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[SteveWinwood]

The only good kansas is a burned kansas. bummer to the good sensical folks there, the few as there are.

?

 

[GhaleonEB]

They had a chance to fix that on election night and didn't so...

Yup. Utterly foolish, but it's the path they want to go down. It's not working out so hot, but hey. To each their own.

 

[~Devil Trigger~]

But what about in North Carolina? Wouldn't that be a better example of the great Republican plan?

No? Okay.

smh

 

[smurfx]

I wonder which government programs and jobs will get cut to help make up the difference...

wonder how many of those people will then blame obama.

 

[CharlieDigital]

But what about in North Carolina? Wouldn't that be a better example of the great Republican plan?

No? Okay.

North Carolina government now faces a $445 million revenue shortfall when the fiscal year ends June 30, state budget analysts estimated Friday

Senate Minority Whip Josh Stein, D-Wake, blamed the tax overhaul approved last year for the shortfall, saying Democrats knew it would allow the very wealthy to keep more money instead of providing revenues for things like teacher pay raises.

"Now it turns out the tax (plan) doesn't provide enough to pay our bills," Stein said.

Dollar put a different spin on the shortfall and tax plan, saying "what you're seeing out there is more money in the pockets of working people and working families in North Carolina."​

wat

Edit: there is a great comment in there:

josephlawrence43 May 5, 9:10 a.m.

For those blaming the Republicans, what would you do?? Follow the lead of the past 100 or so years of Democratic control in which the habit of tax and spend was ingrained and institutionalized​

YES, TAX AND SPEND -- THAT'S THE WHOLE GOD DAMN POINT OF GOVERNMENT AND TAXATION

 

[Velcro Fly]

Good thing they re-elected their governor!

Indiana cuts things and everything gets cut. But we aren't running a deficit!

 

[Mixolydian]

Yup. Utterly foolish, but it's the path they want to go down. It's not working out so hot, but hey. To each their own.

Yup. Every single one of us. Every. Single. One.

 

[RedTurbo]

Kansas reelected Brownback and Roberts they deserve this shit.

 

[djplaeskool]

Chickens are coming home to roost.

 

[Horns]

How people were so dumb as to reelect Brownback is astounding.

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

Yup. Utterly foolish, but it's the path they want to go down. It's not working out so hot, but hey. To each their own.

Or it's the path the millions of dollars of Super PAC campaign money wanted the voters to go down...

 

[Quadratic]

There's a Planet Money podcast about this topic I listened to recently.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/10/22/358105415/episode-577-sam-brownback-s-kansas-experiment

 

[ivysaur12]

Or it's the path the millions of dollars of Super PAC campaign money wanted the voters to go down...

http://ballotpedia.org/Kansas_gubernatorial_and_lieutenant_gubernatorial_election,_2014#Ad_spending

Actually, it was fairly even in how much money was spent from GOP leaning groups and D leaning groups in Kansas. What you're really seeing is an unpopular governor in a midterm election with a national mood and state that highly favors a Republican incumbent.

And even then, he couldn't cross the 50% mark.

 

[Zaphod]

Yeah, exactly. Final numbers:

Sam Brownback 49.96% Republican
Paul Davis 46.06% Democrat
Keen Umbehr 3.98% Libertarian

Kind of sucks for the nearly.... actually, over half of us who still have to bear the brunt of his bullshit despite voting against him.

Quoting this for all those saying we all deserve this crap.

 

[Diatribe1974]

How about cutting out the shit that you probably shouldn't be spending money on? Its like when my wife and I start looking at our finances as to see where our money goes. Its not the single thing that saps each paycheck, but the billion other little things that we waste our money on that honestly we don't need to spend (but do). In the end, government spending is the same, but with other peoples money.

 

[davepoobond]

Really sad. Kansas is going to be insolvent by the end of his term. It'll be a federally ran state when this is all over.

 

[Nesotenso]

and they fucking re-elected Brownback. State has no hope.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

They had a chance to fix that on election night and didn't so...

so fuck em

 

[speculawyer]

Cut taxes, infinite revenue!



http://www.kansascity.com/news/government-politics/article3729756.html#storylink=cpy

With the revenue stream in serious jeopardy, now the Republicans will be forced to reluctantly cut poverty programs that they hoped would be safe.

