Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Uncertainty?
Jared Bernstein (with the help of Lawrence Mishel) dispels the right-wing talking-point of "uncertainty":
"Larry Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, has an extremely useful piece up collecting all the reasons -- with evidence -- why the conservatives' "uncertainty" talking point is shovel-ready nonsense.
First, "uncertainty" in this context refers to the Republicans argument that it's government and central bank actions -- taxes, regulation, fiscal/monetary policy, health care/financial regulation reforms -- that are holding back the economy, not any of that ill-begotten Keynesian stuff, like lack of customers, orders, investors.
So how might you test for something like that?
Well, what about actual investment?
Investment in the current recovery has increased more than in it had at the same time period in the prior two recoveries and roughly the same as it did during the 1980s recovery [see figure]. In other words, this recovery is far more investment-led than the recovery under the pro-deregulation George W. Bush administration.
Private sector jobs, you ask?
...private sector job growth in this recovery looks much like job growth in recent recoveries, suggesting that businesses are not reacting to a new threat of potential regulations and taxes (the difference with this recovery is actually the loss of public sector jobs.
And then, of course, there's what the business folks, as opposed to their DC reps, actually say about what's bugging them:
...the regular National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) surveys of small businesses found that the most common answer to the question, "what is the single most important problem your business faces?" was "poor sales." And while a number of businesses also cited regulation, the numbers were not substantially higher than under Presidents George W. Bush or Ronald Reagan and were lower than under Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush.
None of this is to say "uncertainty" is not a problem. But while conservative politicians are busy jamming their perennial tax cut/deregulate agenda into the current context, the thing that businesses are truly uncertain about is when they're going to start seeing some customers again."
Grilling Season
When a news anchor actually asks pointed questions, or wants explanations for certain actions or policies, it's now considered "grilling".
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Warren Wisdom
As usual, Elizabeth Warren is making sense.
“You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate; you were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did."
“Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea? God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”
“You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate; you were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did."
“Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea? God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”
This is a point President Obama should have been making since day one in office.
Covert Campaign
Shouldn't those investigative watchdogs at the Journal Sentinel be doing a bit more in-depth analysis of the expanding scandal involving our duplicitous governor, Scott Walker?
Fed grants immunity to Walker's former spokesman in ongoing probe.
Update:
I don't consider blurbs in the online Newswatch section of the Journal to be "breaking the story". In a search for "Scott Walker" on the Journal Sentinel website, over the past 30 days, only nine "stories" reference the Cindy Archer debacle. I've seen more information (contextually) provided by Huffington Post, Crooks and Liars, and Daily Kos.
I am focusing on the online coverage primarily because that is primarily where people get their news. I've seen a couple of the nine "stories" alongside the headline story on the front page of the print edition. But, isn't the possible headline of "Corruption in the governor's mansion" as important as "Brewer's clinch division"? Yes, I'm being somewhat picky and this is essentially a matter of scale. But maybe because our news focuses on sports and the sideshow more than the substantive stuff, this is why our democracy is in shambles and we no longer focus on shared prosperity, how we ought to live, and matters of quality of life.
Walker has a history of poor decisions and dubious tactics, especially as county executive. How is this not a daily front-page story of a political tool participating in questionable, and possibly illegal, behavior? This should be the lead story. Not the Brewers. Not Frontier airlines. Not Marquette's new boss. But, the story of our (Journal Sentinel-supported) possibly crooked governor. Which seems kind of important considering the massive agenda and changes he is trying to sweep across Wisconsin.
But that's just my (now, hopefully, explicated) opinion. And, my fault for being brief in my initial one-sentence posting.
Aside:
It's also interesting to see the Journal Sentinel belittling recall elections. Proactively, it appears, trying to dissuade readers from giving any momentum to the efforts to recall Scott Walker.
News breakers? More like news manipulators and stiflers.
For Further Reading:
An Introduction to Walkergate
Walkergate: Tea-Parties, E-mails and Cronies! Oh My!
Fed grants immunity to Walker's former spokesman in ongoing probe.
Update:
I don't consider blurbs in the online Newswatch section of the Journal to be "breaking the story". In a search for "Scott Walker" on the Journal Sentinel website, over the past 30 days, only nine "stories" reference the Cindy Archer debacle. I've seen more information (contextually) provided by Huffington Post, Crooks and Liars, and Daily Kos.
I am focusing on the online coverage primarily because that is primarily where people get their news. I've seen a couple of the nine "stories" alongside the headline story on the front page of the print edition. But, isn't the possible headline of "Corruption in the governor's mansion" as important as "Brewer's clinch division"? Yes, I'm being somewhat picky and this is essentially a matter of scale. But maybe because our news focuses on sports and the sideshow more than the substantive stuff, this is why our democracy is in shambles and we no longer focus on shared prosperity, how we ought to live, and matters of quality of life.
