Rude Pundit-Your State Sucks: North Carolina Sucks Because Its Legislators Don't Understand History

[meegbear]

The seeming endless capacity for humans to be short-sighted is sometimes stunning. From the guy who doesn't have a condom saying, "Fuck it" and plunging his dick into the waiting ass of the near-stranger in his bed to George W. Bush saying, "Fuck it" and giving everyone 300 bucks because money's cool, the inability to see beyond the moment will come back to haunt you in every corner of your life, like a screaming child in a Japanese horror movie.

So it was that between 1992 and 2000, in a tax-cutting fervor, the loyal legislators and governors of North Carolina (motto: "No matter what, we're so much better than South Carolina&quot , people of both parties, saw that the unemployment insurance program was flush with cash. So they passed 11 different cuts (https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:UE6X1cXJzV8J:tarheelworkers.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/BTC-Brief-UI-Trust-Fund-Insolvency_0.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESji0jsR12BERXAtsuPKFokghHeX93xUWdqWhYWXmdQ6E-Qrig_6JeYIN0rXWZIP70xorgQPUBxBiHfSyde2IJ41N5Si6HW7BcMpoPOp_sEnOEgizkFJzNwS3qS2hN-dZcsdolHi&sig=AHIEtbT4BwgAi2Y6DLnPMl8ylhAWFoV53Q) to the amount that businesses would have to pay in taxes for the unemployment insurance trust fund. In 1994, during those heady days of the Clinton era, when the number of unemployed was low, the fund had enough money to pay out four years in benefits, the third largest cash reserve in the nation, so why wouldn't you pass another 23% tax cut, making the rate for businesses the lowest in the nation, with some businesses having their rate cut to zero. In fact, by the end of all the cutting, over 75% of North Carolina businesses effectively paid no UI tax, all done under the mantle of "reducing government" and other nonsense. This was assuming, of course, that nothing changed in the economy. North Carolina never thought a rainy day was coming, and if it was, it would be a drizzle.

But then the Bush deluge happened, and shit changed, as we all know. Not only did the unemployment rate jump by six points between March 2007 and March 2009 in North Carolina, but the state had to borrow money from the federal government to cover the cost of unemployment benefits. Had the rate of contribution stayed at pre-1994 levels, the state would have had enough. Alas, man? Dick? Stranger? What are you gonna do?

You're gonna punish the unemployed is what the fuck you're gonna do. What? You think that Republican Governor Pat McCrory, working nose in ass with the NC Chamber of Commerce, is going to raise taxes back to what they were in the Clinton era? Fuck you, socialist. McCrory just signed legislation that, while it does raise taxes a little, slashes benefits for the jobless. It's like businesses got a paper cut and your laid-off sister got a prison shiv in the gut. In order to repay the federal government, the maximum amount unemployed people get is reduced from $535 to $350 a week, with the maximum weeks cut from 26 to as little as 12. Because North Carolina changed its laws, it has forfeited $780 million in federal benefits. It's sort of like being kicked in the nuts from behind. By the way, without the change to benefits, it would take North Carolina three years longer to repay it.

Oh, don't worry. McCrory and the legislature are actually noble in their intentions. They are visionaries, you know. By slashing benefits now, the Governor says he will "ensure our citizens’ unemployment safety net is secure and financially sound for future generations." If you live now in North Carolina, you can go fuck yourself. But only if you're unemployed.

In one of the finest contortions of logic you'll have seen lately, NC General Assembly member Julia Howard, who sponsored the bill, said that it "does not burden small business to pay a debt they never accrued." No, it's far better that people barely surviving pay it.

And, by the way, a good many of those businesses did accrue the debt simply by being in North Carolina during the reign of the near-sighted.

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2013/02/your-state-sucks-north-carolina-sucks.html

[Laelth]

1. Righteous rudeness. k&r n/t

-Laelth

[loudsue]

2. I live in NC, and we've been taken over by big money & Koch brothers.

The kool-aid runs deep in the streets these days.

[appal_jack]

3. Alas, me too. Too true. n/t

[Populist_Prole]

5. Yeah, I concur

Based on my observations it's strange alliance that keeps this state red; social and economic: Redneck bigots and mayonnaise-on-white-bread yuppies. Blecchh!

