[Hoot Gibson]

Benefits and salaries are not the same, and you know this.

The goal of the map is to make it look like states that elect Republicans benefit more from federal spending than those who do not - and that is why federal expenditures on employees, contractors, infrastructure, etc. were not included in the analysis. All one has to do to see how states like Virginia and Maryland benefit disproportionately from federal spending is to drive 50 miles in any direction from I-495 (a/k/a "The Beltway"). This will be the land of plenty as long as Americans continue to pay their taxes and the Chinese do not pull the plug on the economy.

Use your head, RV. Surely you cannot believe that DC is less dependent on federal expenditures than Kentucky and all of the other states. Anybody who has visited DC should be able to figure that out.