We've talked quite a bit, both here on the blog and (most recently) last night on TRMS , about how the new slate of Republican governors are now actually governing. One example that Rachel talked about with Ezra Klein last night? Brand-new, Tea Party-backed Ohio Governor John Kasich asking -- no, depending on -- his Ohio constituents drinking something stronger than tea.
For sale.
Ohio, meet your new economic development plan.
A lot stronger, as reported by my hometown Cleveland Plain Dealer:
The success of Gov. John Kasich's plan to recruit new business to Ohio will hinge heavily on just how much Ohioans drink alcohol...
"Over the years people drink more. It's just a natural revenue stream," Kasich said last Tuesday while outlining his proposal, drawing a smattering of laughter from reporters.
Once you get past the "whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis" part about the alcohol, look a little closer. On the surface, this is about recruiting business to Ohio, not about filling the state's reported $8 billion budget abyss. So how does Governor Kasich propose to turn booze into business in an alcoholic beverage control state? Glad you asked!
Starting in January 2013, through an entity the governor created (and also chairs), called JobsOhio:
The governor intends for JobsOhio to be part venture capitalist, spreading around seed money for business in return for a piece of future profits, and part marketer, promoting the virtues of running a company here and bringing jobs to the Buckeye State.
To do that, JobsOhio needs start-up money and steady cash to sustain itself, and Kasich knows he cannot tap taxpayer dollars alone to foot the bill.
If Mr. Kasich is looking for more start-up cash, he's going to the right place. Ohioans bought a record number of gallons of alcohol last year, and the state stores made nearly $230 million in net profits -- for the state. Now a half-government, half-venture capitalist entity proposes to re-direct those profits away from Ohio taxpayers and to JobsOhio, and then, to out-of-state businesses Governor Kasich hopes will come to the state. (All while having an expense account for which Kasich and Co. are barely accountable.)
Drink up, my fellow Buckeyes! Governor John Kasich wants you to have a hot time in the old town tonight! (No, more like needs you to.)
Leave a Comment:
This makes me ill.
Have a bit of the hair of the dog. Gov Kasich wants you to, he needs you to. ;-)
One of the unfortunate things is that it may actually increase state expenses because of an increase in injuries, fatalities, and incarcerations due to drunk driving. Why are these people so short-sighted?
Yes more drinking = more drunk drivers. MADD are we?
We will need to drink up after Kasich guts this state. Hopefully we can stop some of this bullsh*# before he ruins this state.
“When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” --Sinclair Lewis
He has arrived in the form of John Kasich.
Actually it arrived a long time ago. It is just spreading its tentacles. Every sector of life is now controlled by, or directly answerable to, gigantic Corporate interests. Even the peaceful (but uninformed) hippy, Grateful Dead Wannabees don't realize the huge push for legalization of Pot is heavily funded by the Alcohol Beverage Producers and Marketers associations. It has been since NORML began. Today, if it happens, it is corporate driven.
Here in the "emerald triangle", efforts to legalize pot was handily defeated by the voters, and most significantly, the independent growers.
Cheers to Ohio!!! i'll drink to that!
The city in which I live runs municipal liquor stores and our Mayor is proposing similar actions. I don't understand giving up guaranteed money for potential. Plus how many employees lose their jobs when the stores close? This is a job killing measure, much like other Republican ideas.
I would respond to this if I wasn't drunk....
The "new Republican" is not one who earns his wealth and fights to keep it away from everyone else, but one who is "elected" into wealth, and fights to keep it away from everyone else.
...not to mention JobsOhio is replacing an organization that Kasich defunded which had the exact same function. The only difference was that organization was run by democratic leadership, and Kasich made JobsOhio just so he could put his Republican name on it. Ugh... We'll see how many jobs are made. haha.
This scam may have originated in Texas with republican governor Rick Perry. Millions of out-going dollars later, with no return on investment dollars, with no accounting or over sight of those dollars, we ended up with negative results. Texas now has a 20-25 Billion dollar deficit.
But... but... but... tax cuts increase government revenues. Republicans have been screaming that for years. Texas can't be 25 billion dollars in the hole. For all their tax cutting, Democrat hating, conservative votin,' government shrinkin,' union bannin' fiscal conservatism, they should be 25 billion in the black by now. They should be rolling in revenues by now. They should be giving money back to Texans.
