A fascinating new website, www.fedspending.org, breaks down federal spending by state and, often, by congressional district. You can learn a lot playing with the numbers.
But here’s the big picture: Connecticut ges $23.4 billion in federal cash, of which Social Security recipients taken in $4.9 billion to lead the pack.
United Technologies, though, is right behind, getting nearly as much money as several hundred thousand seniors in Connecticut.
Of the federal grants, $17.9 billion go to individuals, from farmers to railroad pension recipients. Another $4.5 billion goes to government here, with the Department of Transportation collecting the biggest share, at $493 million.
Our own Colt Defense company gets a comparatively paltry $116 million, but I’m sure they need it.
What I found most surprising, of what I saw, was that federal flood insurance in Connecticut costs taxpayers $4.3 billion. That’s more than Medicare in this state.
I assume most of that is to help provide insurance for all those mansions along the shore. It doesn’t strike me, offhand, as a particularly wise way to spend our tax money, particularly given that we can’t even use most beaches in Connecticut thanks to a stupid colonial era decision about where property lines should end at the ocean (low tide lines here, high tide lines in more enlightened locales).
Anyway, go futz with it yourself and see what you find. Report back anything interesting.
The West Hartford Blog 