Leading the nation, again! It is just something we do, here in Minnesota. It is plain that we simply cannot help ourselves, so we help others, by leading.
Tiny Tim Pawlenty was our Governor until recently, when he decided that the nation needed him and his expertise as President. Tim's area of expertise was convincing us that he knew what he was doing. When he left office, we finally saw what he had been doing. He had been getting us into debt. About five billion dollars worth.
You see, Tim was opposed to raising taxes. Tim was no dummy! He knew we had bills to pay--loans, potholes, doctor's bills, an odd desire to keep warm and have enough to eat, maybe a retirement home--so he did what had to be done if you are opposed to paying your bills through taxes: he borrowed the money.
He "borrowed" the money our schools were supposed to get. He told the schools not to worry: his word was as good as gold, and that the money would come, later. He wondered whether old people really needed all that money for health care. He borrowed to fix the roads. A bridge over the Mississippi collapsed, and some others kind of dropped parts on the road. Tim assured us that we were spending altogether too much money, already, and that things would be all right is we held firm on no increase in taxes, especially on the rich, who were just trying to make both ends of Lake Minnetonka meet at their property lines.
Tim is on his way to glory, as our next President, except for Michele Bachmann, and Mitt Romney, and Herman Cain, and John Huntsman, and Andy Martin, and Thad McCotter, Fred Karger, and Jimmy McMillan, and Ron Paul, and Roy Miller, and Buddy Roemer, and Rick Santorum, and Vern Wuensche, and John Bolton, and Scott Brown, and Rudy Giuliani, and Sarah Palin, and Rick Perry, and Paul Ryan, and Alan West, and all those other guys. Tim is off to a slow start, although he might be a tad ahead of Newt Gingrich and that guy with the hair and the casinos.
We had an election in Minnesota, as you might have imagined. Mark Dayton is our Governor, now. He is a Democrat. The House and the Senate have been rejuvenated with new blood, and new ideas, and new comers, and no new taxes, and most of them drink tea. So while Tim is gone, his legacy persists: no tax hikes, not even on people who earn more than a million dollars a year, although they pay income taxes at the lowest rate in our system. When pressed, the Republicans in our legislature almost admit that shifting the cost of government to property tax, or to sales tax, just might have to be necessary, so long as it is not called taxes, and does not unfairly burden people who earn more than a million dollars a year, because they are the engine of our prosperity!
"Patchwork", a bonding agency said. They lowered our rating because we had been engaging in patchwork solutions to the State budget.
Governor Dayton agreed to cut a heck of a lot of things, and said we could balance the budget if we raised the tax rate on people earning more than a million dollars a year. The Republican legislature said that was a good idea, except for that part about raising taxes. They couldn't agree, so they shut down the State Government, as the law required if there is no State budget.
Then they compromised. Dayton got the cuts he did not want to make, and the Republicans protected the engines of our prosperity. That left a pretty big hole, so they took some more school money, and borrowed against a settlement they had made with tobacco companies. The school money was supposed to go to educating kids, and the cigarette penaly money was supposed to go to health programs, but you know. . . . You patch a little here, and a little there, and the first thing you know, you have another patchwork solution. We are leading the nation in that respect.
You see, Tim was opposed to raising taxes. Tim was no dummy! He knew we had bills to pay--loans, potholes, doctor's bills, an odd desire to keep warm and have enough to eat, maybe a retirement home--so he did what had to be done if you are opposed to paying your bills through taxes: he borrowed the money.
He "borrowed" the money our schools were supposed to get. He told the schools not to worry: his word was as good as gold, and that the money would come, later. He wondered whether old people really needed all that money for health care. He borrowed to fix the roads. A bridge over the Mississippi collapsed, and some others kind of dropped parts on the road. Tim assured us that we were spending altogether too much money, already, and that things would be all right is we held firm on no increase in taxes, especially on the rich, who were just trying to make both ends of Lake Minnetonka meet at their property lines.
Tim is on his way to glory, as our next President, except for Michele Bachmann, and Mitt Romney, and Herman Cain, and John Huntsman, and Andy Martin, and Thad McCotter, Fred Karger, and Jimmy McMillan, and Ron Paul, and Roy Miller, and Buddy Roemer, and Rick Santorum, and Vern Wuensche, and John Bolton, and Scott Brown, and Rudy Giuliani, and Sarah Palin, and Rick Perry, and Paul Ryan, and Alan West, and all those other guys. Tim is off to a slow start, although he might be a tad ahead of Newt Gingrich and that guy with the hair and the casinos.
We had an election in Minnesota, as you might have imagined. Mark Dayton is our Governor, now. He is a Democrat. The House and the Senate have been rejuvenated with new blood, and new ideas, and new comers, and no new taxes, and most of them drink tea. So while Tim is gone, his legacy persists: no tax hikes, not even on people who earn more than a million dollars a year, although they pay income taxes at the lowest rate in our system. When pressed, the Republicans in our legislature almost admit that shifting the cost of government to property tax, or to sales tax, just might have to be necessary, so long as it is not called taxes, and does not unfairly burden people who earn more than a million dollars a year, because they are the engine of our prosperity!
"Patchwork", a bonding agency said. They lowered our rating because we had been engaging in patchwork solutions to the State budget.
Governor Dayton agreed to cut a heck of a lot of things, and said we could balance the budget if we raised the tax rate on people earning more than a million dollars a year. The Republican legislature said that was a good idea, except for that part about raising taxes. They couldn't agree, so they shut down the State Government, as the law required if there is no State budget.
Then they compromised. Dayton got the cuts he did not want to make, and the Republicans protected the engines of our prosperity. That left a pretty big hole, so they took some more school money, and borrowed against a settlement they had made with tobacco companies. The school money was supposed to go to educating kids, and the cigarette penaly money was supposed to go to health programs, but you know. . . . You patch a little here, and a little there, and the first thing you know, you have another patchwork solution. We are leading the nation in that respect.
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