Comments on: With Vermont Earning the Dubious Distinction of First Place, Northeastern States Dominate the Moocher Index

Comments on: With Vermont Earning the Dubious Distinction of First Place, Northeastern States Dominate the Moocher Index http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/ Restraining Government in America and Around the World Wed, 22 May 2013 02:55:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: davidlloydjones http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-62654 Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:14:55 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-62654 “Let’s now emphasize several caveats. I’m not an expert on the mechanics of social welfare programs, but even I know that eligibility is not governed solely by the poverty rate.” you say.

Seems about right.

When Vermont and Mississippi come up as two of the top three, it sorta screams apples and oranges, doesn’t it?

This exercise doesn’t tell us anything useful about the Unite States. It’s simply a reminder of something obvious: the dubious value of a job half done.

-dlj.

]]> By: Moocher’s Hall of Fame is a hall of shame | The Daily Hatch http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-62622 Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:43:24 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-62622 [...] in 2010, I posted a “Moocher Index” showing the states with the most dependency. But that was based on numbers and lacked any [...]

]]> By: The Moocher Hall of Fame Welcomes its First Danish Member | International Liberty http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-62602 Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:15:38 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-62602 [...] in 2010, I posted a “Moocher Index” showing the states with the most dependency. But that was based on numbers and lacked any [...]

]]> By: Question of the Week: Why Aren’t Libertarians More Persuasive? | International Liberty http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-59931 Sat, 23 Mar 2013 15:32:57 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-59931 [...] as more Americans adopt the moocher mindset found in Vermont, libertarians have a hard time developing a winning [...]

]]> By: Which states are the leaders in food stamp consumption? | The Daily Hatch http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-59692 Tue, 19 Mar 2013 11:56:49 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-59692 [...] than 20 percent of resident’s to be on the dole. The state does get a “high” ranking on the Moocher Index, so there’s some evidence of an entitlement mentality. And welfare handouts also are above [...]

]]> By: Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall, Which State Has the Highest Food Stamp Usage of All? | International Liberty http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-59663 Tue, 19 Mar 2013 11:30:25 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-59663 [...] of resident’s to be on the dole. The state does get a “high” ranking on the Moocher Index, so there’s some evidence of an entitlement mentality. And welfare handouts also are above [...]

]]> By: Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall, which State Has the Most Bureaucrats Compared to Teachers of Them All | International Liberty http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-59489 Sat, 16 Mar 2013 18:42:45 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-59489 [...] Illinois is much closer to the bottom than to the top in the “Moocher Index,” so maybe it’s not as bad as we [...]

]]> By: Do You Live in a “Death Spiral” State? http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-54635 Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:10:31 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-54635 [...] years ago, I put together a “Moocher Index” that measured the degree to which non-poor people in a state were benefiting from redistribution [...]

]]> By: Eli Tobias http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-52354 Fri, 11 Jan 2013 14:37:34 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-52354 Health care in Vermont is extremely expensive and unaffordable for working Vermonters. I find it ironic that my wife and I cannot qualify for Catamount Health Care, based on our income, nor can we afford $800 per month for health care premiums, with a $10k deductible, before any benefits are paid. It’s nearly impossible to get in to see a doctor because the welfare recipients are crowding the waiting rooms. Obviously they’re not working so they have more time to breed like cockroaches, thus increasing the amount of their hand outs from the State of VT. Meanwhile, working families must go without and face bankruptcy if they are faced with a medical emergency. The liberal Vermont policies are open discrimination and outright thievery from the wallets of the working folks. I was born in VT but I am ashamed of my state. If I can sell my house I would gladly move to NH, which seems to be more rational.

]]> By: Do You Live in a “Death Spiral” State? | Tennesseans Watching Federal & State Government http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-51874 Sun, 06 Jan 2013 23:40:26 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-51874 [...] years ago, I put together a “Moocher Index” that measured the degree to which non-poor people in a state were benefiting from redistribution [...]

]]> By: Do You Live in a “Death Spiral” State? « OBAMA-B-GONEOBAMA-B-GONE http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-51821 Sun, 06 Jan 2013 05:19:25 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-51821 [...] years ago, I put together a “Moocher Index” that measured the degree to which non-poor people in a state were benefiting from redistribution [...]

