Permalink Reply by ProblemAgain on March 20, 2015 at 11:10pm

How Tea Party tax cuts are turning Kansas into a smoking ruin

Michael Hiltzik

Los Angeles Timesmichael.hiltzik@latimes.com

@hiltzikmBig business college basketball and football has forced academia into a model that is 'fraudulent at its core' http://t.co/P1GeIuqXt2

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback promised that his steep tax cuts would supercharge the state's economy. But job growth in Kansas trails the nation. Above, Brownback at a news conference in March. (Mike Yoder / Associated Press)

What's the matter with Kansas? Idiotic tax cuts, that's what

Tea party-inspired tax cuts in Kansas benefit the Koch brothers but are destroying state services

Sam Brownback, the Republican governor of Kansas, doesn't just believe in whistling past the graveyard--he's willing to stroll past it in full-throated song.

The graveyard is where the economy of Kansas has been buried since 2012, when Brownback and his Republican state legislature enacted a slew of deep tax cuts in a tea party-esque quest for economic "freedom."

Our new pro-growth tax policy will be like a shot of adrenaline into the heart of the Kansas economy. - Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback in 2012, promising an elusive bright future

"Our new pro-growth tax policy will be like a shot of adrenaline into the heart of the Kansas economy," he promised then. Brownback's tax consultant, the supply-side guru Art Laffer, promised Kansans that the cuts would pay for themselves in supercharged economic growth.

Instead, job growth in Kansas trails the nation. The state's rainy-day fund is dwindling to zero. Month after month, revenue comes in even lower than fiscal officials' most dire expectations.

In the rest of the country, school budgets are finally beginning to recover from the toll of the last recession; in Kansas, they're still falling. Healthcare, assistance for the poor, courts, and other state services are being eviscerated.

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Who's benefiting? The rich, including those proud offspring of Wichita, Kan.: the Koch brothers.

Despite all this, Brownback resorted to an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago to declare that "the early results are impressive." Among other statistics he cited, "In the past year, a record number of small businesses — more than 15,000 — were formed."

Who reaped the biggest benefit of Brownback's tax-cutting? Not the middle class or the schools, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. (Center for Budget and Policy Priorities)

Yes, but as shown by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington economic think tank, 16,000 disappeared. And many of those businesses that Brownback crowed about were surely created to take advantage of one of the tax-cut quirks Brownback enacted. This is the elimination of all taxes on partnerships, sole proprietorships, and LLCs that pass through their tax liabilities to their owners. That allows everyone from freelancers and petty contractors to huge partnerships to avoid any state income tax at all, as long as they're organized as a certain type of "small business."

Brownback's policy, and his claims about its outcome, define the term "ideological" -- the imposition of preconceived notions on a contradictory reality.

The record of Kansas since 2012 shows the folly of such draconian cuts in revenue. It's one thing to enact targeted cuts in tax rates during an economic upswing, when such a policy can add fuel to job generation. It's quite another to do so blindly during a slump, when cuts in state services undermine efforts at recovery.

Since Kansas enacted deep tax cuts in 2012, job growth in the state has badly lagged that of the U.S. overall -- including tax-raising California.

Brownback's tax policy came right out of the conservative playbook. His 2012 package cut the top two personal income tax rates from 6.45% (on income over $60,000) and 6.25% (on income between $30,000 and $60,000) to 4.9%. The rate on income under $30,000 was pared to 3% from 3.5%. Pass-through business income was made fully tax-exempt. The law increased the standard deduction, but also eliminated several tax credits that assisted the poor.

More tax changes were enacted last year. The top rate was cut to 3.9% in stages through 2018. But other cuts were reversed; much of a sales tax reduction was canceled, and the standard deduction was cut back, effectively raising taxes for the middle- and working-class.

In all, as the CBPP documents, the changes will cut the taxes of the wealthiest 1% of Kansans by 2.2%. The poorest 20% of Kansans will see their taxes rise by 1.3%.

The impact on overall state revenue has been devastating. Despite Laffer's prediction, the state ended fiscal 2014 with a shortfall of $338 million.

Brownback continues to promise his citizens that growth is just around the corner. But there's no evidence that the kinds of cuts he promoted have anything to do with genuine economic growth. Indeed, it's likely that preserving the quality of crucial state services is more important. That's a policy pursued in California under Gov. Jerry Brown, who successfully pushed to raise taxes after the recession; the state's job growth since then has left Kansas and the country as a whole in the dust.

"States considering deep tax cuts in hopes of sparking a surge of economic growth should look carefully at Kansas," the CBPP suggested in March. Yes, look carefully -- and run the other way.

