Not So Happy To Pay For A Better Minnesota

Minnesota newspapers, largely, supported Governor Messinger Dayton and the DFL.  They largely not only bought the “Alliance For A Better Minnesota’s” bill of goods hook line and sinker, but most of them worked tirelessly to propagate it, and to squelch dissent from it.

They studiously avoided, almost completely, any reporting that would have impeded the DFL’s rise to power.

The Minnesota media, at large, were among the DFL’s most valuable players this past two electoral cycles.  At the highest levels – the Strib, the PiPress, and at least the programming arm of MPR – they serve as the DFL’s Praetorian Guard.

But now?  Now that the governor is tacking 5.5% sales taxes (for starters) onto print services, advertising and retail newspaper sales?

Not so much:

Business groups and retailers complain that the proposal would cost jobs. As he spoke to the Minnesota Newspaper Association, several editors and newspaper owners complained that a sales tax on newspapers would hurt their industry.

Tom West, the managing editor of the Morrison County Record in Little Falls, spoke about his concerns during a question and answer session.

“We are the ones who cover local government and state government, and we are wondering why you would think it would be a good idea to have less information about government and what government is up to,” West said.

(Cynical answer: “Because you’ve served your purpose”.  See also The Minnesota Independent).

(Slightly less cynical answer: “While your contributions to DFL hegemony were vital, you don’t have the same political clout as AFSCME, the SEIU or MPR).

(Cynical and partisan but realistic answer: “How about not just “covering local government”, but turnin a critical eye on the DFL?  For once?”)

Others said that expanding the sales tax to newspaper ink, paper and advertising would result in job losses. Dayton said he understood the concern but did not back away from his plan.

Job losses only matter if they’re union.

Small papers aren’t union.

Big papers are – and we’ll see what happens there.

As to the rest of you newspapers?  You got the government you mostly worked for, largely shilled for, and for the most part operated as in-the-bag PR agents for.  Most of your editorial stances praised Dayton and the DFL’s return to power.

So now you’re saying you’re not Happy To Pay For A Better Minnesota?

Suck it.

BONUS QUESTION FOR DFLers: What do you think happens when you tack 5.5% onto the price of something?

All other things being equal, people buy 5.5% less of it.

Ponder losing 5.5% of your business overnight.  Ponder hard.

36 thoughts on “Not So Happy To Pay For A Better Minnesota

  1. Truth be told, low-infomation voters bought the “stick-it-to-the-wealthy” pretty wrapping (bait and switch) only to discover it contained “stick-it-to-everyone” with a side of reduced income.

    But amongst us over here we knew all along the left rarely thinks anything through to it’s logical conclusion.

    We’ll soon be California without a coast.

  2. Don’t tax you
    Don’t tax me,
    Tax that fellow behind the tree.

    So if everyone downloads the paper from the internet, how much ‘revenue’ is a tax on newspapers going to raise?

  3. Yea, it’s a Pyrrhic victory for us conservatives, but that may teach the useful idiots like Sanity, Mindemann, RickDFL, the GLBT community and Doggy to really look into something rather than just regurgitate left wing memes. Oh! Wait! It won’t teach them a thing. But hey, at least they got the shaft, too!

  4. Yea, it’s a Pyrrhic victory for us conservatives, but that may teach the useful idiots like Sanity, Mindemann, RickDFL, the GLBT community and Doggy to really look into something rather than just regurgitate left wing memes. Oh! Wait! It won’t teach them a thing. But hey, at least they got the shaft, too!

    The more likely scenario is that they’ll have supply and demand declared an assault weapon and try to institute a ban.

  5. If only someone could have asked the Governor during the campaign for specifics on how he was going to find the money for this better Minnesota. If only there was some public entity that could have camped out in front of his office, asking “Where’s the Plan? Where’s the Plan?” every day until he came clean. If only.

  6. funny how they’re quick to see taxes as harmful on their industry, but give zero thought as to, hmmm, maybe the bajillion other taxes are hurting someone else’s industry too…

  7. All other things being equal, people buy 5.5% less of it.
    Consumer choice was buried by Obamacare. You’ll buy what you are told to buy, and pay what you are told to pay, in Obama’s America.
    There is no choice you can make freely that would not be improved, as far as society is concerned, by oversight by bureaucrats.

  8. They can’t recongifure vending machines to charge 52.75 cents for a newspaper, so Big Journalism immediately looses that much on each sale. (the 2.75 cents). Same with quicky vendors peddling to commuters.

