https://www.nationofchange.org/2018/11/05/the-evidence-pours-in-poverty-getting-much-worse-in-america/
The continuing efforts of the Reactionary Republican governors to steal away from their own people Biden’s enhanced Unemployment benefits is just one example of how Republicans hate and distrust American workers.
It is no exaggeration to say that Democrats care more for workers, their problems and their rights, than do Republicans. Not by a little, but by a lot. And this is true in virtually every aspect of labor: right to unionize, worker safety, fairness in overtime, proper classification of workers (wage earner vs independent contractor), etc.
Respect for ordinary workers goes hand in hand with economic development and a sound economy. The concept is simple (except to Reactionary Conservatives): if you respect, support and protect your workers they are more productive. They tend to create economies that have higher wages, higher standards of living and better health. Their states are wealthier, and have high levels of academic achievement as well as greater commercial and technological development.
When you don’t respect, support and protect your workers you get the opposite: low wages, injuries, stagnant economies, poor academic achievement and little commercial or technological innovation. Mostly, though, what you get is poverty - long-lasting, bone-crushing, soul-destroying poverty. And it is our most Conservatives states where you find this misery.
Here is a list of the top 25 poorest states in America. (The states are ranked according to the median wealth of each state’s residents). This is as of 2020, so it is very recent:
From 25th poorest down: Iowa, Nevada, Kansas, Arizona, Georgia, South Dakota, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Idaho, Florida, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina
From 10th poorest down: Tennessee, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Alabama, New Mexico, Louisiana, West Virginia, Mississippi.
What is the first thing you notice about this list? Right, almost all of states are conservative states And if you look at the ten poorest, starting with Tennessee, you see that they are all deeply red, longtime conservative states. Notice too, when looking at the poorest state, Mississippi, that not only is it poor, but it also among the unhealthiest states. A huge number of its residents suffer from obesity, diabetes and premature death. And it is poorly educated as well: only 22% of the residents over 25 years of age have a bachelor’s degree, which is 10% lower than average for the nation as a whole.
Like the other conservative states, the poorest of them, like Mississippi, offer their residents poverty, sickness and poor education. And this stems from the policies that conservatives always pursue, which are such that their residents can not achieve wealth, with all other ills following close behind.
How little do people laboring in conservative states earn? Consider what Moneywise lists as the median income for American households as a whole: about $68,703. In Iowa, the 25th poorest state, the median income was $60,523. This means that there was a single person making $60,523, or, since it is common for both the husband and wife to work, two people making a little more than $30,000 per year. Pretty damn thin!
If you look at the poorest state on the list of 2020, Mississippi, the median income was only $45,081. That bleak statistic is made worse by the reality that it was very probably the result of two people working full time for about $23,000 per year. Reactionary Conservatives like to say that earning less is not a big problem because it cost less to live in conservative states. But really, can anyone, living anywhere, live on that?
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/maps-of-the-south-bad-place_n_4855191
Conservative states are poor and they remain poor, especially the ones of the old confederacy. Here are two tables that rank our states, the first median income and the second by per capita income. It shows how each state fared from 2014 to 2019. Notice that nothing really changes: the most conservative states always rank at the bottom as the poorest.
The poverty of conservative states is not at all a recent phenomenon. Mississippi is our poorest state. But it has been synonymous with poverty ever since we took away their slaves. (Before that Mississippi was actually the richest state in the nation). In the same way other very conservative states are well known for their areas of extreme poverty: Eastern Kentucky, the south of Alabama, the backwoods of Tennessee, the inland areas of North and South Carolina.
https://www.newsweek.com/alabama-un-poverty-environmental-racism-743601https://www.newsweek.com/alabama-un-poverty-environmental-racism-743601
To grasp just how badly conservative states treat their workers just look at the Oxfam index of the best states in which to work.
https://theintercept.com/2019/05/30/volkswagen-anti-union-tennessee-governor-bill-lee/
The Oxfam criteria is a pretty good indicator of both the work policies of each state and also the attitude that its governors (and governing bodies) have toward their workers.
Here are the worst states in which to work, the ones that have the lowest wages, provide the least protection for workers, and are the worst union busters.
The worst states are ranked from best, California as #1, (that means it has the best worker protections and does not try and destroy unions), to the worst, North Carolina, as #52 (District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are included). The 10 worst counting from the bottom up:
52nd (and worst) North Carolina, 51 Georgia, 50 Mississippi, 49 Alabama 48 South Carolina, 47 Texas, 46 Kansas, 45 Tennessee, 44 Louisiana 43 Oklahoma
Notice how all of these states are very conservative? Georgia turned blue in the last presidential election, but it has been conservative for years. In the other states there are very few democrats or progressives and in nearly every possible way these states are deep red conservative.
When I say that conservatives really hate workers I mean that they really don’t give a damn about them, just as the survey shows. It is no coincidence that California, the richest and most innovative state in the nation is the best for worker. So let’s put the two surveys together along with the number of governors who have stupidly and heartlessly cut the enhanced unemployment benefits that Biden provided. This is how the top ten worst states in which to work and the top ten poorest states match up.
List of the Best and Worst States to Work:
North Carolina (#52 on the list of worst states for work): ranked as the #11 poorest state in the nation.
Georgia: #21 poorest state in the nation, still has a minimum wage of only $7.25/hr, has cut off enhanced unemployment benefits.
Mississippi: poorest state in the nation, still has a minimum wage of only $7.25/hr, and has cut federal unemployment benefits.
Alabama: 6th poorest state in the nation, still have a minimum wage of $7.25/hr, cut federal benefits.
South Carolina: 9th poorest state in the union, still has a minimum wage of only $7.25/hr and has cut federal benefits.
Texas (middle of the pack for being poor): still uses the minimum wage of $7.25/hr and has cut federal benefits.
Kansas: 23rd poorest state in the nation
Tennessee: 10th poorest state in the nation, still uses the minimum wage of $7.25/hr and cut federal benefits.
Louisiana: 4th poorest state in the nation, still uses the minimum wage of $7.25/hr and cut federal benefits.
Oklahoma: 8th poorest state in the nation, cut federal benefits.
Poverty, low wages, lousy working conditions, little union representation, and more poverty. Is it any wonder that all of the conservative state governors have just arbitrarily decided to take free money away from their own people (even when there are many good reasons to stay home?). They just don’t give a damn about their workers or their rights and it shows.
This is why it is imperative that we progressives take back control of the country from the Reactionary Conservatives that have cheated their way into control of so many states. When conservatives get their hands on a state and force their stupid policies (especially the economic and labor ones) on people they produce poverty and oppression.
If you want to live well and work well, vote progressive. Fight against Reactionary Conservatives. Their policies have been tried in traditionally conservative states for decades. And they have just ruined their states and impoverished their own people - all of whom they seem to believe are too lazy to work unless they are starved back into the workplace.
To hell with that. Live progressive, work progressive and thrive progressive!
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