Minnesota Governor Shutsdown Government

Minnesota Governor shuts down the government in that state as of July 1, 2011. This is the second time the state of Minnesota has undergone a shutdown in six years. The Governor said the people did not elect him so that he could continue to enrich billionaire pocket books and that he was not going to do that!

The shutdown comes as Republican leaders, in efforts to protect the wealthiest Minnesotans, refuse to accept Governor Mark Dayton's budget proposal.

20,000 state workers could lose their jobs over this standoff between the Democratic Governor and his Republican
Legislature. Meantime, while the state endures its shutdown phase, these 20,000 workers will be laid off from work.

Coming just before the Independence Day holiday, these uncompromising Republican legislators caused the state to close parks, zoos, child care assistance programs for the poor, medical agencies, and other government operations.

Despite Dayton allowing the government to shutdown, the state will continue to incur expenses. When a shutdown occurred in 2005, then Governor Tim Pawlenty cost the state approximately $12 million dollars.

Although Dayton has been prepared to compromise over possible angles for balancing the state's budget, the Tea Party led Republican legislators continued to be unmoving. The Governor wanted to include in the budget, a balance of tax cuts in some areas and increased taxes in other areas. Republican leaders, however, standing firm for their Tea Party constituents, continued to hold tight to their promises to never raise taxes.

Existent with the vow Republican leaders have made to never raise taxes is that the contract they signed (within the party) is intended to protect income of the super wealthy; which consists only of 2% of Americans. The irony here is that these overly wealthy Americans already receive all kinds of tax breaks and actually pay very little compared to Americans who work longer hours; who work harder at their jobs, and who often work under substandard conditions.

According to the Huffingtonpost, employee unions such as MAPE and the AFSCME, are backing the Governor. Their continued support comes despite the possibility that the workers could lose their jobs.

According to Ken Martin the Chair of Minnesota DFL, during an MSNBC report with Cenk Uygur, Governor Dayton moved a mile and the Republicans refused to budge a bit during negotiations. The Governor's proposal merely asks for people making more than 1 million dollars a year to pay little more in taxes.