[Carbonsteel]

25. Texas > State debt per capita: $1,240 (2nd lowest) >

Pct. without health insurance: 23.7% (the highest) >

Pct. below poverty line: 17.0% (9th lowest) >

Unemployment: 8.5% (23rd highest)

Texas managed to spend the third least per capita in 2009, and as a partial consequence has the second lowest debt per capita, a mere $1,240 per person. Austere spending comes at a price, however. Nearly a quarter of the state’s residents are without health insurance. Also, only 80.9% of Texans 25 years or older graduated from high school. While this is an improvement from its 2003 rate of 77%, it is tied with California for worst among all states.

I wonder if they are including illegal immigrants in that number for uninsured persons? Also, how many Katrina refugees that are still here are without a job or health insurance?

[Baynative]

This is an interesting look at how poorly elected officials do when trusted with the welfare of citizens and given the ability to spend freely with other people's money.

I live in Washington state which is a remarkable cluster pluck of goo goo liberalism and environmental socialist radicalism. The legislature here reflects the feelings of the urban population which largely believes that government should control everything and any regulations based on something that can be construed as environmental takes precedent of civil or constitutional rights.

Unemployment [here] is much higher than reported. The infrastructure is deteriorating and although taxes go up consistently, any major project improvements are only preformed through grants, bonds or by adding toll booths to roads and bridges. The budget is impossible to read and spending is all but impossible to account for.

If this state ranks 17th in the nation, I can only imagine what a mess of useless politics and useless representatives the other 44 (according to the community organizer) states must be.

[Labyrinthos]

New York “spends the most in the country on public welfare at $2,276 per person.” Nevertheless, it has the 22nd highest poverty rate in excess of 14%.

That’s because the poverty rate is based upon household income, which does not include all the handout and giveaways that make poor New Yorkers the wealthiest poor people in the world.

[Vigilanteman]

Just a few observations:

1. Commie states high on the well-run list have special industries such as Fedgov (Maryland) or an influx of foreign tourists (Hawaii) which boost their wealth.

2. In some cases (Vermont, Maine, Minnesota), they have a climate which keeps the influx of moochers at a manageable level.

3. Well run American states (Wyoming, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Utah) have none of these factors other than climate.

4. States which have recently jettisoned Democrat administrations (Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ohio) have moved up the list whereas those which have recently installed them (Colorado) have moved down.

5. Some measures are relatively bogus. Is it really any surprise that Alabama should have double the poverty rate of Alaska when the former have to spend so little and later so much just to keep warm? Income alone is a poor indicator of actual poverty. It just happens to be the measure used.

6. Ditto for using the number of uninsured as a primary measure. Hawaii has had a form of socialized medicine on their books for more than a generation. It is weird that they still have that many unisured.

[bgill]

Texas managed to spend the third least per capita in 2009, and as a partial consequence has the second lowest debt per capita, a mere $1,240 per person. Austere spending comes at a price, however. Nearly a quarter of the state’s residents are without health insurance. Also, only 80.9% of Texans 25 years or older graduated from high school. While this is an improvement from its 2003 rate of 77%, it is tied with California for worst among all states.

Gee, education is at the bottom but it couldn't be because of all the illegals could it? They don't need health insurance when emergency room care for ingrown toenails is free.

[Marathoner]

In honor of Commissar Zero, we here in the People’s Republic of Illinois should be, and deserve to be #57.

[Billthedrill]

On a state and local level combined, Idaho spends less per capita than any state in the country on its population.

State government the way it ought to be: small, poor, and no more honest than it has to be. Personally I ascribe the low violent crime rate to one thing: we shoot back.

[arderkrag]

From the GA entry:

The state spent just $984 per person that year on public welfare, the third-lowest amount in the country. This lack of spending contributed to the state’s poverty rate of 16.5% — the 11th highest in the country — and the nearly 20% without health insurance, the fifth highest percentage in the country.

What nonsense. This country survived just fine for years with no "Public Welfare" spending.