Wha happened?
And texas deserves what they elected.
Kasich wants Ohioans to drink more? Suddenly, his policies make a lot more sense.
Yeah I'm starting to see a pattern here. De-fund education, take away equal pay, and leave people alcohol. Most won't know to complain and those that do will be too drunk for insurrection. It also makes me think of Firefly, for some reason....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QC_7bnPF_Q
Hmm, it sounds kinda socialistic to me. Isn't this what the tea-people and righties complained about when the president supported GM and Chrystler? Of course it was to save them, not to seed them, so I guess there is some sort of difference.
There's no actual difference. Republicans only hate government assistance when it is directed at people who actually need it. A single mother collecting 200 dollars a month in food stamps makes them wail and gnash their teeth with anger about "socialism" and the evils of gubmint assistance. Meanwhile, two billion dollars a month in subsidies for Exxon Mobil is perfectly okay. There is no rhyme or reason to it, it's just garden variety hypocrisy.
The "rhyme or reason to it" is that they are investors in Exxon et al. big businesses and they reap the "dividends" from "our" investment. Giving $200 a month to a single mother to feed her child gets them zip.
See, perfectly reasonable.
They don't "reap" anything from handouts and you don't owe them a living, despite whatever trickle down snake oil the right wing media has obviously sold you.
Well, you know, that's how they roll in POTTERVILLE.
Go re-watch "It's a Wonderful Life" (or "Back to the Future") and remind yourself what that parallel universe looks like!
Precisely why IAWL is my favorite movie of all time. I get a good angry on every Christmas season. Renews my spirit.
They've been bandying this idea about in PA for forever and a day too.
It's not that I have a problem with privatizing this business model, because I don't. Also, I accept that it does stimulate private business growth in the state, if only in the sense that private companies will come in to fill the void. Of course they will. I question whether or not it will add significant jobs. State stores are everywhere. This feels more like a job-shifting situation than a job-creation opportunity to me, but I'm prepared to eat those words should I end up being incorrect.
Here's the thing...
Add to the equation that these existing state revenues will be going to those private businesses instead. Fine. But they will theoretically *not* be taxed on those profits in an idealized "pro-business" Republican world, either. Here's where I become utterly confused. Again, I don't have a problem with the privatization, but I do not understand the math when I look at the big picture. How is this not a formula to further inhibit these states' abilities to operate right now, short term, during serious state fiscal crises nationwide?
Pennsylvania isin dire need of money right now. I live in a city full of bridges and all of them are falling apart. They're slashing education funding on a shocking scale. They're pandering to frackers with sweetheart tax breaks while they poison our water tables in repayment. (Plus, they are simultaneously attempting to de-fund the Department of Environmental Protection to make it all less awkward.) I'm not even talking about progressive issues and safety nets here (and don't get me started). I'm talking about infrastructure and basic community necessities. Even a limited government needs money to function.
Can someone please explain this to me with small, easy to absorb words, so that I might finally understand?
"The Shock Doctrine," by Naomi Klein. A must read. Will answer your questions.
In the past, attempts to privatize PA's state store system ran into trouble when the state insisted that the existing stores had to be purchased as part of the deal - not sure if the existing employees were part of the deal too. So you see, there is another problem. If this Guv sells the business to a private entity(ies) but does not insist on that entity(ies) purchasing the existing properties owned by the State - what becomes of those empty vacant buildings and what neighborhoods would be serviced by the newbies?
Also, I'm guessing that the Guv is oh so willing to sell off the business because there is someone waiting in the wings who was promised the business. So you see, it IS a job creating bill; it's also a job destroying bill. Those who have the jobs now, lose them; and the new owner(s) are free to create S corps to own the stores and hire their (non-union) friends and relatives to work in them. Thus, these "small businesses" will pass through their profit/losses to offset their personal income and in addition to not paying PA taxes will also not pay Fed income taxes and any friends/relatives who want to work under the table - well who would know?
Net result Guv gets a one time infusion of cash for that year's budget but looses revenue for the every budget thereafter; more employees lose jobs than employees gain jobs = less PA income tax revenue. More S corp businesses formed to pass through income/losses and pay less/no income tax on profit. Less oversight on what is going on in these stores e.g., relatives working under the table?
The upside is just maybe the competition will bring down prices so all of the newly unemployed can afford to get drunk on a perhaps better selection of booze and wine.