Walker has a history of poor decisions and dubious tactics, especially as county executive. How is this not a daily front-page story of a political tool participating in questionable, and possibly illegal, behavior? This should be the lead story. Not the Brewers. Not Frontier airlines. Not Marquette's new boss. But, the story of our (Journal Sentinel-supported) possibly crooked governor. Which seems kind of important considering the massive agenda and changes he is trying to sweep across Wisconsin.
But that's just my (now, hopefully, explicated) opinion. And, my fault for being brief in my initial one-sentence posting.
Aside:
It's also interesting to see the Journal Sentinel belittling recall elections. Proactively, it appears, trying to dissuade readers from giving any momentum to the efforts to recall Scott Walker.
News breakers? More like news manipulators and stiflers.
For Further Reading:
An Introduction to Walkergate
Walkergate: Tea-Parties, E-mails and Cronies! Oh My!
Monday, September 19, 2011
The Low Tax Truth
Lets get back to the good ole' days of higher marginal tax rates, productivity growth alongside wage growth, full employment, and broadly shared prosperity.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Mining for Dollars
It's good to see someone is keeping an eye on Scott Walker and his crony capitalism.
Corps of Engineers questions Wisconsin rewriting mining laws.
Corps of Engineers questions Wisconsin rewriting mining laws.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Hop On The Bus, Gus
An Analysis of the Impact of Proposed 2012 Milwaukee County Transit Service Reductions on Access to Employment.
"The principal finding of this report is that implementation of the entire menu of service cuts proposed by MCTS would result in the loss of bus service to 997 of the 18,292 employers currently served by MCTS, a decline of 5.4 percent. The vast majority of these employers (all but 10 percent) are located in the suburbs. At a minimum, 13,553 jobs in locations currently served by MCTS would become inaccessible by transit."
"The principal finding of this report is that implementation of the entire menu of service cuts proposed by MCTS would result in the loss of bus service to 997 of the 18,292 employers currently served by MCTS, a decline of 5.4 percent. The vast majority of these employers (all but 10 percent) are located in the suburbs. At a minimum, 13,553 jobs in locations currently served by MCTS would become inaccessible by transit."
The Bubble's Remains
According to Calculated Risk, "The value of household real estate has fallen $6.6 trillion from the peak - and is still falling in 2011."
We need more than $775- and $500-billion stimulus initiatives to get the economy back on track.
We need more than $775- and $500-billion stimulus initiatives to get the economy back on track.
Privatization Loses Money
Great new study by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO). More real-world, empirical evidence that privatization does not save money. We're simply shifting money from good-paying jobs (public sector) for services we need, to low-paying private sector companies that charge more, yet only a select few at the top of the organization share in the majority of the bounty. We're paying more to privatize public sector work based on the MYTH that it's costing us less to have it done by a private organization.
"This report proves otherwise: in fact, it shows that the government actually pays service contractors at rates far exceeding the cost of employing federal employees to perform comparable functions."
"POGO estimates the government pays billions more annually in taxpayer dollars to hire contractors than it would to hire federal employees to perform comparable services. Specifically, POGO’s study shows that the federal government approves service contract billing rates—deemed fair and reasonable—that pay contractors 1.83 times more than the government pays federal employees in total compensation, and more than 2 times the total compensation paid in the private sector for comparable services."
"This report proves otherwise: in fact, it shows that the government actually pays service contractors at rates far exceeding the cost of employing federal employees to perform comparable functions."
"POGO estimates the government pays billions more annually in taxpayer dollars to hire contractors than it would to hire federal employees to perform comparable services. Specifically, POGO’s study shows that the federal government approves service contract billing rates—deemed fair and reasonable—that pay contractors 1.83 times more than the government pays federal employees in total compensation, and more than 2 times the total compensation paid in the private sector for comparable services."
Weekend Reading
Chile's Privatization Failures
Contracting Out Costs Government Lots Extra
Higher Fees Paid to U.S. Physicians
Historically Low Taxes
The Investor's Dilemma
The Keynes-Hayek Rematch
The Legend of Margaret Thatcher
The Magical World of Voodoo Economists
Painful Medicine
Republican Assault on Post Office and Postal Unions
Studies Cite CEO Pay Cause of Wealth Inequality
U.S. Healthcare Costs High Because Doctor Fees are High
Was Marx Right?
What Caused the Recession of 1937-38?
Why Do Mayors Love Sports Stadiums?
