POLITICAL MOJO from Mother Jones 3OKT14

POLITICAL MOJO FROM DAVID CORN, KEVIN DRUM, AND THE NEWS TEAM
MOTHER JONES October 3, 2014 TOP STORY Budget Cuts "Eroded Our Ability to Respond" to Ebola, Says Top Health Official By Gabrielle Canon On Tuesday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the first case of Ebola diagnosed in the United States; the infected patient was a man who traveled from Liberia to visit family in Texas. It's the latest development in the ever-worsening outbreak of the virus, which so far has sickened more than 6,500 people and killed more than 3,000. The United States government has pledged to send help to West Africa to help stop Ebola from spreading—but the main agencies tasked with this aid work say they're hamstrung by budget cuts from the 2013 sequester. [READ MORE] MOST READ How to Throw Shade The Creepy Language Tricks Taco Bell Uses to Fool People Into Eating There This Republican Who Wants to End the Weekend Is Probably Headed to Congress What's the Matter With Sam Brownback? TOP IN SOCIAL MEDIA Top on Facebook: Elizabeth Warren: Democratic Women Need a Seat at the Governing Table No. 2 on Facebook: How to Throw Shade Top on Twitter: The Creepy Language Tricks Taco Bell Uses to Fool People Into Eating There No. 2 on Twitter: Chart: It's Never Been a Better Time to Be Rich	IN OTHER NEWS Meet the Former Bike Executive Who Could Crush Scott Walker's White House Dreams By Andy Kroll These days, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's presidential dreams are hanging by a thread as he battles for reelection against a political neophyte whose only previous electoral campaign was a self-financed 2012 run for the local school board. Why is he vulnerable? Walker devoted his first term to ramming through a chunk of the modern conservative agenda: He limited collective-bargaining rights, slashed taxes on the wealthy, enacted new voter ID requirements, boosted funding for vouchers at the expense of public schools, curtailed abortion access, and weakened environmental protections. Mary Burke, Walker's opponent, is running as a McKinsey moderate, the anti-politician with business savvy who will jump-start the state's economy and heal a divided Wisconsin. She believes her pro-business message can win over those key undecided voters. In a nonpresidential year when turnout could decide the election, Burke's strategy is a gamble—and it just might work. [READ MORE] THIS WEEK'S NEWS ROUNDUP Ebola Patient in Dallas Had Contact With Several Children Ebola made its way to the United States this week, with the bad news that the patient, though he came from Liberia, was released from the hosptial and came into contact with several children. A humanitarian aid worker in Syria got frustrated with ISIS and tweeted the coordinates of one of its bunkers, leading the group to go on the offensive. Protests in Hong Kong has exploded in the last week. And the United States happens to be fighting pirates off the west coast of Africa.  Meanwhile, social conservatives are mad at the GOP for supporting two gay candidates, while Mitt Romney came up with new, crazy excuses for his 47 percent remarks. New Mexico's attorney general is looking into Susana Martinez's missing emails, and police departments across the country told Mother Jones about their (failing) efforts to return surplus military equipment like tanks and grenade launchers to the Pentagon.  [READ MORE] CHART OF THE WEEK: Chart: Half of All Income Goes to the Top 10 Percent [READ MORE] QUOTE OF THE WEEK: GOP Donor: Elect a Republican Sheriff in Case Obama Seizes Dictatorial Power [READ MORE] Become a fan of Kevin Drum on Facebook. Follow Kevin Drum on Twitter Follow David Corn on Twitter
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DAILY KOS RECOMMENDED 29SEP-3OKT14

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• The (Al) Gorification of Neil deGrasse Tyson


• The Kochs: The greatest American criminals of the last century


• Exciting criminal justice reform (please read)


• Cotton slammed for 'creating a fantasy version of history' in food stamp attack ad


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• iPhone 6 camera pocket square, creates fusion with the $1.6 trillion fashion industry and civil rights


• Americans need more religion: The pecans, punching and paperwork edition


• Far-right groups to campaign against three impure Republican candidates


• 7 in 10 Americans believe in the principles of Roe v. Wade. Join the the majority of Americans who believe in reproductive freedom.


