TP Economic Theory Put to the Test

As we know, the most successful states economically are, overwhelmingly "blue." Precisely to what extent their being, largely, also the best-educated is debatable, although that certainly is a contributing factor.

However, the US has fifty virtual laboratories in which experiments can be conducted before "going nationwide" - as in the case of Massachusetts' RomneyCare* - so rather than automatically following the proven paradigm in imitating the most successful, there is an opportunity to attempt something completely different. If it also proves efficacious, one then has an alternative paradigm; if it fizzles, the extant model is established as uniquely superior.

* RomneyCare? "Something that I think we should do for the whole country!"- Jim "Senator Tea Party" DeMint​

And so, we have TP darling Sam "The Sham" Brownback who took a failing "red" state, made it "redder" and the results are in:

Hardcore ideologues are not about to let reality challenge their dogma, of course, but Americans who see state economies thriving are observing, "I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore!"


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Natty Bumpo: "As we know, the most successful states economically are, overwhelmingly "blue."

Now that is funny. Illinois, New York, California. Economically successful? That's hilarious, Natty. They're bankrupt or pushing the envelope. They're spending money they don't have and will never have. They've made pension commitments to public unions that can't be met. And, in LibWorld, they're the most "successful states economically".

Sure, Natty. And General Motors is the most successful car company and Enron is where you should put your money. Invest in Soyndra today.

The Blue Bubble is going to make the Housing Bubble look benign and they're both being brought by the same people.

After I read your howler of an opening sentence I was laughing so hard I didn't finish your post.

 

Yes, I linked had to both the lists of the states in order of median income and in order of per capita income for you.

I am well aware that "true believers" do not have their dogma impugned by manifest reality, of course, but for a moment I actually thought you might gaze into your crystal ball and really trash the advanced states by saying "like Kansas!"

Is there any state that has adopted TP economics with such messianic fervour as Kansas? Sam the Sham seems to be the only one who actually put the strident rhetoric to the test, and the result certainly speaks eloquently for itself.

I seriously doubt that we'll be seeing Big Time TP Jim DeMint saying of Sammy's touted RED-STATE MODEL what he said of Willard Romney's individually-mandated universal health coverage innovation: "That's something I think we should do for the whole country!"

 

As a true believer you have your right to "believe" what you want. You cannot continue to deny reality. But, nice try. I'm sure in your church you hear that California, Illinois, and New York are fiscally sound states and proof that socialism works. And, in your absolute faith, you believe it.

Of course, the excesses of California, Illinois, and New York are connected to their faith in socialism as well as their penchant for corruption.

 

Kansas is screwed up right now. Shame.

 

If the democrats stopped screwing the middle class to give Wall Street CEO's such outrageous bonuses, I bet New York would drop off the list. In the meantime, California has more people on welfare than some states have people.

 

They have a rainy day fund to cover the budget shortfall.

 

Well, I can't speak for California, or Illinois, but New York isn't really socialist. Cuomo is pro-business, he wants to cut taxes and even have tax havens for businesses to set up in NY.

 

It's a shame for Kansans, to be sure, but after all the vapid boilerplate rhetoric, the nation finally has what TP Darling Sammy Brownback touted as the

RED STATE MODEL​

and Americans finally get to see the actual results:

 

TP = toilet paper.

 

Pragmatists such as myself understand that ultra-partisan ideologues are trained to bleat airy-fairy boilerplate dogma by their media masters - essentially, "Government ba-aa-aaad!, the twice-elected President ba-aa-aaad!, taxes ba-aa-aaad!, Democrats ba-aa-aaad!"

Well, thanks to Brownback and his Brownbackers, we have gotten to see TP economics in action! Not in some Aynrandistan pipe dream, but in the roseate heartland of reality.

Practical Americans all have a little Missouri in them when they endure the febrile snake oil pitch and sensibly respond, "Show me."

Well, "seeing is believing," as sensible folks also opine.


The inevitable tsunami of excuses from the right wing media and their fluffy flock should be a hoot! Surf's up, Dude! (A phrase Kansans didn't anticipate hearing until climate change gifted them with beachfront property.)

 

RED - BLUE ...

from an Italian perspective these color make confusion:

we consider the left "red" [so that we expect states with Democrat majority to be red] and the right "blue" [so that we expect states with Republican majority to be blue].

But in America you reason the other way round!

Then, pay attention that also in Italy the regions with the best economical records are "blue" [left electorate]. The reason is simple: capitals [so productive and financial economy] go where there are masses of poor workers and poor workers usually vote for the left.

And usually their politicians keep those workers enough poor to avoid that capitals go somewhere else ...

To be a worker in a "blue" state couldn't be that nice.

