The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

And by that, I mean learn from its mistakes?  I found this from a democratic Oklahoma Congressman on his Facebook page, but this has all happened recently in Kansas.  Looks like a mess.

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The Handwriting’s on the Wall

By State Rep. David Perryman (D-Chickasha)

Seeing the “handwriting on the wall” simply means understanding what is inevitable. The metaphor can be traced King Belshazzar in the fifth chapter of Daniel watching a disembodied hand write on the wall of his Babylonian palace. After the King’s wisest men were unable to decipher the writing, Daniel, an Israelite, successfully interpreted its meaning.

Nowhere is the phrase more timely and appropriate than the predictable situation Oklahoma will face based upon what is now happening in Kansas.

Both Kansas and Oklahoma have relentlessly pursued cuts in the rates of state income tax under Republican legislative supermajorities

In 2012, Kansas’ income tax rate was cut by 25% and many corporations and businesses were totally exempted from paying income tax. A year later, those who still paid income tax received additional incremental decreases of 20% over a number of years.

Not to be outdone, Oklahoma adopted rounds of cuts exceeding 30% of the state’s income tax rate with an additional triggered cut of 0.15% set to begin the first of July this year.

Heads up: The chickens have come home to roost in the Jayhawk State.

The very ability of Kansas state government to operate became questionable. Kansas began a process known as “tax shifting,” a process of cutting funding to towns, schools and counties requiring them to increase property and sales taxes on the local level. By 2014, more than three-fourths of all Kansas counties were forced to increase PROPERTY taxes by as much as 5.7%.

Last week, the “writing on the wall” in Topeka became obvious. Governor Brownback faced a budget shortfall of more than $800 million. When money was not available to adequately fund education, roads, bridges, corrections and other services, he made one-time transfers from revolving funds and swept money from the transportation fund to cover half the gap.

Then at 1:30 a.m. on June 12 came a shootout, not at the OK Corral but on the floor of the Kansas State House. Republican Governor Brownback threatened that if additional revenue was not found, massive budget cuts and layoffs would begin immediately. The Wichita Eagle reported that legislators wept. No incidents of teeth gnashing, but the environment was appropriate.

By 4:00 a.m., amid the smell of burning sulfur, the Kansas House voted to increase the state sales tax to 6.5 cents, take away half the mortgage interest and property tax deductions, eliminate other personal deductions, and increase the cigarette tax. The bill did not reimpose the income tax on businesses or corporations, did not cut off any of the millions of dollars in tax breaks or credits enjoyed by “small” businesses like Koch Industries, but it did give additional tax breaks for private school tuition. The Senate followed suit.

Plain and simple, Kansas’ quest to cut income tax was realized by burdening working Kansans with increased sales taxes, taking away their personal tax deductions, and forcing counties, cities and schools to impose increases in property and sales taxes to simply survive.

Oklahoma faced a $611 million budget hole this year, and swept massive amounts of money from transportation and education budgets and raided revolving and “rainy day” funds. Next year when Oklahoma’s projected deficit will be $1 billion, those one-time funds will not be available.

Kansans currently pay 253% more of their personal income on property taxes than do Oklahomans. Kansas’ state sales tax rate is 62.5% higher than Oklahoma’s. Those differences will increase because Kansas has cut funding to schools, counties and towns that will be forced to increase property and sales taxes themselves.

Will Oklahoma follow the same path Kansas has taken, or will we see the writing on the wall?

Daniel’s literal interpretation of the writing on the wall, “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharshin,” was “Numbered, Numbered, Weighed and Divided,” meaning Babylon’s destruction was imminent. Let us hope that Oklahoma fares better than Babylon.

You're assuming that Oklahoma's legislators are capable of learning or that they'll fear the wrath of the voters when draconian budget cuts and higher taxes and fees are imposed.

Obamacare will be blamed

CAN we learn? Sure.

WILL we learn? Nope.

Kansas and Wisconsin followed a hardcore conservative model trumpeted by Texas. Both have met object failure, financial ruin, and a lack of investment interest by desirable employers.  Intel, MS, Apple, major financial institutions, and corporate HQs look for stability and quality of life as much as cheap labor, cheap taxes, and cheap regulation.  If they wanted the Texas model, they'd just be in Texas which works do to a self sustaining loop... Same reason silicon valley works and lower Manhattan. Kansas can't be lower Manhattan, and it isn't Texas.

Look at the juxtaposition between hardcore conservative Wisconsin (financial and economic ruin) and moderate Minnesota (prospering).

But no... We won't learn. We will try to out fail them.

...but, but, but with an illiterate populace, more poisoned air and water, decaying infrastructure, and low, low discount taxes...why...Oklahoma will be a new mecca for business investment.

Can't be a mecca...Muslim-y

"Shining city on the hill?"....or is that too much like Hillary?

Reagan, originally, right?

Yes, but I think his speech writer borrowed it from someone earlier.

I think it was some early, sandal wearing, love one another, bearded hippy dude.  ;)

Okay. How about "Oklahoma: Where the mostly unpolluted wind comes whipping down the fracking plains"?  No, that won't work either.  "Oklahoma from sea to shining sea." Climate change is causing rising sea levels, so....

Oklahoma Treasurer Says Declining Energy Prices Hurt Revenue

http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/oklahoma-treasurer-says-declining-energy-prices-hurt-revenue (http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/oklahoma-treasurer-says-declining-energy-prices-hurt-revenue)

That’s not the only place low oil prices is hitting hard.  Chesapeake reported a $4+ billion loss last quarter and Devon lost over $2 billion.  According to a former employee who was laid off last month, Cimmarex has been quietly letting a few people go at a time so as not to signal a mass layoff.

But, back on topic.  Looks like Mary Failin’ needs to issue another tax cut.

That'll save the day

That's what the RWRE wants...a theocracy, modeled along the lines of what Iran has enjoyed for decades.  About 60% of Republicans want that right now.

And our state clown show is drawing the most psychotic of the psycho's giving us a serious bias as these new people who want that kind of life move in.  Oklahoma is becoming a cult state.  Branch Oklahomavidians have taken over.... Mary Koresh-Failin' ain't quite David, but the next one is coming soon to a Kool-Aid parlor near you!!  (Yeah, I know...mixing metaphors.)

Funny you mention Iran.  With their oil now likely to begin flowing back into the market here in the near future, should help keep oil prices low or lower.  

Thought I heard on the radio the other day that its likely that this year will see Oklahoma's growth go into negative territory.  This last year (whatever time scale they actually use as the beginning and end to a year I don't recall) we were at about .6% growth.   Tulsa is also likely to see population declines.

We really should have been and need to be pushing hard to become competitive in todays world and paying attention to todays trends (and of course histories lessons).  I get so tired of this city, and state, only stepping up to do dramatic things AFTER disaster is sitting squarely in our laps and making itself at home, and not when its walking straight towards us and looking us in the eyes lol.  

Saudi seems to still have the biggest grip on prices.  And they have said for years that they want a price somewhere near $60.  We will see if they continue with that - I am sure they have done a lot of present/future value calculations to come up with a number.


As a nation as well as state - we are always in "knee-jerk" reaction mode.  That's where the second R in RWRE comes from - Reactionary!  If we were thinking ahead - or even just thinking - we would be proactive, which would give us more progress, which leads us to be more progressive, which would benefit everyone (not just the "chosen", entitled ones) which is exactly opposite what the RWRE wants for the country.  And yet, half of us still buy into their BS.... go figure...

I just have to ask.

Why do some of you prefer to keep a high state income tax?

So how would you fill the shortfall we currently have?  Ad valorem/property tax increase?  Increase the state sales tax?

I wouldn't mind getting rid of the state government/taxes all together and just letting the cities take over the taxing and spending of their own money. Versus us sending our money a hundred miles a way so that some bureaucracy there can skim off a portion and us have to spend a lot of time and effort begging for what remains back and then watch as we constantly get gipped in the process. 

You think the cities would do any better?  I really don't hold much faith in local government either.

 

Only problem with that is how do we fund state roads, state parks, and other functions currently taken care of by state government like a legislature which passes anachronistic laws which make us look like total flat-earthers?

Let the private sector do the roads, and if say we want rail between cities we can coordinate, perhaps with federal gov help to do that.  As for State Parks, I am sure the people that are interested in such things (philanthropists, nature/environmental groups. history buffs, etc.) can coordinate something better to do that if they want.