• Texas is not a Red state. It's a nonvoting state wanting a reason to vote


• 50,000 protesters take over financial capital of Asia (and they aren't going home)


• How to fix our elections (hint, it does not include an ID card)


• Daily Kos Elections forecast update: North Carolina remains a bright spot


• Mama, my hero didn’t grow up to be a cowboy, he grew up to be a farmer


• Defense contractors already are reaping the bounty of the all new unwinnable war


• Where can you stretch your contribution dollars? These races give you bang for the buck


• As usual, Republicans are in corporations' pockets. Dem Senate candidates should hammer them for it.
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• Ferguson police defy Justice Department on name tags
• Legally married Mississippi couple faces AFA backlash
• Democratic candidates: THIS is how you win elections
• New polls show Iowa Senate race moving away from Democrats
• Pesticides: Canadian beekeepers sue Syngenta-Bayer for $400 million
• A party in disarray: the California GOP can’t find its ass with both hands
• Detroit water shutoffs to continue after judge says poor have no right to water
• Renegade New York Democrats ready to welcome Republican into their junta
• John Cleese on (Fox News) stupidity
• Chelsea Clinton had a baby, Politico consults an astrologer … seriously
• Cartoon: Climate of terror
• HBO’s John Oliver: How is Ayn Rand still a thing?
• Ferguson officials demand exorbitant fees for city files related to Michael Brown killing
• If you thought House Republicans were crazy now, just wait
• North Carolina judge: ‘Why does the state of North Carolina not want people to vote?’
• Dem candidate for Michigan’s 93rd House District sends epic response to anti-gay hate group
• • Is Bill O'Reilly okay, or should we be calling someone?
  
  
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• Koch brothers freak out in response to Rolling Stone expose
• 'You're doing black people a disservice by registering them to vote.'
• Join the campaign today, to show that you’re part of a majority of Americans who support reproductive freedom
• 'The luckiest fellow in broadcast journalism' says ... 'It's time'
• Cartoon: Football prayer
• MUST-SEE VIDEO: Wendy Davis knocks it out of the park in debate with Greg Abbott
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• PHOTOS: Got my Koch-funded voter registration mailer ripe with all the mistakes
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• Ave Maria University's stranglehold on women goes way beyond suing Obamacare
• Maria Fernandes died napping in her car between part-time jobs, but let's focus on how she lived
• Signature needed: Smarter Sentencing Act would go a long way toward real criminal justice reform
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• We need to talk about Ferguson
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• One year ago, Republicans shut down the government to stop Obamacare
• • FL-Gov: With new poll showing him with six-point lead, has the worm turned for Charlie Crist?
  
  
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  • • Dear White Racists' is one of the best explanations of white privilege you will likely ever read
    
    
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    • WaPo 'Fact Checker' deserves five Pinocchios for denying Joni Ernst's anti-choice extremism
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    • Kochs take off mask, plan direct attacks on Democrats
     
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  • BREAKING: Government reports 248,000 new jobs in September. Revisions for July and August add 69,000 more
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  • Quarantine with no support? This is crazy
  • Gay teen hospitalized, then charged with assault after being bullied and beaten by four classmates
  • Global warming causing walrus stampede
   

Kansas Economy Craters, Revenues down 45% as Brownback Blames Obama 1MAI14

 
I remember driving across Kansas one Summer three years ago. It was so hot the air conditioning in the car barely kept the temperature tolerable. When I stopped for gas opening the door was like opening an oven door, the blast of heat and dust from the wind ( always blowing hard) was not the least bit refreshing. The landscape was mostly flat and brown, scorched buy the sun and drought. The one time it did rain, in western Kansas the wind was blowing so hard the rain came down sideways. I was so glad when I crossed into Colorado. This from Daily Kos shows the weather and landscape aren't the only harsh, extreme aspects of life in Kansas, politics are as just as bad. While Kansans have no control over the weather but can only pray for rain and protections from tornadoes, I do not understand how they can continue to believe the lies, deception and propaganda of the right wing repiglican / tea-bagger extremist controlling their state. Gov sam brownback, with his gop / tea-bagger controlled state assemby, is leading them straight to fiscal hell, and Kansans are letting it happen, blinded by racism and their voluntary ignorance. Check this out, and let it be a warning for other states considering the Kansas "economic miracle".....

