MUST READ!!! NEW YORK TIMES AND PAUL KRUGMAN OP/ED TAKES APART KANSAS TAX BREAKS AND GOV. SAM BROWNBACK!!!
Today, the American Newspaper of record and a Nobel Prize Winning Economist take a shot @ Kansas tax breaks and the reelection of Gov. Sam Brownback . . . Again, this would be a bigger deal if anybody besides Kansas City Democrats and JoCo RINOS liked Rep. Paul Davis.
Paul Krugman in The New York Times: Charlatans, Cranks and Kansas
Money Quote: "Yes, the Kansas debacle shows that tax cuts don’t have magical powers, but we already knew that. The real lesson from Kansas is the enduring power of bad ideas, as long as those ideas serve the interests of the right people."
Expect Dead Tree Media "insight" on the impact of this column after they learn of it by reading our TKC Bloggy Community . . .
Paul Krugman in The New York Times: Charlatans, Cranks and Kansas
Money Quote: "Yes, the Kansas debacle shows that tax cuts don’t have magical powers, but we already knew that. The real lesson from Kansas is the enduring power of bad ideas, as long as those ideas serve the interests of the right people."
Expect Dead Tree Media "insight" on the impact of this column after they learn of it by reading our TKC Bloggy Community . . .
Whew! Thank god for the New York Times and their unbaised journalism.
ReplyDeleteI feel like Brownback and the Kochs have left us locked in our car seats on a hot day.
ReplyDeleteStop the Experiment! We're not lab rats.
A Nobel Prize doesn't carry as much weight ever since they gave one to the President for, um, uh, er.......anyone recall why Barry got that Nobel?
ReplyDelete5:29 Instead of screaming a liberal wrote it every time how about some critical thinking of your own? What Brownback is doing isn't working. It's all there in black and white statistics. You probably know a teacher, why don't you have a conversation with that person? Reagan tried this on a national scale and it didn't work either. You remember Ronald Reagan right? He's the President who raised taxes nine times and the debt ceiling 17 times. Yes, your messiah raised taxes, look it up. The growth industries are in technology which are led by young people. No matter what our income tax is do you think a technology-based company is going to move to a place as backward-thinking as the leaders and such a large percentage of population devalues education? Not going to happen. When outsiders think of Kansas they don't think "progressive." They think about hearing of idiots arguing about evolution. You don't like Krugman, fine. Why didn't you point out what was untrue or incorrect in the article? I know. You've heard Rush call the NY Times liberal so that's what you're going with. You are a huge part of the problem in this state. Keep voting on social issues instead of things that directly impact everybody, like finances. BTW, have you noticed your property taxes lately? They sure as hell haven't gone down.
ReplyDeleteKrugman may have a Nobel prize but he often writes things in his columns that all economists would agree are incorrect. He can do this because he knows almost his entire audience is clueless about economics.
ReplyDeleteKrugman is a socialist and anyone who disagrees is a target. He yearns for the days of Jimmy Carter and the advocates for the 70% tax rates and 10% inflation.
7:36 AM
ReplyDeleteThose rates were caused by Nixon and Ford fiscal policies, and Foreign policy based on performing fellatio on the Saudi royal family.
As far as most economists, unless they work for right wing funded "think tanks," most economists align themselves with Keynes and Krugman as opposed to Heyek and Mises (The Yarn Spinners for the Wealthy).
More likely Krugman yearns for the days of Bill Clinton, the last president who presided over economic success for the United States ... and who left the federal government with a huge surplus rather than a deficit. Obama has become as much of a disaster for this country as Dubya was.
ReplyDeleteHey, 6:45. Nice going, calling for people to do some critical thinking. While you're busy doing some of your own, try pondering the constitution as you slam Reagan: The president can't raise taxes. The president can't raise the debt ceiling.
ReplyDeleteTip O'Neill's Democratic House and was responsible for the spending spree, abetted enough by the Senate to jack spending to then-historical heights. Reagan's problem was that he didn't fight them on it, but it sure as hell wasn't his initiative.
Now get back to the civics lessons you seemed to pick up in Doonesbury . . .
Under Krugman's type policies there was practically no growth or innovation for two decades, from 1960 to 1980. How much different was 1980 than 1960 in terms of technology and middle class lifestyle? Now think about 1980 to 2000. Sadly because of two incompetent presidents and a drift back to the economic policies of the 70s the growth and innovation from 2000 to 2020 is looking as dismal as 1960 to 1980.
ReplyDeleteKrugman would be more relevant in this day and age if he just did goofy youtube videos.
ReplyDeleteNow if we could hear from the 20 or so economists from chools like Harvard, Yale and others who disagree with the political spin going on over Kansas taxation. Perhaps we could also look at the 24 million living in the half broke state of California under a Democratic governor. So much for objective and fair bloggers in this town.
ReplyDeleteThe point is Brownback has screwed things up in Kansas big time. And any intelligent person should know that by now. I'm interested to see how many Kansans place their own self interests above generational party affiliation come November.
ReplyDeleteBrownback believes we are all stupid.
...I am sure any dillusional intelligent left wing sucker for the party spin will swear Brownbeck is just incredibly incompetent. Of course it just can not be right that a state government isn't willing to burn through money on goofball "save the golden goose" programs. Perhaps my liberal friends, half of whom don't have a pot to piss in or a cent invested in this country, might consider that a state living within it's means and reducing social program waste is not out of step with reality by any means.
ReplyDeleteCalfornia?!?
ReplyDeleteIts government is half broke for sure.
But in California, notorious among right-wingers for being one of the worst tax hells in the country, business is booming. People get paid a lot more than in Kansas. They have much higher net worth, too. A decent house in the more desirable parts of the state costs a million or more. Because enough people who can afford to pay that much want to live there. Corporate profits are through the roof.
If Brownbackistani economic theory was valid, Californians would be mostly slaving at minimum-wage jobs, without benefits. Lots more of them would be on food stamps. Large and successful business would be scarce. Innovative technology businesses would be even scarcer. The good part, of course, is that a decent house would cost $250,000 in desirable areas, as little as $80,000 (or even less!) in the boondocks.
In fact, that's a description of Kansas.
Quite a few of us elderly Kansans who live here in comfortable retirement are able to do so only because we fled Kansas early in our working lives and made our careers in more economically progressive states. Like California. If I had worked all my life in Kansas, I'd be sleeping under my car. If I could afford one.
Stop drinking your Kool Aide long enough to face up to the reality: For most of us, Kansas has been an economic shit hole for all of our lives. Since the Republican Party went from conservative to crackpot, it's only gotten much, much worse. And worse is yet to come.
I love to come to this blog for, consistently, the most uninformed, frequently ugly, all-too-often racist, overall ignorant, emotional and normally utterly wrong comments and commentary.
ReplyDeleteUntil this blog, I had hope for America and progress.
Speaking in terms of relative dollar the Democratic calculator is broken. Even according to the Obama administrations own figures Californians have a generally higher per capital income, but the cost of living, consumables and housing eats it all up in one big gulp. Given that less than 3 percent of California retirees ever leave all that new worth, again, is relatively not squat.
ReplyDelete