McConnell, as a proxy for Trump Hate.

Whether a particulat state is in financial jeopardy bears no relationship to the sitting Senate Majority Leader or his party.

McConnell is correct to urge/suggest Bankruptcy for states (and and loocal) jurisdictions.

Any financially conservative federalist would applaud his admonition.

This foolish thread, using McConnell as a proxy for Trump, exemplifies how ridiculous this daily TDS back and forth has become.