Jackson Jambalaya

Republicans in MS response:

Up your's.

If you can't get a job - move.

If you can't afford health care - die.

Government is not here to coddle you while you have sex and kids.

Cut it all....to the bone...let it die.

I agree 100% with the post above!

Mississippi Medicaid program is the most legislatively dictated program in the country. What qualifies, who gets benefits, amount of benefits, etc all are specified by legislature. This started early in program as a way to control costs. Continued thru the decades (yes, including your term Bill) of Democrat control because legislature thought it knew more than a Governors Medicaid director and staff. AND so that legislators could take care of their favored constituants.

To manage the medicaid costs would mean legislature reducing their role and some things no longer getting reimbursed. If we in MS did this then we might could consider Bills suggestion - because we could have a Mike Pence type plan. But have to get them old time Dems in legislature (Holland, Hob, and black caucus) to quit blocking and get out of the way of progress.

Daddy, is that you?

You're exactly right, the government shouldn't be there to coddle people. Can't afford to have kids? Don't have em. They shouldn't have to pay for irresponsible people who don't use birth control or condoms. Or better yet, get an abortion. They also shouldn't pay for people who refuse to get off their asses and work like everyone else. The government shouldn't have to be a safety net. Maybe that will force people to think twice before becoming criminals and ruining their own lives rather than relying on hard working people to pay for them to sit at home.

there is probably a lot of merit to this, but then the Mississippi Legislature occurs......

But then I have to turn around and ask, where does the federal funding come from? More deficit spending?

"Mississippi needs every federal dollar it can get"

..........seems someone has forgotten that federal dollars are also TAX dollars; It amazes me that some people think that "federal dollars" come from a money tree.

Sadly, what Gun, Reeves and Bryant are going to find out with all these committees is that the hospitals have been writing the healthcare legislation and state medicaid rules for decades and the legislators put in place to oversee it don't have a clue how any of it works. They just get their check every 4 years.

Most of the Republican Governors around the country have enacted Medicaid expansion or are moving in that direction. This state remains the only one with the NEVER EVER attitude. Medicaid expansion is a PRO-BUSINESS move that would stabilize our healthcare system and make the state a more desirable place for businesses to consider.

I agree with you Bill. You're a big KKKGOP'er so talk your buddies into it. Their base will have no part of it. They'd rather curse the darkness than turn on a light.

5:50 - wonderful way to cite some statistics that you can't back up. "most have, or are moving toward..."

Since you can't by any stretch of the imagination find anything to back up the most (a defined number and easy to analyze) you include "or are moving toward". Please tell me and the other interested readers here what your basis is for knowing what those remaining states are doing that meets this wonderful analysis.

Mississippi receives more federal dollars than it returns in taxes. For the State economy, it does make
sense, at least in the short run, to expand Medicaid. The long term answer is more complicated.

Federal money has only created a culture of dependency in MS for the last 50 years. We'd be in much better shape without all the "help" because we would be self-reliant. It's human nature either way.

Mississippi is a welfare State. With the coming economic collapse and the expansion of AI and robots taking 50-75 million jobs nationwide by 2020, the rolls will only swell. Generally these are people in the $40k or less trap with falling wages and buying power. All my classmates from Ole Miss (2003, 2006), save a few that landef at Butler Snow, ran for greener pastures of other statew long ago. Just look at the current homes for sale $900k + and the sales for that same demo for 14 and 15. The owners are moving out of state. Ridgeland is on it's way to rapid decline. Madison might have five good years left. By 2020, with more than two thirds of the state population on public assistance, all hope is lost. Case in point, look at the collection totals for large area churches over the past three years. More often than not they are in the red. Soon they will no longer be able to afford their campus or multiple campi. Private schools have already taken a hit. Get out while you still can. I hear Georgia and Texas are lovely.

Mississippi receives more federal dollars than it returns in taxes. For the State economy, it does make sense, at least in the short run, to expand Medicaid. The long term answer is more complicated.

Right, screw the long term implications including that expansion will break the already struggling state treasury. Shoot up the heroin now and let's all feel better. Short term fixes always "make sense" to addicts.

@11:53

Have you read Atlas Shrugged? In summary, the productive people of the world quit (like moving out of state) and let those advocation bigger government (progressive democrats) run the remains into the dirt until there is a total collapse. It's almost what you are predicting.

Me? I live in MS and work out of state because there aren't high paying jobs in my field here. Eventually I will move away, save for retirement and might move back because the cost of living is so much less here than in other states.

/as an out of state worker, I get the joy of paying income tax in both states. gotta love the greed of governments

He calls the government stupid yet lives in one state and travels to another to work. That makes a helluva lot of sense. Oh, but my roots, family and favorite craft-beer bar are all here in the area, he replies. And the low cost of living in a third world country is always a bonus.

6:33 am I'm not 11:53 I have read Atlas Shrugged . I read it the first time when I was 12. I knew then and now that it is a novel by a woman educated in Stalinist Russia who did not major in economics!
You do not describe the book accurately.
I agree with Rand that "group think" and conformism and burgeoning organizations are bureaucratic in nature ( she and you should realize that is true of businesses that are " too big too fail" as well) are all obstacles to progress, innovation, creativity and merit.
What we are already moving towards is an oligarchy and since the 14th century economists have understood the risks of monopolies. Didn't you play the game? Everyone else goes broke!
I appreciate Mr. Crawford's pragmatism.
I would also suggest that pragmatism suggests a planned , gradual move away from the negative effects of welfare and invests in a future that reduces the number of dysfunctional and dependent citizens.
Extremist thinking is destroying this Nation. We need rationalist and pragmatists who understand that ideologues have never , ever created the perfect states they imagine but rather have brought anarchy and destruction whenever they have succeeded.