Permalink Reply by ProblemAgain on March 31, 2015 at 4:43pm

ahhhhh now you see the problem...they don;t understand how this all works. state govt does NOT supercede federal govt. that is rather analogous to your teenager talking about his rights

Cliven Bundy, supporters gather before Nevada Legislature

Associated Press

By MICHELLE RINDELS and RILEY SNYDER, Associated Press 1 hr ago

Rancher Cliven Bundy speaks during a news conference near his ranch on April 24, 2014, in Bunkerville, Nev. © David Becker/Getty Images Rancher Cliven Bundy speaks during a news conference near his ranch on April 24, 2014, in Bunkerville, Nev. CARSON CITY, Nev. — Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who garnered national attention a year ago when he and armed supporters engaged in a showdown with federal authorities, has arrived in Carson City with scores of allies to rally behind a bill seeking to reclaim land from the federal government.

Bundy's son, Ammon Bundy, said a bus from Phoenix and another from Las Vegas brought more than 100 people, and others were coming on their own to a Tuesday afternoon hearing.

The proposal, Assembly Bill 408, is sponsored by Republican Assemblywoman Michele Fiore and would require the federal government to obtain permission to use land within the state's borders. The proposal also strips the federal government of state water rights and would allow county commissions to parcel out state land for commercial use.

"It's simple — the land belongs to the people," explained Ammon Bundy, 39.

The bill is part of a larger movement challenging federal government property rights, especially in Western states such as Nevada, where federal and military agencies control more than 85 percent of the land. The Bureau of Land Management is charged with balancing environmental and recreational goals with economic development on the lands, which include national parks. The department's priorities in certain situations can anger residents.

Eleven western states have introduced bills this year on the matter, and AB408 is the most extreme, according to Jessica Goad of the Denver-based conservation group Center for Western Priorities. The bill asserts the federal government has no right to the lands, while other bills merely call for a study on federal land ownership or demand the federal government turn over the lands.

Such measures are routinely considered unconstitutional, even when they pass.

Cliven Bundy has said he doesn't recognize federal authority on the land near Bunkerville that his family settled and has used since the late 1870s.

BLM officials have accused him of failing to pay grazing fees for 20 years, racking up more than $1.1 million in fees and penalties, and failing to abide by court orders to remove his cattle from vast open range that is habitat for the endangered desert tortoise.

His standoff with the federal government and Bureau of Land Management last year attracted out-of-state militia members and was called off by federal agents on April 12, amid fears of a shootout. He's lauded as a hero among certain conservatives, including bill sponsor Fiore.

But critics raise serious concerns about the bill. The state's legislative counsel bureau said the proposal was "manifestly hostile" to the federal government and would be struck down if challenged in court for attempting to put state law ahead of federal law.

Counsel researcher Brenda Erdoes wrote that the bill would "handicap and interfere with the efforts of federal agencies to carry out federal laws enacted for a national purpose."

Nevada's state conservation department estimated that transferring around 60 million acres of federally controlled land would cost the department around $95 million and that the parceling process for mining, logging and other industries could become "complicated and controversial."

Plenty of crowd control measures were in place for the Tuesday hearing, according to Assembly Majority Leader Paul Anderson, a Republican. Capitol and local police were apprised of the situation, he said, and other meetings had been pushed back to accommodate a long hearing. The discussion was scheduled to take place in the largest room in the legislative building.

Several progressive groups and Democratic officials including Sen. Kelvin Atkinson and Assemblywoman Teresa Benitez Thompson plan to rally outside the Legislature on Tuesday against the bill.

Opponents, including Battle Born Progress director Jocelyn Torres, say the measure would take land access out of the hands of everyday Nevadans.

"Federal lands belong to everyone, and they're limiting it to folks who can buy these lands and exploit them," she said. "If it's unconstitutional, it will get stopped at some point."

Permalink Reply by ProblemAgain on April 22, 2015 at 3:22pm

Michele Bachmann: The Rapture Is Coming And It's Obama's Fault

The Huffington Post | By Marina Fang

Posted: 04/20/2015 8:11 pm EDT Updated: 04/21/2015 1:59 am EDT

Michele Bachmann says the rapture is coming, thanks to President Barack Obama’s policies on Iran’s nuclear program and marriage equality.

In a radio interview last week, Bachmann, the former Minnesota Republican congresswoman, told "End Times" host Jan Markell, “We need to realize how close this clock is getting to the midnight hour.”

“We in our lifetimes potentially could see Jesus Christ returning to earth and the rapture of the church,” Bachmann said. “We see the destruction, but this was a destruction that was foretold.”

Bachmann cited the Obama administration’s nuclear negotiations with Iran as a cause. The U.S. and five partner nations are discussing a deal with Iran that would prevent the country from developing or obtaining nuclear weapons.

“We are literally watching, month by month, the speed move up to a level we’ve never seen before with these events," Bachmann said. "Barack Obama is intent. It is his number one goal to ensure that Iran has a nuclear weapon.”

Later in the interview, Bachmann again tied her rapture prediction to Obama’s foreign policy.

“If you look at the president’s rhetoric, and if you look at his actions, everything he has done has been to cut the legs out of Israel and lift up the agenda of radical Islam,” she said.

Obama has said repeatedly that the goal of the nuclear talks with Iran is to prevent the country from developing a nuclear weapon.

