True North

Worth repeating...

"Last year, the DFL proposed $5 billion of tax increases on top of spending the  $2.2 billion surplus.

Whenever anyone proposes the slightest restriction on any reporter, we hear immediate cries about the "chilling effect" of restrictions on freedom of the press.

A different kind of "chilling effect" was demonstrated in the Business section of yesterday's Star Tribune. The "chilling effect" of DFL tax proposals in 2007 was reflected in the "economic report" on page five.

• While state-wide government employment increased by 5,200 bureaucrats over a year ago, the "chilling effect" of proposed DFL tax increases on small  businesses and employers led to decreased employment over a year ago in: manufacturing (- 4,000 jobs) . . . construction (- 6,000 jobs) . . . mining (- 100 jobs) . . . and financial services (- 500 jobs).
• Manufacturing hours were down by 1% in the Metro area over a year ago.
• Unemployment insurance payments were up by double the rate of inflation over a year ago.

With state welfare budgets scheduled to go up by 35% in the next biennium under the 2007 HHS Finance Bill, and with more tax proposals likely in the next two months to cover the current $1 billion deficit, the DFL "chilling effect" is likely to keep freezing us out of jobs going to other states and nations.

It has gotten so silly that the House passed an amendment to give free towing and impoundment services to people on any of the state's nine largest welfare programs, thus forcing towing companies to raise fees on working families. Welfare recipients get to sleep in on snowy mornings, while working Minnesotans  must dig out their cars to get to work and pay for more welfare benefits.

When you reward the idling grasshoppers, and punish the worker ants, the "chilling effect" of the DFL on the economy gets even more bitter."

Cross-posted and comments welcome at Wright County Republican.