Best and Worst Run States in the Union

[manfromnevada]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/best-and-worst-run-states-in-america.html

Here's a hint:
Wyoming is #1 and Kalifornia is #50.

Mac

[Bret]

they list a  high percentage of the state without health insurance.  About 81k people.  There are about 20k people on the Wind River Reservation.  I get medical care without any insurance merely because of my citizenship status (the local tribe pays for it even though I am not a member, its a cooperation deal most do and the local casino pays for the hospital).  I wonder if the numbers on that stat are skewed because of that, it is after all a potential 25% of the people without insurance.

California also has an issue with the way they allow modifications of the constitution - it only takes a simple majority.  They have mandatory "must spend more next year" provisions as a result and in the good years of the dot com boom they spent extra which set the bar for the next year.  In bad years they had no way to trim the payments.  In 1968 the state Supreme Court ruled "one person one vote" meant a geographically distributed senate was unconstitutional so we haev two houses.  As a result San Francisco and LA basically dictate what the laws will be to the rest of the state much of which is rural in nature (nearest fast food from me is an hour drive, nearest reasonable grocery store is an hour drive).

There are a slew of other factors that puts California where it is, mostly it is the demands of the people.

[FDNYLiberty]

(nearest fast food from me is an hour drive, nearest reasonable grocery store is an hour drive).

Hope that the fast-food joint is an In-N-Out Burger.................

[Terence]

As a result San Francisco and LA basically dictate what the laws will be to the rest of the state much of which is rural in nature.

Same for most states.  SFO and LA are the two voting wolves in CA. The pristine mountains and rural
farm areas (Predominately conservative) are the sheep they have for dinner. This is especially painful
when flying 600 mph for a solid hour over CA seeing nothing but natural inspiration and beauty knowing
that it's all subject to, perhaps, the most repressive laws in the US.

Most of the criteria in Mac's citation are great so I was surprised to see Minnesota anywhere near
the 4rth happiest. I'll bet the miserable performance of Reno and Las Vegas are no surprise
to someone going by the handle of 'macfromnevada'. . . ..

Terence

[Rafi]

SF is not the 2nd biggest city in Calif. San Jose and San Diego are larger and are going to have more political pull. SF just has the biggest mouth and gets a lot of press because an unusually large number of  its people and politicians are clowns.

[Cyclonesteve]

The Kalifornia system may soon be coming to the electoral college.

If enought states agree to vote their ballots for the overall vote leader rather than how their state voted then say goodbye to small state campaigning. It's a whole lot easier to "community organize" in Chicago for votes than it is to campaign in Wyoming, Montana, ND, SD, NE, IA...

[Don Wills]

The Kalifornia system may soon be coming to the electoral college.

If enought states agree to vote their ballots for the overall vote leader rather than how their state voted then say goodbye to small state campaigning. It's a whole lot easier to "community organize" in Chicago for votes than it is to campaign in Wyoming, Montana, ND, SD, NE, IA...

That will be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

[Paul Bonneau]

How a state like Wyoming, with more government employees per capita than any other except maybe Alaska, and funded largely externally (severance tax), and a fast-increasing budget can be considered "well run" is beyond me.    A chicken coop is well run by a fox, too.

Wyoming is an excellent place to be because of the people outside of government, not because of those in it.