According to the financial experts at the Seattle Times, Washington state’s economy is on the cusp of recovery, and Gov. Gregoire deserves all the credit:
Gov. Chris Gregoire made a tough decision this year not to ask for a tax increase, and legislators, some of them reluctantly, backed her up. That was the right decision, and it will soon begin to pay off.
Yeah… sure… the “tough decision” is always to not raise taxes. Man do they disrespect their readers.
So, our economy has almost-maybe bottomed out, and that’s evidence that holding the line on taxes worked its magic? Of course, had Gregoire and the legislature chosen the opposite course, that lede would have been rewritten thusly, even given the exact same economic circumstances:
Gov. Chris Gregoire broke a campaign promise not to ask for a tax increase, and legislators, some of them reluctantly, backed her up. That was the wrong decision, and Washington’s economy is already paying the price.
But then, given the Times’s history of crappy business decisions, why would anybody take its economic advice seriously?
If the Seattle Times editorial writers knew a damn thing about economics, they wouldn’t be working for the Seattle Times! In fact, they wouldn’t work at all! They’d flip stocks and pay a 10% tax rate instead of a 32.65% tax rate. But no, these bozos fight commuter traffic and prostitute themselves for a meager paycheck from a bankrupt cheap labor conservative who could go out of business any day. Then, their pensions and health insurance go poof! and they’re left clutching an empty bag and sore pussies. They should quit their jobs and flip stocks, or houses or artwork or grass clippings or anything that has a market value — anything is better than working! Work is disrespected in this country. Workers get less than half of GDP, pay the highest taxes, and are treated like dirt. Look what happened to that waitress who thought she was doing her job by correcting Stefan’s rowdy kid who was disturbing other restaurant patrons — the boss canned her! And probably gave Stefan and his Mrs. a voucher for a free meal so he wouldn’t sue. Stefan should give that voucher to the waitress, but I think he’d rather see her in line at a food bank. That’s how conservatives treat workers in this country — and that’s why I won’t work as long as we have a Republican-written tax code. It’s not a question of values or work ethics; I worked hard for 45 years. But I simply refuse to do any more work on cheap labor conservatives’ terms.
Can’t help but wonder how much of this piece is some editorial writer at the Times indulging in some wishful thinking about whether he’s going to have a job a year from now.
@3 He should quit, go back to school, and get a real job. If he has to work, he should work for a railroad. I bought a railroad stock this morning. I think freight volumes have bottomed, and revenues and profits will go up from here.* Railroads will start hiring again soon. Frank Blethen’s Republican rag has no future. McClatchy Corp. says their 49.5% of Seattle Times stock is worthless.
* And those troll fuckers think I’m a socialist!!! Can you believe that shit?!
HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR
I suppose it’s not surprising that Frank Blethen is satisfied, if not pleased, with our DINO* governor. After all he got his 40% tax cut. The rest of us get service cuts.
* Pun, double entendre, and all that, are strictly intentional.
‘And people accuse me of spin…’
I don’t think the tens of readers here matter much, especially the king of O.C.D. The Rodent.
The true idiocy here is that had Gregoire and the legislature passed tax increases — two months ago — they likely wouldn’t have taken effect yet. So the economy would be at exactly the same point it is now. (Whether that’s anywhere near recovery — not bloody likely — is another matter, but it’s the Times’ job to be Pollyannas about such matters, and they do it well.)
@5 You shouldn’t be jealous of my readers. After all, you’re one of them.
@6 That reminds me of the newspaper editor depicted in Timothy Egan’s The Worst Hard Time whose boosterism never flagged as the winds blew away the soil and the town itself. A bitter ender to the bitter end, he died a broken man knowing he had bet on the wrong horse.
(Trolls may skip this comment because it requires reading a book and knowing what you’re talking about — two things HA’s trolls are incapable of.)
@8 At least, they’d never admit to it…other than perhaps having read The Way Things Ought To Be…
1. Roger Rabbit spews:
You are an absolute LIAR, LIAR, LIAR Rog.
“Flipping” stocks implies short-term (less than 1 year). They are taxed at the same rate as ORDINARY INCOME.
Long-term ain’t flippin’ Rog.
Once again, your Leftist, hate business dogma allows you to LIE!
I do not think it is just to characterize the budget and revenue choices made in the last session as being easy.
I will say that getting a new revenue package through the legislature this last spring was near impossible given the economy and the limited gain any tax package would have generated if the gain caused a further downturn in a major sector of our business community.
It is understandable to be disappointed that revenue was not raised in place of the deeper cuts across the board, but it is ignorant to compare our Governor’s cautious actions with the sales pitch based false impression of how Rossi would have made the choices required to balance the budget.
More importantly, as things continue to turn around, this governor will reinvest in the programs and services most needed by the people of Washington State. Dino could never have been counted upon by general citizens as our state economy recovers. Funds from better times would have lined the pockets of Dino and friends.
Drat Geov, beat me to it.
Good on ya @6.
@10 Who said anything about day trading? I hold most of my stocks at least a year. Of course that’s flipping. If a stock doesn’t pay a dividend, flipping it for capital gains is the only way to make money on it. You should know, C. Unless you’re bullshitting about your alleged stock market transactions.