It is too bad that during campaigning for the 2014 midterm elections, many Democratic candidates ran away from President Obama’s economic achievements and did their level best to be Republicans. Yesterday the President briefly touched on his successful economic record that Democrats were terrified of and Republicans claimed was a major disaster. Republicans ran on, and won big with, their claim that the GOP is “the party of solutions” founded on conservative pro-growth economic policies, deregulation, and tax cuts for the rich they claimed were more successful than anything “hapless” Democrats or Obama could ever hope to achieve. This is despite the President’s nearly five-year job growth record, world-leading GDP growth, and increased revenue paying down the nation’s debt at a record pace.
This column has given special attention to the trickle-down economic disaster in Kansas, but plenty of other Republican states’ economies are failing miserably; especially states with Republican governors held up as the model for the nation in hopes of winning the White House and running nation’s economy into the ground. Republicans said throughout 2014 that Democrats and the President consistently offer up “ineffective economic policies” responsible for the President’s failed economic policies leading to increased income inequality plaguing the poor and middle class. Republicans have no interest in addressing income inequality according to red states with failing economies due to their storied “pro-growth agenda” of tax cuts for the rich and corporations.
In New Jersey, Chris Christie campaigned on and entered office on a pledge of balancing the state budget and “replenishing the state’s pension program.” Instead, Christie’s “pro-growth agenda” of cutting corporate taxes drastically increased pension liabilities, created Kansas-style revenue shortfalls, and earned the state a record eight credit downgrades; a new mark for a sitting governor. New Jersey is also, like Kansas, lagging the rest of the nation in creating jobs according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and while the national unemployment rate has been steadily dropping, New Jersey’s is growing just over the past year.
To save his failing pro-growth economy, Christie is following Brownback’s lead and cutting employee’s pension-fund payments and delaying property-tax relief for individuals. It has already adversely affected, and caught the attention of, public workers, senior citizens, and middle-class homeowners who likely voted for more trickle-down tax cuts for the rich. Christie’s pro-growth agenda has created a $1.7 billion revenue shortfall this year due to more than $600 million in corporate tax cuts that failed to deliver economic growth, increase revenue, or create job growth.
Christie tripled corporate tax cuts in less than three years with more coming this year and, like Brownback in Kansas and Republicans in Washington, he promised and still claims that more frequent and larger business tax cuts are absolutely necessary to grow the economy, create jobs, and most importantly; “benefit the big corporations.” The only part of Christie’s promise that reached fruition is the benefit to big corporations; the goal of all conservative “pro-growth reforms.”
Despite a flagging economy, poor job growth, revenue shortfalls, and eight credit downgrades, Christie has pledged that he will do nothing to endanger the still-growing corporate tax cuts to save the state’s economy. In fact, even raiding and cutting pension-fund payments is not enough to make up for the growing corporate tax cuts he has no intent of stopping.
In Louisiana, Republican Governor Bobby Jindal’s conservative economic policies have the state facing “a very large shortfall as we go into the spring session of 2015 because we’ve been relying too much on those onetime funds for recurring expenses” according to a fiscally conservative Republican state representative. Brett Geyman said Jindal has relied “too heavily on a non-replenishable pool of “onetime” funds that won’t be available next year.”
The “very large revenue shortfall” is in spite of “the steepest cuts to education ever proposed for the state” that the Republican speaker of the Louisiana House has vowed to block because they “will set us back generations.” The fact that Jindal is still in office is proof enough form semi-intelligent Americans that the state’s education system has already set the state back generations. Jindal claims the steep education cuts are necessary to balance the state’s budget even though with the drastic cuts, the state still faces a substantially large revenue shortfall. Jindal wants to completely eliminate corporate taxes completely and raise them on the bottom 80% of the population; a tactic that will exacerbate the revenue shortfall. However, like New Jersey’s Christie and Kansas’ Brownback claim, eliminating business taxes will be a “great benefit to big corporations.”
Republican Scott Walker of Wisconsin is also facing a “pro-growth agenda” revenue shortfall this year to the tune of $2.2 billion as well as a record “slower than average job and wage growth” compared to the national figures according to a recent analysis. Walker claims the facts are false, and that he will make up the $2.2 billion shortfall by “adjusting funding priorities” that in Republican economic parlance means steep cuts to domestic programs and pension payments. Walker already cut taxes for the rich and funded them partially with Medicaid cuts and still; the state faces a 2.2 billion revenue shortfall.
What is telling in all these Republican economic failures is that the national economy is and has been steadily growing, job growth is at record pace, manufacturing is growing, and gas prices are falling. There is a reason why these, and other, Republican-led states are not enjoying the same growth and recovery as the rest of the nation and it is down to the Republican ‘pro-growth agenda’ of tax cuts for the rich and corporations and cuts to pensions and domestic programs that help drive the economy whether at the state or federal level.
Democrats who ran away from the President’s economic record were fools, and voters in economically-failed red states were morons for either electing or re-electing ‘pro-growth’ Republicans who are not only decimating their state economies, they are dragging down the national economy as well. The real obscenity is that Democratic states are stuck bailing out the idiots in red states who continue electing Republicans who have no other intent than advancing their failed pro-growth agenda on the national level.
Audio engineer and instructor for SAE. Writes op/ed commentary supporting Secular Humanist causes, and exposing suppression of women, the poor, and minorities. An advocate for freedom of religion and particularly, freedom of NO religion.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn’t look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
What a surprise.
