Mid America: We Be a Chill’n

21 Replies to “Mid America: We Be a Chill’n”

1. If a similar Canadian survey was done, would Quebec be the most economically stressed?

2. Hmmmmmmm, maybe a blockbuster movie there . . .
   The Valium Counties Chronicles

3. Flyover country!
   Surprised there are no MT.

4. Geez i guess being a hick redneck ain’t so bad after all…

5. I wonder how the political affiliations of these areas compare. -rhetorical question-

6. I guess California is NOT the place to be. (Beverly Hillbillies Song) 11/20 stressed counties. Glad we have a good gvernment keeping us the tops in the world during this time of fiancial crisis.
   setyoufree (4:13) I think you might be right, but would include Toronto – they always seem under stress.

7. I wonder where the stimulus money went??

8. How many are in Right To Work states?
   And how many Somali/Other Muslim/Mexican immigrants do they have?

9. “I wonder where the stimulus money went??”
   A lot of hasn’t gone anywhere except into the War Chest for the next election. Every Dumbocrat seat in trouble will be carpet bombed by Stimulus funds in an attempt to make Obamassiah look great.

10. For years middle class families have been leaving major coastal cities en masse for the fly-over States; perhaps they are on to something.
    One of these days something is really going to have to give. It seems you can’t separate one issue from another anymore, they’re all interrelated.
    When Californians flee California for lower taxes and increased personal safety, the result is a greater revenue problem for the State, aggravating the already stressful situation. Furthermore, it increases the political power of the Left for those that stayed behind since each exodus if one less vote for the middle class.
    This says one of two things to me, it says a) the people that have left California are very selfish, and by picking-up and leaving are demonstrating that they have no sentimental attachment nor do they care about the future of California; or b) things are so bad in California that average people born and raised in the great State no longer recognize their homes, and have already lost hope and no longer believe that California is salvageable. I believe it’s the latter. I don’t believe that people pick-up and move their families on a whim; they do it for a better life.
    It’s this blatant discrepancy between “stress levels” in Blue States and Red States that defines the current political landscape. As middle class families flee Blue States for Red States, the Federal Government scrambles to compensate by instituting the infrastructure necessary to transfer wealth from Red States to Blue States. This infrastructure is known as Healthcare Reform, Capn’Trade, VAT, and Immigration Reform; all designed to buoy the financial picture for States that support the Democratic party.
    It’s all interrelated.

11. Hey those are all Pheasant hunting counties. And they have some great prairie dog shooting too. Told you hunting was recreational.

12. I haven’t checked into the islamic percentages of California, only into the Cheboygan County in Michigan, some websites call it “Gaza West”, which I suppose could account for elevated stress…

13. Hey, look at that! The least economically stressed county in the US is located in a state led by a Democratic governor, while the most economically stressed county is in a state led by a Republican.
    That proves it — Democrats rule, Republicans suck.

14. Davenport: That’s not the point, the point is that Kansas is “fly-over” country … middle America … Tea Party America.
    If you want to play “who do they elect”, Kansas elects GOP senators and California, led by a RINO Gov., has a Dem dominated legislator with likely the most leftwing legislative record in North America. Kansas has 3 Rs for Congress and one D.

15. Cjunk, I’ll go even farther.
    I lived in California for almost 20 years, from early 70’s to early 90’s. I watched ever-growing government, ever-growing taxes destroy the economic viability of California. During that time, it was the Democratic Party that controlled the State Legislature; carefully stocked the state govt with leftist, regulatory-prone bureaucrats; did everything possible to secure the party with the public employees unions in a sordid mutual back-scratching relationship.
    Any attempts by Republican governors, from Reagan to Schwartzenneger ,to implement any meaningful governmental reforms have been blocked by the Democrats. These bureaucracies have made California practically a hostile environment for business.
    You could write whole phonebooks of formerly California-located companies and businesses driven out of the state and relocated to Oregon, Nevada and Arizona. They have access to what’s left of the California market but without having to kowtow to the state regulatory commissars, pay ridiculous levels of state taxes, fees, etc.
    The Republican Party in California is far from perfect but it is the Democratic Party in California that is a lethal disease on California. The left -with it’s agenda- that’s captured the Democratic Party has destroyed the once-great state of California.
    To borrow a metaphor from Mark Steyn, California is the canary in the coal-mine, showing with these people intend to do to the whole United States. If they are not stopped.

16. While San Joaquin Co made the most stressed list (in 9th) some of its residents especially me have dropped out of the system.
    In what I call a structured resettlement my wife and I reduced our income by about half and switched to deriving a bunch of it from Other Peoples Money )OPM). This put us squarely in the taker column. In the unlikely event that someone reading this was dependent on our sizeable contribution to your welfare I’m really sorry but we’ve only enough for ourselves now. And in the words of the LA Times editor when he instructed his staff to avoid the John Edwards (D-Lovechild) story.
    Keep Rockin’

17. If anyone hasn’t read Victor Davis Hanson on the state (in both senses) of California, I recommend searching him out on Pajamas Media. His columns are first rate.

18. Arlington VA, is home of the federal employee and Pentagon types. I guess you wouldn’t have much unemployment there would you?

19. It could be argued that all of the above counties are some of the biggest beneficiairies of the mandated use of ethanol and biodiesel. Thus they owe their low stress to the Eco-left.

20. Wasn’t California the first state to ban smoking in public places?

21. Well, the two in Louisi-yana are Parishes, and yep, we be in fly-over-country.
    Man, and all those stressed out counties are Liberals.