Good catch!
As I said (in a regrettably long-winded post upthread), it would be easy to make this happen. Simply limit the federal government to the bare minimum and allow the States to run themselves any way they choose. Then if you want to live in a "work" state and get a job there, that's where you live. If you want to live in a "welfare" state and can qualify for the dole there, that's where you live.
Of course, we have "work" and "welfare" states to some extent now. It's just that in the new system, a "welfare" state would have to come up with most of its own funding, from the citizens of that state. It wouldn't be able to rob the other states by way of the federal government.
So, actually, we don't need a 2-state solution. We need a 50-state solution.
Well said!. We cannot trade one central-planning tyranny for another. Any interstate government must be extremely limited and checked by the States. For example, no taxation at the interstate level -- all taxes must be state or local.
The main obstacles are the Ponzi schemes known as Social Security and Medicare. Many Conservatives have had so much taken from us over the 30 or 40 years of our careers to fund this idiocy that we can’t afford to retire without it. How would we allocate the liability for providing this ? How would we allocate responsibility for the national debt ? These things require Federal taxes to pay for because they are Federal obligations, and that tax burden dwarfs the tax benefits of moving to one state or another. FDR planned this disaster with malice aforethought, but he planned it well. Short of a slow unwinding of federal powers, or an explosive collapse, we are stuck — an amicable separation is not possible.
The main obstacles are the Ponzi schemes known as Social Security and Medicare. Many Conservatives have had so much taken from us over the 30 or 40 years of our careers to fund this idiocy that we can’t afford to retire without it. How would we allocate the liability for providing this ? How would we allocate responsibility for the national debt ? These things require Federal taxes to pay for because they are Federal obligations, and that tax burden dwarfs the tax benefits of moving to one state or another. FDR planned this disaster with malice aforethought, but he planned it well. Short of a slow unwinding of federal powers, or an explosive collapse, we are stuck — an amicable separation is not possible.