Minnesota Governor Signs Budget Bill -- Ends State Shutdown

Tipping point? Beer.

Big thank you to Greg from FourFiftyGas.com for article on the "real" story.

Link for Yahoo story on governor ending shut down.

The state lost millions of dollars in the shutdown, including lost revenue from lottery sales, tax audits and state park fees, money spent preparing to shut down and the cost of unemployment and health benefits for laid-off workers. The full cost wasn't expected to be known for some time because the workers who could calculate it weren't on the job.

The budget was widely panned for setting up a new problem down the road. It borrows money from schools and from future payments on a legal settlement with tobacco companies to erase a $5 billion deficit through mid-2013. Republicans and Democrats have been at odds for years over how to address persistent deficits, with GOP leaders pushing for deeper spending cuts and Democrats arguing for new taxes.

But again, if you want more background to this incredibly stupid story, go to the first link. Just part of an excellent summary from True North.com:

Then came the decision to take Miller off the shelves.  The reaction was both enormous and obviously unexpected to the Dems.  Rachel Stassen-Berger whined in a tweet on July 13, 2011, “”What do MNs care about? Beer. @ stribroper’s post about a Miller-free MN has 300 comments, 300 RTs and 4k#fb shares.”  You could practically hear the professional jealousy Stassen-Berger was feeling in her comment about her fellow Party-run pamphleteer at the Star Tribune.  That night the local television coverage about Miller products getting pulled from the stores was huge.  Once the whole story was told, people were livid.

Eric Roper’s story, “MillerCoors kicked off state shelves,” Star Tribune, July 13, 2011 reports the story.

“The problem stems from brand label registrations that brewers must renew with the state every three years, showing the label on each brand of beer. MillerCoors attempted to renew in mid-June, but, according to company officials, sent the state a check for more than the required amount. Green said the company followed up with a new check, which the state received June 27.

But on June 30, one day before the government shutdown, the company received a letter from the state that its brand licenses had expired. State employees who would typically renew those licenses have been deemed noncritical during the shutdown and laid off.”

Conclusion:

This was a contrived farce from the get-go.  They would continue to subsidize food stamps for unwed mothers but refused to cash a simple check and return the overages to Miller.  This kind of madness typified exactly what is going wrong with this country. 

I knew the shutdown was a farce when the very first story about the state shutdown had to to with the state's two horse racing tracks that would be shut down.