Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/author/david-schultz/page/16/)
Taxpayer dollars spent to build sports stadiums for professional teams are an economic waste of money. Study after study proves this. Yet demands to provide public money to build a new Vikings stadium refuse to die. Why? Continue Reading
Bachmann wins, Pawlenty is out. What do learn from the Iowa straw poll? Whatever political moderation existed in the Republican Party, it rapidly disappearing as the GOP is being remade in the image of Palin and Bachmann.
Bachmann
No question about it–the lunatic fringe has taken over the Republican Party. The August 11, Ames, Iowa Fox debate featured calls for the return to the gold standard, criminal prosecution for doctors who perform abortions to save the lives of mothers, obtuse readings of the Tenth Amendment, and petty and personal squabbles attacking one another and the media. Continue Reading
The debate over raising the debt ceiling limit is a Trojan horse. It is only partially about allowing the government to pay for obligations that it has already incurred. If that were all it is about then the vote should be pro forma. But it is not. It is merely a proxy for a different set of battles that now appear to have little to do with the debt ceiling. Continue Reading
The deal that ended the government shutdown in Minnesota was terrible both in how it was negotiated and in what it produced. While initially all parties who negotiated it described it as bad, increasingly they are defending it, seeking to find beauty in its ugliness. Yet let’s call this effort what it is—putting lipstick on a pig!
A Bad Budget Process
The loser always blinks first in a staring contest. Governor Mark Dayton blinked first.
Minnesota politics and its once pristine national reputation are broken. Politically, the government shutdown is only the mostly recent reminder of how decrepit and polarized it is. A near shutdown in 2001, partial in 2005, a botched unallotment in 2009, heated recounts in 2008 and 2010, and now 2011 all point to something beyond personalities and more structural in Minnesota. Continue Reading
“It’s time you did your job.” Essentially this is what Judge Gearin stated today in her ruling that only core functions will receive core mandated funding. In reaching that decision she took a minimal view of the role of the courts in resolving the budget dispute, clearly placing the responsibility on the Governor and the Republican Legislative leadership to reach agreement. Continue Reading
As kids we played chicken all the time, daring someone to do x or cross over a line. The same game of chicken is being played now with the Minnesota budget and economy. First it was between the Governor and the Republican legislature during session, now in Court and the participants have expanded to include the Attorney General, interest groups, and the courts themselves.
Continue Reading
Who won the debate last night? Bachmann and Romney emerged as winners in very odd ways. Bachmann won but not really on substance. She won by her announcement that she was officially running for president. Her announcement was brilliant in the sense that she knew it would be the major news or headline item the next day. Continue Reading