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I was thinking again this morning how dead the Kansas thread is. Of course, I thought, well, Kansas itself is rather dead so makes sense. I know a lot of people outside the bigger cities don't use the internet especially with the older population plus the high cost of internet if you don't live in the city. As I went down the list of threads in each state there was only one with less and I think it was Rhode Island. But, seriously, what is there to talk about as far as KS goes? Many of the towns are dying. Three or four would have no population if not for illegal immigration and if those people find a way to citizenship, the costs for those counties and the state will be very high. Although I have not looked at stats, I know the number of people over 65 is very high and I don't believe the birthrate is very high and those having the most children usually are using WIC and a Vision Card. I realize in the metro areas, this picture may not be the same but what I see is that KS is in trouble and the attitude of not wanting change and for things to say the same is about to devour the majority of the state. So, I guess that is why the Kansas forum is limping along?
In part what you said, but also because the most cosmopolitan and fastest growing part of Kansas prefers to post in the Kansas City forum, which is under Missouri.
Though in reality even we don't like to post much at all, considering any praise for Johnson County in either this forum or that one is immediately crushed by very vocal Missouri posters who ***** and moan that Johnson County "stole" everything from the MO side. It gets tiring and is really more of a liberal (KCMO) vs conservative (JoCoKS) flame war and on sites like these, the conservatives pretty much always are in the wrong.
I was thinking again this morning how dead the Kansas thread is. Of course, I thought, well, Kansas itself is rather dead so makes sense. I know a lot of people outside the bigger cities don't use the internet especially with the older population plus the high cost of internet if you don't live in the city. As I went down the list of threads in each state there was only one with less and I think it was Rhode Island. But, seriously, what is there to talk about as far as KS goes? Many of the towns are dying. Three or four would have no population if not for illegal immigration and if those people find a way to citizenship, the costs for those counties and the state will be very high. Although I have not looked at stats, I know the number of people over 65 is very high and I don't believe the birthrate is very high and those having the most children usually are using WIC and a Vision Card. I realize in the metro areas, this picture may not be the same but what I see is that KS is in trouble and the attitude of not wanting change and for things to say the same is about to devour the majority of the state. So, I guess that is why the Kansas forum is limping along?
You just now came to this revelation?
Well, I can give you a laundry list of reasons why the state continues to fare poorly compared to its peers, but I doubt many people will like them.
We'll see how well this social engineering scheme of Brownback's will turn out in a few years as the taxes will get shifted to different categories and continue to benefit the corporate business entities and wealthy.
"Proclaiming Kansas "open for business," Gov. Sam Brownback on Thursday signed into law a measure that makes additional income tax cuts over the next five years while generating new revenue through higher sales taxes and other adjustments."
"He said the changes make the Kansas tax code "fairer, flatter and simpler for families and small businesses."
Notice Brownback makes NO MENTION how the tax code would benefit or harm single people, only focusing on families and businesses. Sticking with the natalistic approach only it would appear.
"This approach broadens the base and lowers tax rates for the benefit of the maximum number of Kansans," Brownback said during a ceremony at a construction site in Overland Park. "The result has been three years of historic and innovative tax relief. Our pro-growth tax policies will pave the way for Kansas to be the best place in America to raise a family and grow a business."
Where else would he go to a ceremony considering the massive inflow of dollars and subsidization that flows straight into businesses in Johnson County at a larger cost to the rest of the state as well as Kansas City, MO. Follow the money trail and CORPORATE dollars here.
"The legislation also addresses the state sales tax, which had been scheduled to drop in July from 6.3 percent to 5.7 percent. Lawmakers voted instead to trim the rate slightly to 6.15 percent, which will raise an estimated $777 million over five years."
The article made no mention that sales taxes vary widely at the local level with additional expenditures that are often tacked onto the percentage amount. Kansas taxes grocery food items very heavily while other states exempt taxation on food items. I was in Kansas City region recently and the sales tax rate in some local cities in Johnson County is well above 9%.
"The top in personal income tax rate will drop to 3.9 percent for 2018, down from 4.9 percent, and promises future rate reductions in years when revenues grow more than 2 percent."
Ya, I see lots of fuzzy math there because I'm not sure where any revenue is going to come from when job growth is already flat to negative in the state, and it has been that way for the last 10-15 years.
1) The state continues to subsidize and provide large amounts of tax breaks and corporate welfare to Johnson County. This is very old news, but it continues to happen quite frequently while the rest of the CITIES in the state that aren't glorified suburbs or dependent on funding from the federal government (Ft. Riley, Junction City, Manhattan region) continue to experience large-scale decline and stagnation.
2) "Many of the towns are dying."
Of course agriculturally dependent counties are declining as farm and ranch size continues to increase further reducing the total number of farms and the number of people that stay. Land prices continue to escalate, further enriching those that already have large land holdings, but putting increased pressure on smaller operations that are less numble. Many counties have been declining for over 100 years so this isn't news at all.
3) "Three or four would have no population if not for illegal immigration and if those people find a way to citizenship, the costs for those counties and the state will be very high."
