Ok, I've seen a lot of my friends from MN posting recently about the gov't shutdown and it's really starting to piss me off that they just blame the Democratic Governor...(Mind you, mostly conservative people). This whole fiasco stretches across party lines... *sigh*
The shutdown is written into our laws - if we don't have a budget approved, we can't spend.
That being said, both sides are at fault.
Additionally, raising taxes is not in-and-of-itself a bad thing.
Pork-barrel spending, however, is - though at least in the Federal Government, that has been cut down on...though now we're seeing even more partisanship.
But back on topic, the taxes Dayton wants to "raise" are from two sources primarily: he wants to close loopholes (read: way for people who should be paying taxes to get out of them...so not actually raising taxes, just holding people accountable) and normalize taxes for the richest portion of the population (who, by the way, pay a far smaller percentage of their income in taxes than your average worker does).
From the lips of Warren Buffet, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway: "If anything, taxes for the lower and middle class and maybe even the upper middle class should even probably be cut further," Buffett said. "But I think that people at the high end -- people like myself -- should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we've ever had it." (Source:
http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/warren-buffett-read-lips-raise-taxes/story?id=12199889)
They're one hundred percent correct that this shutdown sucks - it sucks for everyone.
But please know who is actually at fault.
Any representative or senator who is refusing to come forward and compromise, hell just refusing to even talk about the subject beyond party rhetoric, is to blame for the government shutdown.
Yes, that includes Mark Dayton for playing hardball, but I for one would rather he played hardball than just shuffling around the approved budget, pulling money from one line item to pay for a different line item, or any other number of "fancy" accounting that we saw under Pawlenty that only served to push this debt crisis back until now (when another governor is getting blamed for the issues while the former might try to use it to win a presidential nomination...)
Also, please note that Ronald Reagan began this whole “trickle-down” economic theory that conservatives are currently using as a way to fight against raising taxes on the richest Americans. The theory is that if we tax the rich, they will have less incentive to hire more people…a view that has not had any real empirical support to date. As best as economists can tell, it actually has very little effect, if any, on unemployment rates.
Here is some more reading:
One last thing: I've seen people post on their facebook statuses "Yeah! Alright! Keep on Preaching, Brother!" and so forth...preaching is exactly what gets America into these situations. The American voter is typically quite undereducated about the issue they decide to care about. Instead, they generally just follow party lines...it's a shame that as Americans we cannot bring ourselves to care enough about our country to take a real close look at what is actually happening around us. Instead, we listen to talking heads on the TV who just preach rhetoric to us. This is highly exemplified by Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and similar styles of "News" delivery...but hey, what do they care - they make TONS of money just by having you listen! Oh, and the lobbyists and essayists who tend to write most of the propaganda make a consistent six to eight figure income...just for preaching rhetoric.
I point out the conservative side because I see it used often by people who say they're educated on a topic, only to then spout rhetoric when I attempt to engage them in a conversation concerning what ever issue is at hand...It's the same as the hate-speech of Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church - rhetoric and preaching will destroy this country. If you love it, please research form multiple sources - those with conservative biases, liberal biases, and those who are generally neutral. When you have covered all your bases, looking into each claim that a talking head on the TV makes before you assert it as truth, then, and only then if I had my way, can you vote and discuss politics.
We as humans are fairly easy to influence. It's hard to find time to do the research...but if we don't, how can we steer this country towards a brighter future? I don't care what your party affiliation is, I don't care who you vote for - I only care that you know what exactly it is that you are doing before you commit. If you don't, then flame-wars such as what is currently happening to Mark Dayton start.
By the way, don't get me wrong - Liberal or Conservative, both sides are just as likely to be guilty of listening to the talking heads.
