Tag: Tea Party

Do Tax Cuts Work? Former Sen. Bob Graham Shows That in Florida They Didn’t

Trish

art-assault-florida1“We’re broke” is the meme Republicans and tea baggers cite when they claim tight budgets force us to reshape social policies, such as collective bargaining agreements, or to siphon public funds and redirect resources to corporations only too happy to pocket the largesse.

In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott, with full support of the Republican legislature, is using “we’re broke” to justify everything from deregulating nail salons to defunding services that save taxpayers money, like group homes for the developmentally disabled.

To Rick Scott and the Republicans, government is a weapon best used to punish enemies and intimidate friends. The only goal is to protect and shore up their interests.

Former Democratic Gov. and Sen. Bob Graham knows whether the emperor has clothes. He shows that tax cuts, rather than improving the business climate, are moving Florida away from its goals.

Before you read further, please note that Florida has no state income tax for its residents, and that Jeb Bush was governor from 1999 to 2007, followed by Republican Charlie Crist, and now Republican/Tea Bagger Rick Scott. Republicans have held a majority of both chambers of the Florida legislature since 1994.

…Since 1999 there has been a stream of tax reductions to make the state more attractive for investment. Absent these cuts, state revenue in 2011 would be $4 billion greater. This would have avoided the need for the deep cuts now being considered by the Legislature.

The stunning truth is that on virtually all fronts — the Legislature, the executive budget office, academics — there has been a failure to subject these cuts to the basic question: Did they work?

[…]

Boos for Bozo: Rick Scott Strikes Out with Ceremonial Pitch

Trish

A movement was spawned last month, after boos erupted for Florida Gov. Rick Scott at a Florida spring training camp game between the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays. Floridians who still haven’t totally given up on the idea of a recall election found a shorter-term strategy: boo at the governor every chance we get.

And so a Facebook page was born. “Boo Rick Scott on Opening Day (even if you’re not going to the game)” had 1,211 likes before Scott took the field to throw the opening pitch at the first regular season game for the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.

Scott was throwing the ball a day after announcing devastating cuts to services to the developmentally disabled that will force many out of group homes and into much more expensive — and depressing — nursing homes. It also came the same week that consumer advocates and industry experts called for an investigation into Scott’s dismissal of nursing home ombudsman Brian Lee, widely seen as a payback to the nursing home industry for its deep pockets in support of his campaign.

[…]

Scott Wildly Unpopular in Florida

Trish

57%

Portion of Florida Republicans who approve of Gov. Rick Scott’s job after less than two months, according to Public Policy Polling (PPP). Only 11% of Democrats approve. Scott’s race to the bottom is especially impressive compared to other Republican Tea Party governors: Wisconsin’s Scott Walker stands at 86% with Republicans, Ohio’s John Kasich is at 71%, and Michigan’s Rick Snyder has a 68% approval with GOP voters.

Bush Signed Light Bulb Rules

Trish

Republican Tea Partiers in Congress, like Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), insist that energy rules setting higher standards for, among other things, light bulb efficiency are proof of a “nanny state,” evinced by First Lady Michelle Obama speaking against childhood obesity.

Pres. Obama is blamed for “dictating” that Americans must use compact fluorescent light bulbs but a) Obama is not to blame, and b) no one is dictating any such thing.

  • The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 was signed into law by Pres. George W. Bush
  • Nothing in the act bans the use of incandescent bulbs or requires they be replaced with compact fluorescents. The act does increase efficiency standards on all bulbs
  • The U.S. Energy Department projects higher standards will save money for both families and businesses
  • Independent observers have seen no evidence of constituents lobbying members of Congress to “save incandescent bulbs”

Rumblings: The Tea Party’s Over My Friend

Trish

538Poll

Dumb gets old quick, according to a recent CNN/Gallup/USA Today poll. The better we know the Tea Party, the less we like it. Here’s how those surveyed rated the movement that gave us Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, Florida Gov. Rick Scott, former Alaska partial-term Gov. Sarah Palin, and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, among others:

    Favorable: 32%
    Unfavorable: 47%
    Never Heard Of: 7%
    No Opinion: 14%

Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight took these results and combined them with earlier polls to show a trend tea baggers can’t deny. With each passing day, their approval numbers go down, down, down.

Silver concludes that Republicans, who scored 44% favorable and 48% unfavorable in the same CNN poll, have the most to lose if the tea baggers get dunked.

I’ve long been of the view that the Tea Party, despite nominating poor candidates in a couple of key races, was a significant net positive for the G.O.P. in 2010, both because it contributed to the “enthusiasm gap” and because it helped an unpopular Republican Party to re-brand itself in never-out-of-style conservative draping. But if the Tea Party ain’t over yet, the point in time at which it was an electoral asset for Republicans soon may be.

Tea Party Totalitarianism in Maine: Governor Has Labor History Mural Removed

Jon Ponder
First section of mural, others posted below the fold
First section of mural, others posted below the fold

This is how authoritarians behave:

A mural depicting vignettes of state and national labor history was removed over the weekend from Maine’s Labor Department headquarters in Augusta, Gov. Paul LePage’s office said Monday morning.

The 11-panel mural that includes images of worker strikes and “Rosie the Riveter” was moved into a storage facility over the weekend, said Dan Demeritt, the governor’s director of communications and legislative affairs. It will be kept in storage until it can be “transfer[red] to a more appropriate venue,” he confirmed to POLITICO.

Here’s how their spokespeople sound when they try to justify Dear Leader’s censorship:

[…]

Traveling Doesn’t Boost Palin

Trish

12%

Portion of likely Republican primary voters who support Sarah Palin, as of March. In January, 19% said they would vote for Palin. Meanwhile, 5% support Michele Bachmann and 1% wrote in Donald Trump as their preferred candidate. The poll indicates that Palin’s Israel trip, wherein she claimed to fly the Israeli flag in both her home and her office, failed to make her look more presidential.

Our Perennial, Predictable Surprise* at Unintended Consequences

Trish

I stumbled on this video (thank you, K.Q.) after reading Buck’s recent posts on new deep water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Gov. Rick Scott, along with other authors writing about man-made disasters.

Camp makes an excellent point. We think these things up, but we never plan adequately for the downside.

*Yes, that was an intentional oxymoron.

Republicans Continue to Justify Cuts in Programs They Hate — By Lying

Trish

To justify ending Florida’s Prepaid College program — the largest in the country — Republican state Sen. Evelyn Lynn claimed the popular plan is, “a huge liability — far larger than pension, far larger than most anything we have.”

Nationwide, Republicans and tea party members echo the cry that because tax revenues are down, programs they have long targeted must be cut. Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R/Tea) is using the message to cut education funding and gut environmental and consumer protection laws.

But in this case, and so many others, Republicans are simply making stuff up to bolster their flimsy logic.

  • The Florida Prepaid Tuition program has $10 billion in assets and $9.5 billion in liabilities
  • For those able to do math, this means the program is running with a $500 million surplus
  • Two years ago, Sen. Lynn herself floated the idea of raiding the Florida Prepaid plan to fund other initiatives