{"id":4946,"date":"2009-06-17T12:28:17","date_gmt":"2009-06-17T17:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=4946"},"modified":"2011-09-01T08:00:43","modified_gmt":"2011-09-01T13:00:43","slug":"unallotting-the-ponzi-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=4946","title":{"rendered":"Unallotting The Ponzi Scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve visited this topic before; for the past forty years or so, when outstate Minnesota was lagging and the Twin Cities were booming, Minnesota’s government instituted “Local Government Aid”, which essentially subsidized the growth of the rest of the state.\u00a0 This coincided with a period where Minnesota Republicans, like Republicans nationwide, were very different from the post-1980 Republicans that most of us came to know, and <\/em>with a period of time when Minnesota – blessed with immense natural resources and brain power, would very likely have boomed anyway.\u00a0 This period was dubbed “The Minnesota Miracle” by Time <\/em>Magazine, and it spawned the most noxious myth in the history of Minnesota politics; that Minnesota’s prosperity was a function of Republicans “cooperating” (read: acquiescing without question) with the DFL, a myth that still drives much partisan rhetoric in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

And it still drives it, even though the dynamics have changed almost beyond recognition in the past forty years.\u00a0 A generation of DFL social canoodling have left the Twin Cities short on revenue (“despite” some of the most confiscatory commercial property taxes in the country) and very, very long on spending; for a generation, the DFL has used the urban core as a warehouse for the poor, with all the spending that it causes and, (not very) arguably, attracts.\u00a0\u00a0“LGA” has become a subsidy of the Twin Cities metro by the parts of the state that actually pay their way.<\/p>\n

Governor Pawlenty has now followed through on the promise of his veto of the DFL’s attempt to crash a porkfest tax and spend plan through the legislature.\u00a0 He’s cutting 2.7 billion dollars from the state budget.<\/p>\n

Expect the usual yelping from the usual suspects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bob Collins at MPR’s News Cut notes an opening salvo:<\/a><\/p>\n

On MPR’s Midday this afternoon, Rep. Loren Solberg predicted massive property tax increases because of Gov. Pawlenty’s “unallotment.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Only if the cities and their elected governments can convince the people that every blessed nickel that they spend is essential.\u00a0 Oh, no doubt they’ll ram the tax increases through; Saint Paul’s city council still has two years before they face re-election, so they no doubt feel pretty safe, although Mayor Coleman is up for re-election this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But here’s the interesting part:\u00a0 Bob Colins asks:<\/p>\n

How familiar are you with how your city spends tax money? What would you be willing to do without if you were given a choice?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh, where to start?<\/p>\n

With a hearty nod to regular commenter “Nate”, who left a long list of ideas on a\u00a0previous posting on the subject<\/a> (thanks Nate!), I’ll start a list up, speaking in this case for my city, Saint Paul:<\/p>\n