Because we have failing infrastructure, failing schools, and failing public health. Because we are a poor state that cannot fund these thing from regressive use taxes. Because the tactic of the last 20 years of "cutting our way to prosperity" has increased the concentration of wealth to the detriment of most people while simultaneously increasing the failures stated above. Not too mention a litany of other failures (public services, parks, arts, etc. etc. etc.)

Im happy to consider alternatives, but the status quo has led to failure. The answer isn't to double down on the cuts...

First, what do you consider high??  Our progressive tax peaks at about 5 1/4% or so...and it has only been since Mary Failin's cutting binge that we have given huge tax cuts to the richest and massive spending cuts - to the tune of 25% per child - in education.

And then there are roads and all the topics cannon_fodder talked about....

Okrahoma has failed - due to all the 'sauerkrauts' we have attracted here.  When we take Mississippi's place at number 50, we have failed - and that is where we are today.

Let's look at one way that might work. A private sector company takes over all state, county and city roads and highways. To generate revenue to pay for them they decide that they are going to charge every registered vehicle $10.00 for every 100 miles driven. You will have to pay to have a device installed in your car to monitor an report miles driven, as well as if tampering is done, or if repairs are made to the vehicle you will have to pay a re-certification fee. To offset the cost of the equipment, an a lower insurance rate for the owner, this company has worked out a deal with the insurance companies to supply them with your driving habits. And for lower income people there will be an assistance program provided by the state paid for by a $.35/gallon user fee at the pump. (emergency vehicles would be exempt)

Fixing our roads is quite simple.

Our gas tax is 17 cents per gallon. The national average is 30.48.
Our Diesel tax is 14 cents per gallon. The national average is 30.1.

We have the fourth worst roads and the fourth lowest gas taxes.   

$.02/gal cheaper than Arizona that has really good roads, and almost $.15/gal cheaper than Oregon with really crappy roads.

http://www.api.org/~/media/files/statistics/gasoline-tax-map.pdf (http://www.api.org/~/media/files/statistics/gasoline-tax-map.pdf)

Edit: additional info;


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_taxes_in_the_United_States (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_taxes_in_the_United_States)

So that makes the Oklahoma taxes on gasoline $.17/gal plus $.18.4/gal federal for $.35.4/gal. Arizona gasoline taxes are $.19/gal and Oregon is $.31.7/gal is almost twice what Oklahoma fuel tax is.

This map is better, move your pointer to a state and it shows the breakdown for that state.

Gasoline
http://www.api.org/oil-and-natural-gas-overview/industry-economics/fuel-taxes/gasoline-tax (http://www.api.org/oil-and-natural-gas-overview/industry-economics/fuel-taxes/gasoline-tax)

Diesel
http://www.api.org/oil-and-natural-gas-overview/industry-economics/fuel-taxes/diesel-tax (http://www.api.org/oil-and-natural-gas-overview/industry-economics/fuel-taxes/diesel-tax)

It is undisputed that maintaining infrastructure takes money.

Roads are REALLLLY easy to fund as a use tax. The gas tax is so simple. It inherently charges larger vehicles that are harder on the roads MORE. It inherently charges people that drive MORE. It inherently brings the revenue in where people tend to drive.

So even with a clear need everyone agrees on and a method of funding that nearly everyone agrees is almost perfect, it still doesn't happen because "taxes bad."

The miles driven tax might make sense when electric becomes more common, but it will have to be a formula. Miles driven x weight x multiplier = taxes owe. The problem there is that the tax will be a sudden hit, and ergo, most people can't pay it AND the incentive to cheat goes WAY up.

I hesitate posting after the private message from Davazz. I fear he's the same stalker who detoured me from this site a few years ago, found me on a new site, posted my full name and addy and has obviously returned. Chavazz, probably. SIGH!

I don't have the answer about how to replace the money from state income tax. All I know is that my state has none and we aren't in the red. (not bragging, just sayin') Property taxes here are considerably higher then in OK, even though there was a 30% cut when gambling was legalized several years ago. A huge portion of the gambling money was supposed to go to education, but no one seems to believe that actually happened. Naturally, that makes rent higher here then in OK except for the itty bitty towns that have nothing left.

We have no toll roads. Do you have a wheel tax? Ours just went up to $4 per wheel. Our license plates have gone up, but are still cheaper then many states. ($43 for a 2010 Chevy)

We have a high hotel tax, but part of it is a "TIF" and goes to fund projects in our cities. I believe the rate is 14%.  Tax here is 7% and part of that is a city tax. The tax on food is 6%. I believe Tulsa's tax is 9%, but I don't know if that includes food or if it's all state tax.

The map that was posted does show that gas taxes are much less in OK then here. Cigarette tax is higher here also. So I don't know what a better alternative would be. Just asking.

Davazz is back?

I am confident that even if any new/increased gas tax was dedicated to roads that nothing would improve.  Oklahoma seems to have a history of dedicating a new/increased tax and then taking the money already being spent on something and then diverting it to somewhere else.

I don’t see any scenario where that works.  Too many people expect someone else to pick up their share of the load when it comes to public infrastructure and amenities.

Yes, I've been busy for several days and haven't been here, but when I returned today, I had message number 2 from him. I reported when I got the first message and reported him again.

I haven't been here long enough.... what is a 'davazz' ?

And there is an FOTD in the past that seems to incite strong emotions... same kinda people?

Similar as in they are/were just terrible trolls that were banned under multiple user names. In FOTD's case, many, many user names. Very different in that FOTD is a very liberal burned out stoner hippy type and Davazz was always pissed if any poors came into his line of vision. I think both are older. I thought Davazz had moved onto some walled off wealthy enclave outside of Tulsa and was going to never be heard from again. I always expect FOTD to turn up again.

I don't know what state you are in, but it is guaranteed that the differences are made up somewhere else besides income tax.  All states have different methods, but it all gets to the goal of funding the necessary (and some frivolous, unnecessary) functions.

Property tax is one that I consider to be an abomination since everything about it is taxed along the way - repeatedly - before starting the ongoing taxation.  But I also don't have a better way for funding the things they fund....  I have family that is literally being priced out of their houses - two of them from places that they built by hand, stick by stick, with every member of the family visiting from time to time to hammer a nail or put on a shingle or install cabinets or some other contribution.  Paid the onerous sales taxes on all house components.  Paid the retail price for the help that was hired - concrete work for footings - which included a taxed component.  Paid for tools, supplies, etc - all taxed.  And then get to pay ongoing taxes forever just to be able to stay and sit in the place they bought, paid for, and built 30+ years ago.  It is the American version of feudal Europe - ya gotta pay the "Lords and Ladies".  At least we aren't taxed to the point of being starved out of our country like so many Irish were.... yet...

One has already moved just to avoid the obscene escalation of taxes.  They were in a "classic" situation like the small towns around Tulsa.  People would come out to the rural areas, "love" what they saw in terms of lifestyle in a small town environment - getting away from the 'hustle and bustle' of 'big city life'.  Leave the crime behind.  Leave the city schools behind.  Leave the traffic behind - that sure backfired on all!  And so on.  Then move there with 100,000 of their closest friends bringing with them all the garbage they professed to desire to leave behind.  HOA anyone?  

Or 67 acres of cow pasture that has been brought into the city limits of Broken Arrow against the will of all the people in the area, so they can pay a water bill that doesn't provide city water...or city sewer...or city trash collection.  And the added benefit of now finding themselves INSIDE the area where they MUST keep the pasture mowed to less than 12" height or face consequences - fines.  Since the new-from-the-city-clown doesn't like pasture!  Tell me again why they moved to the country??  Any city slicker ever actually look at pasture?  Or have a clue as to what it is?  Or what it is for??  (Clues; making hay and feeding cattle.)

The people who have been there for decades are being bulldozed by the newbies who came out to make their Bass Pro Shop, and Rhema Cult, and what is becoming First Baptist Cult.  Small town America has been destroyed by the plague of locusts fleeing the city.  Broken Arrow.  Jenks.  Bixby.  Owasso.  Sapulpa.  Sand Springs.

Goes totally to the "growth for growth's sake" I and others have talked about for years.

Wonder if FOTD was also Teatownclown...?  Haven't seen him around for a while either.

