California Dreamin'

Atrios notes that Arnie can't seem to shut up about his hopes for a federal bailout that will save him from the consequences of his own idiotic campaign promises:

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger says he has asked President George W. Bush to help California get more of its money back from the federal government.

Schwarzenegger said that for each dollar the state has been paying to the federal government, it has been getting back 77 cents.

The Republican said he told Bush he needs the federal government "to come in and really help us straighten out California."

"Alone we can't do it," Schwarzenegger said. "We need the help of the federal government."

By "alone", the governor-elect presumably means himself and the millions of California drivers who are now waiting eagerly for him to reduce their auto registration fees. Truly, it is lonely at the top.

I'm not sure where Arnie picked up this notion that states that put more into the Treasury than they take out should be entitled to a federal bailout any time their taxpayers aren't willing to pay for the public services they consume. But the following map suggests it's a doctrine that doesn't have much future in the GOP.

The map -- prepared by the Northeast-Midwest Coalition, a bipartisan congressional caucus -- shows what share of each dollar paid in federal taxes last year was returned to each state in the form of federal spending or transfer payments. Gainers are red, losers blue:

Does it, maybe, look just a little bit like this map?

All told, there were 16 states that got back less than they put into the federal Treasury in 2002. Of those states, Gore won 12; Bush 4. There were 33 states that got back more than they put in. Gore won 7; Bush 27. One state -- Florida - broke even, which is both politically and ironically appropriate.

Essentially, as Paul Krugman has pointed out before, there are large swatches of red-state America that are effectively on the dole. How does Arnie expect his fellow Republicans in those states to respond to the notion that the federal union should be strictly Dutch treat?

Think about that Arnie is suggesting. He's saying the federal dollars that now go to cotton farmers in Mississippi and nuclear labs in New Mexico instead should flow to California -- so that he, the Great White Moderate Republican Hope, can shower tax cuts on his suntanned constituents.

I'd dearly love to hear what Trent Lott and Pete Domenici think of that idea.

(Many thanks to Olds88 for steering me to the tax map)