GOP Failed Experiment With Trickle-Down Economics; Kansas Governor Could Raid The School Budget

[Ferd Berfel]

Let’s see, Trickle down (your leg) fails miserably and predictably. And rather than bring taxes on the fat cats back up to where they NEED to be, we’ll steal from the kids and the future of the State and Nation. Hmmm…. PERFECT!


Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) is reportedly getting ready to propose some form of revenue increases as part of a plan to fix the nearly $900 million budget hole his tax cuts created for the state. But whatever cracks are emerging in his anti-tax facade, the conservative governor’s response to the budget crisis is more likely to focus on spending for the state’s already flailing schools.

“Revenue didn’t come in quite as was projected,” chief of staff Jon Hummel told the Wichita Eagle [snip]

Brownback’s State of the State address Thursday will outline how he plans to both cover a $200 million shortfall in the current fiscal year and fill an additional $648 million gap in next year’s projections,[snip]

None of this means the diehard conservative will reverse course or even make small concessions to critics who have warned for years that his trickle-down tax cuts would harm the Kansas economy, [snip]

Kansas Association of School Boards Associate Executive Director Mark Tallman said that would be a high-risk strategy with many complex moving parts, and no guarantee of turning up savings. [snip]

[link:http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/01/13/3610739/kansas-brownback-budget-crisis-preview/|
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/01/13/3610739/kansas-brownback-budget-crisis-preview/ ]

[RKP5637]

1. And this guy was a presidential hopeful. n/t

[Fred Sanders]

2. But what Patriots really want to know is if the President is a secret Muslim, all the media is on it

[mindwalker_i]

3. Although I feel a bit sorry for the people in Kansas

They voted for him (or didn't vote against him), and this could possibly serve as a great example to the rest of the country. I'm just glad to be in CA (with Jerry Brown).

[leftyladyfrommo]

4. There are editorials in the KC Star almost daily

that cover the Kansas debacle.

Do people in Kansas really care? They are all diehard Republicans. Something like 80% of Kansas people are Red.

So far this whole money thing hasn't even begun to sink in. I don't think they really even think about it all. Maybe people will begin to catch on here pretty soon.

[SheilaT]

5. They are not all diehard Republicans in Kansas.

Just as not every single white person in, say Alabama, is a racist. Or everyone in Minnesota . . . well you get the idea.

I lived in Kansas for 18 years, moved away in 2008, so I know something about that state. The Kansas forum here is reasonably active. The biggest problem with Kansas is that many, many of those who vote Republican are (as so many voters are) low information voters, and they really haven't a clue that today's Republican party is not the one their parents or grandparents voted for. A close second is that, like so many parts of this country, the fundamentalist churches are highly influential. And the Phelps family has successfully terrorized the administration at Washburn University, especially the law school there.

Johnson County, Kansas, in the northwest part of the state, right next to Kansas City, MO, has plenty of Democrats and is relatively liberal, although the southern part of that county is much more conservative and has a number of the mega-churches.

Out in the vast farming areas, there are plenty of family farms that take subsidy money from the federal government, and of course rail against welfare for the "undeserving." Hypocrisy is one of the most reliable traits of such people.

Another problem is that people in the rural areas -- actually almost everyone outside of Johnson County -- aren't willing to pay taxes for good schools. There's a strong attitude of "We didn't have computers when I graduated from high school in 1950 so I don't see why kids today need them" and a very strong resentment of those who are willing to pay higher local taxes for good schools. The three public school districts in Johnson County (Shawnee Mission, Blue Valley, and Olathe) are, or at least were, very good public schools. High graduation rates, good percentage of kids going to college, many starting out at the exceptionally good Johnson County Community College.

I will say I'm very glad I moved away.

[mindwalker_i]

6. So essentially, the problem is that when living with dumbasses

... one is affected by what those dumbasses do/vote for.

[SheilaT]

7. No. It's just there are not enough

people voting sensibly, that is to say, for the Democrats.

Do we blame every single voter now that both the House and Senate have Republican majorities? I think not.

The underlying problem is that most people never learned any real critical thinking skills, and too many of them haven't a clue that taxes actually pay for useful things, like roads and schools. And they're willing to believe total bullshit about lowering taxes will create jobs. Or that somehow lowering them will result in higher tax revenues.

Most people never read a book again after they graduate from school, be it high school, college, whatever. And those who do read often read rather narrowly, just a few topics or types of fiction. Most people have never taken an introductory economics class. And so on. The problem in this country really is the low information voter problem.

In Kansas, which is true in any state that has an overwhelming majority of one political party, the only choice you really get is in the primary. In part because so few voters there are registered Democrats, it can be very hard to persuade a Democrat to run for office. Some significant percentage of people who will vote for a Dem in the general election are registered Republicans so they can vote in the primary. I have been largely unsuccessful in persuading those people not go care about who the Republicans nominate, but get a little active in Democratic party politics. It's frustrating. About half of them will vote for the most extreme R in a given race on the theory that then that person will lose in the general election, the other half for the more moderate one, so their votes are a wash. And then, much of the time there's simply no Democrat running because why bother?

Once again, not every single voter in Kansas voted for the dumbasses, as you put it. Especially not in Johnson County.

[tridim]

8. Yet Kansas always votes Republican.

Yes there are some Democrats in Johnson County, and from what I've observed over 40 years the majority of the Dems are low-info or non-voters. It is so annoying.

The JC Republicans always vote, and they vote R no matter what, even if the R just destroyed their state. THEY DON'T CARE.

[SheilaT]

9. Not always.

Kathleen Sebelius, remember her? Served two terms, or most of two terms, as Governor of Kansas. She started her political life in the Kansas House of Representatives in 1987.

Prior to her was Joan Finney, another Democratic governor of Kansas.

Dennis Moore was a Dem serving the 3rd Congressional District for twelve years.

I ran for the Kansas State House in 2004, and while I lost to a moderate, popular, incumbent Republican, I did well enough that the Democratic party saw that was a winnable race, and the Democrat who ran in 2006 won, then won re-election.

So no, Kansas does not always vote Republican. And yes, the very vast majority of people who vote Republican are voting against their own self-interest. There's also a huge amount of naivete on the part of voters about how party politics actually works. We've seen it here on DU a few election cycles back when people were swooning over the thought that McCain would change parties and be a vice-presidential candidate on the D side. You see it every time you see a woman who believes in any sort of control over her own body but votes R. Or a gay person who does so. Anyone who depends on any sort of help from the government at all who does so. It often comes down to blatant racism coupled with extreme ignorance.

Kansas isn't the only state with Republicans running things and running it into the ground. And now, because the voters in their wisdom gave us a Republican House and Senate, it's going to happen as best they can accomplish it, on a national level. My only hope is that they will make things so bad that enough voters will come to their senses in two years.