What would really help is if we could buy beer and wine in a supermarket like the rest of world! THAT I would vote for and I bet revenues would go up dramatically.
West Virginia sold off its state liquor stores years ago under another repub gov, (who went to jail for taking hundreds of thousands in coal company bribes), and they were sold to big pharmacy chains. So, for example, a liquor store and its inventory were sold to CVS, and the stock was moved to CVS. The employees lost their jobs, and the buildings left by the sales were usually left vacant. Good short term win for the state coffers, longer term loss for the state and the former employees.
This is already happening. Certain Giant Eagle stores are doing it now in W. PA and Wal-Mart's are trying to get in on the deal now too. They created a loophole where they put a "cafe" inside the store and acquire beer and wine sale licenses for them. At least I think that's how it's working.
Long/short, it's inevitable. The problem is not the convenience factor of alcohol purchasing. The problem is the tax-free business culture they favor.
This proposal also promises to divert the revenue stream for 30 years, which amounts to billions of dollars of public funds. Are there no responsible Republicans left who will raise their eyebrows at this giveway of public funds?
Road up to one of the larger protest at the Ohio state house in Columbus with AFLCIO union members on a bus from Dayton. Great group. Teachers, GM workers etc. As I walked around through the large crowd (estimated at 15,ooo) of police officers, fireman, teachers I was struck by the hard working salt of the earth tax payer envirmonment.
But I was so tempted to start asking folks if they had been sucked in by the millions of dollars of campaign commercials that Kasich was able to afford. How many people had voted for Kasich? So tempted but I did not. Know those folks are kicking themselves now. Just a bit too late
oops rode...obviously not a grammer teacher
Well alot of them probably did vote for him, but when you only watch fox news and he was their poster boy spinning his lies this is what happens. He is trying to privatize the Ohio Lottery too which generates alot of income. I'm sure when they start building the new casino's he will have his hands in that too. He will drive everyone to drink.. It's actually sad because so many I'm sure are drinking because of the financial devastation in this state.
TRMS this is what it was like at my house after your show last night. https://picasaweb.google.com/mellownohio/OHIO#
Glad I live close enough to KY to drive accross the river to get my booze. When does the revolution start? Count me in!!!!
Can't we get Obama to declare the state of Ohio to be in the state of a fiscal emergency and then have Obama come and throw him and the republicans out and appoint someone to run the state? Hey, if they can do it in the State of Michigan to the local governments then why not make that a national law? Oh, thats right. The republicans don't run the white house now so they would be against that. Republicans surely do not believe or understand what the golden rule is all about.
Thanks to Rachel & Ed for highlighting the situation in Ohio. Kasich also wants to open the state parks for mining, drilling, etc. -think the eastern part of the state would be open to the fracking of which I've heard NOTHING good. The really sad thing is he did campaign on a lot of this. He also wants to sell off at least 5 prisons by late summer. I have to question why the rush? Its all going to be a one time infusion of cash. When questions were raised during the campaign, they were blown off as negative campaigning. So frustrating for us. I just have one question for him-why does he hate Ohio & its citizens so much?
Anyone want to bet those prisons will be sold off to a private prison corporation, after which jaywalking and spitting on the sidewalk will become crimes punishable by imprisonment for up to 10 years in said private prison?
The whole notion of “prisons for profit” is insane. This should be sending up red flags all over the place yet we still look the other way. WHY? People better start learning their history, namely late 30s early 40s Germany.
It all flows back to the premise that I'm not sure even many repubs buy anymore, that private business can do the same things government does more efficiently and for less money. This has almost always proved to NOT be the case, but at this point, most on the right don't care; all they care about is that their campaign donors get rich, and that some of that money then flows into their coffers for the next election. When the schemes fail, which they will, it will then be too expensive for the states to reverse the process, especially as repubs continue to slash and burn their way through state budgets.
"When the schemes fail, which they will, it will then be too expensive for the states 'other side' to reverse the process,..."
Uffdaguy, I think you have hit on what Bush and Repubs. did between 2001 and 2008 with tax cuts, two wars, rolling back regulations, etc. A true moment of clarity!!
I'm not even surprised anymore!
