ALEC's latest Rich States/Poor States measurement: Vermont is 50th

[cali]

So how insane is that?

Vermont has 4% unemployment. That's right, 4%; the 3rd best in the country. It has a balanced budget without even having a balanced budget amendment. Year after year, it's rated the healthiest state in the country. It has the highest high school graduation rate.

Mississippi on the other hand, is 10th.

http://www.maciverinstitute.com/2013/05/wisconsin-jumps-17-spots-in-economic-outlook-ranking/

[Drale]

1. This is a list of states in order

of how easy it is for a corporation to make the population a slave society.

[cali]

2. well, that was succinct. and probably spot on.

[pipoman]

3. ...

Rich States, Poor States has been published annually since 2008. Dr. Arthur B. Laffer, an award-winning economist who served on President Ronald Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board; Stephen Moore, an economist and writer for the Wall Street Journal and former Senior Economics Fellow at the Cato Institute; and Jonathan Williams, the Director of the Center for State Fiscal Reform at ALEC authored the report.

'nuff said..

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Consider the source: The MacIver Institute is a right-wing/libertarian think tank

with close ties to the Koch Brothers. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=MacIver_Institute

I suspect their "statistics" are related to the extent to which a state has become, or is likely to be, heavily privatized and/or under the control of Republicans. My state, Minnesota, is fifth from the bottom on their list, yet it has had quite low unemployment throughout the recession and one of the most highly educated populations. But it's a union state with a Democratic legislature and governor, so from the perspective of the libertarians (and the Kochs), it's a "poor" state - because the oligarchs haven't been able to get a toehold here.

[midnight]

5. Looks like ALEC is running Walker in 2016 that is why this is so insane...

[nebenaube]

12. You are correct

And we need to go Santorum on him as soon as possible.

[hay rick]

6. Mississippi and Alabama...

way ahead of New Jersey and Connecticut. Uh-huh...

[midnight]

7. Cali, hope you don't mind, but I'm going to post this in Wisconsin.

[HiPointDem]

8. it's all about taxes, cali.

"The variable's (sic) include income tax rates, overall tax burden, recent tax policy changes, total public employees per capita, and others. Wisconsin gets high marks on the ranking for having the minimum wage at the federal floor, and not levying an estate tax. However, the Badger State gets docked points for having high property and income taxes."

the wise folks at alec don't know how to use apostrophes, either.

there's also the issue of whether a state which has about as many people as seattle is really representative of anything at all.

[0rganism]

9. your indicators != their indicators

You're looking at unemployment and budget. They look at:
top marginal income tax rates (lower is better)
property and sales tax rates (lower is better)
existence of estate taxes (none is better)
debt-service-to-revenue ratio (lower is better)
minimum wage (lower is better, federal floor is optimal)
right-to-work state (yes is better)
and other things that have questionable bearing on reality.

Their rating is a measurement of the extent to which a state's underclass is/can be exploited.

[NoGOPZone]

10. Anything with the name Laffer in it is bound to be suspect nt

[Squinch]

11. I'm sorry but that report is just hilarious.

It reads like it was compiled by 18 year olds at a Rave.