In fact Obama in 2008 won because he got around the 73% of votes from household incomes under 15,000$ and 60% of the votes coming from household incomes between 15,000$ and 30,000$ [in the other categories he recorded substantially the same distribution of votes than McCain]. Take a look at this map ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States

 

Republican incentives such as Perry is using in Texas to lure corporations is being used New Jersey and New York, with many other states following the same path in hopes of luring new businesses into their states.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/12/n...-york-and-new-jersey-fight-for-jobs.html?_r=0

“After a decade in which these kinds of deals were under the radar or discredited, it’s troubling to see them return,” said Jonathan Bowles, director of the nonprofit Center for an Urban Future, a research group. “I’m worried that we’re going to enter an era where companies expect tax breaks from the state, just because their competitors are getting similar incentives.”

 

I am an american and I always thought the red-blue thing was backwards as well, especially since conservative democrats are called "blue-dogs" and blue is a conservative color.

 

Don't overestimate Italy in this way!

 

The "red" vs "blue" is anomalous in terms of the global convention, and is a recent media-consensus phenomenon that arose in the US.

In the US, presidents are determined by electoral votes that are assigned in numbers based upon the population of each state, and the best-educated states are overwhelmingly blue, the worst-educated are overwhelmingly red. Not surprisingly, the income index reflects the same pattern.

Kansas has allowed the nation to see TP economics in action.

 

So, how does it happen that a Republican candidate is able to become President?

 

There is alway the tendency to give the "other" a chance occasionally, but Democrats have won the popular vote in 5 of the last 6 presidential elections, and demographics demand that the Republican Party reflect the changing populace and move back to the centre to have a reasonable chance of winning again. A party so racially and regionally circumscribed cannot expect to appeal to an increasingly diverse American electorate.

[A] clear majority of Americans are ideologically at the center or right of center. [M]oderates ... as a voting bloc, are solidly Democratic.​

"We're not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business!" • "We're in a demographic death spiral!"- Sen. Graham (R)


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This is politically interesting, in Europe, confronting myself with other politician, it's clear I'm right leaning, conservative, moderate, but when I compare myself with the American political horizon ... I find out I'm not far from the Democrats [may be this is why for Italian leftists US Democrats are a bit "Conservative" ... Communists say something worse ...].

 

Virtually all advanced nations are regarded as predominantly "leftist" by the extreme right wing of the Republican Party - especially in regard to more efficient, universal health coverage.

Americans who think of themselves as "liberal" domestically are often surprised to discover that they are "moderates" in a European context.

It is always a relative label based upon subjective perspective.


What is of value in the failure of Brownback's "Red State Model" is that he actually went far beyond the hyperbolic partisan rhetoric and provided an empirical example of the disastrous consequences of such a radical approach to governance. The hardcore will dismiss the reality, of course, but pragmatic folks will take note.

 

Of course they will. This is what defines the modern right-wing in the US. They honestly think that their beliefs take precedence over empirical evidence. There are posts on this forum today making the argument that the Obama administration is a failure compared to the disaster of the George W. Bush administration. I seriously doubt that W's own father would agree to that assessment in a private conversation.

 

What's unusual about Brownback's heralded "Red State Model" is that he was able to actually put the airy-fairy right wing notions to the reality test with a supportive legislature and make Kansas into the crackpots' utopia, and it has failed miserably. Nor is that merely a partisan perspective: Nothing bespeaks such an ideological disaster as over 100 Kansas Republicans – all current or former elected officials – endorsing Sammy's Democratic opponent.

It looks as if those Mississippi party-crossover votes will be reciprocated in November.

Ideologues can be hidebound, but Americans can be pragmatic.

 

I have noted in the past how some hardcore ideologues cavort in their musings of Aynrandistan, and I have gently informed them that theirs is an airy-fairy fantasy where realists do not tread.

Well, finally, they have their utopian promissory land, their "RED STATE MODEL":

BROWNBACKISTAN!​

Moderate Americans should not indulge in an unseemly Schadenfreude over the spectacle of Sam the Sham's 'Exhibit A' in TP politics actually strutting its stuff, nor delight in the Kochs bankrolling their very own economic plaything - nor feign effete in partaking of the treat of Mississippi's GOP mud wrestling, either.

Lessons are for learning.

 

It's not too surprising that Brownback's TP inspired strategy is failing. The TP has never had any plans of real substance beyond hating the government and blaming them for everything.

 

The TP showcase, Soapy Sam's self-proclaimed RED STATE MODEL, is a unique opportunity to see the wacko birds' ideological dogma making a rare appearance in the real world rather than confined to the airy-fairy Aynrandistan in which they self-righteously dwell. He is the example of a full-blown, bible-humping bagman running a state (into the ground.)

Having collapsed the economy of the sunflower state as if it were a cheap whoopee cushion on the governor's executive swivel chair in Trenton, he now resembles many of his constituents with his hand out, begging the Republican Governors Association to bankroll his survival big time.

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"GIMMEE!"​