 

[Zaphod]

How about cutting out the shit that you probably shouldn't be spending money on? Its like when my wife and I start looking at our finances as to see where our money goes. Its not the single thing that saps each paycheck, but the billion other little things that we waste our money on that honestly we don't need to spend (but do). In the end, government spending is the same, but with other peoples money.

How about not cutting the income taxes on business owners to 0%? It's a stupid plan and I don't see why one class of citizens should be tax free simply based on how they choose to earn a living.

 

[Mr.Swag]

Wont be the best country in the world for much longer if we have no income.

 

[kirblar]

How about not cutting the income taxes on business owners to 0%? It's a stupid plan and I don't see why one class of citizens should be tax free simply based on how they choose to earn a living.

Because they're the ones bankrolling the GOP.

 

[kamspy]

How do you guys need a billion dollars to run Kansas for a year anyways?

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

http://ballotpedia.org/Kansas_gubernatorial_and_lieutenant_gubernatorial_election,_2014#Ad_spending

Actually, it was fairly even in how much money was spent from GOP leaning groups and D leaning groups in Kansas. What you're really seeing is an unpopular governor in a midterm election with a national mood and state that highly favors a Republican incumbent.

And even then, he couldn't cross the 50% mark.

The numbers you linked to are for ad spends from September 12-25, 2014. Trust me, I live in KC, it got a lot worse in October. The GOP started running a very dirty race when it looked like Davis would take the election. I bet they spent close to double what the Dems did in October.

 

[FStubbs]

People want this though. This election proves that Americans want polluted rivers, tax cuts for the wealthy, worse schools, less health care, and gridlock in Washington. It's a democracy and people voted the way they wanted to vote. Kansas likes what Brownback did for their state so they're giving him four more years.

 

[brotherbean]

How do you guys need a billion dollars to run Kansas for a year anyways?

We get it, you were unimpressed.

 

[Zaphod]

Because they're the ones bankrolling the GOP.

Pretty much. It's funny how their position on hand outs changes the moment someone says business owner.

 

[tirminyl]

It's literally just a field. I don't know how they expect to collect a billion dollars in tax in a giant field.

Come on now...

Yup. Utterly foolish, but it's the path they want to go down. It's not working out so hot, but hey. To each their own.

I did my part. I am seriously baffled at those that support this.

 

[rbanke]

anyone else read the title and think that keanu reeves was in serious shit?

I read that title 3 times wondering why Keanu was expected to have a billion dollars in two years.


I never understand how Republican's can simultaneously cut taxes, give businesses tax breaks all while complaining about programs but not streamlining/cutting back on them. Math, how does it work.

 

[Holmes]

But what about in North Carolina? Wouldn't that be a better example of the great Republican plan?

No? Okay.

I hope North Carolina decides to pull the plug on their Republican experiment and brings back sanity to the state.

 

[Josh7289]

Totally. This was all part of the plan. Slimy bastards.

 

[BobTheFork]

Come on now...



I did my part. I am seriously baffled at those that support this.

I don't want to paint the voters as just stupid but they supported this because they don't have an understanding of how this effects the state or it's population overall.

"You'll cut my taxes....GREAT!"

Feels like voters are just very short sighted in a way that is easy to exploit

 

[kamspy]

We get it, you were unimpressed.

No seriously. I've only recently (last 2 years) gotten involved in my local government. Just as far as actually voting on city issues and attending council meetings when I find the content interesting. It's INSANE. If you're a bonded construction contractor, you can basically come to Ohio and get free money for doing shit work at a snails pace.

Getting involved in local gov actually helped me understand what was really going on between cable news and conspiracy internet shit. It's just dumb people. It's people our parents age, with their shitty 1960s educations and lifetimes of guilt and regret running shit. lazily. Never any quality thinkers either. They're out making better money, or, winning contracts with our local gov at obscene value rates.

 

[ivysaur12]

The numbers you linked to are for ad spends from September 12-25, 2014. Trust me, I live in KC, it got a lot worse in October. The GOP started running a very dirty race when it looked like Davis would take the election. I bet they spent close to double what the Dems did in October.

I can't find any updated data. But can you? Otherwise, it seems like you're relying on anecdotal evidence when the evidence presented seems to contradict that there was some sort of heavy spending gap towards Brownback by outside PACs.

In the end, Kansas is an R+12 electorate. Midterms are hard for Democrats, and it looks like the election had an R+4 lean in the end. And given all that, he still almost lost. That's a much simpler explanation that's probably closer to the truth.