[AlbertCat]

6. we've been taken over by big money & Koch brothers

Yeah. The pissing contest between BoA and Wachovia (now Wells Fargo....I guess BoA won!) was just GREAT for the economy.....of the whole country!


I wonder how having the Dem Convention in Charlotte affected conservative turn out....



And BTW, NC IS better than SC.... but not for long.

[Martin Eden]

11. Damn, and I was thinking NC was the one state in the South I'd consider moving to

I live in Chicagoland and will retire in about 10 years. For the last 20 years I've used all my vacation time to go hiking & backpacking, and western North Carolina has been a frequent destination. I love those mountains & waterfalls, and thought Asheville was a town I could live in.

[mnhtnbb]

12. I never thought I could live in the South (being a Yankee) but changed my mind

and chose to move to Chapel Hill in 2000. I have LOVED Chapel Hill (not necessarily the
entire state) but I fear for the next four years and the immeasurable damage
that McCrory and his puppetmaster, Art Pope, will do to the state.

[MynameisBlarney]

17. I'm admittedly biased

because I was born and raised in NC, but there are very cool pockets of progressive minded folks.
Charlotte obviously, and most of the college towns.
When I last lived there, the music scene was kickass.

[Martin Eden]

20. I haven't spent any time in Asheville (just the surrounding mountains)

but I get the impression Asheville is not not Tea Party central either

[MynameisBlarney]

21. Asheville is no tea party mecca

that's for sure.
But I've heard lately that it's become a bit too bohemian. I've not been there for ages, so I can't say for sure one way or the other.
Still well worth visiting. There are some very very fine restaurants and music venues.

[dem in texas]

4. Out of State License Plates

I remember in the early 80's here in Texas, you would see lots of Michigan plates on cars, that was when the job situation was so bad up there. Lately I have been seeing a lot of Kansas plates, not sure if this has to do with all the new tax cutting laws they have passed. I guess next I'll be seeing NC plates. You won't have any problem finding a job in Texas, the only drawback will be that it won't pay very well.

[KamaAina]

8. How ironic

in Conn. we used to see a lot of NC plates, as well as Vt. This was not so much because of jobs as an effort to dodge car tax; people would register their cars at their ski lodge in Vt. or at grandma's in Greensboro.

[Lex]

7. Repukes control both houses of the NC legistlature for first time since 1896.

The elections of 2010 led to Republican control of both houses of the North Carolina General Assembly for the first time since 1896.

We have been well and truly f*cked ever since.

[bluemarkers]

16. Amen!! we are totally youknowwhat

It's scary with McCory and his little smirk. vomit

I only hope that they irritate enough people (and that really shouldn't be too hard) that this nightmare is shortlived

[KamaAina]

9. Nice rant, but

I could do without the homophobia. Couldn't you?

[SoCalDem]

10. Selective Ignorance.

Move over, Intelligent Design.. Meet, Selective Ignorance.
Posted by SoCalDem in General Discussion (1/22-2007 thru 12/14/2010)

Fri Aug 31st 2007, 08:45 PM

Selective Ignorance is the technique invented by, and now practiced widely, by republicans everywhere.

SI is what allows them...no, ENCOURAGES them to simultaneously embrace two opposing philosophies , and to bifurcate their thinking processes.

SI is what causes them to march in parades, carrying woefully misspelled signs, as they protest abortion, while at home, their 14 year old granddaughter recovers from a "D&C" performed by the family doctor...for "female troubles".. Her "troubles" started when Uncle Fred took her camping with his family.


SI is what causes them to repeatedly vote against school levies, and then to complain loudly at school board meetings about the deplorable state of their schools, and the threatened demise of their beloved football program...

The eventual solution has to be to de-fund the public school, fire the union teachers, and start up a voucher program. Of course, the vouchers are probably only worth enough for a storefront-Jesus school or a co-op quasi home-school system. These same people will now demand that their children still be welcomed into the athletic programs , and the extra-curricular programs of the shcools they left behind..

