Minnesota Government Shutdown 2011 Costing State Millions Of Dollars

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/07/minnesota-government-shutdown-costs_n_892019.html

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- While Minnesota's political leaders haggle over how much the state should spend in the next two years, state coffers are bleeding millions of dollars as a result of the state's week-old government shutdown.

"It's going to be a slow force on the economy," said Tom Stinson, a University of Minnesota professor who is laid off from his job as state economist.

Minnesota stands to lose tens of millions of dollars in the nation's only state government shutdown, as lottery tickets go un-purchased, tax cheats go un-pursued and 22,000 laid-off state workers collect unemployment and health benefits.

The government interruption also threatens to slow an already sluggish economic recovery as the state employees in limbo and others who lose state-dependent jobs – including construction workers and nonprofit staffers – tighten their spending.

Stinson said the shutdown isn't likely to cause a recession – but "it's clearly not good the longer that it goes on."

The political dispute that has closed state government centers on how to erase a $5 billion deficit. Republicans who run the Legislature want to cut projected spending to match the amount of revenue the state will collect over the next two years. Gov. Mark Dayton hopes to avoid some of those cuts by raising income taxes on the highest earners; he has also said he's willing to consider other ways to bring in new revenue

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Idiot Republicans don't want to raise taxes.

[shraby]

1. Just one reason the unemployment numbers are up.