In a rare moment of almost-lucidity from under the dome in Denver, Governor Jared Polis decided to play dress-up as a fiscal conservative. The op-ed comes from Ari Armstrong over at The Sentinel, and I’ve gotta admit, this one’s got some teeth. Ari takes Polis’ recent budget-cutting buzzwords and asks the million-dollar question: are we FINALLY going to start hacking away at Colorado’s appetite for corporate welfare, or is this just another press-friendly band-aid on our bloated bureaucratic corpse?
The Bullet Point Brief
- Polis wants to cut state spending (and pigs might fly tomorrow).
- Armstrong says: great – start with subsidized fat-cat corporations.
- Colorado baptizes businesses with taxpayer cash like it’s water from heaven.
- Biotech, energy firms, and your cousin’s LLC all suckle at the public teat.
- Governor talks tough but walks soft – Armstrong calls for real budget guts.
My Bottom Line
Credit where it’s due – I rarely say anything nice about Polis unless it involves his retirement party, but if he’s finally seeing the light on runaway government spending, then hallelujah and pass the meatloaf. The state budget reads like a drunken shopping spree at Costco with someone else’s credit card. So yes, Governor- cut it. Slash it. Torch it like it insulted your mother’s potato salad.
But here’s where reality walks in and slaps us all upside the head: will he take on corporate welfare? Or is this just political cosplay so he can show up on CNBC pretending he’s not running some progressive Disneyland out here? These subsidies are nothing but legalized grift – your tax dollars funneled into boardrooms so politicians can put “job creation” in their campaign ads. It’s asinine.
If we really want fiscal sanity, we have to stop acting like every carbon-neutral hamster wheel startup deserves a blank check from the state treasury. Armstrong nails it – you want meaningful cuts? Then open season on corporate handouts should start yesterday.
We’re Weld County folks – we know how to balance a damn checkbook without using Monopoly money. Maybe let Main Street breathe for once instead of giving another $10 million to Google so they can build a smoothie bar next to their server farm.
