Now we have last summer in Minnesota:
Please note that Minnesota got their deficit under control as did California with tax increases that did not herald the end of the world nor did they ruin jobs, quite the opposite.Two refineries supply almost all the gasoline sold to Minnesota consumers.
One is the St. Paul Park refinery, owned by Northern Tier Energy,
the other is the Pine Bend refinery, owned by Koch Oil, the Koch brothers.
The Pine Bend Flint Hills refinery supplies between 50% and 75% of the Minnesota gasoline market.
In 2012, control of the state legislature switched from the republicans to the democrats. The new democratic leaders of the legislature elected in 2012 campaigned on, and made it clear that their election would result in, significant new taxes to close the projected $6.2 billion biennium government deficit, and significant new spending on education and transportation infrastructure. With Mark Dayton, democrat, as governor elected in 2010, the democrats were situated to deliver on their campaign promises.
The first democratically controlled state legislature after the 2012 elections convened on January 8, 2013, and was constitutionally mandated to adjourn at midnight, May 20, 2013.
During the 2013 session, in early April, the House Transportation Committee proposed to raise taxes on gasoline by 5 cents per gallon. Dayton, for reasons unknown, let it be known that he was opposed. In response, in late April, the Transportation Committee proposed a tax on wholesale oil suppliers.
On May 16, 2013, the price of gasoline jumped 40 cents overnight. The price increase pushed the per-gallon price of gasoline to the highest in the continental United States. Blame for the increase was placed on the usual suspects, except one. Bad weather in the Gulf of Mexico, trouble in the Middle East, jump in demand, shortage of supply, etc.were bandied about, but the real reason was that the Pine Bend Refinery had to close for “maintenance.”
On May 20, the legislature adjourned, having increased taxes on the wealthy and on businesses.
The tax increases were bitterly opposed by the Chamber of Commerce and the business lobby,
but all the proposed tax increases passed, except one: the oil tax increase failed.
Who wants to explain a gasoline tax that would increase prices even more than the then (suddenly) prevailing $4.29 per gallon price?
Now the curious part. Check out the gasoline and oil prices for Minnesota for 2013:
The reason that a “jump in oil prices” could not be blamed for the jump in gasoline prices was because it could be too easily verified to be untrue. Oil prices actually fell that week.
More importantly, the price of gasoline fell a dollar gallon in the two weeks following the legislature’s adjournment to slightly below its price in the weeks before adjournment, and before the May 16th price increase.
How did Wisconsin feel no pain, but Minnesota got whacked. What is the difference between Wisconsin and Minnesota? How about Wisconsin’s governor takes personal phone calls from David Koch? I cannot guess what evil motives lurk in the hearts of men like the Kochs, but I have a whole lot more evidence of their economic and political buccaneering –and outright financial harm to the public- than the Kochs have in their multi-million dollar fraudulent attack on Obamacare.
Are Tea Party republicans so far gone that they cannot see how government power, in which they at least have a voice, helps protect them from the direct out-of –pocket harm inflicted by the unrestrained power of a Koch oligopoly, in which they have no voice?
Epilogue. The tax and spending increases passed by the Democrats turned a $6.2 billion biennium deficit into a $1.2 billion surplus and reduced unemployment from 6.7% to 4.7% within 18 months. Only transportation infrastructure got stiffed, thanks to the Kochs.
If there are but six people left here in Free Speech, 2014, may I invite you to consider the midterm elections coming up. We cannot allow our country to fall to the plutocrats. If you note with passive despair that there is a lot of misinformation out there, and you cannot bear the thought of arguing with the defenders of this current state of affairs, please note that informing yourself is the best fortification. It allows you to wait whilst they blow their invective out, then you can dispassionately lay out the facts.
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