    You have to wonder what all the free publicity Big Media did for Obama and Dayton are worth. I recall in 2008 that even the somewhat moderate St Paul PP would have 2 articles on their front page every day. One attacking Bachmann. One attacking Palin. That has to be worth millions that othewise Democrats would have to pay for. Nothing on Obama’s shady past (or his or Frankin’s cocaine use….hey, I wonder if their cocaine dealers carried assualt weapons).

  9. Wisconsin is expanding the 3rd lane to I-94 heading east from Hudson. Could be Sioux Falls/Dallas/Carolina style growth in that corridor. Of course Wisconsin is so unpredicable….they just elected a leftwing, militant Madison lesbian to US Senate…..hope for their sake they don’t go backward on Governor Walker’s reforms.

  10. Question to Star-Tribune management: “Last year, you hired a helicopter to fly over Congresswoman’s mother-in-laws farm in Wisconsin. Gave directions on how to get there. Something about a conspiracty theory about renting the fields to neighboring farmers who may benifit from Big Farm programs. Does this seem kind of petty now that Dayton is going to stick it to you in your ass?”

  11. Chuck, I’m beginning to understand how residents of tin-pot dictatorships feel when they read in the paper about the fabulous wealth and prosperity the regime has brought to the people when they see starvation, riots, and burned out buildings wherever they look.
    Today NPR talked about Obammy’s attempt to jump the recess appointment process. If you listened to NPR, you would think that the ruling was taking sides in a dispute over whether the senate was or was not recess when the appointment was made. It wasn’t, it was about WHO DETERMINES IF THE SENATE IS IN RECESS.
    The ruling made that abundantly clear.
    A 1L or even a lowly poli-sci undergrad like Franken should be able to tell you, instantly, that if the prez has the right to make recess appointments, and the right to determine WHEN he may make recess appt’s, he has stomped all over separation of powers.
    My God, if your lawyer took a con-law class from Obammy you better fire his ass.

  12. While there might be 200 years of precedent regarding recess appointments, recent presidents have been particularly profligate and cynical in their use of the tactic as a way to bypass congress. Maybe the judges finally decided things had gone too far.

    Throughout history, the meaning of holy books and political documents have been debated by those “who know what was meant” and those “who know what was said”. Could we agree that words and language are at best an imperfect medium used to express human thought? For those who claim to have the power to know what was in the minds of people who have long since departed, I suggest they use their unique skills more profitably; by finding lost treasure, for example.

  13. Chuck said;
    /”Of course Wisconsin is so unpredicable….they just elected a leftwing, militant Madison lesbian to US Senate…..hope for their sake they don’t go backward on Governor Walker’s reforms.”/

    There’s that hair-shirt again.

    Ford was conservative fiscally and didn’t make a big deal out of social issues. Reagan constructed a coalition by stressing social issues, which attracted lower middle class whites. It became the conventional wisdom that ‘Reagan Democrats’ would vote Republican if social issues dominated, and Democratic if economic issues dominated. But the group that voted primarily on social issues is growing old and dying off. A whole generation of Republican politicians are going to have to unlearn old lessons. Young Republicans like Ryan are, I think, prepared to stop talking about social issues again. But it may be a while before they truly switch to libertarian views. They need to get well and truly stomped upon (like the Canadian Conservatives were).

  14. Chuck is on to something…

    Caterpillar will close plant in Owatonna, with 100 losing jobs
    http://www.startribune.com/local/178246731.html?refer=y

    But there’s a LOT more than 100 jobs at stake here:

    Caterpillar Expands Operations in United States; New Factory Near Athens, Georgia Expected to Employ 1,400 People

    Production work now done in Japan will be moved to the United States beginning in late 2013
    http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/caterpillar-expands-operations-in-united-states-new-factory-near-athens-georgia-expected-to-employ-1400-people-139512648.html

    Wisconsin is open for business, too:

    “Exodus Machines is expanding after forming an alliance with Caterpillar Inc. to manufacture and supply material handling machines for sale exclusively through the Caterpillar distribution network.”

    “To meet manufacturing goals set forth in the alliance agreement, Exodus will expand operations in Superior, where the company manufactures material handling machines.”

