Really, if you have not read Iowahawk’s California memorial piece, go now.
It remains a fierce competition between California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Massachusetts as to what state has the worst, most dysfunctional government. California’s budget disaster is a tough one to top, but then again it hasn’t had anything to match New York’s out-to-lunch State Senate or Illinois’ Blagojevich saga.
Such are the joys of blue-state government.
16 thoughts on “You Can Check Out Any Time You Like”
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Spot on Crank. Who would want the drama of Alaska, the tawdry South Carolinians, or Rick Perry secessionism?
Granted, though, it is harder to find GOP incompetents in power; there are so few of them these days.
When are the conservatives and liberals going to learn, ALL politicians are tawdry, low life, morons. No particular belief system makes you a slimy, being a politician does.
No doubt these state governments are a mess, and the Dems in those states may be partly to blame. As a New Yorker, I am appalled at what is happening in the state Senate. But, please, some context. The budget messes are partly due to what is happening at the national level. Bush and Co. left this country in a shambles. Of course that will trickle down to the states.
Moro – So, does this make you want more, or less, government in your life?
Magr has touched on something…..yeah, they’re governments are billions in debt, taxing through the roof, have crime & corruption out the ying-yang and are begging for someone else’s tax dollars (fed) to help them out while they continue the practices that got them to where they are (and their productive citizens in a different state), but the other guys say things that are sometimes offensive or they’re busy adulteratin’.
Sure, NJ & CA are in disarray, but there is “drama” in Alaska.
You know, six of one….
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Filed under “nice try”.
Sorry, “their”.
While I want to have pride in my home state (NY) to be the worst offender in this category; I’d have to give the nod to the “Land of Fruits and Nuts” (Ca). Their government is crazier than even we in NY can boast!
That being said, the latest “revolt” by the Ny Legislature does give some merit to NY being in the lead at this time. However we can sure that Ca will do something in the near future to regain the lead.
…just give Maryland some more time, we’ll catch up.
Magrooder,
The drama of SC, AK, TX that you cite isn’t costing me a dime, and wouldn’t even if I did live in those states.
Corzine is hitting me so hard, OUCH! Thank you sir, may I have another….
Seriously, my *state* taxes this year have increased by over $1000. So what did I do? I cut my own spending. I wonder why John Corzine couldn’t do that.
So what expenses did I cut? I stopped my landscaping service, for which I paid about $1000 a year. Now that balances my own budget, but the landscaper loses work, and he has less money for his own needs. A perfect example of how trying to tax the wealthy hurts the middle class. And Corzine did this during a recession, creating a further drag on the economy.
No one could have predicted that the governor of California would try to balance the budget on the backs of the poor and mentally disabled.
Norquist got what he wanted. So why is it that Conservatives are still bitching?
The answer to that question is, of course, that’s what they do best.
Chris,
All the important things in life are not measured in dollars and cents. Isn’t that one of the points of Crank’s post about the moralizers? It is particularly true w/r/t those who stand for public office and purport to lead us.
I don’t live in any of the states on Crank’s list and so can observe only from afar. some are more maddening than others (i.e., wrong-headed policy seems less offensive to me than deliberate idiocy as in the NY legislature).
Magrooder,
Crank’s post here addresses the economic problems of Democrat controlled states. Dollars and cents make for a good measurement of economic issues.
As a New Yorker, I was very happy that the government was shut down basically for a month -it is a good thing. We do not really have 2 parties in NYS, we basically have the Dems and Dems Lite.
My favorite bit of hysteria was Bloomberg whining that every month the Senate wasn’t in session NYC was losing 60 million dollars from a tax that wasn’t passed. Wow, we are not being hit with yet another tax-that’s a really bad thing. Screw the taxpayers, the beast that is the NYC government must be fed.
Chris, the CA part is budgetary, but how is Blagojevich dollars and cents?
Attribute California’s problem to a revenue crisis. And attribute that to Proposition 13. The fix will be separate tax schedules for residential and commercial property. But California has a toxic Red-State problem it will have to correct.
Magrooder,
1. NJ – the example I cited – is specfically about dollars and cents as it relates to the taxes, flow of money, and balancing the budget in NJ.
2. Illinois was about finding a way for Blago to line his own pockets.