Friday, June 28, 2013

The Kindness of Strangers

Once again, moderates and progressives in blue states are recipients of  largesse, from their, often strange, brethren in red states.  As has been previously discussed, the subsidies in the Affordable Care Act are a boon for those states that agree to expand Medicaid coverage.  The result is a wealth transfer from conservative states, that refuse the subsidies, to moderate states that accept them.

The demise of DOMA is matched by the rise of conservative generosity.  Marriage is a tax favored institution.  Joint tax returns, dependent status, Social Security survivor benefits, tax free wealth transfer at death, and tax free employer paid medical benefits, flow from the union.  In time, this too will result in a transfer of wealth from conservative states, which prohibit same sex marriages, to blue states which allow them.  What the Supreme Court has placed together, let no CPA cast assunder.

In the near term, the wedding industry is booming in same sex marriage states .