Right-Wingers Get Tip from Waitress
By Thom Hartmann A...
Tip the schools instead.
That’s the message waitress Chloe Hough gave Republican Kansas Governor Sam Brownback this weekend when he stopped in for a bite to eat at Boss Hawg’s Barbeque in Topeka.
Hough was actually on her last shift as a waitress there, so when the governor asked for his check, she saw an opportunity she couldn't pass up. After crossing out the tip line on the bill, she wrote a note next to it that said, “Tip the schools.” Hough then posted a picture of the edited bill on Facebook, where it’s since gone viral.
Don’t get the wrong idea, though. This wasn't some sort of publicity stunt. For Chloe Hough, this was personal.
Like millions of other Jayhawk State residents, she and her family have felt the sting of Governor Sam Brownback’s failed experiment in Reaganomics.
Chloe Hough is right. Education is the foundation for a better country and a more forward-thinking society. But that, of course, is not how Governor Brownback and the rest of the Republican Party see it.
To them, education funding is just another thing to cut to make way for massive tax cuts, tax cuts that in Kansas have been an absolute and unmitigated disaster.
After he was elected governor in 2011, Sam Brownback promised to make his state “a real live experiment” in right-wing Reaganist economic theories. So he went ahead and slashed the top income tax rate for the rich, opened a loophole that allowed businesses to pay taxes as individuals, and eliminated a bunch of other smaller taxes.
The governor said that these tax cuts for rich people would boost Kansas’ economy and jump start job growth, but nothing has really panned out the way he said it would.
Since 2012 when Brownback’s tax cuts began, Kansas has consistently lagged behind the national average in job growth, and while it did do better on that count in 2014, it didn't do nearly as well as neighboring states like Missouri, which didn't cut taxes for the rich.
Thanks to Brownback’s tax cuts, the Jayhawk state now faces a budget shortfall of $422 million.
And who’s had to pay the price for the fiscal mess created by Brownback and the ideologues in the Republican Party?
Well, among other things, the school system.
That’s right, the school system! Instead of repealing his disastrous tax cuts, Governor Brownback has instead slashed funding for Kansas’ already cash-strapped public schools by $51 million.
The situation has gotten so bad that some schools are now closing early for the summer just to save money, and, as Chloe Hough’s family learned, many of the most vulnerable students are losing access to the programs they need to succeed.
What’s happening in Kansas is shocking, but it shouldn’t be surprising. The myth pushed by people on the right that cutting taxes for rich people and corporations will make wealth “trickle-down” to everyone else is just that – a myth.
No nation, state, or political entity in the history of the world has ever cut its way to prosperity. This was true of the Weimar Republic, it’s true of Greece and Kansas right now, and it will be true of whatever Republican-controlled state next cooks up a tax cut scheme.
That’s because rich people use their money differently than working people do. Instead of going out and spending the extra money they get back from tax cuts, rich people stash it in their Swiss bank accounts or wherever it is they keep their millions.
This means that that rich people’s money only minimally recirculates back into the real economy, and rarely finds its way back into the government’s hands as tax revenue. So in effect, it’s lost money. Once the government cuts taxes for the rich, it’s never getting that money back.
Republicans, of course, don’t see it that way. The smart ones know that the “trickle-down” economics is just a scam to make the super-rich even richer, but most of them, the suckers, are still drinking the Reaganomics Kool-Aid. They’re members of the economic equivalent of a death cult, these so-called free-market fundamentalists, and most can’t be reasoned with because they don’t believe in facts, just ideology.
Let’s just hope that Chloe Hough’s special message to Sam Brownback tips some of them, and the country, in the right direction.
Comments
#2
Okay, Brownback, the experiment is over; it's time to destroy the specimens, clean the petrie dishes, and repair the damage done to the labratory by your careless experiment!
#3
First of all, Kansas is not the "Jayhawk State" and I am gravely offended to be grouped amonst such. Kansas is the Sunflower state and Jayhawks are the teams for Kansas University. Jayhawk was a term coined for people who were followers of a certain military commander named Jay back in the days when Bloody Kansas fought to keep slavery from staining its history.. It was a territory and my ancestors were part of the Underground Railroad that helped slaves escape into the bogs around the great lake of the Cherokee in Indian Territory--what is now known as Oklahoma. I grew up listening to the tales of blood and freedom.That being said, no one is more ashamed to live in modern Kansas than I. After decades-long absences, I have been forced to return to Kansas by things outside of my control and I am still in denial somewhat about being here. I hope and expect to go back to being a rolling stone as soon as economically and physically possible. Kansas is a cautionary tale for every state longing to join the anti-government bandwagon. Kansas schoolchildren will start their summer vacation early because our heartless governor decided the education budget was his personal bank account to pay the bills he's wracked up in his committment to not just rein in government but end it completely. Its going to be Bloody Kansas again. I'm planning on buying my assault rifle soon now that anyone can have one anywhere, anytime. Yeeeha.
