Martin Howrylak Wants an Economic Disaster

It's really important to Martin Howrylak to appear like he's helping.

If you you look at his Facebook feed, you'll find it stocked with self-congratulatory photographs, like when he volunteered to put up cones at the Clawson Freedom Run. You'll find him bragging about the “work” he's putting into state education issues. You'll find him “co-sponsoring” useless proclamations, like HR 396, a resolution to “condemn Boko Haram for its violent attacks on civilian targets.”

All of it is about maintaining the illusion that Martin Howrylak is helping Troy. But if you were to strip away the veneer that Martin Howrylak presents, you'll find the heart of a radical, aching to destroy Michigan's economy and schools.

How do I know this? Easy. Martin is co-sponsoring the “taxpayer freedom act,” an economic experiment that would blow an $8.3 BILLION dollar hole in Michigan's economy. And we can know the effects of such a radical experiment by looking to a place where it's already been tried on the small scale.

Kansas.

You see, Kansas is the home of the Tea Party sugar daddies, the Koch Brothers. Through a massive pile of campaign contributions, the Koch Brothers were able to lock down the Kansas government. So when the Tea Party took control, they turned the keys to the governor's office over to Koch Industries and converted the state into an amusement park for all the crazy Tea Party ideas. They promptly passed a massive tax cut, blowing an $800 million dollar hole in the state budget.

Did they know it was going to be a terrible idea? Yep.

The Kansas legislature’s research arm predicted that such irresponsibility would cause revenues to fall far short of what it would cost to maintain funding for schools, health care, and other state services at their current levels.

With revenues dropping like Martin Howrylak's popularity, the Tea Party went even more radical.

Because the $700 million dollar surplus vanished, the Tea Party made massive cuts in funding for state education. Which, of course, led to increases in class sizes, laying off of teachers and staff, and the elimination of essential services. Not stopping at the public schools, there were enormous budget cuts for colleges and universities, libraries, and local health departments. The cuts to public education were so severe, Kansas parents sued the state to ensure their kids received a quality public education.

The chaos in Kansas' state budget forced the ratings agencies to downgrade Kansas' credit rating, all but ensuring a higher interest rate on any money Kansas would borrow.

With the economic disaster that the Tea Party has wrought in Kansas, it's vital to remember that Martin Howrylak has proposed cuts to Michigan's budget 10 times as large as the cuts made in Kansas. Ten times the size of the cuts ensures ten times the size of the economic disaster.

Yep, Martin Howrylak needs to maintain the illusion that he's helping because he can't talk about the economic disaster he wants to bring about. Because if he were honest, you'd recognize what a threat Martin Howrylak is to your homes, your schools, and your family.

Cross posted at Keep Troy Strong.