I called this series “The Dayton Dustbowl for couple of reasons. One of them is fairly obvious; raising taxes in a recession is just plain stupid.
The other is a little more subtle; the original Dust Bowl on the great plains was a combination of circumstances; some of them out of human control, and well within; a drought combined with a depression exacerbated by government reaction to an economic downturn.
The victims? For all the publicity about stock barons diving off window ledges (mostly apocryphal), the people who suffered the most were the people who had the skin in the game; the farmers and people of the rural midwest.
And as I noted in the first part of this series, the Dayton Dust Bowl – a combination of a deep recession Minnesota didn’t cause, which would be exacerbated and institutionalized by Dayton’s proposed tax policy and spending proposals – would have the same affect; it’d make being a hard-working, middle-class Minnesotan a much more difficult thing. The “cop and nurse” that the Emmer campaign refers to – the hard-working husband and wife who put in extra hours and scrape and scramble to make over $150K between ’em – will get hammered by new taxes just as they are reeling from the Obama tax hikes next year.
The tax hikes – and their revenue sources – will erase hard-won advances in school choice (charter schools), and make entrepreneurship, especially for the Subchapter S corporations that drive so much job creation, deeply unattractive in Minnesota.
And for what? A fatter, happier government employee base?
A Teachers Union that can work without fear of competition?
Who else wins?
There was never a chance I was going to vote for Mark Dayton. After reading this four-page “plan”, I have to wonder – why would anyone with half a brain?
Who’s not a government union employee, anyway?
why would anyone with half a brain? Who’s not a government union employee, anyway?
If I wanted to snark, I COULD say being a government union employee is where the other half of their brain went. But I won’t.
“Better a horrible democrat than a decent Republican, right?” could be a great bumper sticker.
(And no, that’s not to imply that I think Emmer is only “decent”…he and Sue Jeffers have been/are the best Republican goober candidates I’ve ever had the pleasure to research/ponder/vote for)
Hey now! Even a government union employee can have a conscience, and some may even have some foresight.
How far down the “gov employees doing OK, everyone else not-so-much” road do we have to be before government employees and their unions get a good hard smack down?
No, given half a brain, no government union employee should vote for Dayton either. *shrug*
The saddest part is the plan has a chance of succeeding because a lot of people hear $150,000 and think “that’s a ton of dough.”
Well, yes, it is. But wages are that high because inflation has destroyed the value of the dollar. Today’s dollar is worth about 15 cents of what a dollar could buy in 1967 so to keep the same middle-class standard of living that your Dad earned on $15,000, today you need $150,000.
That doesn’t make you one of The Rich who can afford to pay more taxes to support ever-increasing scope of government services and benefits for those who don’t pay taxes. But try to put that in a 15-second sound bite.
.
You know, it’s too bad people keep thinking of Mark Dayton as Rich. He’s plainly not. His 2009 tax returns showed taxable income of just $127,000 (oddly, his home address is the IDS Tower, I didn’t know he lived there). See it on-line at Minnesota Public Radio.
That’s not income from working, of course. He has no wages at all. He got $56,000 of dividends from the Dayton Charitable Remainder Unitrust, which is a way of passing money to your kids without paying taxes on it. $56,000 of dividends in the worst stock market since 1932 – wow, must have quite a large portfolio to throw off that much moola.
But it wasn’t all gravy. Times were tough – Mark had to sell a Renoir. Yes, a real-live Renoir. It’s listed on Schedule D, Long-Term Capital Gains and Losses. He bought the Renoir for $75,000 but let it go for $18,663 – a loss of over $50,000. Wonder if it hurt to let that go, or if it was one he never really liked but only bought because his decorator insisted it went well with the rug?
Tidy little deduction from his adjustable gross income. Geez, wish I had known about that, I’d love to snap up a masterpiece at bargain basement prices. Wonder who got such a good deal and if he’ll be able to buy it back when the campaign is over?
Dayton also gave over $25,000 to various charities. Hey, he gave less than $200 to Yale Class of 1969 – I don’t feel like such a piker for my alumni contributions now – but did manage to slide $5,000 to Planned Parenthood to keep up their noble work.
All in all, an ordinary tax return like pretty much like anybody else’s. Why would anybody think he’s Rich?
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A new Mark Dayton commercial:
*Mark looks at the camera with his ‘I’m afraid of you’ eyes*
Mark: “I know people in Minnesota are having a tough time. Budgets are tight. Mine is too. Last year, just to make ends meet, I had to sell a few cherished possession of mine.”
*Marks mouth form a pained straight line*
Mark: “Among them were two paintings: one by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and one by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.”
*a tear forms in Mark’s left eye, the crazier one*
Mark: “Those guys, …”
*Mark wipes the tear away and inhales through his nose*
Mark: “… those guys could paint the crap out of a canvas. I loved those paintings! But I had to give them up, just so I could ‘answer the call to public service’, one more time, and be Governor of Minnesota.”
*Mark straightens up and puts down his drink*
Mark: “Sure, I can buy them back from my ex next year, but at what price?”
*Mark speaks to a side camera*
Mark: *whispers* “I’m hoping for a little lower.”
*Mark crosses his fingers and turns toward the front*
Mark: “Vote for me in November, or whenever that voting time arrives. Do it for me. Do it more than once! Or selling those paintings will have just been a waste of my time. And that would stink.”
*Mark looks afraid again*
Gov’t. I needed some stuff to go out ASAP, so went to the airport post office. They used to be open and manned 24 hours, 365 days. Have done cut backs but I figured they’d be open on labor day afternoon. Nope. Locked up. To make it worse, they removed their APC machine, so I could not weight my stuff myself. I was there for…say 2 minutes, and saw a decent number of people drive up, walk-in, and get this pissed-off look on their face, and leave with their stuff. Including a guy (small businessman?) with two large tubs of thick envelopes. It’s almost like they don’t want your business.
Not only was every retailer in Eagan open yesterday, but most were open until 9 PM. But then again, they have to make money.
“You know, it’s too bad people keep thinking of Mark Dayton as Rich. He’s plainly not. His 2009 tax returns showed taxable income of just $127,000 ”
EXACTLY, rich and currently succesful and two different things. Democrats do not want to soak the rich, they want to punish the successful. A filthy rich person can have an income of $127,000. But if his/hers ancestors made billions (in 2010 dollars) by paying people minimum wage to sell products made in sweat shops, then you can be extremely rich but have an income of only $127,000.
@ Troy: WIN!
Heh. Troy FTW
“Who’s not a government union employee, anyway?”
Answer: The poor schmucks who actually pay ALL the bills. Including the payroll, medical coverage(s), and retirement benefits, for the goverment union employee. Not to mention all the “tax burdens” of said government union employee. (Nice Huh?)