Land of 10,000 Lakes

One legend I remember regarding Paul Bunyan - the big guy in the picture - was that he wandered through Minnesota with his pet Ox "Babe the Blue Ox" and got lost in the middle of a winter storm. They plowed around all over and because Babe's feet (hooves?) were so big when the spring thaw came, the footprints filled with water and became the 10,000 lakes that dot the state.

The big guy on the left is in Akeley, Minnesota - a tourist town probably with "Eleventh Crow Wing" Lake (no kidding) almost smack dab in the middle of it.  You get to turn west from the Casino up in Walker, drive generally southwest past the golf course and head on down State Route 34 and there you are.  The main street is aptly named Broadway and the 20 or so blocks that make up the town pretty much end at 3rd street on the south so that should give you an idea of breadth and width.
The kerfuffle going on in Minnesota's government might not reach Akeley for a while and come winter it won't reach it at all other than some money is going to dry up that keeps Route 34 plowed unless Hubbard County reaches into its pocket to make up the difference.   That is the rub.

Back when Reagan did his great downsizing of government (federal) and the first use of "starve the beast" came to the forefront, state and local governments all of a sudden had to pay for the things that formerly came out of Washington.  Second, back then the state's generally had income tax formulas that were linked in some way to the federal tax code (enter the amount from your federal form line 48 in line 8 type of thing) so when that was "cut", the states took an inadvertent hit.  States always get hit by federal actions - pretty much like Babe tromping around in a snowstorm and leaving lakes here and there. So when things freeze up in St. Paul (that's the capital in case you forgot) pretty soon that freeze up will find its way to Akeley in some form.  It will be all the talk at the T&M Cafe, like the blizzard in the forecast or a hot spell on the way. Washington hits St. Paul and St. Paul hits Akeley.

These politicians have obviously never tossed a stone into a lake and watched the ripples. Common sense would tell you that the stone hits only once and therefore there should be only one ripple but even a kid knows that isn't what happens.  Washington handed St. Paul a big stone and they have tossed it.  Akeley may not have a millionaire to raise a tax on and probably only a handful of folks fall into that vaunted 2%. Akeley just sits on the shore of a lake, minding its own business, and now some big blue elephant just plopped a foot in the north side of that lake and a tidal wave, not a ripple,  is on the way. Can't see it from the T&M Cafe but its coming.