CNBC's Worst States Are the Most Popular States — Because People Vote With Moving Trucks, Not Methodology
You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for July 13, 2026.
We open with a Tax Foundation report confirming what Louisiana families and business owners have lived for decades — Louisiana has the highest combined state and local sales tax burden in America at 10.13%. We explain why the trade-off made by the legislature two years ago — broadening the sales tax base in exchange for cutting the income tax — was the right move philosophically, because an income tax is a tax on liberty while a sales tax is a tax on consumption. But we also make clear that complacency is not an option. Tennessee has zero income tax and the second highest sales tax in the nation — and Tennessee is doing gangbusters. Louisiana's competition isn't theoretical. It's right next door, and Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas are all racing their income taxes toward zero. Louisiana cannot fall behind in that race.
In our Top 3, Meta has announced it is expanding its AI data center in Richland Parish from two gigawatts to five gigawatts — before the facility is even fully built — raising Meta's total investment in northeast Louisiana to $50 billion and creating more jobs than originally forecast. Then human error shut down all three water pumps at New Orleans Pump Station 7 during the heaviest rainfall of the weekend, causing water levels to rise six feet in 20 minutes and triggering widespread flooding in Lakeview, Mid-City, and around City Park — which is exactly why Governor Landry is skeptical of sending the city more money. And the race for Louisiana's 5th Congressional District is taking shape, with multiple candidates from both parties beginning to qualify — though the status of Trump-endorsed candidate Blake Miguez remains unclear.
We revisit the life and legacy of Senator Lindsey Graham — and play the audio that may represent the highest point of his Senate career. During the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, Graham stood up among colleagues he called his friends and delivered a speech that stopped the chamber cold — calling the process the most unethical sham he had witnessed in his political career, apologizing directly to Kavanaugh for what his family was being put through, and saying plainly to the Democratic majority: you're looking for a fair process — you came to the wrong town at the wrong time. We also note that Cory Booker's tribute this week — crediting Graham as the colleague who made his criminal justice reform bill possible — says everything about the kind of senator he was. Graham could fight hard and still work across the aisle, and that combination made his Kavanaugh speech land harder than it ever would have coming from someone further to the right. We also discuss Governor McMaster's appointment of Graham's sister Darlene Graham Nardone to fill his seat, the long American tradition of widow's succession opening doors for women in public office, and the photo of Mitch McConnell in his hospital room — which looks staged, which proves nothing, and which still hasn't produced a single quotable word from the senator himself.
We cover the New Orleans Decatur Street construction project — where Governor Landry is demanding a full audit after a project to replace 1906-era water mains has stretched on for years, closing French Quarter businesses and driving some permanently out of existence. The city's response to the audit request was to announce $200,000 in business relief grants — roughly $2,500 to $5,000 per affected business, which may cover a utility bill but won't bring back a restaurant that ran out of customers two years ago.
In our Digging Deep segment, we go deep on CNBC's ranking of the worst states in America to live in — all ten of which are red states, and all ten of which gained population from other states in 2024. Texas, the second worst state according to CNBC, had the largest net inflow of any state in the country. Tennessee, the worst state in America according to CNBC, added 36,000 new residents. We then examine the methodology — which rewards states for high minimum wages, mandatory union participation, gender ideology in law, abortion access without restriction, and no voter ID requirements. We conclude that CNBC has not produced a quality of life ranking. It has produced a Democratic National Committee platform checklist. The American people are voting with their feet. CNBC is voting with its politics.
We also cover a man in Caddo Parish arrested for his seventh DWI — with five of those arrests made by Shreveport Police — and ask the only logical question: why is this man still on the road? The police have done their job five times. The fault here rests squarely with a DA's office that has failed to protect the people of Caddo Parish.
We also weigh in on European leaders lecturing President Trump about immigration enforcement while their own streets tell a completely different story. In Germany, foreign nationals make up 15% of the population but 53% of gang rape suspects. In Ireland, 85% of women murdered last year were killed by foreign nationals. Every crime committed by an illegal alien in this country is a failure of government to do its most basic job — securing the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for its own citizens.
And we close with Mick Jagger offering what may be the most useful piece of career advice in the music industry right now — that a singer's job is to sing and a performer's job is to entertain, not to lecture a paying audience about politics. Bruce Springsteen, apparently, was not in the room. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy.
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