#4
thom, i am a diehard conservative the subscribes to yor newsletter because you speak for the working class citizens of this nation. one thing though, please stop acting like all of our politicians are not sleeping in the same bed! DEMOCRAT politicians are doing just as much harm to our nation as bought and paid for republicans. you know they are all being controlled by the tri-lateral commission and the council on foreign relations.
#5
The most terrifying words in the English language: I'm from the government and I'm here to inflict "trickle-down"!
Trickle-down is the biggest economic lie ever told!!!!! There is zero justification for extreme concentration of wealth in any society past or present.
#6
#7
I only wish more thought like you Keenanone. As I read somewhere, our ancestors would have had the guns out by now.
#8
Regarding Ben Carson's denial that he is a scientist. This is not uncommon for Seventh Day Adventist physicians. Although Carson did not go through the SDA educational system, his father was an SDA pastor, so he probably got the religious training at home. I was an non Adventist employed at Loma Linda University Medical School. I was astounded by much of what I saw there. Adventists run parochial schools from elementary to medical school. High school is often at a boarding academy. This fundamentalist religion trains youth to aspire to medical school. While they do remarkable mission medicine all over the world, they teach a kind of intellectual compartmentalization where they do not challenge their religious beliefs with the scientific knowledge that is acquired in the course of medical training.
#9
I'm from Kansas and I'm a first-person witness of the Brownback travesty. But one of two things happened in last November's election: either the Kobach machine fudged the election results or people just failed to vote, because Nate Silver predicted a different outcome based on poll results.
Seeing the daily debacle unfolding is increasingly unsettling for Kansans, and even more of our Republicans have become skittish. But people don't understand the history of trickle-down and that it never actually works. Meanwhile, we have 330,000 businesses plus the Kochs getting away with massive tax breaks while not really creating any new jobs. The predictable is becoming reality in Brownbackistan -- feudalism.
#10
I heard from the last caller on 5/5's show that the Great Depression was superceded by a round of tax cuts for the rich. Is there a record (book, magazine article) which shows the various implementations of the fraudulent scheme known as supply-side & their results? It would be much easier to refute the claims of the sheeple if such evidence was readily available. It seems it's just "he said, she said" currently. "The Crash Of 2016" talks about a couple of incidents, but something more comprehensive must be out there somewhere.
#11
KCRuger -- The best set of articles I have seen is 3 articles on Alternet by Larry Beinhart. He shows the high correlation between the economy failing when the top tax rate drops below 50%. The articles are from 2008-9.
The thing that makes the analysis more difficult is the delay between policy implementation and the effect on the economy. Some economics professor said the average delay is 7 years. Another factor that obscures the observation of the effect of supply side economics is the bubble before the crash. Everyone is happy and then they are homeless.
#12
gmanz -- The democrats are in no way like the republicans. Every democrat voted for "card check". Every repug voted against it. Labor unions have provided the best economy for the working class citizens of this nation in the history of the world.
#13
Alan, I think we as progressives in Brownbackistan should have biweekly support group meetings to cope with the emotional and psychology abuse inflicted by living amongst the Brownbackistanis. I personally feel in need of conversations with like-minded kansans for my mental health! I havent met any of the Republicans you reference. We observe daily the devastation inflicted by the new brand of "anti-government" politics which wants freedom from government only for corporations and the wealthy. The Koch Bros. now own all of Kansas and a substantial portion of the rest of the country.
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
Images of Thom
At Mondragon - both the mountain and the cooperative city - in Spain (written about in "Threshold" book)
Mueller's favorite place to pray (written about in "Prophet's Way"), and the roof of the room where the Last Supper is reputed to have happened.
From Screwed:
"Hartmann speaks with the straight talking clarity and brilliance of a modern day Tom Paine as he exposes the intentional and systematic destruction of America’s middle class by an alliance of political con artists and outlines a program to restore it. This is Hartmann at his best. Essential reading for those interested in restoring the institution that made America the envy of the world."
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"Through compelling personal stories, Hartmann presents a dramatic and deeply disturbing picture of humans as a profoundly troubled species. Hope lies in his inspiring vision of our enormous unrealized potential and his description of the path to its realization."
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"In an age rife with media-inspired confusion and political cowardice, we yearn for a decent, caring, deeply human soul whose grasp of the problems confronting us provides a light by which we can make our way through the quagmire of lies, distortions, pandering, and hollow self-puffery that strips the American Dream of its promise. How lucky we are, then, to have access to the wit, wisdom, and willingness of Thom Hartmann, who shares with us here that very light, grown out of his own life experience."
Considering that the entire educational system is also corrupt and based on just another corporation trying to make a profit, it's no wonder that the fraudulent public 'servants' don't want to spend more of their stock holders dividends. Don't worry though, if Common core is allowed to continue, we won't have to wait too much longer for the dumbing down of society, sigh.