10 Poorest States In US To Have Voted For Trump Are Poorer Than Baltimore
July 30th 2019
Baltimore Skyline in Blue Hour, Maryland (SridharSaraf)
By Juan Cole
Trump has been throwing shade on Baltimore. But he constantly praises himself at his rallies in the Red States for the great job he’s done in bringing people prosperity.
In 2017, Baltimore’s per capita personal income (inside city limits) was $49,168.
This site says GDP per capita in Baltimore in 2017 was about $59,000/ yr.
This is the per capita income of the poorest 10 states to have voted for Trump (in 2018 current dollars):
39 Florida 48,318
40 Arizona 48,055
43 Kentucky 46,898
44 Montana 46,609
45 South Carolina 45,280
46 Alabama 45,219
47 Idaho 43,430
48 West Virginia 43,053
49 Arkansas 42,454
50 Mississippi 37,948
Unlike Trump, however, I object to characterizing these states and their people, based on their poverty, as in any way lesser.
These states, and Baltimore, are full of hard workers who are not being paid enough for their work, hence their relative poverty.
Trump has actually worsened income inequality enormously with his 2018 tax scam, ensuring that the people of these states who put their trust in him to improve their lives will in fact over time have a smaller and smaller share of the national wealth. It has been shown that the benefits of the tax cut will go disproportionately to the wealthy, increasing inequality.
Too few people (people like Trump and his cronies) are taking too much of the national income, causing wage stagnation for everyone else. In 1970, the top 1% took 10% of the national income annually. Now it is 20%.
People are poor because of inequality and wage stagnation, which Trump is making worse. If there are communities no human being would want to live in, it is his sort of policies that produces them.
Posted with permission