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Re:Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more by wonderwonder on Wednesday April 29, 2020 @03:21PM (#23023053)
Alabama gets ~$3.50 form the federal government for every $1 it contributes in federal taxes. California gets ~$0.97 for every dollar it gives. So the real question is should Californians be bailing out Alabama all the time. Should states like South Carolina, Alabama and North Dakota just be left to die? I mean they are takers in even the best economic situation.

The answer is of course not, they are states populated by real people who live under the laws and economic system of the United States Federal government. The government should ensure that all people are entitled to enough funding to provide opportunity, health and justice. We don't just leave people to suffer regardless of who they vote for. At least we didn't used too.

Re:Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more by coredog64 on Wednesday April 29, 2020 @03:33PM (#23023198)
I always find those numbers interesting. IIRC, they come from the Taxpayer foundation and generally stop at “zip code where the Feds send the check”.

Hypothetical example: The DoE wants to build a supercomputer from XBox 360s (ASCI RRoD). They select UNM as the lead contractor and write a check for $101M. UNM buys $50M in XBoxes from MSFT in Seattle, and another $50M for compilers and professional services from IBM in Armonk, NY. Did NM get $101M for their taxes, or $1M?

Re:Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more by bilbo0s on Wednesday April 29, 2020 @03:48PM (#23023348)
That might be meaningful if you could show that most of the federal money going to New Mexico was used for R&D as opposed to, say, social support programs. And then you could try to show that the money going to all of the other "taker" states was similarly being used on developmental projects as opposed to social support.

I'd bet on it not being used on R&D. In fact, I'm betting most of that money never even leaves the state of New Mexico. Those contractors building roads aren't being paid with monopoly money.

I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

That's one of the reasons I'm such a big proponent of lower taxes. The tax resource allocation scheme is fundamentally unfair as currently structured. There are other reasons I support lower taxes, but you don't want to get me started.

Re:Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more by saagarjha on Wednesday April 29, 2020 @04:05PM (#23023534)
Note that often the ZIP code that is chosen is a result of senators pulling strings to get it awarded to their constituents, even for R&D–that's often new jobs.
Re:Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more by notyourday on Wednesday April 29, 2020 @04:24PM (#23023791)
Mostly congressmen, not senators. And that's what earmarks are.
Re:Lyft lays off 17% of workforce, furloughs hundreds more by mycall on Friday May 01, 2020 @12:56AM (#23039262)
> So the real question is should Californians be bailing out Alabama all the time

I would say yes since the brain drain California has cost on other poor states has been significant.