As for the wealthy enclave - ha!  That's topical - see my previous note!  He is one of "those" guys....

Yes, he was Teatownclown and many others. Many of his names were Grateful Dead related.

That's what I like about this forum. Non-judgmental, seldom into name calling, open to different views and always welcoming to all generations including "older people". Wait. Sorry, wrong forum.

I thought all those named monikers were pretty entertaining and occasionally enlightening. Now Friendly Bear? Not so much.

I think Friendly Bear was an FOTD (Friend of the Devil). Aoxomoxoa. Etc. Friendly Bear...

(http://www.gypsyrose.com/products/images/products/preview/ph1280.jpg)

Anyway, cities grow. Things change. It would be up to those small towns to protect their growth with smart development. Same with the rural property owners. If you buy land "in the country" but "close enough" to the city, it is just a matter of time before it becomes city land. Now, if you buy land in Adair County, or whatever, you have some confidence that you can remain rural for your life. But if you work in the city, shop in the city, and recreate in the city--- all you really want is to flirt with rural life and be close enough to the city.

What happened to learning form Kansas?

FOTD and Davazz had tendencies to PM some crazy.

As far as the other stuff, I do judge, I name call, I decide my own views and scoff at others' and I take issue with people, young or old, being on my lawn.

You answered that already.

You are my brother, father , grandfather or father in law from the sixties. In personality anyway.

Uranus, Friendly Bear, Aoxomoxoa, Teatownclown, FOTD, there were others I can’t recall now. All the same person.  I didn’t have a problem with his views and actually agreed with him more than not. But his overwhelming shtick was unhinged mocking condescension with a dash of racism. He was very tiring.

Davazz on the other hand was bigoted and elitist. His overwhelming shtick also was unhinged mocking condescension but his version had a whole helping of thinly veiled racism. Man he hated himself some poor people, usually non-white poor people.

Then there was Pluto/Shadows. Poor Neptune was surrounded.

Anyway, back on topic.

Rock Chalk!

We are talking Kansas, right?

99% sure Friendly Bear wasn’t Aox.  FB made some pretty nasty comments about George Kaiser which seemed to be anti-semetic.  Since Aox’s family came from similar lineage, pretty sure it wasn’t him.  I’m guessing Shadows may have crossed to the next dimension, we haven’t heard from him in a few years.

"Here’s Woeful New Economic Report Gov. Sam Brownback Doesn’t Want Kansans to See" (http://Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/yael-t-abouhalkah/article32851836.html#storylink=cpy) - The Kansas City Star, 8/31/2015

The guy ran on a platform of getting Kansas ahead economically. His staff would publish this report on their website with taglines about how HIS administration was going to change the economic climate in Kansas.  And he did - slashing taxes, cutting liberal education spending, reducing quality of life spending, etc. Which made the climate overall much worse in Kansas. And the economy tanked.

All of a sudden, they don't post the report and they don't reference it.

Surely our leadership is taking notes from Kansas, learning how to hide failure.

If oil doesn't rebound, we might make Kansas look good next year.

Why we can't learn to live within our means, and learn that oil is a boom or bust industry, is truly striking. Our politicians with oil money are like the alcoholic who only works until he has enough to drink, then quits and spends it all... only to realize he messed up and beg for his job back.

"Hey oil is high, we're frikken rich! We can surely cut taxes and still pay for deferred maintenance on all our infrastructure and get our schools up to the regional standard. No way oil falls this time!"

Our leadership can't learn anything real from anyone.  I have family who moved here from Kansas, and as with most things they are astonished at both extremes - how OK is better than KS and how OK is so much worse than KS.  Lotta crazy to go around in both places - just seems to cover different "bases".


Diversion;
Can't fault Aox on musical taste, though.  Good stuff...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfjjwlPGBAI

Oklahoma Treasurer: Major Revenue Streams Down in October

http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/oklahoma-treasurer-major-revenue-streams-down-october (http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/oklahoma-treasurer-major-revenue-streams-down-october)

Definite sign to the legislature we need to cut taxes more.

I call shenanigans. We are producing more gas and more oil. While oil prices are down, the increase in production should help offset the decrease in price. We have more residents earning more money. The massive deficits is not "due to the oil bust," it is due to lies, deceit, and mismanagement. Even if oil revenues would have stayed steady, we would still be hundreds of millions in the hole.

Fun facts:
- gas production is up 25% since 2010 (http://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/ng_prod_sum_dcu_sok_a.htm)  (natural gas prices are about where they were in 2010)
- Oklahoma oil production has nearly doubled since 2010 (http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MCRFPOK2&f=M) (the price of oil is 62% of what it was in 2010 (http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/prices.cfm))

By the numbers, we should easily be drawing more revenue from gas than we did in 2010. We should be losing a little, but not a ton of money on oil revenue compared to 2010 (prices down, production up). It is possible that the latest production numbers are WAY, WAY down... but I doubt it. Shutting down an existing well doesn't make sense for most producers. The guys I know involved haven't shut wells down anyway.

That is to say, unless some sort of tax breaks went into effect for new oil and gas production. (https://stateimpact.npr.org/oklahoma/tag/gross-production-tax/) If we reduced the standard tax rate from 7% to 2%, and extended tax breaks for horizontal drilling... that might help explain why we are broke (http://newsok.com/article/4856433).

Or if we eviscerated our tax base with tax cuts, reducing revenue from nearly 50% of all sources, that might explain why we are broke. Too bad no one saw this coming (http://taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org/2015/01/05/oklahoma-pulls-trigger-unaffordable-tax-cut/). I mean, its not like we predicted a $600,000,000 budget shortfall when we voted to put the cuts in to place. (http://www.news9.com/story/29026154/oklahomas-600m-budget-shortfall-has-some-questioning-upcoming-tax-cuts) It would be horrible if such cuts were sold arguing they would increase state revenues at a time when the State already faced a $100mil plus deficit, surely no elected official would make such a statement (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/government/oklahoma-governor-signs-income-tax-cut-into-law/article_9608180c-cf33-11e3-a1f8-0017a43b2370.html?_dc=830983717227.3546).


I think if we cut education a bit more we might have citizens so uneducated they don't realize what the (-) means. Politicians can then claim fiscal responsibility, declare victory, give themselves raises, and pass a constitutional amendment declaring themselves benevolent rulers for life.

Oil busts in Oklahoma are a guarantee. It isn't if, it is when. Did we really expect oil/gas revenue to pick up all the slack? Add in repeated tax cuts and continued tax loopholes (including for what was then BOOMING oil and gas producers) and the outcome was easily predictable.

I'm going to quit my job and then act SHOCKED when checks start bouncing...

Are taxes on oil a flat amount per bbl or are they a percent of the sales price?

Natural gas prices have been relatively flat since 2010 (seasonal changes excepted).  If production is up, there should definitely be more tax revenue.

It is 2% of the produced value at the wellhead for the first three years, 7% thereafter, unless other incentives apply (which they will, after 3 years you can "enhance" the well and apply for secondary recovery tax breaks).

The production rate was set at 7% for decades. Special incentives went into play for directional drilling, when Oklahoma production started falling off and oil prices were down (late 1994), that allowed producers to be taxed at 1% until the well paid off (essentially, the state assumed some of the risk of the producer).  When the boom came back and fracking made old wells profitable and new wells possible, the tax break was set to automatically expire and the rate was set to go back to 7%. Instead of letting it expire our benevolent overlords expanded it to include all new production for 3 years at a rate of 2%. There are other incentives, payments, and exemptions for various wells.

Remember, if we didn't cut production taxes on oil and gas --- they would have just move their oil wells to Wisconsin.

Somehow Texas is able to tax production at 4.6% plus a penny per barrel for environmental assessment. Alaska has a base 35% production tax (http://www.tax.alaska.gov/programs/programs/index.aspx?60650) + up to 5 cents per barrel environmental fee.   Louisiana has a base rate of 12%.  (http://revenue.louisiana.gov/SeveranceTaxes/Oil) Many states add in environmental taxes, ad valorem taxes, and other various revenue streams. Like everything else, Oklahoma has convinced ourselves that the only way we can compete is by being cheaper than everyone else

Oil and gas severance is less than 7% of Oklahoma's tax revenue (http://okpolicy.org/gross-production-tax). We rely on oil and gas tax a little more than Colorado does. So blaming the revenue from oil and gas after slashing the tax, banking on record setting prices, and knowing it is a limited part of our revenue - is not a serious statement.

