which state is the most worst off as an independent country?

45 comments

  3. I think West Virginia gets the most federal aid in terms of percentage of state revenue, so they would be in the running.

  5. If you look at the ratios of how much states pay in federal taxes vs how much they receive in federal aid, most of the south and you stereotypical “red states” are hard fucked without support of the other states.

  7. This should be an interesting one…

    While there are many ways to look at this, one objective measure may be a list of states that are net “givers” (pay more to the federal gov than they take) and net “takers” (receive more from the fed gov than they give). In other words, which states can pay their own bills, and which ones need help.

    That’s not the entire picture, of course. So many other things to consider. It’s a really hard question to answer…

    [Doner States 2022](https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/donor-states)

  9. Just take a look at imports vs exports and drill down on food. If you can’t do food you are in trouble.

  13. Mississippi.

    It’s very poor. The poorest state in the nation, in fact.

    It’s people are among the lowest educated people in the nation.

    It doesn’t have major cities with a concentration of businesses or wealth.

    It doesn’t have an abundance of natural resources.

    And it’s not a tourist destination.

    It’s primarily an agricultural state producing cotton and soybeans.

    Source:

    https://mdes.ms.gov/media/100392/reflections2016.pdf

  14. As far as which one would be the worst off, it’s very difficult to tell, because social factors would play a large role, in addition to the economy and geographic location. And we don’t know exactly what would arise in the place of the federal government in each specific state that goes it’s own way.

    I’m not 100% certain if there are any states in the US that could theoretically go their own way without seeing at least some drop in quality of life for at least some of its residents. If there are any, it’s a very small handful. States with a budget surplus whose tax dollars are used to relieve other states, like California.

    Even then, I imagine the effects wouldn’t be felt equally within the state. In California, I imagine the people living in Los Angeles metro, the Bay Area, metro San Diego, and metro Sacramento wouldn’t see as large of a change as areas that aren’t as wealthy, such as the Central Valley and Inland Empire.

  15. arizona, or nevada. upstream states could cut off access to the colorado river in a war scenario and run them dry. also alaska wouldn’t fair to well, as they have almost no agriculture.

  16. I would argue that states like Texas or California would be the worst off.

    Sure, poorer states might struggle with their economy in the event of a secession…

    But California and Texas are prime targets for military invasion. In the event of a secession, you really think the US government is going to let them keep their naval ships or fancy F-35s and 22s?

    Sure, the Chinese and Russians have pathetic navies… ***in comparison to the US***. But without the might of the US military protecting those states, they become prime targets for bad state actors from enemies of the US. They would be strategic footholds.

    And that would result in one of two things occurring:

    A: Enemy invades the now relatively defenseless California or Texas… the US doesn’t respond and the enemy now has soil that has a land border with the US.

    B.) Enemy invades the now relatively defenseless California or Texas… the US responds, pushes the invader out and reabsorbs the state because it’s not about to have to fund the state’s defense without benefitting from its resources.

    So my line is: No US state would be well off as an independent state. Their economies don’t exist in a vacuum. If California became a sovereign country, its GDP would no longer be 3.36 trillion dollars and it would likely immediately plummet as all the companies pull the plug in California and move somewhere else… like Texas.

    We’re 50 states in a union who all contribute to the common good in some way, shape and or form. Whether that be soldiers for the military or money to the economy. No one state would be in a better position independent than as part of this union.

  17. California. Horrible state government that forces people into poverty and does nothing to address crime or environmental disasters.

  19. Hawaii, probably. They need to import just about everything and they are in the middle of an ocean.

  20. Probably one of the big squares ones that are landlocked and don’t have a high population. How would they defend their massive borders?

  21. We mostly need each other, otherwise it already would’ve happened.

    If I had to pick, probably West Virginia or Mississippi.

  22. If their debt got called in, CA and NY are not in good shape. But they have big economies. Big debt scares the hell out of me. But the FEDs don’t seem to mind.

  30. Sad to say, but I’d have to place a vote for West Virginia. It’s an impoverished, landlocked, uneducated state with little industry. Lovely countryside, though.

  34. Most states wouldn’t fair well because so many services are interconnected between states. Even California would still have to cooperate with the remainder of the U.S or newly independent countries for water.
    Michigan could have a lot of potential for an independent country, but our state and local governments are known for incompetence and corruption. We do have a lot of resources and opportunities for trade through the Great Lakes, but I imagine we’d fuck up pretty quickly and just join Canada eventually. 🙄

  37. New York, Cali, Texas, NJ and MA are the only states that could be an independent country. The rest would be fucked.

  40. Probably one of the states that is mostly desert. How do you feed people when you have to import nearly everything (correct me if I’m wrong)?

  43. > which state is the most worst off as an independent country?

    Why have so many asked about our states as individual countries or about civil war in the U. S. and what would happen etc.?

    We are the UNITED States and plan to stay that way.

    I know some would love to bust us up and pick us off one by one, and I hope people remain smart enough not to fall for that. We don’t want to be Europe with a bunch of city-states.

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