Economic lessons from Kansas
Ted Folkert
July 14, 2014
Well, the State of Kansas made it onto the editorial page of the New York Times today. The tax cuts engineered by the brilliant economic minds of the fearless leaders of Kansas seem to have left to state coffers $338 million short when it came time to pay the bills.
Imagine the shock when they realized that less income and the same expenses makes it difficult to pay everyone. Higher mathematics, of course, is not a requirement for being a state official. All they wanted to do was to reduce the horrendous tax burden on the Kook brothers and all of the other wealthy Kansans – you know, the job creators, those benevolent souls who work hard for the benefit of society and have been robbed blind by this devastating tax burden.
It seems that Moody reduced the state’s debt rating due to lack of confidence in the fiscal management. Ouch! That hurts.
What happened to Governor Brownbrain’s promise? “Our new pro-growth tax policy will be like a shot of adrenaline into the heart of the Kansas economy. It will pave the way to the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs, bring tens of thousands of people to Kansas, and help make our state the best place in America to start and grow a small business.” (I have noticed lots of cars loaded with belongings headed toward the Midwest lately. Many of them were quoted as having said that they were headed for the best place to start and grow as small business in America.)
Well, perhaps it hasn’t been allowed enough time to kick in and fulfill those flighty goals. Maybe Kansas should give it a few more years to achieve the promises. At $338 million, if they let it run for 3 years, it is only a billion dollars. The schools probably don’t need the money anyway. Everyone can just send their kids to private schools. The streets and highways are already in place, no money needed there. The other government services can surely be reduced significantly instead of wasting all of that money wrung from the sweaty brows of the rich and powerful just so it can be wasted on the proletariat.
And now, as ridiculous as it may seem, Mr. Brownbrain is getting some resistance to getting reelected.
Like they say, acts of human kindness never go unpunished.