BLACK (OR RED) TUESDAY

The two worst tax bills in history have just been passed by the voters of Oregon.  With some 700,000 state employees and retirees stuffing the ballot box, it is no surprise.  Now that the genie has been let out of the bottle, how can we stop the teachers' union and the public employees union from voting themselves fat raises every year and padding the already overstuffed PERS retirement mattresses?

"When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic."- Benjamin Franklin, c. 1776.

Don't say you weren't warned.  Or, to paraphrase P.T. Barnum: "No Tax hike ever failed by underestimating the intelligence of the Oregon voter."

And that loud Whooshing sound?  That's corporations the size of Nike, Intel,  and HP "downsizing" to absorb these onerous fees for doing business in Oregon.   Kiss those jobs bye-bye. The other whooshing is the sound of smaller businesses fleeing Tax Hell to go to other states, courtesy of our "Let's kill the Golden Goose" legislature and governor:   a larger collection of fiscal morons is only available in Washington D.C.

Ten bucks says they'll be screaming within two years for another increase, "for the children."