How do you think the redistribution of the population revealed in the 2010 Census will affect the United States?

My state, Michigan, gets one fewer Congresscritter. This means that the states that gain some (like Texas) will have that much more of a say in what goes on, and things will probably get worse for my state.

Similarly, less population means that less Federal money will make its way to my state for programs, repairs, and such. At least before the recession, Michigan had been a donor state, too, meaning our people here pay more in federal taxes than the state got back in funds. Michigan, in case people don’t know, is pretty much the buckle of the rust belt, looking to somehow reinvent itself, with one of the largest unemployment rates in the nation. We need help so desperately, but we’re not gonna get it. Which is why people are leaving – it’s a downward spiral.

I think it will be a very small change.

What will prove even more interesting is whether the population is leaving cities for less expensive regions because the internet makes it possible to do so. That is a major change.

I’d like to think that, at least in some places, representation is going to improve.

@laureth Eventually the state will reset, and the spiral will reverse. I understand that Chicago’s neighborhoods float up and down all the time.

Short term, very little change. A few house seats move around, some funding moves around, but nothing major. If the trends continue, in the long term the southern states will begin to outweigh the northern ones in population. But despite what the news is saying (speaking politically) about this being a boon for Republicans, they seem to be forgetting the population in those places is going up because people from the north are moving there…. they’re not changing their political ideas.

Probably not much change but I feel that the Hispanic population will have more representation.

@Nullo – that’s just the thing. Eventually is a long long time. Meanwhile, there’s pain. The pain makes people leave, not come back, and the leaving causes more pain.