]]> By: Do You Live in a “Death Spiral” State? | Sago http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-51703 Fri, 04 Jan 2013 15:23:05 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-51703 [...] years ago, I put together a “Moocher Index” that measured the degree to which non-poor people in a state were benefiting from redistribution [...]

]]> By: Do You Live in a “Death Spiral” State? « International Liberty http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-51689 Fri, 04 Jan 2013 14:12:40 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-51689 [...] years ago, I put together a “Moocher Index” that measured the degree to which non-poor people in a state were benefiting from redistribution [...]

]]> By: States with No Income Tax Grow Faster and Create More Jobs | The Desert Review http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-49811 Mon, 17 Dec 2012 14:36:04 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-49811 [...] Here’s the famous Moocher Index of state dependency, and you’ll notice that states with no income tax are more likely to be near the bottom of the [...]

]]> By: New Evidence Shows States with No Income Tax Grow Faster and Create More Jobs « International Liberty http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-49679 Sat, 15 Dec 2012 16:24:22 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-49679 [...] Here’s the famous Moocher Index of state dependency, and you’ll notice that states with no income tax are more likely to be near the bottom of [...]

]]> By: Thomas http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-48693 Sat, 08 Dec 2012 23:16:22 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-48693 As a native Vermonter, I would have to agree with this analysis. Welfare and entitlement programs are spreading like a cancer throughout all of VT. The influx of “refugees” from other countries has added fuel to the fire as they have quickly discovered just how easy it is to milk the system and they are anxious to teach others all the techniques for abusing the system. Burlington is jam packed with free loaders and an investigative report at the food shelf in Burlington should be a must. You would be amazed at the expensive cars that show up there and the gold jewelry that some of the “poor unfortunates” don as they walk in for a hand out. One large family from Iraq, openly boasts about how easy it is to get everything for free while living in a nice home, with several cars and even their own driver. They also run several businesses under the name of a local, so that they can continue to steal from working people’s tax dollars. I’m sure the State of Vermont turns a blind eye on all of this and find it easier to milk honest working Vermonters and small businesses of their savings. Yet, even more surprising is the huge number of ignorant bleeding hearts here in VT that refuse to open their eyes and see what is truly going on. Meanwhile, elderly people who are too proud to ask for help (and are truly deserving of it) continue to scrape by and do what they can.

]]> By: The “Happy Planet Index” Ranks Venezuela, Albania, and Cuba Far Higher than the United States | Sago http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-47096 Tue, 27 Nov 2012 00:09:38 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-47096 [...] are also more specialized rankings, such as the one measuring per-capita government debt, the Moocher Index of state-by-state government dependency, and my ranking of which President has been the biggest [...]

]]> By: The “Happy Planet Index” Ranks Venezuela, Albania, and Cuba Far Higher than the United States « The blog for taxspecialists http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-47019 Mon, 26 Nov 2012 14:28:42 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-47019 [...] are also more specialized rankings, such as the one measuring per-capita government debt, the Moocher Index of state-by-state government dependency, and my ranking of which President has been the biggest [...]

]]> By: The “Happy Planet Index” Ranks Venezuela, Albania, and Cuba Far Higher than the United States « International Liberty http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-46967 Sun, 25 Nov 2012 20:40:10 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-46967 [...] are also more specialized rankings, such as the one measuring per-capita government debt, the Moocher Index of state-by-state government dependency, and my ranking of which President has been the biggest [...]

]]> By: Saturday Grumpy Daily Headline News | Grumpy Opinions http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-26484 Sat, 21 Apr 2012 18:12:22 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-26484 [...] With Vermont Earning the Dubious Distinction of First Place, Northeastern States Dominate the Mooche… [...]

]]> By: Can You Name the Hate-Filled, Racist, Right-Wing, Tea-Party Fanatic Who Said This? « The Market Center Blog http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-4636 Sun, 07 Nov 2010 05:26:11 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-4636 [...] luring people into dependency is a tragic example of misguided government policy (a problem that is particularly severe in certain states, particularly the Northeast). And Young is not the only one to note that African-Americans have been the biggest [...]

