The state of Kansas, where Gov. Sam Brownback’s right-wing economic program and handling of the state finances have reached comedic levels of absurdity, is now also failing at a key economic test: Keeping up with the neighboring state. In his latest column, Kansas City Star opinion writer Yael Abouhalkah, a strong critic of Brownback’s who has made a regular beat of busting the governor and his advocates, highlights the newest data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, which show the disparity in job numbers between the Kansas and Missouri sides of the Kansas City metro area.
No one has ever accused the Tea Party of being hamstrung by the strictures presented by facts and reality. Prone to advocating for policies grounded in magical thinking and fantastical ideology, teabaggers are so convinced of their own correctness and unquestioned moral/ideological superiority that they’ve never felt the need to be constrained by fact-checking. Thus has it become accepted as Gospel that cutting taxes will miraculously lead to economic nirvana as those with more money in their pockets will create more jobs.
A rising tide lifts all boats, no? Except that when you actually run the numbers and more closely examine Teapublican economic theory, it’s easy to see that the Emperor has no clothes. The Tea Party Paradise created by Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback should be an embarrassment…but that would presume those who call the Tea party their ideological home are capable of experiencing shame.
Earlier this year, Brownback was still boasting of his goal of cutting taxes in order to bring jobs into the Kansas side of the metro area, by cutting taxes and containing public spending: “This is the basic philosophy of what we’re trying to get done in Kansas.”
If by “basic philosophy,” he means “driving state government to the brink of insolvency,” then it would seem Kansas is an unqualified success. This assumes, of course, that you care nothing for things like roads, bridges, education, health care, and the myriad other things Americans expect government to attend to.
The sad, undeniable bottom line is that Tea Party math doesn’t add up. Despite how much propaganda True Believers might throw at this truth, it still remains unshakably and incontrovertibly true. If that seems difficult to believe, all one need do is to look at the looming economic disaster that is Sam Brownback’s Excellent Adventure In Kansas ©, a “Tea Party Paradise” if ever there was one.
Gov. Sam Brownback once pledged that his 2012 tax cuts would lead to a surge of employment on the Kansas side of the state line in the Kansas City area.
The newest jobs report from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that’s not happening. By a long shot.
The data, in fact, are extremely discouraging for Brownback and the few remaining people who thought his tax cuts would act like a jobs magnet for the Sunflower State.
The bottom line: Missouri gained employment almost five times faster than Kansas in the metro region over the full year from February 2015 to February 2016.
It seemed almost too good to be true: Gov. Brownback promised to do more with less; that reducing the tax burden on Kansas’ taxpayers would lead to a boom in job growth, making the Sunflower State the envy of the nation.
Turns out it WAS too good to be true, and the numbers tell a story far different from the propaganda and disinformation the True Believers expect us to accept without question.
When comparing job growth in Kansas City, MO with that in Kansas City, KS, the abject failure of Tea Party economics becomes clear:
The Missouri portion of the area added 13,900 jobs over that 12-month period, up 2.4 percent.
The Kansas side crept up 2,200 jobs, for a puny gain of 0.5 percent….
Here’s one more tidbit from the BLS report, which damages Brownback’s claim that small businesses would especially flock over to Kansas for the tax reductions they could receive.
“Professional and business services experienced the largest increase in employment, up 4,500 since February 2015, with all of the job gains on the Missouri side….”
Gov. Brownback’s failure is hard to ignore, and even tougher to pretty up. No matter how much lipstick Tea Party apologists attempt to apply to the pig we call Kansas, there’s no denying its undeniably porcine proclivities. It’s possible some could argue that Kansas is a one-off, a monument to ineptitude, mismanagement, and incompetent, ideologically sclerotic leadership. Except for the “one-off” part, the rest is absolutely true.
Kansas is not an isolated example of how the Tea Party turns everything it touches to shit. Wisconsin under Gov. Scott Walker (R-Koch Bros.) has been turned into every bit the rotting carcass that Kansas is. Having destroyed public unions, Walker has also crushed job growth as he cuts the social safety net our from under Wisconsinites in need. And then there’s Oklahoma…and Mississippi…and North Carolina….
Not exactly shining examples of compassionate, competent Conservatism, eh? Of course, voters in Kansas and Wisconsin have only themselves to blame for electing governors who shouldn’t have been allowed anywhere near their respective statehouses. Neither Brownback nor Walker should be allowed to managed a Dairy Queen, much less an entire state.
This is what you get when you vote for magical thinking and incompetent, corrupt, and inflexibly ideological leadership.
Congratulations, Kansas! You have EXACTLY the quality of “leadership” you deserve.