 

[speculawyer]

I wonder if crime then just starts going up and the cost of the crime damage, increased police, increased court costs, increase jail costs, etc. then just swallows up any savings from cutting poverty programs. It is much cheaper to pay welfare than it is to pay to jail someone.

 

[terrisus]

Have the Royals move to Kansas City, Kansas.
Done.

 

[davepoobond]

I wonder if crime then just starts going up and the cost of the crime damage, increased police, increased court costs, increase jail costs, etc. then just swallows up any savings from cutting poverty programs. It is much cheaper to pay welfare than it is to pay to jail someone.

Excellent. Jailing more people is a conservative value, after all

 

[Link]

I'd laugh, but I live in Florida. It's no better here.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

Pardon my ignorance on Kansas, but will the state cut govt funding like farm subsidies?

 

[ReAxion]

Thinking about posting the KFC famous bowl pic in here.

 

[Protein]

I reckon it was those darn Yankee-Democrats and Obama in office is the reason why our state is so poor.

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

I can't find any updated data. But can you? Otherwise, it seems like you're relying on anecdotal evidence when the evidence presented seems to contradict that there was some sort of heavy spending gap towards Brownback by outside PACs.

My anecdotal evidence is worse than your two week sample two months before the election? Come on, man.

 

[ezrarh]

I remember some people were advocating letting the Republicans go through with their policy plans and have it fail then people would learn to not trust them again. Considering they just reelected Brownback, don't think it's the wisest idea.

 

[kamspy]

I wonder if crime then just starts going up and the cost of the crime damage, increased police, increased court costs, increase jail costs, etc. then just swallows up any savings from cutting poverty programs. It is much cheaper to pay welfare than it is to pay to jail someone.

I try to tell the lower middle class GOP'ers I work with that if you cut off food stamps they'll come to your house for food. And it probably won't be with a stack of paperwork and a defeated stare at the ground. Then they tell me that's why they own a gun, etc. etc. But the kicker is they're all sweethearts. They would give food to a hungry person if they saw them in front of their house. It's a wild political philosophy... That middle class GOP guy.

 

[SteveWinwood]

Pardon my ignorance on Kansas, but will the state cut govt funding like farm subsidies?

I'm not sure why you picked farm subsidies as that's federal.

It also has a minor implication that you think it's on the chopping block or unnecessary?

 

[davepoobond]

I reckon it was those darn Yankee-Democrats and Obama in office is the reason why our state is so poor.

This is all a symptom of big government. If they didnt have a government to find at the onset they wouldn't have a problem when they cut all funding for it

Too bad the governor doesn't cut his own paycheck and position.

 

[ivysaur12]

My anecdotal evidence is worse than your two week sample two months before the election? Come on, man.

Spending on Senate candidates was almost even with Republicans and Democrats in 2014. There is literally no evidence to suggest that this was any different for Davis and Brownback, especially since Davis was considered a good candidate and Brownback was vulnerable.

It's not PACs. It's the realities of the situation in Kansas. If you want to blame PACs, that's fine. But you don't have any evidence to back that claim up.

 

[speculawyer]

Pardon my ignorance on Kansas, but will the state cut govt funding like farm subsidies?

Farm subsidies are largely Federal. Which is pretty ironic when you think about it. These states that think they are so 'rugged individualist' are actually mooching off the other states. Go Figure.

 

[Cybit]

I remember some people were advocating letting the Republicans go through with their policy plans and have it fail then people would learn to not trust them again. Considering they just reelected Brownback, don't think it's the wisest idea.

Eh, the fun part will be that had the Democrat gotten elected, he would have been stuck with the consequences of Brownback. At this point, there's a good chance that the economy won't recover enough locally through unrelated forces to save his hide; so you might see a nasty swing in 2016 in Kansas against GOP economics.

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

Spending on Senate candidates was almost even with Republicans and Democrats in 2014. There is literally no evidence to suggest that this was any different for Davis and Brownback, especially since Davis was considered a good candidate and Brownback was vulnerable.

It's not PACs. It's the realities of the situation in Kansas. If you want to blame PACs, that's fine. But you don't have any evidence to back that claim up.

How does nationwide data prove anything? A Republican losing his gubernatorial seat in a red state would not have been a good look for the GOP. And because it was a close race, it stands to reason that they would have funneled more money into it.