Wow, cannon...you are starting to sound like me...  Be careful with that - you might become outcast!

Falling Oil Prices Hit Levels Not Seen Since 2009

http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/falling-oil-prices-hit-levels-not-seen-2009 (http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/falling-oil-prices-hit-levels-not-seen-2009)


Told you that story to tell you this one:

Overall Oklahoma Revenue Collections Continue to Fall

http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/overall-oklahoma-revenue-collections-continue-fall (http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/overall-oklahoma-revenue-collections-continue-fall)

INCOME TAX - our largest source of revenue, was actually up. Production taxes only make up 7% of the total. Yet we have a $1BIL budget shortfall.

Makes total sense.

THANK GOD YOU GOT SOME FISCAL CONSERVATIVES IN THERE TO STRAIGHTEN OUT OUR BUDGET PROBLEMS.

Liars. There is a difference between actually being fiscally conservative and just wanting to kill government revenue.

One of the failed candidates for Senate District 34 said the state has a spending problen, not a revenue problem, and his plan to fix it involved "re-prioritizing" the budget. He did not delve into specifics, of course, but I took that to mean more robbing Peter to pay Paul. We've already seen money taken from education handed out as tax breaks to the wealthiest Oklahomans. Do you think that in a spirit of civic-mindedness they'd give it back?

Was that the replacement for Brinkley (Who managed to fix his own revenue and spending problem with other’s money)?

Yep. He used creative finance. Senate District 34 includes Owasso and extends west to Sperry and Skiatook, I think.

State revenue failure declared with $900 million budget hole projected

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cUai8A-CZ00/VZNxK38WHMI/AAAAAAAAEXM/RRgE4LzpTHg/s320/bankruptcy.jpg)

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/capitol_report/state-revenue-failure-declared-with-million-budget-hole-projected/article_b3c4bc20-9b17-59c4-8ebb-bd074d4d45d8.html (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/capitol_report/state-revenue-failure-declared-with-million-budget-hole-projected/article_b3c4bc20-9b17-59c4-8ebb-bd074d4d45d8.html)

Revenue Failure "All But Certain" for Oklahoma

And Doerflinger's blaming OPEC...

http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/revenue-failure-all-certain-oklahoma (http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/revenue-failure-all-certain-oklahoma)

It's the fault of the Oklahoma legislature for expecting the windfall of oil prices to continue and not try to do something about it before the bottom fell out.  Can't blame OPEC for this.  Everyone knows how volatile the oil market is (I sure do, as it drives the company I work for...but they actually diversified so it won't impact us too badly) and Oklahoma should have built in a bigger 'cushion'.

I love blaming OPEC.  They are a cartel of largely suspect countries who manipulate oil prices to increase their own wealth and put geopolitical pressure on their "enemies." What they have done the last couple of years is stop being an effective cartel and let the market drive the price of oil.

Stupid market economics!

I know it is hurting Oklahoma. I know it really is effecting revenue. But if Oklahoma isn't clear that oil booms turn into oil busts, then we probably are not capable of learning any budget lesson.

Time to cut taxes again.  You know, to raise revenue ’n’ stuff.

Where is that Cabbage guy, Sauerkraut? He could 'splain all this to us. It can't be poor state leadership.

He probably can’t stand to show his face around here anymore since Obama was responsible for high gas prices and all.

So the cuts are hitting education now and our good governess sees no need for new taxes or a special session. There's a funny/sad article on the Lost Ogle about how to shore up education funding in oklahoma:
http://www.thelostogle.com/2016/01/12/8-ways-to-raise-money-for-oklahoma-education/

In that article, I found this:
(http://www.thelostogle.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/pam-pollard-facebook-post-429x400.jpg)

Another cray/cray random wingbat facebook posting? Certainly, Yes, but with a twist. Pam Pollard is the Chair of the Oklahoma Republican Party. Seriously.

http://kfor.com/2015/10/11/pam-pollard-wins-the-vote-becomes-okgop-chair/

Workforce ready?

They wouldn't even have the qualifications to work at my little store.

They'd be ready to Pam Pollard Jesus though

Wait.   I didn't read the article first, and just read the comment.  I thought it was somebody being overly sarcastic, and doing an excellent job of parodying the wing-nuts.   Is this seriously a real comment by a real person in a position of relative standing in OK?  Good.  Effing. God.     The level of "you have got to be kidding me" is so high here I don't even know how to react.

I thought that entire thing was written in sarcasm font.

However, his facebook post pretty well lines up with the written platform of the Oklahoma Republic Party, so I'm not surprised. Saddened, yes.

Just think, we could have the same stellar educational system as Somalia or Yemen. Kids stay home and study religion.

Yeah but the girls get to cook!

The Lost Ogle reminds me of Phoenix New Times an LA Weekly http://www.voicemediagroup.com/ (http://www.voicemediagroup.com/) an alternative news publication. I take the article and Pam's comment as a load of sarcasm based on a real issue.

Creeped her FB.  Pam's comment does not appear to be sarcasm.

It's Oklahoma... yeah, it's real.

My bad. Went back an re-read her comment an picked up this lovely nugget of nuttieness.......

"You can save money on text books by using the family Bible which teaches a LOT of science, history, geography, psychology, sociology and even grammar and vocabulary."

(https://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/michelle-dobyne.jpg)

Apparently the state GOP isn’t capable of nutting up and increasing income taxes with no end in sight of dropping oil prices nor any clue when oil prices might return to higher levels.  Even with budget cuts, there will still be government waste- it is what government appears to do best.  Personally, I don’t want to live in a state which resembles Afghanistan due to reduction in essential services and education, I’d gladly pay more in personal taxes to offset losses from oil revenue to the state.

Bloodletting. Once the waste and evil spirits are drained out, then we can get healthy again. If the patient isn't comatose. (Trumpies...this is satire)

I heard on the radio this morning that budget cuts will further reduce the number of levy and dam inspectors in Oklahoma. We currently have 9 for the several thousand dams and levies we have. We can receive something like $30mil in matching federal funds if we meet our funding obligations of $18mil a year.  We haven't met that in years and certainly won't this year...  so we will let the dams/levies continue to crumble until a disaster happens, then beg Uncle Sam for cash and launch investigations into how this could have happened.

Same story with Medicaid expansion. When we are flat broke we will beg for the "free" money and whine that the "free" period is over and we have to immediately do a 2% match (or whatever).

Highway funds.

Police funds.

Anything that requires a state match, we're probably losing out on.

I'm not worried about losing funding for quality of life projects, while I think its stupid to cut museums, art, music, parks and other quality of life items first - I get it. Times are tough and Oklahoma City sees those things as luxuries. But even the most right wing anti-tax guy has to understand that "deferring" spending on roads, bridges, and other capital projects simply costs us more money down the road, and costs us commerce in the mean time. Cutting spending on education at all levels is like Pfizer cutting its R&D budget, the immediate impact might be minimal, but you have mortgaged long term gains.

But hey, with me tax savings I can go see a movie with my family. So there's that.

You give the RWRE  WAAAYYYYY too much credit!!  They not only don't 'have' to understand - they don't actually understand.  And the most unbelievable part of it is how many of them really aren't very well off, but continue to vote directly against their own self-interest for people who do real physical and financial harm to them!!


To save MAYBE a couple hundred bucks a year on a $100 k income...probably noticeably less...

Or $20 on a $50 k income.

I love the World headline, "Yes! We Are Angry!"

Other than Kasich, that pretty much sums up the republican candidates this time but especially Trump. And what do humans do when they don't understand what's happening around them? They get angry.

Trump adds a little more negativity than the others though. Even his tag line, "Let's Make America Great Again!" is weird. America is great. We don't poison our political opponents. We are a magnet for masses yearning to be free and we are among the greatest in personal wealth the world has ever seen. He has taken the "negative sell" technique to new levels of success.

"Let's make America great again!" It clearly resonates with some but it's sorely lacking on details. Most of The Donald's slogans are like that and he bristles at supplying any real information.

You can fool some of the people all of the time and apparently that applies to about 35% of registered Republicans. It's depressing.