It would be news if any of their policies actually succeeded.
When a TP/GOP member is talking about their chosen policies. How do you know they are lying? Their lips are moving!!!
His rudeness broke it down about fat bastard
Jolly New Jersey Governor Doesn’t Give a Shit About New Jersey (Note: The word “jolly” will be used to indicate New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s still-substantial girth since phrases like “fat fucking piece of fat shit” have become frowned upon. “Jolly” shall now be the “urban” of obesity.) – See more at: http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2015/01/jolly-new-jersey-governor-doesnt-give.html#sthash.9bbLzrCV.dpuf
This needs to become a simple meme like: Red States not sharing in the Economic recovery and boom in the Blue States. Or, Red States are left behind as the Economy Recovery from the Bush Recession booms in the Blue States
A When I was in school, I learned that when you reduce, you have less, when you increase, you have more. Know what else I learned? That when you take away, it causes a cash flow problem. You have the same bills, but now you have less $$$$ to pay those bills.
On the other hand, when you increase your cash flow, our have more to work with. You may even have enough to save for a rainy day.
Republican math says you can decrease your $$, and still meet your obligations. I guess this is Grover Norquist math, cuz it sure isn’t what learned in school.
What these red states will do is increase taxes on the 98%, when the shortfall comes from the tax cuts they gave the 2%.
I hope every fake Democratic who ran as if they were Republicans rot in hell. Same for those that voted/didn’t vote Republican, who are predominately white. You will now suffer the consequences of your vote/ on-site, and so will the entire country.
The only reason “job creators” will ever willingly part with money is if they will make more money. If those spending money in their businesses have more money to spend the “job creators” will create jobs, new products and services to separate the spenders from their cash.
It’s supply and demand on it’s most basic level – disposable income flows up, it doesn’t trickle down.
Is this revelation to say that Red States with poor economic growth are similar to THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES? Run by third rate officials? You might say so Charlie.
;)
In the defense of the Gop, they’re mostly concerned with a holy war, and the coincidental (I’m sure) padding of their wallet with handsome bullet sales.
Well they will all, republican controlled states, be there with their hand out ; the republican taker States that yell that the poor people on welfare are all takers; the Republican states are the real takers of America.
The bottom ten in education are all red states with the exception of Michigan and they are controlled by the kochsuckers
http://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-best-schools/5335/
Coincidence?
I love it when Brownback declares that ‘success’ for his plan is just moments away.
We’re waiting…and waiting…and waiting…and losing out daily.
Hop to it, Governor.
Its the Friedman unit. Just wait, give it time it will work
I’m comfortable in blue California with a $2.5 billion state budget surplus.
I’ve survived over 20 years of failed republican rule started with gov Reagan and his “never has worked trickle down” scheme.
The red states are just going to have to admit they’re utter failures with economics.
Republicans are all liars they believe God has given them a special power a sort of mandate/dispensation too allow them to willingly break his 10 commandments because these special Republicans are doing Gods work. Since By definition God is always right they in turn are always right even if they are totally factually wrong in the present moment. You see by this twisted logic they are godly and just can’t ever be wrong.. because the ends justify their evil methods.. Since God will fix their evil handiwork and make it all good according to how they think in the very end..
L
Also aren’t the red states not only uneducated, but they also have more obesity, more people on disability? I’d say , seems they must be disabled in the brain too. Voting as any good rethug tells you to, always against your own best interest.
A balance budget for the GOP/TP is using a weighing scale with a rock and a feather on each cup and saying they’re equal.
Perhaps they should start using math.
Horse and sparrow never worked. Mellonomics led to the Great Depression. Trickle down, a.k.a. “horse and sparrow” was just rebranding a colossal failure. Reaganomics led us to the “Great Recession”.
It’s far beyond time for the defenders of “voodoo economics” to admit failure.
Here in Maine governor Lepage just released his biennial budget last week(would kick in next year). I’ll spare y’all the wonky details but basically it follows the Kansas Brownback model of cutting the top income brackets and raising the state sales tax from currently 5.5(scheduled to drop to 5 in 2016) to 6.5%(yikes).
Also the corporate rate would be cut. What is disturbing is that New Hampshire levies no sales tax(Maine loses a lot of purchases across the border due to this) so raising our sales tax would make Maine that much less competitive, basic economics 101. The GOP governors are clearly weaning the states off of income taxes in place for higher consumption taxes, now which class of citizens gets hurt worse by sales taxes? The poor.
There already is class warfare in America. Unfortunately, the rich are winning.
Recall Brownback!! and any others who have inflicted trickle down policies on their constituents…
No one should be surprised at this outcome. Their policies have been repeatedly tried and have repeatedly failed in the past, so there’s no reason anyone should have thought there would ever be a different outcome. But we can count on a bunch of idiots to blame President Obama for the decision they made to vote for people who told them in no uncertain terms they were going to jam them, or didn’t vote at all when they could have.
Recall him? The dumb motherfukers re-elected him
I and many others tried to warn GOP Progressives and Moderates about this and get them to vote for Democrats, who truly represent them now…
Instead, the dumbasses stayed home in “protest” ssmdh
Politico…aka: the Ministry of Dis-information” for the Obama administration….or, aka the most biased, unreliable source going.
Emmm…that’s a little hard to parse.