...learn to "balance your checkbook!"...

PORTLAND, Ore.—Oregon voters approved two special tax measures Tuesday designed to close a $733 million state budget gap. With 95% of the vote counted, Measure 66 garnered 54% of ballots and Measure 67 received 53%, the Associated Press reported.

What they didn’t report is that Oregon “over-spent” 4.6 BILLION last year during the heart of the economic shortfalls. That’s right “billions.” And have increased spending on average of 30% over the last 30 years! But it is 'all about the children' (especially all the new Spanish-speaking teachers we need today).

Oregon voters have spoken up in defense of state programs and schools (like they always do because they watch stupid commercials) and they will soon see a larger portion of the state's revenue coming from both individuals who earn higher than average incomes, and Oregon corporations. County and state educators breathed a sigh of relief after voters approved a tax hike Tuesday that will ward off deeper cuts into school budgets this year.

"Passage of these measures means we keep core services of education, health care and public safety that Oregon families, businesses, and communities count on," said Oregon House Speaker Dave Hunt, a Democrat who represents Clackamas County. Defeat, he said, would have forced the state to cut nearly a billion dollars more from such services.

The twin ballot measures also served as a gauge of anti-business populism and highlighted a nationwide debate over whether to fix state budgets by targeting the affluent. But they also fueled resentment of "tax and spend" legislators, as well as public-employee unions whose members enjoy job security at a time when thousands here have lost jobs.

But allow me to piss on the victory chant for just one moment to inject a small dose of reality: What Oregonians might have said in voting "yes" for Measures 66 and 67 is that taxing wealthy people and business owners is simply too hard to resist, especially when misleading ads suggest that business owners only contribute $10 a year to government services.

You see?  Most Oregon businesses don't pay state corporate taxes because they aren't C corporations. They pay taxes on their business income through the personal income taxes of their owners. (You will see them moving out of Oregon soon).

For now, it seems to me that all we know from the "yes" votes is that most voters believed that more money for government is a good deal when it costs a minority group rather than everybody.

Measures 66 and 67 will hurt businesses' ability to restore jobs Oregon has lost in this recession, and they will hurt Oregon's venture-funded startups. But these permanent tax hikes -- the biggest tax increase in the state's history -- affect more than just startups. They are bad for all businesses.

Oregon's current economic challenge, the worst in 70 years, is the loss of more than 131,000 jobs -- more than 9 percent of Oregon's private-sector employment -- since November 2007. That's why state revenues haven't grown.

In addition to expressing faith in and thanking voters, supporters of Measures 66 and 67 should start writing thank-you notes to the state's wealthy people and business owners who will pay the higher bills. And they should keep some notes of sympathy on standby for any private-sector employees who soon could be out of work as a result of increased business taxes in a time of recession.

Oh, and when the businesses refuse to move to Oregon and many move to others states…hear me clearly when I say that is way too far for you to ride TriMet or your little bicycle. Grow-up you idiots! You have no idea what you just approved.