Bachmann also blamed abortion and gay marriage, arguing that God is punishing the United States for “embracing a pagan view.”

“Any nation that accepts God and his principles is blessed, and those who push away are cursed. That’s what we’re seeing happen to the United States,” she said. “We will suffer the consequences as a result.”

Some Christians believe those who are saved will be transported to heaven just before armageddon, which they call the rapture.

This is not the first time Bachmann has predicted extreme consequences from the Iran deal. Earlier this month, she claimed the deal would lead to "World War III." And in a Facebook post, she compared Obama to Andreas Lubitz, the pilot who crashed the Germanwings airliner into the French Alps in March.

Permalink Reply by ProblemAgain on May 3, 2015 at 10:40am

Texas Governor Deploys State Guard To Stave Off Obama Takeover

May 02, 2015 9:27 PM ET

Wade Goodwyn

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas National Guard to monitor a joint U.S. Special Forces training taking place in Texas, prompting outrage from some in his own party.

Eric Gay/AP

Since General Sam Houston executed his famous retreat to glory to defeat the superior forces of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Texas has been ground zero for military training. We have so many military bases in the Lone Star State we could practically attack Russia.

So when rookie Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced he was ordering the Texas National Guard to monitor a Navy SEAL/Green Beret joint training exercise, which was taking place in Texas and several other states, everybody here looked up from their iPhones. What?

It seems there is concern among some folks that this so-called training maneuver is just a cover story. What's really going on? President Obama is about to use Special Forces to put Texas under martial law.

Let's walk over by the fence where nobody can hear us, and I'll tell you the story.

You see, there are these Wal-Marts in West Texas that supposedly closed for six months for "renovation." That's what they want you to believe. The truth is these Wal-Marts are going to be military guerrilla-warfare staging areas and FEMA processing camps for political prisoners. The prisoners are going to be transported by train cars that have already been equipped with shac....

Don't take my word for it. That comes directly from a Texas Ranger, who seems pretty plugged in, if you ask me. You and I both know President Obama has been waiting a long time for this, and now it's happening. It's a classic false flag operation. Don't pay any attention the mainstream media; all they're going to do is lie and attack everyone who's trying to tell you the truth.

"It is important that Texans know their safety, constitutional rights, private property rights and civil liberties will not be infringed upon."

- Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas

Did I mention the ISIS terrorists? They've come across the border and are going to hit soft targets all across the Southwest. They've set up camp a few miles outside of El Paso.

That includes a Mexican army officer and Mexican federal police inspector. Not sure what they're doing there, but probably nothing good. That's why the Special Forces guys are here, get it? To wipe out ISIS and impose martial law. So now you know, whaddya say we get back to the party and grab another beer?

It's true that the paranoid world-view of right-wing militia types has remarkable stamina. But that's not news.

What is news is that there seem to be enough of them in Texas to influence the governor of the state to react — some might use the word pander — to them.

That started Monday when a public briefing by the Army in Bastrop County, which is just east of Austin, got raucous. The poor U.S. Army colonel probably just thought he was going to give a regular briefing, but instead 200 patriots shouted him down, told him he was a liar and grilled him about the imminent federal takeover of Texas and subsequent imposition of martial law.

"We just want to make sure our guys are trained. We want to hone our skills," Lt. Col. Mark Listoria tried to explain in vain.

One wonders what Listoria was thinking to himself as he walked to his car after two hours of his life he'll never get back. God bless Texas? Maybe not.

The next day Gov. Abbott decided he had to take action. He announced that he was going to ask the Texas State Guard to monitor Operation Jade Helm from start to finish.

"It is important that Texans know their safety, constitutional rights, private property rights and civil liberties will not be infringed upon," Abbott said.

The idea that the Yankee military can't be trusted down here has a long and rich history in Texas. But that was a while back. Abbott's proclamation that he was going to keep his eye on these Navy SEAL and Green Beret boys did rub some of our leaders the wrong way.

Former Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst tried to put it in perspective for outsiders when he explained, "Unfortunately, some Texans have projected their legitimate concerns about the competence and trustworthiness of President Barack Obama on these noble warriors. This must stop."

Another former Republican politician was a bit more pointed.

"Your letter pandering to idiots ... has left me livid," former State Rep. Todd Smith wrote Gov. Abbott. "I am horrified that I have to choose between the possibility that my Governor actually believes this stuff and the possibility that my Governor doesn't have the backbone to stand up to those who do."

There's no argument that after the 2014 election, Texas politics took a further step to the right. The 84th session of the state legislature has given ample proof of that. But the events of this last week have been an eye-opener for Texans of all political stripes.

You will find the names of Texans etched into marble at war memorials from Goliad to Gettysburg, from Verdun to the Ardennes and Washington, D.C. The governor's proposition that these soldiers and sailors constitute a potential threat and need watching as they go about their duties, certainly stakes out some new political ground for the leader of the Texas GOP to stand on.

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