Fiscal Mismanagement in Raleigh Leading to Higher Gas Prices, Fewer Jobs

The Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly are driving the state into such a hole that they're resorting to magic hat tricks, or rather, cruel bait-and-switch tricks, to be more precise.

They're moving legislation right now to lower the gas tax by 2 1/2 cents a gallon for the next four months on their way to raising the gas tax very substantially in the coming years. So they're shouting "We're cutting taxes!" when their plan is really and truly quite the opposite. It's a "stealth tax increase," says notorious Tea Party blogger Brant Clifton.

Jobs? O hell. The minus 2 1/2 cents on the gas tax during the next four months will mean firing 500 Department of Transportation workers, some 4% of the agency's employees. Those are your neighbors, your friends, your fellow struggling North Carolinians looking for that "Carolina Comeback" that Governor Squishy has been touting.

Meanwhile, the state's revenue forecast proves that "trickle-down" doesn't work any better in this Year of Our Lord than it did in 1982.