States and Unions

[Uncle Ted]

I'm all for the democratic senators skipping town so Wisconsin can go bankrupt, their assets sold off for 10 cents on the dollar to Canada, and the Packers can be moved to San Antonio. We need a winning NFL team in Texas.

[byu71]

I'm all for the democratic senators skipping town so Wisconsin can go bankrupt, their assets sold off for 10 cents on the dollar to Canada, and the Packers can be moved to San Antonio. We need a winning NFL team in Texas.

I really wish some of these states would try an experiment. Raise taxes on individuals and especially bump the taxes on corporations. We have a lot of ground here in Utah waiting to be developed.

[Uncle Ted]

I really wish some of these states would try an experiment. Raise taxes on individuals and especially bump the taxes on corporations. We have a lot of ground here in Utah waiting to be developed.

Didn't that already happen?

Millionaires Go Missing

Here's a two-minute drill in soak-the-rich economics:

Maryland couldn't balance its budget last year, so the state tried to close the shortfall by fleecing the wealthy. Politicians in Annapolis created a millionaire tax bracket, raising the top marginal income-tax rate to 6.25%. And because cities such as Baltimore and Bethesda also impose income taxes, the state-local tax rate can go as high as 9.45%. Governor Martin O'Malley, a dedicated class warrior, declared that these richest 0.3% of filers were "willing and able to pay their fair share." The Baltimore Sun predicted the rich would "grin and bear it."

One year later, nobody's grinning. One-third of the millionaires have disappeared from Maryland tax rolls. In 2008 roughly 3,000 million-dollar income tax returns were filed by the end of April. This year there were 2,000, which the state comptroller's office concedes is a "substantial decline." On those missing returns, the government collects 6.25% of nothing. Instead of the state coffers gaining the extra $106 million the politicians predicted, millionaires paid $100 million less in taxes than they did last year -- even at higher rates.

[Borderline Divine]

Heh. This is nothing like the tea party, but it is funny to watch. What you're seeing is how leftists react to being out of power in a democracy.

Yeah I'm sure every single public sector employee in Wisconsin is a leftist.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

I'm all for the democratic senators skipping town so Wisconsin can go bankrupt, their assets sold off for 10 cents on the dollar to Canada, and the Packers can be moved to San Antonio. We need a winning NFL team in Texas.

What are the stats on jobs being created in this country and the percentage being created in Texas? Something like 75% or something like that.

And then there's the foreign car companies and Boeing putting their manufacturing in the South.

It looks like the South is rising again.

[Tex]

Yeah I'm sure every single public sector employee in Wisconsin is a leftist.

The ones carrying Hitler signs certainly missed the "public civility" memo. Maybe Oprah will speak out on Governor Walker's behalf.

[NorthwestUteFan]

Yeah I'm sure every single public sector employee in Wisconsin is a leftist.

Of course not. However most of those who were bussed in to protest are leftists (or at least useful idiots).

According to an interview given by the governor today, Wisky has over 300k state employees and a significantly overwhelming majority of them are at work today.

[NorthwestUteFan]

I really wish some of these states would try an experiment. Raise taxes on individuals and especially bump the taxes on corporations. We have a lot of ground here in Utah waiting to be developed.

I SINCERELY hope some states are allowed to go bankrupt without getting a bailout from all the other states. Maybe they will understand why people are voting with their feet and moving to other states.

p.s. what is going to happen when one of these crowds of protesting thugs gets out of line and goes all Lara Logan on some innocent person? Or what happens when somebody gets aggressively violent with the wrong person? I fear that pretty soon somebody 'will not be coming down for breakfast'.

I also greatly dislike the comparisons with Greece and Egypt.

[frank ryan]

I SINCERELY hope some states are allowed to go bankrupt without getting a bailout from all the other states. Maybe they will understand why people are voting with their feet and moving to other states.

p.s. what is going to happen when one of these crowds of protesting thugs gets out of line and goes all Lara Logan on some innocent person? Or what happens when somebody gets aggressively violent with the wrong person? I fear that pretty soon somebody 'will not be coming down for breakfast'.

I also greatly dislike the comparisons with Greece and Egypt.

What is with calling them thugs? What's with the contempt?

[PaloAltoCougar]

I SINCERELY hope some states are allowed to go bankrupt without getting a bailout from all the other states. Maybe they will understand why people are voting with their feet and moving to other states.

p.s. what is going to happen when one of these crowds of protesting thugs gets out of line and goes all Lara Logan on some innocent person? Or what happens when somebody gets aggressively violent with the wrong person? I fear that pretty soon somebody 'will not be coming down for breakfast'.

I also greatly dislike the comparisons with Greece and Egypt.

Nicely done.

[Tex]

I'm scared our children won't have weekends.

[youtube]XfWE05dezVA[/youtube]

[frank ryan]

So the public unions that endorsed the gov. like the state troopers won't lose their cb rights. This looks like a power grab to me.

[Uncle Ted]

What are the stats on jobs being created in this country and the percentage being created in Texas? Something like 75% or something like that.

No. Only about half of the total jobs created in the last 12 months were in Texas.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 214,000 net new jobs were created in the United States from August 2009 to August 2010. Texas created 119,000 jobs during the same period. If every state in the country had performed as well, we’d have created about 1.5 million jobs nationally during the past year, and maybe “stimulus” wouldn’t be such a dirty word.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

I SINCERELY hope some states are allowed to go bankrupt without getting a bailout from all the other states. Maybe they will understand why people are voting with their feet and moving to other states.

p.s. what is going to happen when one of these crowds of protesting thugs gets out of line and goes all Lara Logan on some innocent person? Or what happens when somebody gets aggressively violent with the wrong person? I fear that pretty soon somebody 'will not be coming down for breakfast'.

I also greatly dislike the comparisons with Greece and Egypt.

States can't actually file for bankruptcy. Cities can, but there are no provisions in the bankruptcy code that allow for states to file for bankruptcy.

But I predicted on some other thread back in October or November that the GOP Congress would seek to amend the bankruptcy code to allow the states to file. They understand that enabling the states to file for bankruptcy would break the backs of public sector unions. I also said that the public unions would become the 2010s version of the 90s welfare queens and a public mandate would materialize to reign them in. That's what's happening right now.

In the end, some states will voluntarily reform and some states will be forced to reform either through BK courts or by completely running out of ways to finance anything through any more debt (they'll be relegated to junk status). Wisconsin and Ohio are trying to voluntarily reform. Illinois and California will be forced into it.

[NorthwestUteFan]

What is with calling them thugs? What's with the contempt?

I was referring to the bussed-in hire-a-mob types, not the actual rank and file cops/firemen/teachers/etc. There is a distinct difference.