Patchwork Nation: Looking at Winners, Losers in Federal Government Spending

Is your member of Congress bringing home the bacon? A breakdown by Patchwork Nation community types looked at where the government distributes money across U.S. counties. The money flow, project director Dante Chinni told The Rundown, has little to do with how residents feel about the government but a lot to do with the characteristics of the county.

“We tend to think in Washington in particular, the congressman wants to bring the money home because that’s how he gets re-elected. But the numbers really don’t work that way,” Chinni says. “It’s more complicated than that. There are culturally significant things in these communities that dictate how they feel about government, more than just where the money comes from.”

In the breakdown, “Military Bastions” places located near bases, “Minority Central” counties with large African-American populations, “Tractor Country” rural farmland, and “Emptying Nests” places with aging populations raked in the most federal dollars per capita.

Communities that haven’t seen money flow as readily are the “Mormon Outposts” “Immigration Nation” Evangelical Epicenters” and “Campus and Careers” counties

Read more about the expenditure breakdown in Chinni’s Christian Science Monitor post.