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UpInArms

(51,284 posts) Sun Dec 17, 2017, 11:38 AM Dec 2017

Kansas's ravaged economy a cautionary tale as Trump plans huge tax cuts for rich

Source: The Guardian

Is Donald Trump about to turn America into Kansas? It’s a question some worried people who live in the state are asking as the Republican party pushes through the biggest tax overhaul in a generation – an overhaul that, they claim, bears an uncanny resemblance to a tax plan that left their midwestern home in disarray.

After a failed economic experiment meant to boost economic growth blew a hole in the Kansas budget as big as a prairie sky (a $350m deficit in the current fiscal year and nearly $600m in the next) state jobs and services have been slashed.

<snip>

Next year, the state faces a school shutdown after the supreme court found its educational spending was unconstitutionally low. Some of those schools have already had to shorten the school year in order to save cash.

To make ends meet, money that was earmarked for roads has been diverted to the general fund. A state that used to maintain 1,200 miles of road a year is now repairing 200 miles a year. Even in the capital, Topeka, potholes are everywhere.

<snip>

Sarah LaFrenz Falk, president of the Kansas Organization of State Employees ,who recently spoke to Congress about her fears about the Republican tax plan, said she sees an agenda in the Brownback plan – one that is mirrored in Trump’s plan: give huge tax breaks to super-rich donors [the rightwing, union-bashing Koch brothers are Kansas’s richest residents], then hand them a second win by cutting services, waiting for those services to buckle under the strain and then argue the private sector can do it better.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/10/donald-trump-kansas-failed-tax-cuts

9 replies

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Kansas's ravaged economy a cautionary tale as Trump plans huge tax cuts for rich (Original Post) UpInArms Dec 2017 OP

That is their plan. To lower the standard of living dramatically in America. Irish_Dem Dec 2017 #1

Exactly! lark Dec 2017 #2

It's not just Kansas writ large dalton99a Dec 2017 #3

Yes, it is the Putin model. Rule by oligarchy who become vastly wealthy Irish_Dem Dec 2017 #4

Look at Louisiana Roy Rolling Dec 2017 #5

Take a look at all the previous failed attempts at trickle down voo-doo economics groundloop Dec 2017 #6

they don't expect different results UpInArms Dec 2017 #7

My take is that they simply want tax breaks for themselves, then let the chips fall where they may groundloop Dec 2017 #8

Every time reTHUGs spout the trickle down stuff, they ought to be forced to defend Doitnow Dec 2017 #9

Irish_Dem

(47,211 posts)

1. That is their plan. To lower the standard of living dramatically in America.

Reply to UpInArms (Original post)

Sun Dec 17, 2017, 11:41 AM

Dec 2017

We will be like the Russian people who have a lower standard of living than the Chinese.

The oligarchs will drain the American economy for their enrichment.

lark

(23,138 posts)

2. Exactly!

Reply to Irish_Dem (Reply #1)

Sun Dec 17, 2017, 11:50 AM

Dec 2017

That isn't a flaw of the plan, as far as they are concerned, it's a planned feature. They want the economy to tank so they can steal the rest of our SS and Medicare $ to pay for their tax cuts for the rich, and throw old people out of nursing homes by putting limits on Medicaid thereby weakening our society. Thankfully in KS there was a Supreme Court that stood up to stop the worst damage. drumpf has stacked the SCOTUS with another traitor and is 1 person away from total destruction. I hope RBG keeps a bodyguard with her and doesn't travel much. People who oppose Putin and his tools tend to have an unaccountably high rate of accidental deaths.

dalton99a

(81,565 posts)

3. It's not just Kansas writ large

Reply to UpInArms (Original post)

Sun Dec 17, 2017, 11:53 AM

Dec 2017

It's far worse

Irish_Dem

(47,211 posts)

4. Yes, it is the Putin model. Rule by oligarchy who become vastly wealthy

Reply to dalton99a (Reply #3)

Sun Dec 17, 2017, 11:58 AM

Dec 2017

by draining the economy.

Roy Rolling

(6,925 posts)

5. Look at Louisiana

Reply to UpInArms (Original post)

Sun Dec 17, 2017, 12:04 PM

Dec 2017

Republican Bobby Jindal ravaged the Louisiana budget years before Kansas. We now have a $1 billion budget deficit annually. We now have a Democratic governor and Republicans are blaming him for the mess.

Republicans have a short attention span.

groundloop

(11,521 posts)

6. Take a look at all the previous failed attempts at trickle down voo-doo economics

Reply to UpInArms (Original post)

Sun Dec 17, 2017, 12:14 PM

Dec 2017

We had the crash of 1987, and the disastrous great recession of 2007. What more proof do we need that 'trickle down' doesn't work. These stupid bastard keep doing the same thing over and over and somehow expect different results, they're obviously delusional.

UpInArms

(51,284 posts)

7. they don't expect different results

Reply to groundloop (Reply #6)

Sun Dec 17, 2017, 02:04 PM

Dec 2017

IMHO, they are truly making the United States a third world country on purpose.

groundloop

(11,521 posts)

8. My take is that they simply want tax breaks for themselves, then let the chips fall where they may

Reply to UpInArms (Reply #7)

Sun Dec 17, 2017, 02:09 PM

Dec 2017

I don't think they have any ill intention towards the US economy as far as turning us into a third world country, just that they don't give a shit one way or the other so long as they get their free lunch. And of course they'll never be satisfied with their free lunch, they'll always demand "more, more, more". This year it's "I'm paying 31% in taxes, I should only pay 25%", then "I should only pay 15%", then it'll be 5%, then if we let them get away with it they'll be demanding that we pay them .

Doitnow

(1,103 posts)

9. Every time reTHUGs spout the trickle down stuff, they ought to be forced to defend

Reply to UpInArms (Original post)

Sun Dec 17, 2017, 09:46 PM

Dec 2017

what happened in Kansas. Every. Single. Time. After all, it is something we do in this country----we try out different ways of doing things in states to see if they can apply nationally. Bringing up Kansas is something with which they will have a very difficult time. Unless, of course, if they end up lying about something. They are very skilled at that.

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