    “This is an exciting opportunity for Exodus, our employees and the entire Duluth/Superior community,” Kevin Boreen, Exodus chief executive officer, said Tuesday.”
    http://www.superiortelegram.com/event/article/id/62283/publisher_ID/37/

    Hope and Change, boys.

  15. Emery wrote:
    Could we agree that words and language are at best an imperfect medium used to express human thought?
    They are human thought or at least the only part that matters. Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen.
    Use a little exegesis. If the Founders did not intend to have a constitution that was difficult to change, why did they create a constitution that was difficult to change?
    And you are way off on your Reagan democrat theory, Emery.
    ‘Reagan constructed a coalition by stressing social issues’? Really? How does Reagan’s famous campaign statement ‘Are you better off now than you were four years ago’ work into your theory?
    The issues that decided the1980 campaign were the economy and foreign policy.

  16. And you are way off on your Reagan democrat theory, Emery.
    ‘Reagan constructed a coalition by stressing social issues’? Really? How does Reagan’s famous campaign statement ‘Are you better off now than you were four years ago’ work into your theory?

    The closest Emery gets to the truth is this; Reagan got socialcons to see the economy and the Russians as a priority. He talked the right talk about social issues, but he saw them as distractions.

  17. Why mention Ford? Ford lost the only presidential election he faced, and his loss is usually attributed to the Nixon pardon, not any stance he took or did not take on a policy issue.

  18. Liberal’s analysis of where, in their opinion ‘the GOP went wrong’ (‘Nixon’s Southern Strategy’, and the Republicans wooing of the religious right in particular) ignore the radical takeover of the Democrats by the New Left in 1968. Democrats abandoned the white working class. Take a look at who the Democrats nominated for president in 1968 and then in 1972, for God’s sake.
    The MSM loves to point out the ‘whiteness’ of the delegates to the Republican political conventions, but they fail to mention that Democrat delegates are made up of a group far less representative of America than white males — labor activists from the small and shrinking sector of the US economy that is unionized, and ‘community activists’ like BHO. The ‘diversity’ of the delegates is enforced by a rigid quota system that most Americans would reject, if the media would actually tell them about it.

  19. American politics explained:

    The Right has nothing left
    The Left has nothing right

    … or did I get that backwards?

  20. The Right has federalism, the free market, and the constitution.
    The Left has contingency and consensus.
    Eventually contingency and consensus leads you to back things like, I don’t know, maybe a lame-duck Defense Secretary making the decision to assign women to combat roles without consulting congress.

  21. This will make the quality of America’s combat troops better. The relevant standards need not be lowered. If outstanding women can’t rise to the level of performance required of Navy SEALs or Army Rangers, then they should not be SEALs or Rangers. It’s really rather simple, isn’t it?

  22. And another thing!
    I don’t mean to pick on you, personally, Emery, by saying this, but some people exaggerate the effects of social policy on elections.
    All the social liberalism in the world wouldn’t have saved Obama if he had been unable to spend 25% of GDP while taxing 18% of GDP. Obama didn’t get Sandra Fluke’s vote just by allowing her to use contraceptives, Obama got her vote by pledging to pay for them with other peoples’ money.

  23. This will make the quality of America’s combat troops better. The relevant standards need not be lowered. If outstanding women can’t rise to the level of performance required of Navy SEALs or Army Rangers, then they should not be SEALs or Rangers. It’s really rather simple, isn’t it?

    Not simple at all, I’m afraid.
    The goal is not to allow outstanding women into the SEALs or Rangers, it is to allow women in combat roles. Duh.
    You can’t have it both ways, Emery. Either it will affect the way the armed forces operate, or it won’t.

  24. Liberals always believe corporations will pay out of corporate profits and Conservatives always say they’ll pass it along to their customers.

    Except . . . they don’t HAVE any customers. And raising the price of those rags another nickel won’t attract any. Not sure how a sales tax raises money if there are no sales.

  25. By opening infantry, artillery and other battlefield jobs to all qualified service members regardless of sex, the military is showing that categorical discrimination has no place in a society that honors fairness and equal opportunity.

    Personally, my experience as a uniformed teenager lying next to like-aged females in the mud is that the explosions and people screaming do tend to take one’s mind off more recreational pursuits

  26. By opening infantry, artillery and other battlefield jobs to all qualified service members regardless of sex, the military is showing that categorical discrimination has no place in a society that honors fairness and equal opportunity.

    Sure. It’s also showing that political correctness is more important than carrying out the mission effectively .