People like our columnist here around the country are the reason we are facing such a huge national debt and continue to spend money we don't have, creating a deficit. These chickens will come home to roost one day. Washington is spending all of our tax dollars recklessly.

@ August 29, 2016 at 7:05 AM

Well said!

The same ones b*tching about medicaid expansion, should be just as outraged at the state giving out the corporate welfare too!

Selective outrage at its finest.

It is absolutely dumb to pay (with SNAP or whatever) able bodied people not to work. It's also pretty stupid to essentially give people cash so that they can buy whatever food products they want to buy, regardless of the economics of their food choices. The soup in soup lines? Not the best soup. Good incentive to work. You can buy a lot of rice and beans for not much money and if people get tired of eating rice and beans, they can perhaps work. And if they won't or can't work, we have done what we need to do to prevent starvation. Food stamps should be about eliminating starvation, not about equalizing food buying power between the working and the non-working.

Excellent comments, 9:47. But, and you already know this, it's all about equalization, Bernie style. Everybody 'deserves' the same food available to everybody else. All of us need to have our self-concept stoked by the knowledge that our grocery buggy contains the same high dollar meat and other stuff as the people who work for a living, nothing less.

I believe that there should be food pantries for 'food stamp and SNAP' recipients, not cards or vouchers or any other method of trade. If I don't work and am dependent on the state to not starve, let me get a way to the distribution point and pick up a cardboard box of a week's rations for myself and my family.

11:22, It used to work that way. Commodities were given out once a month. Real food. People who needed it were thankful. Some people wanted what was in the grocery stores, which at that time, wasn't the same quality as commodities.

I love Atlas Shrugged, but if you read it when you were 12, you have got to be a weirdo.

@6:55- 6:33 here. Istill own property in the Hospitality State. My spawn attends University here and the instate tuition recoups commuting fees. When said spawn graduates, Mrs. 6:33 will quit her poor paying job and move to 71105. Until then, I get to see the best of all worlds as long as 71105 isn't drowning. As I tell my coworkers, "MISSISSIPPI is a great place to be from....best seen in the rear view."

Since you asked, I trace my family back to when the state was a territory....craft beers? Can't say I imbibe.

/might retire near Pass Christian in a few years, or not.

4:49 - if he read it when he was 12, it was probably the comic book edition. And still would have been a weirdo.

Can't decide whether 5:01 is employed at Herrin Gear, Whattaburger or The Hilton.

Mentions spawn but not the sperm donor. The claim about in-state tuition is bullshit. Does anybody actually believe moving to Shreveport from 39201 is a social-step-up? The only positive thing about 71105 is the ability to get to Dallas or Monroe from it.

Dear invasion: 5:01 here. Had I wanted a typical jorb in MS, I would work at your mentioned locations. But I don't,. Regarding social advantages of 71105, granted...it's a town run by democrats. So you have a point...however, compared to the cesspool in Jaclson, it is 10,000 better, safer, cleaner, better off.

And paying LA and MS income taxes, well, somebody's gotta do it and the po folks in Jackson don't....do they.


Sign me: waiting out the years until I can retire.

Perhaps the public university would allow us to pay instate tuition if I didn't own property there and my child only attended up through 11th grade. I didn't ask, but it's not an issue as Mrs 5:01 isn't quite ready to quit her low paying high demand professional jorb (making less than $30k a year). What's sad is that our neighbor and his wife make so little, their kids are on CHIPs. I'd rather commute from anywhere than stay in the crappiest state in the union.....where some thug killed two nuns trying to make a difference.

These comments prove that racists and bigots are still very vocal in this state! You people have no love or compassion for your fellow man. God forbid that you rich folks may lose your job or homes one day. God forbid if one of your precious children have a kid before marriage. The God I serve is one of love, peace, and acceptance! Instead of judging someone for their situations, why not put yourselves in their situation? Everybody was not born with a silver spoon in his or her mouth! Uplift, don't tear down someone when you don't know the whole story.

Some people are really struggling, and want a better life! It's "PEOPLE" like you who are so mean and hateful, that make poor people feel less than nothing!! Why don't you talk about corporate welfare that all of these businesses receive? If it were not for SNAP benefits, many businesses would not survive!! FYI, THE STUCK UP SAM'S CLUB IN MADISON TAKES SNAP!! SO DOES EVERY WALMART!!! WHY DOES IT BOTHER YOU RACISTS SO MUCH ABOUT WHO GETS WHAT TYPE OF BENEFITS? I hate mistreatment of any person. SHAME ON ALL OF YOU!!!

Parent of Spawn: When you retire, y'all come on back now, ya heah? Cause over here in Mississippi, we don't have a state tax on your retirement.

And you might recall 'some thug' over around your preferred location murdering six college girls a few years back, at least one of them from our fair state of Mississippi by the name of Pace. Course she wasn't a nun. She didn't live quite long enough to decide on a career path. But most of us think she too 'made a difference'.

WHY DOES IT BOTHER YOU RACISTS SO MUCH ABOUT WHO GETS WHAT TYPE OF BENEFITS
Some of the racists pay taxes that support these things. Have you ever paid taxes?