by Mish Shedlock, Mish Talk:

Bloomberg columnist Barry Ritholtz is a firm believer that government knows better how to spend your money than you do.

Ritholtz is on another tirade now, this time crowing loudly The Kansas Supply-Side Experiment Unravels. Ritholtz’s solution, as always, is more tax hikes.

Let’s take Ritholtz’s observations, complaints, and analysis and apply them to Illinois.

Ritholtz says Governor Sam Brownbacks’s “Tax cuts were supposed to spur growth, boost revenue and create jobs. The results were the exact opposite.”

When did the problems start?

Barry provides the answer “Kansas was one of the highest outbound migration states in 2014, 2015 and 2016. As recently as 2012 and 2011, Kansas didn’t make the lists of states with high migratory outflows.”

Blasting economically illiterate socialists is an easy game so there is not much of a story here so far.

However, Ritholtz made a story with this paragraph.

Have an exit strategy: Because Kansas didn’t focus on specific and measurable benchmarks, it had no way to know when to pull the plug. This is important, as the legislature was forced to wait until things were unequivocally bad and getting worse before taking steps to end the experiment. An exit strategy based on specific goals would have saved a lot of unnecessary austerity-induced pain for the people of Kansas.

Oil Considerations

Dear Barry, it would behoove to look at this simple chart.

How about a look at the state itself?

Kansas

Barry notes, “Kansas is badly lagging its neighbors, all of which have similar economies. Even worse, people (especially young people) are fleeing the state.”

I have a simple question: Is there any reason millennials would want to stay in Kansas even if the economy was doing well?

Illinois, the Global Mecca

By Ritholtz’s standards, Illinois should be a global mecca. It has much going for it. Let’s count the ways.

Highest property taxes in the nation

High sales taxes and “home rules” that allow local governments to raise taxes even more.

Cook County sales taxes are 10.25%

Strong prevailing wage laws protecting unions

No right-to-work provisions

Stong workman’s compensation laws that protect injured workers

Democrats led by Mike Madigan have been in control of Illinois for all but two years since 1983.

Illinois has more taxing bodies than any state in the nation

Results

Barry Asks, Illinois Delivers

Illinois is doing damn near everything Ritholtz wants. It is even hiking minimum wages. Chicago is collecting over 10% in sales taxes.

Taxes on media, soft drinks, cable are in the works.

Read More @ MishTalk.com