    Personally, my experience as a uniformed teenager lying next to like-aged females in the mud is that the explosions and people screaming do tend to take one’s mind off more recreational pursuits

    Not sure when, where and if you served in the military, but from what I’ve read armed hostilities (not in the middle of an assault, obviously) are a huge aphrodisiac.

  27. Equality of the sexes is destroying a civilization founded on the association of one male who leaves the house to reap, harvest, hunt and bank and a woman who suckles babies, cooks and cleans. Two breadwinners in the home contributes to unemployment and erectile dysfunction. Our only hope of not following Atlantis to the seafloor is a homemaker tax credit which will allow women once again to the live dream.

    Taht (sic) bout right?

  28. ‘Baiting’ is all you’ve done on the topic of women in combat roles, Emery.
    Two breadwinners in the home contributes to unemployment and erectile dysfunction.
    The whole thing where you mistake snark for an actual argument seems to be a common defect in liberal ‘argument’. I call it ‘Daily Show’ syndrome.

  29. Terry says:
    /Consumer choice was buried by Obamacare./

    Some predictions:

    1. Young people will find it cheaper to pay a penalty than buy health insurance, because the cost of insuring old people will be artificially shifted to young people’s premiums. Many will choose to pay the penalty. Emergency rooms will still provide free care on demand. Young families will be hurt badly by the cost of care because of the hidden subsidy caused by limiting the premiums of older Americans.

    2. Companies will find it easier and cheaper to pay the penalty rather than insure their workers. A few companies will send their employees to the exchanges, and as other companies see their competitors and neighbors doing so, the trickle will become a flood. The cost for Obamacare, which assumes no companies will give up their coverage, will soar.

    The real health care reform will happen when Obamacare is found to be unaffordable. Expect serious change by 2020. Real health care reform will only happen when medical companies are required to provide total care for a set price, and begin to compete on what they are prepared to treat (and not treat). As for Medicare and Medicaid, we will have to stop spending so much to give the old a few extra painful or addled months of life. When the government starts putting more indigent old people with dementia and painful cancers in cut-rate dormitories with third rate care, we’ll see the rise of voluntary euthanasia. Families and governments will be forced to choose between bankrupcy and letting grandma die sooner, and we’ll choose the latter.

    For the future, expect:
    1. Fixed fee, limited benefits healthcare.
    2. More do-it-yourself medicine, with doctors at arms length.
    3. Fewer doctors, more nurses and lower priced attendants.
    4. Fewer hospitals, more specialist clinics.
    5. Living wills specifying euthanasia in the event of dementia.
    6. Baby boomers voting for more money for old people.

  30. Emery is right that having women in forward positions will make the military stronger by reason of their gender, which is more important then their skills. Need proof? Kara Hultgren made a big splash in the Navy, Jessica Lynch was a shoot-em-up action hero and barely 10% of the women serving on Navy ships get pregnant and have to be airlifted ashore, leaving the ship under-crewed.

    The fact a 20-year-old Army man needs 42 pushups to minimally pass the physical standards while a 20-year-old Army woman needs 19 pushups does NOT meausure upper-body strength and has NO bearing on their respective abilities to lift artillery shells, for example. And even if it did, the gender-neutral solution is to redefine “artillery shell carrying” to be a “team lift” for women, meaning the two of them would be fully as capable of fulfilling the revised job criteria as any one man.

    What could possibly go wrong?
    .

  31. Terry, expecting Emery and his ilk to use logic and reason is unfair. Just as women don’t have the upper body strength of men, Emery and his ilk don’t have the higher brain skills. Women can compensate with “team lifts” to get a heavy artillery shell in place; The Emeries use snark and baiting when the load gets too great (while hydraulic thread jacks are also handy). Note, I used the word “compensate”: expect a hilarious retort momentarily.

    The next step for Emery is now to find out your real name and use it here.

  32. Young people will find it cheaper to pay a penalty than buy health insurance, because the cost of insuring old people will be artificially shifted to young people’s premiums.

    Given the way things are structured, you’d be insane to buy health insurance if you’re healthy. The annual penalty is less than a month’s health insurance premium after all the new required additional coverages are added in (coverage cost is expected to rise 100% from 2012 to 2014). And with community rating and the requirement to insure existing conditions you can pick up insurance when you discover you’re really sick. And if you many of the folks affected manage to figure this out, you can expect premiums to rise even higher.

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