Contracting Out Costs Government Lots Extra
Higher Fees Paid to U.S. Physicians
Historically Low Taxes
The Investor's Dilemma
The Keynes-Hayek Rematch
The Legend of Margaret Thatcher
The Magical World of Voodoo Economists
Painful Medicine
Republican Assault on Post Office and Postal Unions
Studies Cite CEO Pay Cause of Wealth Inequality
U.S. Healthcare Costs High Because Doctor Fees are High
Was Marx Right?
What Caused the Recession of 1937-38?
Why Do Mayors Love Sports Stadiums?
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Klein on Social Security
The boring truth about Social Security
There was a long and mostly confused conversation about Social Security during Wednesday night’s GOP debate. But rather than get sidetracked over whether the pension program is a “monstrous lie” (Perry), “a Ponzi scheme” (Perry again), “tyranny” (yep, Perry), “broken” (Cain), or a great system that Americans are being “defrauded out of” (Romney), let’s just go to the numbers.
Over the next 75 years, Social Security’s shortfall is equal to about 0.7 percent of GDP (pdf). If we increase its revenues by that amount -- which could be accomplished by lifting the cap on payroll taxes -- or reduce its benefits by that amount or do some combination of the two, Social Security is back in the black. Here are 30 policy tweaks that could get us there.
Why does Social Security show a shortfall? As Stephen C. Goss, the system’s chief actuary, has written, Social Security projects an imbalance “because birth rates dropped from three to two children per woman.” That means there are relatively fewer young people paying for the old people. “Importantly,” Goss continues, “this shortfall is basically stable after 2035.” In other words, we only have to fix Social Security once. After we reform it to take account of modern demographics, the system is set for the foreseeable future.
And that’s...it. That’s what’s needed to fix Social Security. All this talk about it being a “monstrous lie” or “a Ponzi scheme” or “broken” is meant to create a crisis to clear the way for radical changes in Social Security. But if folks want to make radical changes to Social Security, they should just make the argument for their proposed fixes. And good luck to them. But in reality, what’s going to happen is that sometime in the next decade or so, Republicans and Democrats are going to compromise on a package that adjusts Social Security by about 0.7 percent of GDP over the next 75 years.
Monday, August 29, 2011
The End of Loser Liberalism
A new book from Dean Baker.
Contents
1 Upward Redistribution of Income ....... 1
2 Where We Are and How We Got Here........ 12
3 The Great Redistribution ......... 27
4 The Bubble Economy ............ 35
5 The Fed and Interest Rates........ 49
6 Full Employment without the Fed ....... 61
7 The Treasury and the Dollar ........ 79
8 Trade in an Overvalued-Dollar World...... 87
9 Reining in Finance.......... 111
10 Government-Granted Monopolies ..... 129
11 Follow the Money:......... 141
The Right-Wing's Scapegoat/Savior Politics
Mark Neumann (in what seems a continual run for any vacant elected public office) kicked off his Wisconsin Senate campaign with a right-wing talking-point, "Wisconsin is at the forefront of a new breed of fiscal conservatism, with Republicans including Gov. Scott Walker, Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Ron Johnson leading the way. The Badger State is poised to show the rest of the nation that we know how to put a stop to the reckless spending that threatens to send our economy off the rails."
Where were all these fiscally conservative Republican deficit-hawks when George W. Bush was doubling the U.S. deficit? Reality seems to indicate Republicans couldn't control their own spending proclivity.
[Graphs courtesy of Dave Johnson]
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Wisconsin Spending
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities comments, "In Wisconsin, lawmakers enacted over $90 million in new tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. For example, corporations will be allowed to claim as a tax deduction a greater share of the losses they have incurred in past years and will tax less of their capital gains income. Together with other tax cuts enacted earlier this year, the total revenue loss to the state is about $200 million over the next two year budget cycle, requiring further budget cuts. Lawmakers filled $56 million of the budget shortfall by scaling back the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit for 152,000 low-income working families, at an average cost of $518 for families with 3 or more children and $154 for families with 2 children, annually."
Productivity & Wages
Benjamin Landy reports, "Productivity -– a measure of economic efficiency in terms of output per hour worked -– actually grew at the relatively fast rate of 2.8 percent between 1948 and 1973, when tax rates were far higher and regulations were more extensive in many industries, relative to 1973 to 2010, when average productivity growth slowed to 1.9%. In addition, during the period from 1948 until 1973, almost all Americans were seeing their average income rise as productivity climbed. Income inequality in the United States was at its lowest levels in history, with the rising economic tide lifting all boats. But beginning in the mid 1970s, the income of the bottom 90% –- all but the highest earners -– started to fall behind productivity increases. As the graph shows, though,the incomes of the top 10% and 1% continued to track productivity growth. As of 2008, the average American’s real wages were no higher than they were forty years ago. Since all workers are collectively enhancing the efficiency of the economy, there's little justification for perpetuating policies that have enabled only the wealthiest to benefit from those improvements."