I want to know if he is talking about going back to Obamas first term with massive government expansion on healthcare and unreal corporate bailouts -  or back to the wars, economic collapse, unemployment, and ballooning budgets under Bush II. Maybe the scandals, gun control and isolationism under Clinton. The economic wobbles and malaise of Bush I. The ridiculous increases in budget, giving missiles to Iran and WMDs to Iraq, government toppling, apartheid support, gun control and granting of immigration amnesty under Reagan. The energy crisis, economic downturn and water treading done under Carter. Whateverthehell Ford did. The antics of Nixon. Or go way back to when we had high corporate taxes, high tax rates on the rich, and high union membership?

I need him to define an era we are to emulate. Or, I guess, general platitudes and vague Golden Age statements are probably enough to run a country.

Maybe back to the days when his father refused to rent apartments to blacks?
http://gawker.com/woody-guthrie-despised-his-landlord-donald-trumps-racis-1754282007

The contrived energy crisis was in Nixon's regime.  OPEC, in conjunction with Big Oil and our CIA sat down and applied "Harvard School of Business" analysis to how to make money in oil move faster, thereby creating larger profits (turns per year along with higher prices).  OPEC was still unsophisticated enough at that point in time that they didn't realize they could make such a thing as the Burj Kalifa if they just charged us a little more for oil.  If ya have a barrel of oil you sell for $2.50 and make 20%...well that is nowhere as good as a barrel at $5.00 and make 20%.  Simple calculation that they were taught by US.

And while the mideast has been a huge mess for hundreds of years, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi worked as the figurehead after the early 50's CIA coup that got rid of the constitutional monarchy that had been around for 30 years or so.  Breeding even more of the hatred in the area...and leading to the 1979 revolution.

But the Shah saw the benefit of higher oil prices along with Saudi and everyone else that formed OPEC, so we had a crisis.

Ford did a couple things - first pardoned Nixon, which, as much as I disliked Nixon, was the best thing any President could have done at the time.  Put an end to that insanity. 

Second was his use of the veto and the way he worked with Congress...very well.  He vetoed more bills per year than any modern President and made them stick.  For a guy that was only around for about 2 1/2 years...not too shabby.

Carter was another one who inherited a gawd-awful mess...the contrived energy crisis of 1979 was not a new one, it was the continuation of the 1974 mess.  The economic problems both he and Ford had to deal with came directly from the bungling of the end of VietNam era of carp.  And 11% inflation!!  BUT, wage and price controls...Really??   ID10T-ic.  But what can one expect from Nixon?

Inflation was a continuation and as for unemployment...well, if Carter's was "catastrophically bad at 7.2 peak for one year, what does that make Reagan's 3 year numbers of 1981 at 7.6%.  1982 at 9.7%.  And 1983 at 9.6%.  But by 1984 we did manage to get back down to 7.5%.  STILL higher than Carter's worst year!

The lies and spreading of uncertainty goes on by both parties to a certain degree.  But it is obvious that the Republicontin's are master's and do SO much more of it, that the Dems pale by comparison.

Oh, yeah...we haven't even touched on the fact that at the end of Carter's last fiscal year, those "deficit" monger Dems had racked up $900 billion in national debt....in 200 years.  By the end of Raygun's last fiscal year we were at $2.6 trillion.  290% increase in 8 years!

And how the last year of Baby Bush added $1.9 trillion to the debt.  And the end of Obama's first fiscal year the adder was $1.65 trillion - that's a 15% reduction while fighting Baby Bush's record recession.  By the end of fiscal 2015, there was $330 billion added to the debt.  That is a reduction of over 80%.  While bringing the longest economic recovery in the history of the planet - anywhere, anytime.  But Faux News still says we are in 'shambles'....yeah, right.


As for those high taxes - well they also had high exemptions...50% and better, bringing real tax rates a whole lot closer to today's.  Rockefeller was the one specifically targeted with the 95% income tax rate and he never paid anywhere near that after adjustments.

I saw a cool headline somewhere on the net,"REPUBLICANS PROMISE ON THE FIRST DAY OF THEIR PRESIDENCY TO REPEAL THE TWENTIETH CENTURY!"

Oklahoma health commissioner proposes $1.50 cigarette tax increase

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/state/oklahoma-health-commissioner-proposes-cigarette-tax-increase/article_dc3729a6-fb98-521d-bb8b-a861d3685050.html (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/state/oklahoma-health-commissioner-proposes-cigarette-tax-increase/article_dc3729a6-fb98-521d-bb8b-a861d3685050.html)

Argh.

That would mean we are funding education with a source we are actively trying to eliminate. That seems like a good long term plan.

While I have no affinity for cigarettes, and taxing them to pay for healthcare and prevent youth smoking is open season as far as Im concerned, unrelated taxes on an unpopular product seems like a dubious proposition. Next we tax beer to pay for roads?

Yeah, that.  I guess you get the money where you can.  It sure as hell isn't going to come from successful state governance.

Oil-Field Tax Break Authored by Senate President Benefits His Employer

https://stateimpact.npr.org/oklahoma/2016/01/27/oil-field-tax-break-authored-by-senate-president-benefits-his-employer/ (https://stateimpact.npr.org/oklahoma/2016/01/27/oil-field-tax-break-authored-by-senate-president-benefits-his-employer/)

(https://stateimpact.npr.org/oklahoma/files/2016/01/brian-bingman.jpg)

PLUS the 25% or so who are Cruz fans...that's 60% of Republicontins!!

Suspension of Tax Credits Likely to Impact Poor

http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/suspension-tax-credits-likely-impact-poor (http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/suspension-tax-credits-likely-impact-poor)

Kansas has given up on learning. Education budget cut in half. Teacher pensions on the block. Tax cuts for the rich untouched. Suddenly, Oklahoma doesn't look so bad to those teachers who fled to the north?
From Esquire magazine:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/today-fiasco-great-state-kansas-193055028.html

State budget hole grows to more than $1 billion

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/capitol_report/state-budget-hole-grows-to-more-than-billion/article_91a29555-4b75-52f9-a632-1efafeb3ba60.html (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/capitol_report/state-budget-hole-grows-to-more-than-billion/article_91a29555-4b75-52f9-a632-1efafeb3ba60.html)


Well...glad it's not a surprise at least...

Well, here is the quandary. How can this be blamed on (godless) Democrats, Liberals, Obama, Socialists and Planned Parenthood? We elected almost all conservative Republicans to the state house, a conservative Republican Governor and tons of good conservative business minded Christian appointees along with conservative Republican mayors, state Senators and Congressmen. Our conservative credentials are impeccable.

How could this have happened in such a red state?

Its Obamas fault ya silly goon. Geesh   Oh, and gay people getting married and all the illegal immigrants.

Government operates best when there is a variety of opinions both heard, and that must be reckoned with in order to proceed. When any single ideology can brush aside all others, it almost always leads to disaster.  When the liberals had cart blanch in California, they drove it into the ground with overspending (not having the courage or political capital to raise taxes to pay for what they wanted to spend). I'm confident an all Democratic house, senate and governor with no meaningful dissent could eventually find a way to go overboard and turn their ideology into governmental disaster.

But there is no doubt that the conservative dream has been tested in Kansas, and tested in Oklahoma. Low taxes, gutting public education, low spending on everything but police state infrastructure ("tough on crime"), fight against unions, removal or degradation of safety nets and social programs, an attitude that poor people don't need help - they need to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps," and a focus of government on what it thinks the morality of its people should be.

It hasn't worked well at all. Poor people are poorer. Uneducated people are more uneducated. Good jobs have not come flooding in. (and I'm discounting both the boom, and bust from the oil field)

Time to go back to a democracy with mixed opinions, divergent views, and compromise.

Aside from all this, which I do agree with, <$30bbl oil is at the heart of the short-fall.

Five years ago when we designed and started building steam generators, oil had remained steady over $75/bbl for six months.  At any point over the next three years or so, most people thought $60/bbl was the lowest oil would ever go again.  We had tested around $150/bbl in 2008 and it stayed in and around $75-$100/bbl from late ’09 forward.

The state, much like many in the oil business, hired and spent (and cut personal income tax) with the assumption $30 oil was long a thing of the past.  A “bust” would have been $50/bbl, instead WTI was almost 1/2 that the other day.

Lack of diversification and and too much palm greasing

Its not like it was unpredictable. It just wasn't predicted. Its kind of like gambling. If you're an addict you know you can lose, you just never expect or plan for it.