]]> By: Can You Name the Hate-Filled, Racist, Right-Wing, Tea-Party Fanatic Who Said This? « International Liberty http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-4621 Sat, 06 Nov 2010 14:09:53 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-4621 [...] luring people into dependency is a tragic example of misguided government policy (a problem that is particularly severe in certain states, particularly the Northeast). And Young is not the only one to note that African-Americans have been the biggest [...]

]]> By: The Moocher State Of Kalifornia Allows Welfare Recipients To Gamble Away Our Tax Dollars http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-1984 Sat, 26 Jun 2010 17:11:29 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-1984 [...] of the 52 States, California is ranked 13th in Dan Mitchell’s “Moocher” Index: I wanted to get a better understanding of the variations in government dependency. Is there a [...]

]]> By: Jeffrey http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-1845 Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:16:09 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-1845 You should see the Vermont welfare “marms”. What evil have we created?
Vermont began to drive out industry long ago. Of course the polititians will take no credit for what they created in their blood sucking, money laundering schemes. They have Act 250 (a sort of green revolution is how it always begins) designated “Gold Towns” for wealth redistribution and numerous other idiotic leftist laws, rules and regulations and the result is extreme poverty and a lot of parasitical types of despicable character. Only New Hampshire remains somewhat friendly to industry in the region the rest of the region is dominated by “Crony Capitalism”. Being from Vermont I know that “true Vermonters” are hard working and conservative. Being a small state with lots of colleges (kids from the big blue cities) and a large university Vermont was a fairly easy takeover target by the Left. The “hippies” from the big eastern cities poured into the rural state in the 60′s and 70′s and changed the political structure in a short period of time. Now Vermont is magnet for the parasite. There is hope, “true Vermonters” and the conservatives have finally grown a set and are starting up increasingly effective grass root campaigns working to “take back Vermont”. Think: Green Mountain Boy’s rise again. Let’s hope for a bloodless takeover in Montpelier and a swift end to the welfare state.

]]> By: Mark Snowden http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-1842 Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:07:24 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-1842 Your “index” contains a logical/mathematical error.
The “Table 3″ data is expressed as a percentage of Households (about 117 million).

The Poverty Rate data is expressed as a percentage of Population (about 301 million).

There is not an equal distribution of Population within Households i.e., Households vary in size.

So, simply subtracting one percentage from the other produces a number that doesn’t have an actual meaning – it’s not a percent of *anything*.

Mixing Household and Person data is a common error made by people unfamiliar with demographic data. That error really should have been caught.

Mark Snowden

]]> By: Top Posts — WordPress.com http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-1841 Fri, 18 Jun 2010 00:12:42 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-1841 [...] With Vermont Earning the Dubious Distinction of First Place, Northeastern States Dominate the Mooch… The Center for Immigration Studies recently put out a study arguing that immigration has had negative effects on [...] [...]

]]> By: Morgan M http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-1835 Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:48:58 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-1835 Vermont’s ranking is almost certainly the result of its property tax “income sensitivity” program, whereby most homeowners earning less than $90K receive a property tax credit of up to $8000, depending on their income.

The program is controversial. I can live in a $1M house with a $30K income and get a nice big subsidy.

]]> By: Kansas Ranks Low in Moocher Index http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-1834 Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:19:24 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-1834 [...] Cato Institute’s Daniel Mitchell created the Moocher Index to compare the variations in government dependency among the states. CLICK HERE OR ON CHART TO SEE [...]

]]> By: Brutus http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-1833 Thu, 17 Jun 2010 16:33:47 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-1833 C’mon Jake, you know welfare in New Hampshire is just a bus ticket to Boston!

At least until the critical mass of Massholes outnumbers the natives in NH…

]]> By: kevin barry http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/with-vermont-earning-the-dubious-distintion-of-first-place-northeastern-states-dominate-the-moocher-index/#comment-1832 Thu, 17 Jun 2010 16:17:27 +0000 http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/?p=3663#comment-1832 Extreme liberal government have had decades to train a willing subserviant population that welfare and food stamps and other “entitlements” are their natural rights. If the leaders of the American revolution could come back and see this, they would have to be given smelling salts. We live in a society which has replaced the old cotton plantation with it’s slaves with urban plantations and it’s slaves.

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