Modern Day Reaganomics in Kansas

[finnbow]

There was a windstorm of hasty excuses in recent weeks after Kansas reported that it took in $338 million less than expected in the 2014 fiscal year and would have to dip heavily into a reserve fund. Spending wasn’t cut enough, said conservatives. Too many rich people sold off stock in the previous year, state officials said. It’s the price of creating jobs, said Gov. Sam Brownback.

None of those reasons were correct. There was only one reason for the state’s plummeting revenues, and that was the spectacularly ill-advised income tax cuts that Mr. Brownback and his fellow Republicans engineered in 2012 and 2013. The cuts, which largely benefited the wealthy, cost the state 8 percent of the revenue it needs for schools and other government services. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities noted, that’s about the same as the effect of a midsize recession. Moody’s cut the state’s debt rating in April for the first time in at least 13 years, citing the cuts and a lack of confidence in the state’s fiscal management.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/14/op...-tax-cuts.html

Can't we bury this "you can have it all and you don't to pay for it" fantasy once and for all?

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by finnbow

It’s the price of creating jobs, said Gov. Sam Brownback.

What jobs?

But the growth didn’t show up. Kansas, in fact, was one of only five states to lose employment over the last six months, while the rest of the country was improving. It has been below the national average in job gains for the three and half years Mr. Brownback has been in office. Average earnings in the state are down since 2012, and so is net growth in the number of registered businesses.

[icenine]

Who needs Government? Who needs schools? Who needs bridges?

Baggermania in action. I am sure his rich friends liked the tax cuts.

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by icenine

Who needs Government? Who needs schools? Who needs bridges?

Baggermania in action. I am sure his rich friends liked the tax cuts.

That won't stop them from complaining that the schools are not turning out the robots they want.

[bobabode]

I guess this gives a modern meaning to "bleeding Kansas". Aren't they suffering a net negative in immigration to Kansas?

[piece-itpete]

I thought everything regarding the economy of the last 5-1/2 years was the last incumbent's fault.

Two years isn't very long to tell a programs impact, particularly if there's other serious problems.

Seriously though, it's all D-Ray's fault

Pete

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by icenine

Who needs Government? Who needs schools? Who needs bridges?

Baggermania in action. I am sure his rich friends liked the tax cuts.

We now have 33 years of empirical evidence that trickle down economics doesn't work. But the baggers still preach it like it's the word of God.

[icenine]

Originally Posted by Tom Joad

We now have 33 years of empirical evidence that trickle down economics doesn't work. But the baggers still preach it like it's the word of God.

The profit motive and Scripture often can be made to go hand in hand Mr. Joad. It goes back to the Congregationalists ideal that predestination was all but considered a fait acompli but the perks of success on earth still sort of shined a light on who was going to make it into heaven.

[Pio1980]

It's "tinkle-down" economics, a golden shower from the have -plenty- but-want-mores for the don't- have- enough- to -get- by.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by finnbow

There was a windstorm of hasty excuses in recent weeks after Kansas reported that it took in $338 million less than expected in the 2014 fiscal year and would have to dip heavily into a reserve fund. Spending wasn’t cut enough, said conservatives. Too many rich people sold off stock in the previous year, state officials said. It’s the price of creating jobs, said Gov. Sam Brownback.

None of those reasons were correct. There was only one reason for the state’s plummeting revenues, and that was the spectacularly ill-advised income tax cuts that Mr. Brownback and his fellow Republicans engineered in 2012 and 2013. The cuts, which largely benefited the wealthy, cost the state 8 percent of the revenue it needs for schools and other government services. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities noted, that’s about the same as the effect of a midsize recession. Moody’s cut the state’s debt rating in April for the first time in at least 13 years, citing the cuts and a lack of confidence in the state’s fiscal management.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/14/op...-tax-cuts.html

Can't we bury this "you can have it all and you don't to pay for it" fantasy once and for all?

It's not just this year.

This is how a Master's degree American Indian who speaks Spanish and has a over a decade of leadership, business and administrative experience found his job eliminated.

This crap is not happening in a vacuum, lives are being, ahem, "changed."