Government backed loans, loans, and grants

Ron Johnson wants us to understand that the help his business got was a loan. He also wants us to understand that this was not the Government picking winners and losers. Well, I for one don't understand the difference. Pacur was given a low interest government backed loan from a bank. This is different from a business loan from a bank in that if they defaulted the bank would be able to get some of the money from the government. A grant is a direct bailout, the government picking winners and losers. The way Mr. Johnson tells it anyone could have gotten this kind of deal. Except that isn't true. Only companies that are already established or led by the connected (Mr. Johnson was connected through his father in law) can get these deals. Give me $2 million dollars and I'll open a business.

So, we can say that he got government help but yet he has no problem criticizing Sen. Feingold for voting to give GM loans and grants to stay in business. This vote preserved a large American company that employed 10s of thousands of Americans. You can argue that these Americans were overpaid. He doesn't go there though. He just believes that we should have let them go.

There you have it the differences between funding sources and how Ron Johnson is playing with the facts. And I'll take a low interest loan to open a business.

P.S. Maybe Ron Johnson would be willing to release the salary structure at his company. Does he pay the so called living wage?

Ron Johnson again

Now the Democratic Party wants Ron Johnson to release the tax records for his business. Normally I would agree with Johnson that those records shouldn't be made public. The difference in this case is that Mr. Johnson is campaigning that taxes on his business are oppressive. Since his is one of the largest businesses in the State and there have been a number of articles published indicating that the majority of large businesses in the State pay little or no taxes, these records have become a campaign issue. The voters need to know how much he paid in taxes.

Scott Walker's new ad

Scott Walker has finally stepped out to take on Mark Neumann. I was so excited, we'll finally see the differences of the two front runners. The ad links Mark to speaker Pelosi. OK, lets forget that the speaker works on the National level and Governor is a State position. The premise of this link is that they both voted for a road construction package. Come on Scott, isn't road building a cornerstone of your campaign? Where do you think the money spent on road building comes from? Read close tea baggers, most road projects are a combination of Local, State, and Federal money. That is why Mayor Dave (addressing those that said the stimulus didn't work) said look around you that is all federal money. He is exactly right if you go to other States there are signs posted detailing the funding sources of public projects. Nice try Scott, I'm sure that it will work with your uninformed supporters but probably won't sway the informed fence sitters.

Wisconsin Senate Race

Try as he might Ron Johnson cannot escape being a businessman in America Today. It all flows from his implication that he went into business with his brother in law with nothing and through hard work and sacrifice built it into this large package manufacturing corporation. Well, it turns out that he had a little more help than most business owners along the way. First the start-up money came from his father in law (who is very wealthy), not going to begrudge a gift but I wouldn't be talking up my early struggle. Then is turns out he received some government assistance (which he abhors) through government backed loans. Now he says it was a loan and was paid back. He also says that no tax payer money was on the line. So no it is not like GM, AIG, the banks. Really, so Ron you're telling me that some bank gave a small business a low interest loan because they believed in what you were doing and knew that your company would help the economy. If I had only known sooner, I could be my own boss now. No, Ron the way this works is some government entity tells the bank that we will guarantee any losses that you may incur making this loan. In this case it was both State and Local money. It is great that he paid it back, but to quote one of the Tea Party faithful where is my share? The reality is that all of us paid to get his business going, he fails to recognize this fact. He also fails to talk about what exactly his business does. They manufacture packaging for the medical field. Isn't it interesting that someone who makes a living off of high tech medicine got into the Senate race against Russ Feingold because he opposes Obama care? If I were in his shoes I would be ecstatic about health care reform because there is not any form of cost containment so he is free to keep increasing prices.

Most Valued Profession

How did business and finance majors become the most valued professions? I guess they nearly have the power of a Doctor in terms of life or death of the economy. I don't know about you but when I was in college business classes were some of the easiest. They are not the best and brightest but they are sure treated that way. If they were so smart why did they destroy the economy?

Wolf appliance

Wolf Appliance asked its Madison employees for a 20% pay cut toady. The employees said no. I thought WOW in this economy any job is better than no job. One employee who voted no explained it like this, "either way I'm doomed, the pay cut puts me on the street and losing my job puts me on the street". My question to Wolf (makers of very expensive stoves) is would the prices also decline by 20%? My guess is no. For some reason business hasn't figured out that if we continue to depress wages and benefits they lose. At some point (I think that we are there) we won't have enough people to buy things to keep the economy going.

We also have Harley Davidson doing the same thing. They can't compete because people don't have $17,000 to spend on a motorcycle that won't be driven all year and gets bad gas mileage. When they leave prices won't go down.

Henry Ford believed that his workers should be able to buy the cheapest car made and paid accordingly. Today's executives could learn something from him.

Jonah Goldberg and the Constitution

Reading Jonah Goldberg today, I know he drives me crazy. Today he was railing against the liberals because they are against the rewriting of the 14th amendment. But, yet they don't have any problem with it being a living document and using the equal protection clause to overturn the will of the people. I'm one of those who believe that the Constitution must be able to adapt to the modern world. I also believe that the Constitution was written to protect the rights of the minority from the tyranny of the majority. Jonah this means that just because the majority is for something doesn't make it right. I know that this is a tough concept for a Federalist, but it is what Jefferson, Franklin, Paine and others believed. So, the question is should some people have more rights than others? The Constitution would indicate NO.

On changing the birthright, this has been a hallmark of the country since its founding. I see no reason to change it now. What I want to see is the illegals deported. It is ridiculous that we drive by people working in yards, landscaping business grounds, picking crops, cleaning homes, cleaning hotels,... and we have no problem but show up in the store, school, driving a car and people go crazy. Eliminate employment and you eliminate 90% of the problem. Go after the employers, quit this misguided attempt at rounding up 12 million people. Conduct sweeps on targeted businesses (we know where illegals work).

One thing that is rarely discussed is how President Reagan granted amnesty to 5 million illegals. Since that day we acquired 12 million more. This is largely because we granted amnesty previously.