Holiday Reading

For Third Straight Year, Wisconsin Ranks Last In Business Startup Activity
Data On Wisconsin Economic Development Agency Can't Show If Incentives Create Jobs
State Jobs Agency Data A Mess
State And Local Government Business Incentives: Data Tells A Story
Walker's Commission Bankrolled By Bradley Foundation
TIF Plans In St Louis Are 'Redlining And Block-Busting,' Show-Me Institute Says
Wisconsin Center Expansion Study Won't Include Cost Estimate Or Funding Sources

Journalism Is Dead

A 7-part series on the making of a golf course?

Really?

Really, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel?

This is the in-depth, investigative journalism we need right now?

Extra Sauce And Two Scoops Of Ice Cream

Ghost Live In Cologne

Behemoth - Live Graspop 2016

Weekend Reading

California Leads U.S. Economy, Away From Trump
Researchers Have Answered A Big Question About The Decline Of The Middle Class
Who's Watching Wall Street? The Feds Turn A Blind Eye To Goldman's Game
Simple Math Is Why Elon Musk's Companies Keep Doing What Others Don't Even Consider Possible
A New Olympics Reality: Fewer Cities Want To Host The Games
See One Of The World's Rarest Cats Captured On Camera
Disturbing Photographs Show Pollution in the Great Lakes Before the Clean Water Act

A Call For Clean Water

Trump Announces Commission To Investigate His Baseless Widespread Voter Fraud Claim

U.S. life expectancy varies by more than 20 years from county to county

Labor: Human Activity That Provides The Goods Or Services In An Economy

"If any man tells you he loves America, yet hates Labor, he is a liar." ~ Abraham Lincoln

Yet, this seems to be exactly the message of Wall Street, conservatives and capital investment, in general.

According to investors, workers don't really deserve the fruit of their labor.

What's wrong with giving out pay raises? Plenty, according to some Wall Street analysts

“This is frustrating. Labor is being paid first … again. Shareholders get leftovers,” wrote Citi analyst Kevin Crissey in a note to clients. 

Jamie Baker of Morgan Stanley downgraded American shares to “neutral” from “overweight,” saying the pay decision “establishes a worrying precedent, in our view, both for American and the industry.”

John Cotton condensed the Wall Street view:

"There’s always this tension between what companies would want for the long term and what Wall Street wants for the short term," said John Cotton, professor of management and director of the Executive MBA Program in the College of Business Administration at Marquette University. "As far as Wall Street is concerned, if you could pay minimum wage to everybody on every job, that would be great because that would leave more money for stockholder. 

...

"Wall Street, they don’t care so much long term," Cotton said. "They would rather have the company buy back stock than, say, invest in making their business more effective over the long term, because that’s not going to pay off in the next 90 days. 

"It is short-sighted, but then Wall Street almost by definition is short-sighted," he added. "If you could do something to jack up your stock price 5%, the fact that it’s going to hurt your company over the next 10 years is irrelevant."

 American Airlines CEO defended worker raises:

"As a service organization, investments in our team are investments in our product," Parker said during a conference call with analysts. "We think it's precisely this kind of investment in our people that is going to make the difference in our service. And while this won't happen overnight, we also think it's the kind of investment that will continue to drive revenue (growth) for American. And as that happens, all of you will be the beneficiaries of those returns."

For Wall Street, raises should be reserved for the CEOs that decide to fire workers and/or suppress wages.

If we want to address the increasing income inequality in our society, we need to break from this capital-worship paradigm.

"Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." ~ Abraham Lincoln

Sunday Reading

Corporate Profits Are Way Up, Corporate Taxes Are Way Down
Trump's Tax Plan: Having A Laugh On Laffer
Water Bill Violate Constitution
U.S. Appeals Court Upholds 15-Miles Residency Rule For Milwaukee Cops, Emergency Workers
Hacked Records Show Bradley Foundation Taking Its Conservative Wisconsin Model National
Evaluating Trump's First 100 Days - On His Own Terms
New Study Suggests That Men Need To Drink With Friends Twice A Week To Stay Healthy

For Years, We’ve Been Told Fat Clogs Our Arteries. Now, Scientists Say That’s All Wrong.

Wisconsin ranks among U.S. states with the heaviest tax burdens

Milwaukee County Programs Help Employ Hundreds Of Area Residents

Trumpcare: Less About Health Care, More About Ideology