I know these cycles are devastating to the industry and to state revenues but these guys ran as conservatives on platforms of fiscal responsibility as opposed to the more moderate or liberal candidates who wouldn't or couldn't put "conservative for...." on their push-in signs. They must be accountable instead of blaming the energy industry or internet taxation.

It was their job to make sure we had enough money/taxation to pay our bills, diversify our economy and advance our state. They instead spent an inordinate amount of time, energy and credibility trying to vanquish their enemies and set up a theocratic state which accomplished none of those goals.

sauerkraut.  Breadburner.

But we need more money for education because educators dont put up a fight when it comes time to grease the corrections donors.

Major pay raise for Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers, other state laws take effect  http://newsok.com/article/5380982

One month later:  OKLAHOMA CITY — An short-staffed Highway Patrol can no longer afford to hire new troopers due to the state's ongoing budget crisis, officials
said this week.  The only reason the agency can train its latest crop of 35 recruits, who started a 20-week training course in late January, is because the Turnpike Authority has agreed to pick up the roughly $5 million tab.

So while Rome was burning and Nero was fiddling around:

-School consolidation has been shot down

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/capitol_report/school-consolidation-bill-shut-down-in-committee-after-opponents-swarm/article_9ff7fb36-f142-51bd-b528-27fdfc25c929.html

-A bill requiring anti-abortion curriculum is advancing in the house, it also authorizes state-funded PSA’s.


Life beginning at conception is a concept up to religious interpretation (primarily Christian), so that is basically advancing one religion over others, or lack thereof.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/capitol_report/bill-that-would-require-anti-abortion-school-curriculum-advances-in/article_3ae38786-0b0b-5dfc-ad1c-ac816edf3fe2.html

-School vouchers passed committee

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/education/school-vouchers-eke-through-oklahoma-house-committee/article_1d2cc1bc-8c5d-5bc7-b80e-db7c7e63b974.html

And, of course, four new bills have been introduced to bring the Ten Commandments back to the Capitol grounds.

Good work, OK Legislature!

Watched Oklahoma Horizon on OETA this weekend. Always impressed with their even handed approach to Oklahoma issues. The more learned, experienced legislators are all over this shortage with analysis of the budget problems and insightful solutions. Then there are the idealogues that merely pass off the shortage as growing pains in our process of weening ourselves from high taxation and Federal intervention. And of course they prevail.

It was pointed out that the legislature is aware of Kansas' problems but note that they merely weened themselves too quickly. Oklahoma on the other hand intent on spreading the pain out over a ten year period. So, there ain't no learning going on. Its slow motion bankruptcy.

Of note is this sobering fact. About 40% of Oklahoma's budget is dependent on matching funds from Federal programs. They intend to let those funds go to other states so we can be....self sustaining. So, our federal taxes are helping other states but we have the moral high ground. The view isn't so good from the moral high ground.

That high "moral" (immoral) ground is from the bottom of a $1 billion hole.




Today's Oklahoma legislative minute....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeg&list=RDInRDF_0lfHk&index=25

So basically, they figure Oklahoma should be a 100% donor state.  Got it.

Isn't that really wealth redistribution?  And by proxy communism?

 :o

Da! And dis is your new government home.


(http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/147657/81b15es.jpg)

See? Everybody same now commrade.  ;)

You have to remember, most of the legislators were educated in, well, Oklahoma shcools.  Need I say more?

Or worse yet - home schooled.

They couldn’t have all been schooled at Sally Kern’s house.

Interesting fact. Sally's husband, Steve Kern is not just a pastor at a large Baptist church in OKC but is also a PROFESSOR at Hillsdale Freewill Baptist College in Moore.

Ideologically, Oklahoma has made it very clear that we oppose abortion. I doubt there is anyone in the nation, let alone in the Great State of Oklahoma, who does not understand this.  The point has been made, the horse that made the point died, we then beat that horse for a decade, and now we are riding that pulp off into the sunset. Lets all just agree: abortion is not a desired outcome and it is in our interest to try and reduce the abortion rate.

Before we get to that sunset, there is a fork in the road.

One direction continues on the direction we have been going for fifty years. It is subject to much contentious litigation which it loses more often than not, at great expense. Statistically, it has little or no impact on "unwanted" pregnancies and little impact on the abortion rate. But it allows legislatures to pander to constituents.

The other fork leads down a path that actually addresses the underlining problem. It has been shown to reduce "unwanted" pregnancies (including the teen birth rate) and significantly reduce the abortion rate. It correlates extremely well with increased health initiative in many ancillary areas and reduces dependency on medicaid and other social welfare programs. In other words, it actually addresses the problem, has the desired result, and saves the state money. But it involves instituting science based curriculum and actually address sexual health with people who are statistically likely to be having sex (there are no gays in Iran, and teenagers in Oklahoma don't have sex).

There is a third option: to put on some rubber boats, stand in the pulp of the dead horse and pretend that we are riding off towards the sunset while we do nothing. And option #3 might actually be more productive than the option we will probably go with. Commence wasting money and obtaining no results.  (please note, I am not trying to take any moral stand whatsoever on abortion, merely that there are proven methods that have been shown to reach our desired goal of reducing the abortion rate and cutting back on "welfare moms." Both goals I agree with.)
- - -


Re the budget hole:  
A) Oklahoma is a poor state. We have always been a poor state.  In 2014, the peak of the oil boom, Oklahoma was #41 for median household income (only a 17% poverty rate!). In 2000, before the boom started, we were 47th. Now, given that most of the states we passed are not oil producing states (Tennessee, Alabama, KY, etc.) - do you think we are likely to move out of the bottom 10 or slump back down?  My money is we slump back down to the bottom 5. We are a poor state, getting poorer.

B) Nationally, the best correlation to earnings is education (http://gizmodo.com/americas-educational-achievement-mapped-1486344148). There are notable exceptions for people who find an opportunity, work hard, and see it through - but by far the best statistical method to increase earnings is to increase education.  (http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm)

C) There is also a painfully clear correlation between taxes and governmental revenue. When taxes go up, revenue goes up. And vica versa. All subject to the unknown diminishing returns of the Laffer curve.   Study (http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/69xx/doc6908/12-01-10PercentTaxCut.pdf) after study (http://www.businessinsider.com/study-tax-cuts-dont-lead-to-growth-2012-9) and various analysis  (http://www.factandmyth.com/taxes/tax-decreases-do-not-increase-revenue), as well as quick and basic math - bear this out.  If we cut tax revenue by 10%, we need the economy to grow by more than 11% to recoup the same tax revenue we lost. And that simply doesn't happen (we recoup less than 1/3rd of the lost revenue). If we want to cut taxes for other reasons, FINE... but don't pretend you are growing the economy.

D) It is also clear that inefficient government and/or too much tax revenue is not the issue. With a solid republican majority in the house, senate, and governors mansion we have carefully set budget priorities. Yet we remain with failing infrastructure, school funding near the bottom of the barrel,  and a massive and growing budget gap. So either our Republican leadership is grafting all the funds, spending it unwisely, or there 'taint enough money.

E) Finally, Oklahoma suffers from an image problem that appears to be costing us economically: we struggle to maintain or attract high quality jobs. Our primary economic selling points are:
- "have oil in the ground;"
- "our citizens are wiling to work with bare minimum rights and for low wages;" and
- "we will pay you to come here either with direct kickbacks, or deferring taxes such that someone else will pay your way."  


Our solutions from our benevolent legislative overlords are:

A) We may be a poor state, but we don't need that money from the hippies in Oregon, California, New York, Maryland and Connecticut. Keep your federal dollars!

B) Educated people may statically make more money, live longer, happier and healthier lives, and cause less societal issues (require less welfare, commit less crimes, etc.) - but we don't need no education. In fact, we can continue to cut education and save them dollars for the casino. Chaaaa Ching!

C) Sure, economics might easily show that lowering taxes will not increase revenue. But we reject your reality and substitute our own. We're rich suckers! More tax cuts all around!

