The GOP Lab Experiment in Kansas  ⚐

The Koch-backed Kansas Policy Institute predicted that Brownback’s 2013 tax plan would generate $323 million in new revenue. During its first full year in operation, the plan produced a $688 million loss

This article is entirely damning of the tea party, ultra-free market, low business taxes, “let them eat cake”, GOP philosophy. There’s a balance to be found in taxing corporations, but the current-ish crop of GOP establishment candidates (Cruz, Rubio, Perry, etc.) seem to believe in the fallacy of corporate trickle down economics.

And it hurts those least able to defend themselves.

Between 2010 and 2012, Kansas saw income growth of 6.1 percent, good for 12th in the nation; from 2013 to 2015, that rate was 3.6 percent, good for 41st.

I’d be willing to bet a whole bunch of jellybeans that the income growth rate disproportionately impacts low-to-middle income households.

There’s a reason the Trump campaign is resonating with the disenfranchised on the right. Many of the voters don’t realize it, but their party has left them behind in favor of uber-social conservatives with an ultra-libertarian view on the role of government, who look at them as collateral damage in a big fiscal experiment.

The Reagan Republicans, who Ted Cruz claims to carry the mantle of, are really voting for Trump, who’s championing the middle class, hawkish (albeit nuance-less) foreign policy, and middle-of-the-road social views.[1]

It’s remarkable that Donald Trump, who is spouting absolutely insane policy proposals, is somehow the most relatable and electable Republican candidate.[2]

(Via NYMag.)