The Blade Strikes Again

If I wasn’t clear enough before about how loathsome my new governor is, let me reiterate--Republican Indiana Mitch Daniels is a douchebag and a half:

Gov. Mitch Daniels proudly displays a samurai sword in his office, a remnant of the days when President Bush nicknamed him "The Blade" for his prowess in cutting taxes and federal spending.

Oh, excuse me. “The Blade” is a douchebag and a half.

Indiana has a $645 million deficit. In Northwest Indiana, where I live, many white-collar professionals commute into Chicago each day, because there simply aren’t enough jobs to accommodate everyone. It used to be all about the steel mills; then in the 80s, they all tanked, and the NWI job market did, too. I remember sitting in my second grade class, talking about jobs, and each of us had to go around the room and say what our parents did for a living. The most popular occupation was “laid off.” Many of those guys are still laid off; there has been little to come take the place of the jobs that were lost at the once-thriving mills.

Good jobs are still scarce, but in the past few years, property taxes have continued to increase to try to make up for the lost revenue from the now-defunct mills. The ones that survived aren’t nearly the powerhouse employers and revenue generators they used to be. The vast rural middle of the state hasn’t fared much better. There are counties in the state with double-digit unemployment. And so our state economy is in the toilet.

The Blade’s proposed solution is a one-year, one percentage point tax increase on those making more than $100,000. But that’s not all.

It also calls for freezing education funding and reining in soaring Medicaid costs.

The Blade says his temporary tax increase will eradicate Indiana’s deficit in one year. But clearly, Hoosier education and healthcare will have to suffer, too (neither of which can afford to). And that’s why The Blade is a really little more than a dull butter knife. He’s willing to sacrifice even necessary increases in funding for education and healthcare in order to keep his tax hike on the wealthiest in the state palatable.

And you know what? They’re still pissed off, anyway.