{"id":162,"date":"2006-12-04T06:53:10","date_gmt":"2006-12-04T12:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php\/2006\/12\/04\/spikeable-moment\/"},"modified":"2006-12-04T06:53:10","modified_gmt":"2006-12-04T12:53:10","slug":"spikeable-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=162","title":{"rendered":"Spikeable Moment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Katherine Kersten spits on the grave<\/a> of the “Growth for Justice<\/a>” gang’s logical and ethical case.<\/p>\n

\u00a0You remember “Growth For Justice” – the group of 200 Minnesota millionaires who called for sweeping tax increases, that the gaping insatiable maw of government never go unfilled.\u00a0 They portrayed themselves as a “non-partisan” group (a conceit that area bloggers crushed<\/a>), and claimed that state government needed two billion more dollars to “invest” in the state’s future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even after the budget forecast grew rosier, however, calls for higher taxes continued. In June 2006, one high-profile group, dubbed the “Gang of 200,” announced a plan to raise $2 billion for the state treasury by boosting income tax rates.<\/p>\n

These zillionaires, including the likes of Jim Pohlad and Bruce Dayton, touted their “Real Prosperity” strategy in a full-page newspaper ad. “We can afford to pay higher taxes,” they proclaimed, “and we can’t afford not to.”<\/p>\n

But the well-heeled members of the Gang of 200 weren’t content to write big checks themselves. They wanted to hit up most Minnesotans — down to some families making only $45,000 a year.<\/p>\n

Once again, Pawlenty didn’t blink. <\/em><\/p>\n

But six months later, Pohlad and Co. got their wish. The $2 billion that they saw as necessary for “real prosperity” appeared. Last week, Pawlenty announced a state budget surplus of $2.17 billion.<\/p>\n

And not one Minnesotan had to pay higher income tax rates.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The governor’s implementing of the “No New Taxes” pledge – the single event that most exercised this state’s piddlers on merit, limo liberals and entitlement pimps – has been a demonstrable success.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen if the chastened, “kinder and gentler” GOP in the legislature, as well as the Governor, know it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Katherine Kersten spits on the grave of the “Growth for Justice” gang’s logical and ethical case. \u00a0You remember “Growth For Justice” – the group of 200 Minnesota millionaires who called for sweeping tax increases, that the gaping insatiable maw of government never go unfilled.\u00a0 They portrayed themselves as a “non-partisan” group (a conceit that area […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-minnesota-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}