Didn't Build That

There has been a lot said about the President not giving the business owners credit for creating their business from nothing.  Unfortunately that is not really what he said.  What he was talking about is how having a stable society with services provided (police, fire,...), public infrastructure, and an educated work force allow people to create businesses.  There have been a lot of letters into the Wisconsin State Journal that have disputed this idea.  For proof that they didn't build it all you have to do is drive on highways 151 and 94.  There are 2 locations where a big corporation bought a bunch of land, probably relatively cheaply and built huge warehouse distribution facilities.  The only problem and probably a reason for low land prices is that there were not interchanges in those locations.  The state knowing that the $10 per hour jobs were important built interchanges at a cost of around $10 million dollars each.  The company didn't build it the taxpayers did.  The gas revenue from the trucks using these facilities will take a long time to pay for them (sorry it is a myth that the gas tax pays for the roads, we don't collect enough money).  There is another example from the same company where they wanted to build a store.  What they did was get the City of Monona to build the building in a wetland and then lease it to them.  They also had the roads in the area upgraded to handle the increased traffic.  So, the next time a company wants millions to stay in the state, highways built so that they can expand, public financing to expand,... remind the owners how exactly they are building their business themselves.

Today's Cap Times

In today's Cap Times they quote Kathleen Vinehout explaining that the Dems have lost the rural vote.  I have said this for a long time.  There is an amazing number of people who live in the Madison area who never get out to the rural areas and then talk to the people.  So they are stunned when you have election results like last Tuesday, I was not.  the rural population on paper they should be Dems but they have bought into the very effective propaganda by the right.  Frank Lutz is a genius.  He is able to find the one issue and then break it down to a couple word sound bite.  He then gets everyone on the same page, brilliant.  Unfortunately what the State needs now are some pragmatic politicians that can come up with real solutions.  I would say common sense but that has been attributed to Walker and those solutions are not common sense or solutions.  So what happens to the children of the state when education is defunded?  Do you really believe that private schools will open up all over and agree the educate the children with declining public money (the cuts included in act 10)?  I don't see the performance being any better either, all you have to do is look at Milwaukee where private school choice has existed for a long time.  This is going to damage the state going forward, we'll need right to work for less just to be able to provide jobs to the uneducated.  Then there is the matter of repealing environmental regulations in a state where tourism is a big part of the economy.  I don't see this helping matters.  Then there is writing legislation for single companies.  No, I think that they can play by the same rules as everyone else.  Look at Ashley furniture, they couldn't build anywhere other than the wetland that legislature ruled, over the objections of everyone who knew something, was ok to build on.  What happened when their factory flooded as many said would happen?  They asked for and got help from the State for a problem that they created.  This is appalling.  Now we have Cabelas in Green Bay building in a wetland.  What do you think will happen when it floods?  They will ask for help and we'll give it.  The GTAC mine could have been built under existing law.  The law doesn't need to be changed.  The mine was confident that they were going to get their way.  Had they filed an application it most likely would have been approved before the ill fated vote.  These rule rewrites end up costing the State in the end.  We need people who are willing to preserve what made this state special, public education, protect the environment, a leader in the treatment of workers,...  Unfortunately for the tea party the state traditions are pretty liberal.

The Job Creators

Sen. John Kyl over the weekend once again repeated the nonsense that if you raise taxes on the job creators they won't be able to create jobs. I don't understand the party of business (Republican) and businessmen on this belief. Business and the rich for that matter don't hire people because they have money. They hire because their current workforce cannot keep up with consumer demand for their products or services. This has been stated as such in Wisconsin where companies that got big tax credits were asked if that was the reason that they hired and the CEOs said no. No it is demand that drives sales which drives hiring. Where a wrench is thrown in is that companies have a choice to expand to foreign countries at possibly a much lower cost than expanding domestically with tax incentives.

What we ought to do is end the Bush tax cuts. End corporate welfare, grants and tax credits, in exchange for a company staying in a city or state. Replace corporate welfare with the big stick of increased government regulation and taxation if you locate your factory overseas. Rewrite the free trade agreements to be free and fair trade with similar wages, worker health and safety regulations, and similar protections for the environment.