Man-made Disaster Unfolds in Kansas

[Ebsy]

After Brownback aligned conservatives were given a good thrashing in the recent Kansas Congressional primaries, it was hard to imagine this month getting any worse for Governor Sam Brownback, but the most recent jobs report has Kansas losing 5,600 jobs, making the net number of jobs during his second term 600 lower than when he was sworn in. Recall that Brownback stated that his aggressive tax cut strategy was going to be an experiment for his ultra-conservative policies. By that standard, I think the lab results might be in.

[heatcharger]

I was assured by fiscal conservatives that shifting the tax burden from the wealthy to the middle class would grow the economy! Gutting education and turning down healthcare was supposed to do wonders for the people of Kansas!

I feel bad for the people who are losing jobs and struggling financially, but when you vote for extremists like Brownback this is what you get.

Kathleen Sebelius needs to run in 2018 for her old job. I think she could win it.

[pppolitics]

What's the Matter with Kansas?

[Virginiá]

What's the Matter with Kansas?

A majority of voters are unwilling to give Democrats a shot no matter how bad their own party ruins their lives, because god, guns, grits and gravy.

If Democrats had total control in my state and knowingly ruined it as bad as Brownback is doing to Kansas, I would be desperate to vote Republican on election day. People need to set boundaries for their political support instead of just clinging to the railings as the ship goes under.

[Figueira]

Brownback is the Republicans' Dan Malloy.

Is Connecticut really that bad?

Anyway, I agree with Virginia. I might not vote for Huckabee, but if there was a disastrous Democratic governor on this level I'd be fine with voting for a Charlie Baker type (who I would never vote for under normal circumstances).

[Xing]

Browncrap really is the worst governor in the country. And that's saying something.

[Dr. Arch]

What's the Matter with Kansas?

It's Kansas

[Mehmentum]

They had the opportunity to dump him in 2014.  This is a self inflicted wound.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     What was so special about this last month that Kansas lost 5,600 jobs? A little arithmetic shows that Kansas had gained a net of 600 jobs since the beginning of Brownback's second term. Still godawful, but quite different from dumping 5,600 in a single month.

[Indy Texas]

     What was so special about this last month that Kansas lost 5,600 jobs? A little arithmetic shows that Kansas had gained a net of 600 jobs since the beginning of Brownback's second term. Still godawful, but quite different from dumping 5,600 in a single month.

It's proof that his draconian tax cuts didn't spur job growth.

[RFayette]

     What was so special about this last month that Kansas lost 5,600 jobs? A little arithmetic shows that Kansas had gained a net of 600 jobs since the beginning of Brownback's second term. Still godawful, but quite different from dumping 5,600 in a single month.

http://research.wpcarey.asu.edu/economic-outlook/job-growth/current-state-rankings/

It appears that commodity-heavy states got burned badly in recent jobs reports - Oklahoma, Wyoming, North Dakota, Louisiana, West Virginia, etc. were all at the back of the pack.  Kansas has a lot of oil/natural gas, so that probably explains the recent poor jobs spate, though the broader economic problems are likely due to inadequate public investment and poor fiscal policy by Brownback.

[pppolitics]

What's the Matter with Kansas?

It's Kansas

Just so you know, Obama's grandparents are from there.

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[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

The big irony of the "commodity States" is that their economies most resemble that of Chvez's Venezuela.

[Potus]

Kansas's tax cuts were poorly designed and shouldn't be a model for anyone else. The Brownback plan included massive, yuge cuts for pass-through businesses, things like LLCs, sole proprietorships, etc. I really understand the motivation for cutting taxes on those kinds of small businesses, but it has the behavioral impact of encouraging people to recategorize their income. You'll see this in a surge of people working as contractors for their former employers.

It's caused a huge, huge dropoff in revenue and isn't targeted to generate investment or economic growth.

[pppolitics]

Kansans: our economy is in the toilet, but at least we still have our guns!

[Sir Mohamed]

I just don't get how this dude was reelected. The Democratic candidate was a moderate and backed by several state GOPers.

[IceSpear]

I just don't get how this dude was reelected. The Democratic candidate was a moderate and backed by several state GOPers.

Because it was 2014.

[MasterJedi]

I just don't get how this dude was reelected. The Democratic candidate was a moderate and backed by several state GOPers.

Because it was 2014.

Yep, I think nationwide turnout was 36.4%. I have no idea why liberals are less motivated in off year elections. I guess they think the President decides all and the rest is a waste of time or something.

[IceSpear]

I just don't get how this dude was reelected. The Democratic candidate was a moderate and backed by several state GOPers.

Because it was 2014.

Yep, I think nationwide turnout was 36.4%. I have no idea why liberals are less motivated in off year elections. I guess they think the President decides all and the rest is a waste of time or something.

It's not just Democrats. Turnout drops massively among all people in midterms. It just disproportionately affects Democrats since their base is younger and non-white, whereas the Republican base is disproportionately older and whiter, people who are more likely to vote in even the most obscure election for coroner or dog catcher.

I think it's a failure of the education system. Too many people think the president is a dictator and the importance of Congress (and state government for that matter) is not stressed nearly enough. I got into politics as a hobby when I was 15 and obviously learned tons in the process, but my high school courses about civics and government were woefully inadequate. If that was all the information I had, I'd be extremely ignorant.

This is also why "blame the do nothing Congress!" will always be a losing strategy btw. The people most likely to examine the effects of Congress are also the people most likely to already be 100% locked into their vote on either side. Many of the "swing voters" are people who just blame the incumbent president for everything and barely even know the names of their Representatives/Senators, much less what they've actually been doing while in office.

[Bojack Horseman]

I honestly feel like this describes Brownback's entire governorship:

[Ebsy]

http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article99340457.html

The Kansas budget/revenue situation keeps getting worse and worse. How do you miss expected corporate income tax revenue by 97%?