Racial Resentment and the Federal Spending Paradox
Sep 2, 2017 13:44:32 #
I've always wondered about this... A curious pattern that I've mentioned a few times on this forum. So, it was nice to see some actual research on the matter. Here's the executive summary from that research, so you know what I'm talking about...
The fiercest opposition to federal spending tends to come from areas of the U.S. that rely more heavily on federal money. New research documents and analyzes this phenomenon, called the federal spending paradox. It found that a 10-percentage-point increase in opposition to federal spending is associated with an additional $0.37 in federal outlays per tax dollar paid, or an extra $17.1 billion in federal money for a state with an average tax burden. But why? Looking at noneconomic influences on individuals’ fiscal attitudes revealed that greater racial resentment was associated with lower support for spending. This remained true even after accounting for other demographic and political characteristics, such as gender, race, age, education, income, party identification, and ideology. In fact, racial resentment was far more powerful in predicting opposition to federal spending than economic self-interest was — for example, it was four times stronger than income.
Of course, I've been aware of this strange paradox the whole time the Tea Party was shouting down Obama's spending, because it's a simple matter of looking at public records. This isn't a theory. For years voting records have been showing that federal spending is mostly opposed by regions that depend the most on federal spending. It's weird, right? This is what the researchers are calling the "federal spending paradox" and one can't help but wonder what drives it.
I had my suspicions about some of those Red State, Tea Party followers who got soooo upset about the federal spending without understanding how they themselves depend on it. Not only that but new federal spending was at it's highest during the Bush administration and we didn't hear a peep out of them then. No, it was just about Obama and HIS spending... (which was mostly to pay off interest and principal on the debts incurred by his predecessor.) So, why all of a sudden did all these blue-collar people get so upset about something they never understood or cared about before?
At first I thought the answer was obvious... Obama took the reigns right after the economic crash. It's like Bush drove the car into the ditch, got out and handed Obama the keys. So I thought "OK, they're learning from the experience of the crash. But when I started talking about the details their eyes seemed to glaze over. I would tell them some details are important to know, such as the fact that spending tax money doesn't actually contribute to the debt... The debt comes from spending borrowed money. But mentioning these details just seemed to irritate them. They seemed more interested in attacking Obama than understanding the true nature of the problems they *say* they are "concerned" about.
So, is it something else? Could it be racism? Aside from the economic crash, the other issue of historical significance in 2008 was the election of the first black president. "Nah... don't jump to conclusions straight..." That's what I told myself then and for the next 8 years I continued to battle this suspicion. It's just that I really didn't want to believe that racism could still be such a defining component in American politics. But then Trump happened, and Sessions happened, and Bannon happened, then Charlottesville happened and now this study seems to confirm what I didn't want to hear. That racism is indeed a defining component in American politics.
The study cites racial resentment as a predominant factor in explaining the paradox. Here they describe exactly what they mean by racial resentment...
Also known as symbolic racism or modern racism, racial resentment is a post-Civil-Rights-era view rooted in the denial of continuing discrimination against African Americans, doubts about their work ethic, and resistance to government efforts to reduce racial inequalities.
The study goes on to say..."
As one might have guessed from the racial undertones often present in public discussions on fiscal politics, greater racial resentment was associated with lower support for spending. This remained true even when we accounted for other demographic and political characteristics, such as gender, race, age, education, income, party identification, ideology, and so on. In fact, racial resentment was far more powerful in predicting opposition to federal spending than economic self-interest was — for example, it was four times stronger than income. Its influence exceeded even that of party identification, which is notable in our era of hyperpartisanship. So economic characteristics do matter in the way we would expect; it’s just that other factors matter more."
I dunno... I guess my question is why? Why in this age of education and reason... in this country of opportunity and diversity... why do we still insist on the politics of hating people who don't look like us?
https://hbr.org/2017/09/research-opposition-to-federal-spending-is-driven-by-racial-resentment
The fiercest opposition to federal spending tends to come from areas of the U.S. that rely more heavily on federal money. New research documents and analyzes this phenomenon, called the federal spending paradox. It found that a 10-percentage-point increase in opposition to federal spending is associated with an additional $0.37 in federal outlays per tax dollar paid, or an extra $17.1 billion in federal money for a state with an average tax burden. But why? Looking at noneconomic influences on individuals’ fiscal attitudes revealed that greater racial resentment was associated with lower support for spending. This remained true even after accounting for other demographic and political characteristics, such as gender, race, age, education, income, party identification, and ideology. In fact, racial resentment was far more powerful in predicting opposition to federal spending than economic self-interest was — for example, it was four times stronger than income.
Of course, I've been aware of this strange paradox the whole time the Tea Party was shouting down Obama's spending, because it's a simple matter of looking at public records. This isn't a theory. For years voting records have been showing that federal spending is mostly opposed by regions that depend the most on federal spending. It's weird, right? This is what the researchers are calling the "federal spending paradox" and one can't help but wonder what drives it.
I had my suspicions about some of those Red State, Tea Party followers who got soooo upset about the federal spending without understanding how they themselves depend on it. Not only that but new federal spending was at it's highest during the Bush administration and we didn't hear a peep out of them then. No, it was just about Obama and HIS spending... (which was mostly to pay off interest and principal on the debts incurred by his predecessor.) So, why all of a sudden did all these blue-collar people get so upset about something they never understood or cared about before?
At first I thought the answer was obvious... Obama took the reigns right after the economic crash. It's like Bush drove the car into the ditch, got out and handed Obama the keys. So I thought "OK, they're learning from the experience of the crash. But when I started talking about the details their eyes seemed to glaze over. I would tell them some details are important to know, such as the fact that spending tax money doesn't actually contribute to the debt... The debt comes from spending borrowed money. But mentioning these details just seemed to irritate them. They seemed more interested in attacking Obama than understanding the true nature of the problems they *say* they are "concerned" about.
So, is it something else? Could it be racism? Aside from the economic crash, the other issue of historical significance in 2008 was the election of the first black president. "Nah... don't jump to conclusions straight..." That's what I told myself then and for the next 8 years I continued to battle this suspicion. It's just that I really didn't want to believe that racism could still be such a defining component in American politics. But then Trump happened, and Sessions happened, and Bannon happened, then Charlottesville happened and now this study seems to confirm what I didn't want to hear. That racism is indeed a defining component in American politics.
The study cites racial resentment as a predominant factor in explaining the paradox. Here they describe exactly what they mean by racial resentment...
Also known as symbolic racism or modern racism, racial resentment is a post-Civil-Rights-era view rooted in the denial of continuing discrimination against African Americans, doubts about their work ethic, and resistance to government efforts to reduce racial inequalities.
The study goes on to say..."
As one might have guessed from the racial undertones often present in public discussions on fiscal politics, greater racial resentment was associated with lower support for spending. This remained true even when we accounted for other demographic and political characteristics, such as gender, race, age, education, income, party identification, ideology, and so on. In fact, racial resentment was far more powerful in predicting opposition to federal spending than economic self-interest was — for example, it was four times stronger than income. Its influence exceeded even that of party identification, which is notable in our era of hyperpartisanship. So economic characteristics do matter in the way we would expect; it’s just that other factors matter more."
I dunno... I guess my question is why? Why in this age of education and reason... in this country of opportunity and diversity... why do we still insist on the politics of hating people who don't look like us?
https://hbr.org/2017/09/research-opposition-to-federal-spending-is-driven-by-racial-resentment
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