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The State of the State

Posted at 12:18 PM on January 15, 2009 by Bob Collins (10 Comments)
Filed under: Pawlenty, Politics

Here's the Wordle depiction of Gov. Pawlenty's State of the State speech today. Note the absence of the word: "strong." Note the absence of almost any adjectives to describe Minnesota's condition. And one of the very smallest words is: "hope."

Comments (10)

I was disappointed that the Governor didn't say, "I resign!"

Posted by Disappointed in MN | January 15, 2009 1:10 PM

I fear for our state, I truly do, if Pawlenty prevails.

Tax cuts will do nothing to raise the revenue the state needs. We need to keep and improve government services, not do a Grover Norquist on them.

I contend that it is tantamount to moral cowardice on the governor's part not to loudly and unambiguously call for raising revenue. The bizarro-world orthodoxy of "no new taxes" at this most dire of times is guaranteed to drive the state of Minnesota over a cliff from which it will never recover.

Also, why isn't anyone pointing out that if the state adequately funds its reserves (to the tune of $2.5 billion) the deficit is closer to $6.5 or 7 billion? How does "no new taxes" get us anywhere near this amount?

Wage caps on state workers merely guarantee that the consumer spending that is essential to getting us out of this RePression won't happen.

MN's state economist says the RePression won't be as bad as the Depression cuz there are more two-income families, but with unemployment soaring, we're more likely to see dual-unemployed households.

I'm tired of the cheerleading crap about how we are anxious but hopeful, and we always pull through. The governor sure doesn't speak for me.

Until we have more courageous leadership in the governor's office, only the "anxious" part of his comments will be operative -- with plenty of pain as well.

Posted by Bob | January 15, 2009 1:15 PM

How about a nice story on Ricardo Montalban?

Posted by brian hanf | January 15, 2009 1:54 PM

Folks can berate the Governor all they want but, in case you haven't noticed, the DFL has swept the last 3 elections. The Legislature will get its way. A Pawlenty veto will be easily over ridden by merely "renting" 3 Republican House members who will readily trade their vote for spending in their district.

The Governor has spoken in a general way about how he wishes to deal with the problem. He will become very specific in 2 weeks when his budget comes out.

The most important question, however, is what does the Senate and House DFLers have to say? So far they haven't said much, or done much, since the start of session 9 days ago.

Relatively few people really understand just how big the problem has become or how much worse it is likely to get. My guess is that when the DFL shows its cards, a lot of their supporters are going to faint dead away. At the end of the day it will be the DFL that prevails.

Posted by Duke Powell | January 15, 2009 3:17 PM

I am fascinated by how often "also" was used. Wordle rocks.

Posted by lisa | January 15, 2009 3:51 PM

I'm personally looking forward to the negotiation of the new union contracts for state workers. It's always such a morale booster to have the legislature call us overpaid and lazy for 4 months. Good times.

Also, why does government only try to behave like private industry when times are bad? When times are good, why don't we get bonuses and big pay raises? Or maybe just lunch?

Posted by MR | January 15, 2009 4:03 PM

In the lower left there is a very tiny word, "children."

Posted by Bruce | January 15, 2009 4:47 PM

Investing in the infrastructures of education and health care now will help our economy to recover. When we take care of our most vulnerable==children, the elderly, and the disabled we invest in civilization.

Posted by Linda | January 15, 2009 9:02 PM

Lisa, I noticed the 'also' also. Maybe TPaw is taking speech lessons from Sarah Palin, also too.

Posted by momkat | January 15, 2009 9:30 PM

The state can SAVE over $3M by eliminating redunant UM transit when Metro Transit can do most of the services.UM need to sell all the parking lots they have alll over the 2 cities .The many shuttles that carries a few people who are too lazy to walk a few blocks.

Capitol area has numerous parking lots that were created by buying private businesses for state employees parking .The workers are being shuttle downtown when they can walk . Metro Transit offer frequent services every 10mins or less in front of the capitol area.

Many employees are parking in the state owned ramps in MPLS for almost free.A friend was parking for $10/month even though he wasnt carpooling.Why should taxpayers pay for carpoolers?

Posted by henry R | January 26, 2009 12:10 PM

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