When he took office, he wanted to create a Reaganomic utopia in his state. He was dying to prove his ideas that cutting taxes and slashing government services would achieve a dramatic and lasting prosperity. He wanted Kansas to serve as an economic success story that other right-wingers could point to as a model of how to git 'er dun.
His signature moves were drastic tax cuts for the wealthy, and the elimination of all income taxes on Kansas businesses.
The results are in:
Kansas' state revenues are down almost $700 million. (That's a bunch for Kansas.)
The state will run a deficit through 2019.
It's credit rating has been downgraded by Moody's and S&P.
There has been none of the huge job growth Brownback predicted. Kansas' "job creators" just put the tax cut in their pockets.
Public schools have seen building closures, larger class sizes, fees for Kindergarten, elimination of arts education, and staff layoffs.
The transportation budget has been slashed. Highway maintenance is virtually non-existent.
It's bad enough that many in the Kansas GOP are in open rebellion, publicly supporting Brownback's Democratic challenger in the upcoming election.
His trickle-down experiment has been a calamitous failure. So what does Sam the Sham prescribe as a fix? More of the same:
"We need to hit the accelerator on what we're doing."
"These tax cuts take a little bit of time."
"This is going to work and we're going to stick with it."
Whatever. Brownback is living proof that stubborn ideology is a poor substitute for 3rd-grade math proficiency. In a couple weeks, he may very well be out on his ass. Do they still have unemployment insurance in Kansas, or did he get rid of it?
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