In a March 10 interview on Fox, Governor Brownback told the nation about the wonders that were taking place in Kansas.   He cited the reduction of taxes in Kansas as being key to helping the economic engine continue to run.
http://video.foxnews.com/...
Brownback discusses how Kansas tax plan and continued tax reduction would help the Kansas economy grow.
Why Just last Fall, Forbes Magazine called Brownbacks plan a way to 'take the region to school'
http://www.forbes.com/...

I am sitting atop a limestone bluff overlooking the Osage River at my home in Folk, Missouri, and it seems as if the only way to get Congress to reform this country’s tax code is to ask for an intervention by the Great and Powerful Oz. But, here in the nation’s heartland, results from an experiment in state income tax policy just might provide other states with a roadmap to real growth. You may recall from a past Forbes column by me that laid out the landmark legislation signed into law one year ago by the forward thinking Kansas Governor Sam Brownback.  Brownback’s tax plan flattened and simplified the tax code, cut personal income tax rates for most earners from 6.45% to 4.9%, and got rid of small business income taxes.

Why, Kansas economy is humming like a bird according to Forbes!  Job Creation!  Tax Growth!  The state could be rolling in money! So, you have to imagine some of the shock and dismay Republicans feel today as the sales tax returns start showing that for all the praise they might be wrong.

So, when the May 1 report on Sales & Income tax returns came in, someone should have been surprised:

TOPEKA — Tax revenue in April dropped 45 percent from a year ago, the Kansas Department of Revenue announced Wednesday. The state’s revenue for the year is $92.9 million less than projected earlier this month.
The unexpected news weighed heavily on a joint committee of senators and House members who worked late into the night, trying to hammer out a budget in a wrap-up session that started Wednesday.
“It’s certainly impacting decisions. I mean any decision that would have included more spending is out the window obviously,” said Sen. Ty Masterson, R-Andover.
The state has taken in $480 million less overall than it had by this point in the last fiscal year.
The governor and other Republican leaders attributed the April drop to federal tax changes. Democrats called that claim ridiculous and said the revenue numbers showed the governor’s tax cuts are unsustainable.

http://www.kansas.com/... That's right.   Kansas is on track for a nearly 1.3B tax shortfall this year, and in April we endured an unprecedented income drop of over 45%.  That's right.  The state economy lost 45% of its tax income.
But maybe Kansas isn't the only state experiencing the problem.  Maybe it's the whole region.
https://www.moodys.com/...

The downgrade reflects Kansas' relatively sluggish recovery compared with its peers, the use of non-recurring measures to balance the budget, revenue reductions (resulting from tax cuts) which have not been fully offset by recurring spending cuts, and an underfunded retirement system for which the state is not making actuarially required contributions. In recent years the state has appropriated funds from or shifted costs to the State Highway Fund to help balance the general fund budget. The phasing in of increasing income tax cuts, along with rising pension costs, will continue to exert pressure on the budget.

Whoops.  Kansas job revenue market grew at a slower rate then nearby states (like Missouri) and Kansas revenue estimates led to Moodys downgrading state bonds, increasing the cost to borrow. Despite the analysis from outside agencies that other states are performing significantly better than Kansas in equal economic situations and that Kansas tax policy led to the downgrade of Kansas Debt, Governor Brownback issued this statement today:

“What we are seeing today is the effect of tax increases implemented by the Obama administration that resulted in lower income tax payments and a depressed business environment,” Gov. Sam Brownback said in a statement.

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/... Apparently, Obama's policies just want to hurt Kansas more than ... anywhere else I suppose.   We just must be in that Obama is out to get us vortex for Moody to make the analysis that others are not suffering this kind of economic crater effect.
Kansas Republicans have a plan for this though.   Today, they began debating ending the Mortgage Filing Fee, a tax of .26 cents for every 100 dollars financed that goes back to county offices to use for emergency funds.
Because we all know, with a drop of 45% in expected revenue, there is no way they will ever need emergency funds for basic services.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/01/1296248/-Kansas-Sales-Economy-Craters-Revenues-down-45-as-Brownback-Blames-Obama?detail=email