There are probably days when Tea Party Gov. Sam Brownback wishes he hadn't been elected to a second term.
Even though many of Brownback's Tea Party allies bit the dust in Republican primaries earlier this month, Brownback once again insisted that his supply-side tax cuts were working just as he planned and that prosperity was just around the corner.
The Kansas City Star's Yael Abouhalkah notes, however, that last month's Kansas jobs report paints an absolutely brutal picture of the state's economy right now, and that's without even considering that Kansas's state government is perpetually falling short on needed revenue for public services.
In total, Kansas lost 5,600 jobs last month and, over the past calendar year, has posted a net loss of 4,500 jobs. The state's economic growth rate for the past year stands at a sickly -0.3%, which Abouhalkah notes places it fifth worst in the nation.
Most damning of all, he also notes that "Kansas had employment of 1,395,700 in July 2016 — or a stunning 600 fewer jobs than when Brownback’s second term started way back in January 2015."
At any rate, this failed experiment in voodoo economics will hopefully serve as a warning sign to other states that massive tax cuts will not automatically lead to magical job growth and economic prosperity.
