Speculation is that, along with the budget, Governor Messinger Dayton will be proposing “reforms” to the state tax code today.

My predictions:

1. The budget will be over $40 billion.  That’s how many chits she he owes.
2. Re: Tax “Reforms”:  I suspect unicorns may actually be involved: Like the French and the Californians, the DFL has a history of assuming money grows on trees, or is borne down from the sky in golden bags on the backs of unicorns.
3. GOP Territory = Salt Mines: Look for Local Government Aid – used as a subsidy of Minneapolis, Saint Paul ,and Duluth – to make a triumphant return, like Lenin coming back to Petrograd. LGA will revert to its nineties-era form; the parts of the state that work (i.e. are mostly GOP) will be impelled to subsidize the parts that don’t (Minneapolis, Saint Paul and Duluth), on top of the parts that LGA was originally supposed to help (small, poor, older towns, and the perpetually-ailing Iron Range).
4. Lots of “aid” to the Iron Range, to help make up for the fact that the metrocrat DFL Environmental movement is going to accelerate the strangling of the mining industry.

Bonus question 1:  Which company will be the first to announce layoffs?

Bonus question 2: Will Governor Messinger Dayton videotape this event?

Comments welcome at Shot In The Dark.