When the Democrat Governor of Ohio took office in 2007 the unemployment rate was 5.4%, When he left office it was 10.1 %. The people of Ohio decided to elect a Republican to change that. If at the end of his term he has done that he will get reelected otherwise the people of Ohio can elect a Democrat. Like Ms. Maddow stated during the Health Care law debate in Washington: " Elections have consequences"
Hmmm. I think there were a few actual economic factors in play during the past five years that had a pretty significant hand in the rise in unemployment figures across the entire nation, party affiliations of sundry state governors aside. "Vote the bums out" is a popular theme every election year, and especially when times are bad. That doesn't make it an effective voting strategy for faciliting the change one seeks.
Point of Clarification:
"Democrat" is a noun. "Democratic" is an adjective.
I know this may be a bit snarky to point out, but when this particular noun is used incorrectly as an adjective, it sounds and feels intentionally rude and insulting to me. "Democrat" is not a dirty word, even if some non-Democrats believe it to be so.
Sorry. I'm putting my homemade official amateur grammar-deputy badge back into my pocket now. Proceed, but with caution, please.
Apparently Robert is forgetting the massive increase in unemployment and debt under Bush. IOKIYAAR, indeed.
Yup. Indeed.
Not snarky, Michelle. Accurate.
Uffaday: That is why the people voted his party out. The same will happen to Obama if he does not straighten out the economy and decrease unemployment. Remember: Elections matter.
mightbe: Thanks. :)
When republican politicians use Shock Doctrine to fatten their wallets, We used to call it "Carpet Bagging", now we call it "Contract on America".
It's more like "carpetbombing", as in carpetbombing unions, the poor, the middle class and anyone else who doesn't have the money to buy enough politicians to get their agenda enacted.
The next part of the scheme: watch out for those breathalyzers at the polls on election day!
O- H
In Chicago, the parking meters were privatized and it has been a major disaster since a private company took over the meters. I am sure there are other similar examples in other places. Privatization is just a way for the Republicans to help business make even more profits. The calls to privatize Social Security are nothing more than an attempt to hand Wall Street billions of dollars in commissions. Republicans gained a lot of seats with the last election so they feel emboldened to push their agenda. But large gains in elections are usually followed by large losses. If the Republicans lose the recalls in Wisconsin, they will have to recalibrate. But that may come too late for some of the Republicans.
Businesses cannot run social programs. Social programs are meant to benefit people, not offshore bank accounts.
What kind of pinko commie talk is that, Eileen? Maybe you need some time in a cell at Gitmo, or one of those fancy private prisons to learn that capitalism is God, and those who disagree with its tenets are heretics.
(I'm trying out for Glenn Beck's spot if he leaves Fox. Hopefully I've got some of his insane lingo down pat).
; )
I have serious issues with the privatizing of prisons. Our current prison system is already overtaxed with government funding. Giving the prisons to private business is going to make matters worse when the companies take shortcuts to increase profits. This will make the system worse and may lead to prison riots when conditions get bad. I think it is short sighted to let companies run penal institutions.
Those issues have already occurred. A judge in PA was taking kickbacks from the local private prison operator for each juvenile he sentenced to the private prison, which put lots of kids in prison when they should never have received prison time for what were crimes that normally do not merit prison time. The kids were abused in prison, and now have a permanent blemish on their records that will hurt their chances of getting jobs in the future. The judge was recently sentenced to prison, (probably not private), for what he did. I don't know if anyone from the company was prosecuted. In AZ, Jan Brewer worked closely with a private prison company to have private prisons constructed. Last year, several dangerous cons simply walked out of one of those private prison, causing a nationwide manhunt for the dangerous fugitives.
You can be sure that if someone can make a buck off something, some unscrupulous folks will milk the system for all its worth, safety, ethics and the law be damned.
"Corruption is nature's way of restoring our faith in democracy." -Peter Ustinov
As the economic fortunes of Ohio citizens plummet, they will look increasingly to alcohol as a means of escape from their wretched lives. That Kasich is a real genius to have come up with this plan for increasing revenue. Or, he would have been increasing state revenue if he weren't selling it off for pennies on the dollar.
Take a look at Russia if you want to see what hopelessness and despair can do for generations of folks that were under the bootheels of the Czars, who were replaced by the Communists, who were replaced by the capitalists. There's a good reason that country descended into an alcoholic haze centuries ago.
Columbus will now be Moscow on the Ohio.