D) "We are out of money because government sucks and everyone who has been running it is corrupt and incompetent. Now reelect me or my anointed successor, Scott Pruitt . What we need is more of the same." (note, i don't care what letter is next to your name. Its funny when your policies have failed and you call them failures, and then insist on doubling down. See, e.g. on the other side, Clinton on the "don't inhale" war on drugs)

E) Image problem schmimage problem. Other than Dollar Thrifty, Citgo, and Hilti - try to name a single fortune 500 company that has moved their HQ away from Tulsa in the last 30 20 10 6 years! Plus, we've added a thousand minimum wage Macy's jobs, the Direct TV call center, and another thousand jobs at Tulsa Hills. We don't have no stinking image problem! We are a pro sports state! What we need is more legislation that is derided by the people in the educated states that are hoarding all the good jobs. That'll do it!


So as you can see, we don't really have any problems.
- - -

Anyone who is surprised by the direction our political leaders are trying to take education just hasn't been pay attention. IT IS THE OKLAHOMA GOP PLATFORM. Here it is. (http://okgop.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/2015_OKGOP_Platform.pdf) Killing off public education is all but a stated goal. It reads closer to a church statement of beliefs, but without the love and forgiveness.  Ironically, this is a lesson we did NOT learn from Kansas when they repeatedly get beat down on the introducing religion via education lesson.

Quick, where is this quote from:


Actually, I barely changed the real quote from the OK GOP Platform:
Can you imagine the outrage at the first sentence?

It goes on and on about advocating the exact thing we all pretend to be surprised by: the "homosexual agenda," making "sodomy" illegal, drug testing welfare recipients, religious freedom to discriminate laws...everything that the media has made fun of and the Facebook Memes have mocked is right there in the platform. Including all of Sally Kern's hate. She isn't an outlier, it's the platform.

Anyway... back on education. Here is what they have to say about education, and I am not using mock quotes:


That's the first sentence in education. Starting off strong by invoking God in the first sentence on educational curriculum more than the founding fathers did in the entire Constitution...


If that isn't clear enough of an intention statement, lets clarify...




Do you think they really want Thomas Jefferson's views on religion taught? Let alone Franklin's?


No, that's not how science class works. "Physicists, astronomers, and geologists might be right - but it is also possible that the Flying Spaghetti Monster touched us all with His Noodly Appendage and the world became his meatball (http://www.venganza.org/about/open-letter/)." Please don't teach my kid that. He's messed up enough as it is. If I want to teach him my religious perspective on how the world was born, I will. Also, pesky matter of the US Constitution forbidding this type of thing for the last couple of generations.

It gets so bad I just have to paste the whole thing:


Not a "historical text," which I would support so long as they are reading a variety of world religious texts (wait, is that multiculturalism?). But they want to use it as a history text. Catholics do not believe the Bible is a literal history lesson, Catholicism is not a fundamentalist religion while some other Christian sects are. Which is one problem trying to have the government teach religion.

- - - - -

I am a fan of private education and I am a fan of religious education. I want to Catholic schools and received a top notch education.  My son went to a Catholic school and they did a great job. But I chose, and my parents before me chose to send the kids to a religious school. And those schools met Federal and State standards for education, in addition to teaching us religious beliefs.  Hijacking the government to teach your religious beliefs to everyone is what they do in Muslim countries in which we claim to hate their religious intolerance.  If you want to have your kid receive a religious education or some other form of education, then pay for it like I am.

Calling for the teaching of your beliefs by the government and doing it in the name of freedom is called hypocrisy. My religious leaders and I will teach my child what I choose to teach him regarding religion, not you. In exchange, I will stand up and insist the government doesn't try to dictate what your religious leaders teach your kids in your place of worship.  If we do it any other way, then the "majority religion" rules and forces their edicts on you - which is why some Pilgrims left England 400 years ago.

I just re-named my beloved Bronco “Mayflower”.

I think Cannon has crushed all the grooves now.

Excellent work.

Post of the year CF! Very well done!

Piling on with the kudos, but that was solid.   Nice post.

The GOP platform. I always wondered what they were up to. Thank you for the link. okgop.com.

It ought to be relabeled okevangelicalbabble.com or "Why the republican party hates itself".

Twenty-five pages of evangelical cable babble a few of which are devoted to state's rights.

Honestly, it looks more like a declaration of war against anyone different.

Have driven by there many times and wondered about that place....now I know.

To be fair and balanced....perhaps we should compare and contrast the Democratic platform. If they have one. Might not be allowed in Oklahoma!

This is the closest I can find on a quick search. http://www.okdemocrats.org/mission-bylaws/

Sounds pretty reasonable and thoughtful in comparison.

Exceptional...as so many of your posts are!


I am gonna blatantly quote and use excerpts.

As State Finances Stumble, Oil and Gas Leaders Rally to End Tax Credits For Wind

https://stateimpact.npr.org/oklahoma/2016/03/17/as-state-finances-stumble-oil-and-gas-leaders-rally-to-end-tax-credits-for-wind/ (https://stateimpact.npr.org/oklahoma/2016/03/17/as-state-finances-stumble-oil-and-gas-leaders-rally-to-end-tax-credits-for-wind/)

Yeah...that's the industry to go after.  Go get'em Oklahoma!

Kansas is trying to move in on our turf - of being the most ignorantly governed state in the Union.....they may be getting there.  What will Oklahoma do next to take the title back...???


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xliMwipXoiA

Recognized Justin Wilfon at 4:42.  Sorry, drift.

Unprofitable Wells Now a Big Tax Break

http://oklahomawatch.org/2016/03/30/unprofitable-wells-now-a-big-tax-break/ (http://oklahomawatch.org/2016/03/30/unprofitable-wells-now-a-big-tax-break/)

We don't believe in the capitalist system here in Oklahoma. You know, that thing where you risk your capital in hopes of making money but if you don't, you take a tax deduction, lick your wounds, regroup and try again. Now, the state has your back and the risk is mitigated with taxpayer money. For the good of all us you know. Really.

Just like when the state can't make its budget and the poor and the schools have their back.
.
Let us all now chant, "Damn Obama. Damn Hillary. Damn Liberals. Damn Socialists. Damn Feds".

I wonder how many of these producers were critical of ethanol subsidies?  This is far worse than crop subsidies.  Cap the damn things off if they aren’t profitable.  It’s not like shelling out all these rebates are going to bring lost oil patch jobs back overnight.

Oklahoma is a kleptocracy run by the oil industry.

This is great...

We can't get rid of oligarchical alcohol laws because it supports jobs.

We give wage rebates to billionaires to pay millionaires to bounce balls in Oklahoma City because jobs.

Big box stores get cheap land, TIFs, and few zoning restrictions because jobs.

Employers whose average wage will qualify for medicaid and other state subsidies gets tens of millions in tax breaks and kickbacks because jobs.

And we pay oil and gas companies who gambled on risky wells and lost, because jobs. Its almost like the system is set up so the winners win more, no matter what. If the market booms, they get lower oil and gas taxes, low corporate taxes, low wages, low workers comp, low regulation, and wrack in the profits. If the market tanks, we pay them to help cover their losses.

I'd love to see an analysis of the net tax from an average oil well in Oklahoma. Deduct the drilling expenses, rebates, and kickbacks. Then draw down the production tax - while offsetting the depreciation. Then back off the rebates when the well becomes unprofitable. Then the deductions when the well is shut down. Then deduct the cost of regulation and services provided to the producer. I'm not saying the State loses in net, but with our structure it certainly is the windfall people would think.


But we hate socialism and we don't need your damn Obamacare money, even if it means the health of our citizens and jobs. Because socialism.

Also, if my business loses money, can the state pay me? Please.

Not "almost like".  It IS exactly.


You can get your losses back by purchasing your own legislators.

Now Kansas legislators want to impeach state supreme court justices because they ruled education cuts were illegal under the constitution. They were but that's not important to those law makers with Rs after their names.

Anyone wanna bet these are the same people who want to return us to constitutional government...except when they don't?

Unfortunately, destroying an independent judiciary is a go-to model for the hard right.

When the Iowa Supreme Court concluded that the Iowa Constitution didn't allow a ban on gay marriage after applying the test for equality that had been spelled out - the right wing set out to oust them. For the first time in history, there was mass turnover on the Iowa Supreme Court. Unfortunately for the right wingers, the new Court affirmed the decision because THEY JUST APPLIED THE LAW.

Who is moving to remove the independence of the Court in Oklahoma and take us back to a system that was destroyed because it was the most corrupt in the nation?

