{"id":40580,"date":"2013-12-17T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2013-12-17T14:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=40580"},"modified":"2013-12-16T10:56:11","modified_gmt":"2013-12-16T16:56:11","slug":"chanting-points-memo-that-humongous-surplus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=40580","title":{"rendered":"Chanting Points Memo: That Humongous Surplus!"},"content":{"rendered":"

How soon people forget…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

…well, no.\u00a0 How soon the DFL and its stenographers in the mainstream Minnesota media try to make them forget.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The GOP-majority legislature in 2011 and 2012 bounced the state back from a (let’s take the Democrat-controlled bureaucracy at its word) $6 Billion-and-change deficit to an $800 million surplus, without raising taxes<\/em>.\u00a0 Had they followed the Tea Party freshmens’ advice, and held spending at 2010 levels, it would have likely been more like $2 Billion – but that’s water under the bridge for now.\u00a0 They also tried to use some of that money to pay back the “school budget shift” – a DFL-designed accounting gimmick that operated entirely as a chanting point for the DFL – but Governor Dayton<\/del> Messinger vetoed it to hold it out there as an election-year rhetorical cudgel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But it’s another year.\u00a0 And a DFL controlled legislature.<\/p>\n

And after increasing taxes by two billion dollars – many of which haven’t kicked in yet – the DFL is taking full credit for a “Billion dollar surplus”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Let’s make sure we’re clear on the compare-and-contrast, here:<\/p>\n