In the same week that the Kansas City Star will editorialize rhapsodically about Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech, one in which he will lay out the numerous new ways in which he plans to keep increasing the national debt – free community college, anyone? – its editors predictably lashed Kansas Governor Sam Brownback for his conscientious efforts to control spending in Kansas.
Again!
The Star editors bash Brownback not out of principled resistance, no longer even to boot him from office. No, their Brownback-bashing shows all the signs of a flaming case of obsessive compulsive disorder.
So pronounced is the Star editors’ OCD that they actually criticized Brownback’s proposed tax increase on alcohol and cigarettes.
This may well be the first tax in recent bi-state history that its editors have slammed.
They write, “A predicable change in Kansas, especially in the Kansas City area, would be trips across the state line to purchase cheaper products in Missouri and other adjacent states.”
Don’t they realize that if Kansas continued to have the highest income taxes in the region businesses would behave the way smokers already do and spend their money elsewhere? Brownback did not introduce his tax cuts because Kansas was prospering.
In the dozen years prior to the bill’s passage, the only employers in Kansas that experienced net job growth were local governments. Fewer Kansans were employed by the private sector in 2012 than in 2001. The surrounding states with lower tax rates were all performing better.
So, editors, stop the frigging whining. Or if you are going to whine, at least whine consistently!
Rich Steele is a citizen journalist and head of the NSAAS (Non-Smokers Against Anti-Smoking).
okay ….what about states that were doing well during the great recession…
their governors have to make no excuses…but 800 million in debt and still
looking to cut. And courtssaying that more spending is needed….classrooms
jammed….drug use up….AND LOTS OF STATES ARE SHOWING HUGE
INCREASES IN REVENUE AND NOT HAVING TOCUT KEY SOCIAL NET
PROGRAMS…….BUT KANSAS IS….PUT BLUNTLY…..KANSAS IS THE
FAILURE IN AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEN TURNING DOWN DOLLARS
FOR MEDICAID? perfect storm for whatwe got.
Anyone with brains would have seen this coming…give those taxbreaks that
weren’t needed…that were supposed to generate jobs…battling Missouri to
entice companies to move a few miles for some huge tax breaks that
would never be paid back….
oh and by the way….giving free community college to anyone who qualifies
would save about 7 billion dollars a year to the government. Let’s see more
details….
and yes boys….OBAMA WON EVERY ELECTION HE RAN IN….WON PRESIDENCY
TWICE….and Harley was point on in his prediction of electoral votes in 2012….
an astoungding number that no other prognosticator was able to pick….
for futhrer information about life/money/family contact Harley at
law4life1000@yahoo.com.
also steele…I suggest y ou…hearne…and mr. Sutherland stop reading the
kc star. It’s irrelevant and you’re goingto get heart attacks reading that
paper. I never read it except when a huge event occurs…till then I dpend
on my sources…my sites and real reporters to get my information.
By not reading the star you’ll elongate your life tremendously.
good luck.
cant wait for top golf!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thanks to jr. If you’ve not been to
one…you will be addicated liie I became…….
It’s hard not to read the Star if you live in Kansas Cty and want to be active and informed about what’s going on locally.
TV news ain’t gonna get it, obviously. Except maybe for the daytime game show and soaps crowd.
And while the newspaper is flawed, it’s really the only game in town?
And it has the widest footprint, the most influence.
So critiquing it and trying to help keep it honest is more a duty than a calling.
However, I do get your point, H
everything and everything in that paper you canfind
on tonys blog….internet…sports sites…etc…
maybe if you need some local reviews…but for the
most part they’re wrong…just like the food reviews…
why waste your time…
and you hearne know the entire paper is irrelevant
in todays world.
Let me let you in on a little secret, wild man:
Tony’s blog wouldn’t exist if it were not for the Star and the TV new stations he links to and drops in his two cents.
Without that, there wouldn’t be enough original content for him to attract the unconfirmed tips that he writes about. Because, you know, somebody actually has to report the news before he can trash it.
but he does have a bigger audience
than you have….so put credit where its due.
still don’t read his deal but maybe once a
month….and the comments he’s had
there about Wilson and glaze are just too
much for me to handle.
I’ll play with the writers/commentators but
no direct family insults to /wives/people. Tony has
a lot of rough people ….kcc has a more
informed audience……
and yes tony provides mosty links.
Ya think?
And how is Kansas supposed to pay for that Medicaid expansion after the feds stop funding it? If you can answer that, I’ll be all for expanding Medicaid (with common sense reform, of course). To quote a freedom loving American, Rand Paul, “Mr. President, you can’t wave a magic wand and declare something free. Someone has to pay for it. #sotu”
especially those out of touch editorial writers….
Kansas is the poster child for the failed propositions of trickle down economics and low taxes are the primary forces in a business decision regarding location.
History has shown the fallacy of such pontifications. Missouri will profit a lot more than Kansas residents buying gas.
No the greatest fallacy is that relying on system where the Federal government is largest collector of tax revenue by proportion will ever work. As a percentage of income the largest percentage of tax collection should go to the state and local governments. But we live in a system where our local dollars go to Washington for redistribution to the states. I will admit this benefits small states like Wyoming that would struggle to support themselves, but there has to be some sort of middle ground. Kansas shouldn’t be beholden to the whims of the Federal government to receive funds derived from its citizenry.
Mr. Information , you nailed it. Companies hire because of increased demand for their products or services, not because they have more money as a result of lower taxes. Why increase payroll, regardless of the size of your bank account, when demand doesn’t exist for your product/service. We proved trickle down economics doesn’t work decades ago. Brownback is proving it again, unfortunately on the backs of our kids and uninsured.
Medicaid, to answer your question on who pays when the feds stop funding it, the feds never stop funding it. 100% first 3 years and never drops below 90%. If states can’t fund up to 10% down the road to insure that all their citizens have access to basic health care, their state legislatures are grossly misguided in my humble opinion. I’m guessing by your statements that you might favor a libertarian approach to government and regard basic health care as a privilege and not a right. Clearly we disagree on the role of the federal government and I respect your view. From my democratic perspective however, the federal government has far greater responsibilities than just the defense of our shores. To say the federal government should collect less tax by percentage than state and local government is scary. The feds do far more than just redistribute $ to the states.
Yeah, let’s tax alcohol and tobacco when our biggest county borders a different state where people can easily avoid paying those taxes…genius move Brownback! Why people in Kansas choose to elect an idiot is a story in and of itself.
Back in the ’40s and ’50s The Star was too far to the right. Now it’s too far to the left. Can we get some balance here? What a novel concept!