Teamsters: MN GOP cost 23K jobs

How ridiculous is it that wingnut Republican refusal to raise taxes on the wealthy is shutting down the State of Minnesota?

And how ridiculous is it that the mainstream media focuses on what it means NOT for ordinary Minnesotans but for a presidential wanna-be, the former Minnesota Gov. Gone Wild, Tim Pawlenty??

Question asked, question answered.

Minnesota shut down because Republican legislators refused to compromise over the state’s budget, demanding that a $5.2 billion budget deficit left by Pawlenty be solved by steep cuts in services without raising any new revenue.
As a result, here's what's happening, according to Forbes:

A telephone help line service for the elderly will not be ringing today in Minnesota.

Blind residents reliant on state funding for reading services will remain in the dark for as long as the government’s lights are turned off. Poor families who receive subsidies for childcare are on their own. The St. Louis Park Emergency Program’s food shelf will have bare pickings for those who depend on the program for sustenance. The Community Action Center of Northfield will likely be forced to close down its homeless shelter without the state funding upon which it relies to house the homeless.

And yes, 23,000 state workers will be trying to figure out how to care for their families without a paycheck for the duration along with an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 construction workers who will be laid off as the state shuts down dozens of road and highway projects.

Our Teamster sister Sue Mauren, president of Local 320 in Minneapolis, is not pleased.

While most Americans accept that freedom demands sacrifice, and that in challenging times we all must do our fair share, Minnesota’s Republicans believe that they must protect their millionaire friends at the expense of the middle class.

It is time the Republicans represent the interests of all Minnesotans, not just the corporations and the rich, and balance the State’s budget in a manner that is fair and equitable to all.

Here's Politico, an inside-the-beltway publication that focuses on political gossip:

The most valuable asset Pawlenty has left is his reputation as a solidly conservative governor who balanced budgets without raising taxes. Now, that reputation is drawing new scrutiny amid the spending showdown in St. Paul.

Please. Is it too much to ask the mainstream media to focus on the central issue of our time, the corporate-backed attempt to impoverish the middle class, instead of on a bunch of jackasses who say they're running for president?