PERRspectives: 14 Things I Learned in 2014
"The "Red State Model" is dead. In 2013, Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore praised "the Red State path to prosperity." Slashing regulations, encouraging full-throttle energy exploration and, most of all, cutting taxes, they insisted, was the "Red State Model" for economic success. Their poster child was Sam Brownback, the Kansas Governor whose "Midwest renaissance rooted in the Reagan model" by early 2014 had Yahoo News describing him as "the possible GOP presidential contender no one's talking about." Alas, it didn't turn out that way. Tax-cutting Republicans governors like Chris Christie (R-NJ) and Brownback are instead facing catastrophic revenue shortfalls and imposing draconian cuts to public services, all while lagging America's overall economic performance."
