re: #171 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

That’s actually Brownback’s fallback - that Obama wrecked the economy in KS with his economic policies. Except that Kansas (and NJ, where Christie has likewise presided over a collapsing economy) have seen tax receipts drop by a greater percentage than other states, indicating that it is local factors that explain the shortfalls.

In NJ, it’s the fact that the casinos are failing in Atlantic City and aren’t driving revenues as they did just a few years ago. More competition plus the fact that Christie’s internet gambling revenue projections were off by a factor of 15 (expected $180 million, got about $12). Four casinos are set to close or are teetering on bankruptcy. Since 2006, Atlantic City’s casino revenue has collapsed from a high of $5.2 billion to $2.86 billion last year. That’s billions that NJ could have used to spend on infrastructure or education, but instead Christie had to raid the Port Authority to get money to do road work on the Pulaski Skyway (among other things).

Kansas doesn’t have the same situation. There, the issue is much more straight forward. Brownback pushed tax cuts and decimated the tax revenue, leaving the state with a massive shortfall. He was hoping for voodoo economics to save the day, but that’s why it’s voodoo. It just doesn’t work.