You aren't grasping why those counties experienced such a large increase in immigration over the last several decades. The corporate ag model has moved out to the High Plains where they could find next to no regulations and cheap labor costs. This will quickly run its course and decline as the Ogallala Aquifer will not hold out much longer in the region and feed costs will go up as irrigating corn in a semi-arid climate region for any length of time is idiocy at its finest.
4) "Although I have not looked at stats, I know the number of people over 65 is very high and I don't believe the birthrate is very high and those having the most children usually are using WIC and a Vision Card."
The percentage of the population over age 65 is the greatest in agriculturally dependent economies that do not have a large number of jobs in other categories, hence a large-scale out-migration of working age people, professionals, and families. Kansas does indeed have a very high birth rate relative to many states, and immigration is only one reason why. Social conservatism could be another.
5) "I realize in the metro areas, this picture may not be the same but what I see is that KS is in trouble and the attitude of not wanting change and for things to say the same is about to devour the majority of the state. So, I guess that is why the Kansas forum is limping along"
No, it mainly has to do with mediocre job growth, a lack of investment in urban areas, a lack of investment and ENORMOUS CUTS to higher education over time, the ridiculous far right conservative politics epitomized by someone like Brownback, the low wages outside of Johnson County, and few opportunities for younger professionals.
Last edited by GraniteStater; 06-15-2013 at 11:25 AM..
I'm not surprised at the low number of threads. Kansas City metro has its own forum (under Missouri). Wichita has its own forum. People relocating to Kansas are mostly relocating to those two areas.
But, have you all noticed that no one discusses issues here. We might not have the population but we have issues, lots of them as stated above. There is a code of silence and a belief that if you don't talk a problem, there isn't a problem. There are some serious problems that need to be addressed but you'll find when you try to address them, you'll be ignored. The Attorney General needs to be kicked to the curb! He refuses to address issues that he should be addressing and calling him is a waste of time.
In Emporia, you have a lot of nice looking empty businesses both downtown and in the industrial area. Not sure why they closed since we haven't been here that long. Hostess is producing again without union workers and I won't comment on that at this time.
In all of the towns, they want jobs that pay well but the reason businesses come into KS is to be able to pay the low wages but that is very hard to explain not to mention that good jobs require skills and to be able to pass a drug test.
When we were in Bourbon County, a lot of people went across the state line to shop because of lower taxes and also to buy liquor on Sunday. We don't purchase liquor but I believe it hurts the state not to allow it to be purchased on Sunday. And, gas was cheaper too so you could make a day of it on a monthly basis and come out ahead. There were people that filled containers with gas on the other side of the state line for the month. Yeah, we tried not to be behind them.
So, basically, if the people here refuse to be involved in the government and have a voice, they get what they deserve. I have a voice but no one is listening so we are looking at joining the mass exodus.
But, have you all noticed that no one discusses issues here.
Bingo, winner, ding ding ding ding, grand prize coming your way! I have never seen people with such dark blinders on as Kansans. They choose to ignore important issues or just go with the flow. They do know all about KU sports though! .
BTW, there is nothing in Kansas besides a bunch of suburbs of KCMO, Wichita and a couple of college towns.
Wichita is not doing great. Topeka and KCK? Yea well.... And JoCo, the most propped up subsidized county in the state if not country (the county is a fake, without all the subsidation and ability to freeload and poach off KCMO it would barely rival Salina) , that I guess has to be the way it is because it's the largest county in the state and the primary county for revenue generation. So yea, Kansas uses every measure possible (poaching from KCMO etc) to keep its now major county "growing".
But, have you all noticed that no one discusses issues here. We might not have the population but we have issues, lots of them as stated above. There is a code of silence and a belief that if you don't talk a problem, there isn't a problem. There are some serious problems that need to be addressed but you'll find when you try to address them, you'll be ignored. The Attorney General needs to be kicked to the curb! He refuses to address issues that he should be addressing and calling him is a waste of time.
In Emporia, you have a lot of nice looking empty businesses both downtown and in the industrial area. Not sure why they closed since we haven't been here that long. Hostess is producing again without union workers and I won't comment on that at this time.
In all of the towns, they want jobs that pay well but the reason businesses come into KS is to be able to pay the low wages but that is very hard to explain not to mention that good jobs require skills and to be able to pass a drug test.
When we were in Bourbon County, a lot of people went across the state line to shop because of lower taxes and also to buy liquor on Sunday. We don't purchase liquor but I believe it hurts the state not to allow it to be purchased on Sunday. And, gas was cheaper too so you could make a day of it on a monthly basis and come out ahead. There were people that filled containers with gas on the other side of the state line for the month. Yeah, we tried not to be behind them.
So, basically, if the people here refuse to be involved in the government and have a voice, they get what they deserve. I have a voice but no one is listening so we are looking at joining the mass exodus.
So you basically agree with most of my points? The political dysfunction and the extreme agenda of Brownback is quite unfortunate as too many Kansans voted against their self interests yet again. I think this one of the big problems that we have as a country right now. Too many states are dealing with the issues of a one party control for long periods of time. That isn't healthy. Do you regret your vote for Brownback now? If he gets re elected expect more of the same if not worse things to happen.
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