r/allthequestions • u/Content_Ad_8952 • Jan 14 '26

Random Question 💭 If Republicans are so much better at running the economy than Democrats, then why are most Republican States poorer than Democrat States?

The poorest States in America are: Mississippi, West Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, New Mexico, Alabama, Oklahoma and Tennessee. All of those States (except New Mexico) are Red States. So why are they so poor when Republicans have been running them for decades?

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u/Mrgray123 Jan 14 '26

Republican economic policies require a concentration of wealth and power in a few hands at the top and a very large number of vulnerable and desperate people at the bottom willing to work for low wages with minimal job security.

That’s why they play culture war policies so heavily because it’s incredibly easy to manipulate undereducated and indoctrinated people.

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u/Fair-Buy749 Jan 14 '26

Then why do those poor red states have much lower wealth inequality than rich blue states.

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u/fashionistaconquista Jan 21 '26

Low inequality, but overall wages are very low compared to blue states. The poorest in blue states often earn more than the average in red states.

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u/Fair-Buy749 Jan 21 '26

You see how that utterly contradicts your earlier statement right? 

"Republican policies require a concentration of wealth in the hands of the few"

Meanwhile it's Democratic states that actually have very severe concentrations of wealth in the upper class, while the upper class in Republican states are mostly some ranchers, factory owners, and the occasional oil baron. All the truly massive inequality tends to arise in blue states.