SI is what allows them to send in their hard-earned money to support candidates who promise to close those borders, but when it comes time to vote, they always come up short on delivering. It's a moot point anyway, since SI devotees often have no qualms about "getting themselves a Mexican" from Home Depot, if they need some hard landscaping done....or their car waxed cheaply...or their garage cleaned out..or their roof repaired..


SI makes it possible for them to repeatedly elect gay congressmen and senators, while these same voters feel perfectly okay about getting drunk and bashing a few "gays" when the opportunity arises.

The same SI allows those elected gay officials to portray themselves as NOT GAY / NO WAY , in order to get elected, and then live unhappy, closeted lives..always one "incident" away from being exposed. They spend their time in office pretending to be the "confirmed bachelor", or worse yet, find some desperate woman willing to play the part of devoted wife.

SI is also what causes them to sacrifice their long-held beliefs , and to be willing to support multiply divorced, lifestyle-challenged candidates, when no other republican is available.


SI allows them to praise big business and to pretend to follow the intricacies of the stock market because they have a 401-k, and it will somehow make them rich. It allows them to demonize unions, because they might have to pay those "damned union dues", and lord-knows , they don't want some union boss telling them how to vote. Little do they know that their beloved 401-k's are morphing into 001-k's. SI tells them that as long as Maria & Erin are smiling and flirting with them, everything's gonna be okay.

SI lets them love their guns, and still be worried when they send their young 'uns off to college . Of course the solution they come up with , is to arm the teachers AND students.

SI can turn a campus into a shooting gallery, but at least their son/daughter is locked & loaded.

SI allows them to love their God, while actively hating other people for not loving the same God.

SI allows them to think at, as Christians, they are the favored ones, while at the same time, believing that God created everyone, and everything.

SI allows them to feel free to destroy nature, and still find enough animals to hunt, and fish to catch.

SI allows them to eschew evolution, yet accept the fear of evolving mutations of Bird Flu and other pandemic possibilities. It allows them avoid science, and then run to science to cure what ails them.

SI allows them to fight like maniacs to deprive already-born children of food, shelter & a decent education, while claiming to want to preserve pregnancies of women they don't know, will never meet, and never plan on supporting.

SI makes it possible for them to value huge tax cuts for rich people, and meekly accept pay cuts for themselves. It makes them happy to HAVE a job..any job, even if it means that the profits of the company they work for, are never distributed to them and their families.

SI makes them crave the biggest baddest car/SUV/truck, and gives them license to bad-mouth people who choose smaller, safer, cleaner forms of transportation. SI allows them to feel superior, even if they have to choose between braces for their kids, and gas for the cars.

SI gives them a euphoric lift when they deliver a crushing blow to an opponent, even if the opponent was right. SI is what makes them savor pyrrhic victories, as they watch their own world crumbling around them.

SI is also what creates the illusion that they are the majority, instead of a cacophonous minority, hurling insults and epithets at the rest of civilization.

[Populist_Prole]

13. That sounds EXACTLY like a couple of ( soon to be ex? ) friends

No logic at all to their idiotic sports-fan mentality. It's only bad when the other team does it. Republicans rock, and verything is Obama's fault, even though they blamed both Bushes for the same things they now blame Obama for, back when they were still working stiffs.

Kind of like arguing with an angry, full of indigination, drunk. The more calm and rational you are to them, the better you point out their "SI" ( as you call it ) the madder and madder they get.

[love_katz]

14. + 1,000,000,000,000

Even though what your post is describing really isn't a laughing matter, nonetheless I am

Thank you! I needed to brighten up my day.

Selective Ignorance...perfect description of a wide spread problem with Repukes.

[love_katz]

15. Post by SoCalDem...

pure genius!

[Coolest Ranger]

18. I wish to apologize for North Carolina

[stuntcat]

19. k & r from a North Carolinian

Some of us are good. I think of NC like a smaller version of the whole US.. we have ALL types, but are run by the same big money.

[supernova]

22. The whole situation is very distressing

and infuriating.

There have been good, progressive people in the history of this state who built the commons we all enjoy today. But it seems like Pat McCrory and his ilk, ART POPE, are hell-bent on distroying it.

You may find that some of us in the upcoming years have been arrested protesting this draconian regime.