Who wants to control Justices in Kansas?

If what you want to do is unconstitutional and you don't think you change the constitution, you need to eliminate the power of the Judicial branch. When the New Deal was pushing things far left, the same was done to force left wing politics. Just so happens the right is the one pushing that agenda at the moment.

Huh....just shows how wildly distorted our political system has become - and how radically right wing it is.  New Deal was not far left - unless compared to the RWRE Murdochian/Koch agenda.  It was an excellent example of the symbiosis that should exist between government and the people - ALL the people, not just the 1% who have hijacked the agenda and the actual social fabric.  (See Trump/Cruz poll numbers...)

If one were to be a Christian in this country - this would be exactly the type service...social security....that the Man these people profess to follow would approve of.  And it's not welfare, it isn't giving anyone something for free, which the RWRE is trying to paint it - shame on them!   It's an annuity that I and everyone else have paid for.  The 1% agenda has trashed the whole concept of pension in the last 35 years, and now they are working to kill this last one so they can get their hands on that money, too.



"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."  -Mathew 25:40.

But the RWRE wouldn't know about that, since the only part of the Bible they read is the Old Testament...

Tulsa Cuts 142 Teachers

http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/tulsa-cuts-142-teachers (http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/tulsa-cuts-142-teachers)

Oh, Oklahoma - What happens when voters distrust their politicians so much that they bind their hands

http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21699450-what-happens-when-voters-distrust-their-politicians-so-much-they-bind-their-hands-oh (http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21699450-what-happens-when-voters-distrust-their-politicians-so-much-they-bind-their-hands-oh)

Disgusting situation.  We are spiraling in, out of control, and Failin' and the Clown Show keep fiddlin' while Rome burns.....

Oklahoma Schools Chief Laments Elimination of Textbook Funds

http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/oklahoma-schools-chief-laments-elimination-textbook-funds (http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/oklahoma-schools-chief-laments-elimination-textbook-funds)

Govenor To Meet With Rating Agencies

http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/govenor-meet-rating-agencies (http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/govenor-meet-rating-agencies)


So...good for her for telling folks that's why she's going...I assume she's using this as a chance to try to get in front of Trump's folks.

It's difficult to deal with the fact that Mary Fallin is the person who has to hold Oklahoma Legislators' hands and show them what they are doing to Oklahoma is hurting people.

She has been holding their hands - like the 5 year old's they are - and dragging them along every step of the way like a Mommy drags her kid through a store.

According to his travel itinerary, Trump is in NY until Thursday (when he leaves to open a golf course in Scotland).

Maybe we will luck out and she will resign as Governor to chase VP!!   It could happen....  Sarah did, sort of.

County Commission Chair Downplayed Pandemic in Kansas: Not That Many Chinese People Here

https://lawandcrime.com/covid-19-pandemic/gop-county-commission-chair-downplayed-pandemic-in-kansas-not-that-many-chinese-people-here

Kansas state Rep. Mark Samsel was arrested on charges of misdemeanor battery on Thursday after getting into a physical altercation with a student while substitute teaching in Wellsville.

Samsel, 36, was booked into the Franklin County Adult Detention Center after 3:30 p.m. Thursday. He has since been released on $1,000 bond, Sheriff Jeff Richards said.
Superintendent Ryan Bradbury said that Samsel will no longer be allowed to work for the district.

On Wednesday, Samsel, R-Wellsville, was substitute teaching at the Wellsville school district’s secondary school. Throughout the day, high school students began recording videos of the lawmaker talking about suicide, sex, masturbation, God and the Bible.

In one video shared with The Star, Samsel tells students about “a sophomore who’s tried killing himself three times,” adding that it was because “he has two parents and they’re both females.”
“He’s a foster kid. His alternatives in life were having no parents or foster care parents who are gay,” Samsel tells students. “How do you think I’m going to feel if he commits suicide? Awful.”

In another video, Samsel is recorded telling students, “make babies. Who likes making babies? That feels good, doesn’t it? Procreate ... You haven’t masturbated? Don’t answer that question....God already knows.”

Videos shared with The Star — by parents of students in the class — show Samsel focusing most of his attention on one male student. Both Samsel and the student paced around the classroom, talking back and forth. Samsel is shown following the student around and grabbing him. In one video, he puts his arms around the student and says that he was being hard on him.

At one point, Samsel tells the student, “You’re about ready to anger me and get the wrath of God. Do you believe me when I tell you that God has been speaking to me?” He then pushes him, and the student runs to the other side of the classroom.
“You should run and scream.”

In another video, he tells students, “Class, you have permission to kick him in the balls.”

Parents told The Star that Samsel “put hands on the student” and allegedly kneed him in the crotch. In a video apparently taken immediately after the incident, the student is shown on the ground. Samsel is standing over him and says, “did it hurt?”
He then asks him why he is about to start crying, pats him on the shoulder and apologizes, and then says he can “go to the nurse, she can check it for you.”
Samsel addresses another student and says, “do you want to check his nuts for him, please?”

The videos angered dozens of parents, who felt that their children were put in danger. Samsel works with students in several capacities, including as a referee and through church groups, parents said.
In a message to families, Bradbury said that the situation is being investigated.

On Twitter, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas posted: “What the hell is going on with the #KSLEG this session?” He added that Samsel “shouldn’t just be terminated from substituting. He should be blocked from being around all kids.”

The district reported the incident, and an investigation was conducted by the Wellsville Police Department and Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. After the investigation, Samsel was arrested for misdemeanor battery, according to a news release.

In a Snapchat post shared with The Star, Samsel wrote that “it was all planned.”
“Every little bit of it. That’s right. The kids and I planned ALL this to SEND A MESSAGE about art, mental health, teenage suicide, how we treat our educators and one another. To who? Parents. And grandparents. And all of Wellsville,” he posted.
He wrote that he gave one particular student “hope.”
“I went to jail for battery. Does that really make me a criminal? Time will tell.”

He said that the incident happened during fifth period, and that the classes before that hour went as planned, and he shared the same lesson in each one. He said what happened was “exactly what God planned. The kids were in on it. Not all of them. But most.”

In another video, Samsel is shown telling the student about “distractions from the devil,” and then grabs him from behind and lifts him off his feet.
In a different clip, he tells the student to go to the office.
“You were not following — not my rules — God’s rules right now,” he tells the student. “You better take a Bible.”
“Keep denying God, keep denying God, see how it’s going to turn out,” he told the student.

He is also shown in a video instructing the student and one of his classmates to go outside, hold hands and run around the track, seemingly as punishment.
“Do you think we want to do this? No, we had a lesson to do. Is it kind of funny? Yeah. Are they ever going to learn? God only knows,” he says while watching the two students run outside.

Videos show Samsel’s classroom in chaos as he talks about the devil, God and how the Bible was edited.
“Are you doing the Lord’s work as you’re listening to the devil’s music?” he asks a student.
And he continually references suicide, and tells the class, “I’m not going to lose one more of my kids to suicide. Are we clear?”

Samsel, who is an attorney, is in his second term in the House, where he’s occasionally courted controversy. In February, he was one of just 13 lawmakers to vote against a bill that would have ended an exemption for spouses from the state’s sexual battery law.

Ahead of the vote, he gave a speech in which he appeared to express concerns about criminalizing sexual relations between spouses.
“To me, it gets to what does the sanctity of marriage mean?” Samsel was quoted as saying, according to the Kansas Reflector. “And I’m single, so I’m not the best person to speak to this. But when you do get married, what does that mean? And what implied consent are you giving?”

“If we’re going to be in a leadership position, who’s most important that’s watching us? To me, it’s the kids,” Samsel told The Star.
“And when they look across our country right now and see that you can do things under bathroom stalls or whatever else, make up an excuse, deny immediately and then it turns out, yeah, you were kind of guilty — the process happens way too many times and it’s not been done the right way.”

Read more here: https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article251069219.html

I'll give Republicans credit for one thing - every time you think they've hit rock bottom they find a new way to set the bar lower. Guess that rabbit hole has become a bottomless pit.

Henry Johnson D Georgia


https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tipping-point/ (https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tipping-point/)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hank-johnson-worries-guam-could-capsize-after-marine-buildup/ (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hank-johnson-worries-guam-could-capsize-after-marine-buildup/)

11 years ago on April Fool's Day?  

My post was a bit more current...