No Retirement
I'm sure the Republicans (whom are kept awake at night worrying about debt and our children) just forgot to be outraged by the fact that retirement is becoming an antiquated notion.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
We Must Save The Trust Fund Babies
We actually have empirical evidence that shows higher tax rates, than we currently have, result in increased revenues and a better quality of life for the majority of Americans.
We also have empirical evidence demonstrating that lowering taxes simply increases income inequality whilst simultaneously diminishing revenues for schools, infrastructure, and research - thus lowering our quality of life.
Yet, in the Republican fantasy world, when faced with the policy option of increasing taxes, they scream class warfare.
Destroying pensions, laying off teachers and police officers, allowing health care costs to be the largest cause of bankruptcy, decreasing Social Security and Medicare payments, increasing the retirement age, etc. Where are the Republicans screams of class warfare when this is going on?
Thursday, August 18, 2011
The Death of the English Language
KID: "Do you believe in Evolution?"
RICK PERRY: "It's a theory that's out there. It's got some gaps in it. In Texas we teach both creationism and evolution....You know, 'cos I figure you're smart enough to figure out which one's right." [WINK]
And, the death of Republican public servants interested in governing.
Fake Messiahs
Articles thoroughly debunking the effectiveness and honesty of Mitt Romney and Rick Perry:
Gridlock & Recessions - Or - Thanks, Republicans!
Typical hypocrisy and myth-making coming from the right-wingers.
Sean Hannity and the other FOX charlatans are complaining because President Obama took a vacation.
They're very upset.
Suddenly they're blathering on and on about the "real" unemployment rate.
Suddenly they're worried about workers and creating jobs.
They conveniently ignore George W. Bush's economic record (and the record of all Republican policies, in general).
When Republicans are in power, where is the outrage when:
Sean Hannity and the other FOX charlatans are complaining because President Obama took a vacation.
They're very upset.
Suddenly they're blathering on and on about the "real" unemployment rate.
Suddenly they're worried about workers and creating jobs.
They conveniently ignore George W. Bush's economic record (and the record of all Republican policies, in general).
When Republicans are in power, where is the outrage when:
- our deficit is doubling (Reagan) and tripling (Bush)?
- workers' wages are stagnating (as they did during the Bush administration)?
- unemployment continues to grow (as it did during George W. Bush)?
It's arguing with people willing to cut off their own nose just to spite their face.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Too Little Too Late
Eight months into his first term as Wisconsin governor, Scott Walker finally decides it's time to be bipartisan and focus on jobs.
Now that Walker can't just push through anything he'd like, he's decided to be bipartisan.
And, let's be clear, the Democrats won the recall campaign. They gained two seats. The Republicans - zero.
Surely the Dem's gains are partially because of Walker's attack on collective bargaining and his policy priorities thus far - voter ID; concealed-carry; killing the train, broadband expansion, and wind farms; more corporate tax breaks; etc.
If only Scottie had been concerned with job creation and working on necessary policies for Wisconsinites, maybe the whole recall brouhaha wouldn't have materialized. Instead he pandered to cronies, focused on ideological dictates, and has ended up increasing unemployment in Wisconsin.
The stage is set for a Scott Walker recall in early 2012.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
The Spending Boogeyman
U.S. spending is slightly higher now than the late 70s, early 20s and 80s, and much less than the mid-to-late 40s - a period that coincided with the creation of the American middle-class and the greatest period of economic growth this country has ever seen. Government spending increases (hopefully) during a recessionary period. This helps the economy recover. Economic suffering of citizens/business is minimized.
Based on historical evidence and the magnitude of our current recession, we should be investing (spending) more on our country and it's citizens.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Victimization Double-Standard
Or...The absolutely f!@#ing insane, disingenuous, and warped worldview of Republicans.
We should just assume the Republicans are guilty of anything they are bitching about - and even more so when they are blaming "liberals".
We should just assume the Republicans are guilty of anything they are bitching about - and even more so when they are blaming "liberals".
Poor in America
The Republicans and the Heritage Foundation feel America's poor aren't really poor.
If you have a refrigerator, air conditioning, or a coffee maker, you're not poor.
"If you still have the strength to brush the flies off your eyeballs, you're not really poor."
Monday, July 25, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
An Underrated American City
"Milwaukee
Population in 2000: 596,974
Population in 2010: 594,833
Decline: 0.4%
 |
| Despite a smaller population, the typical denizen is younger. Photo: Beige Alert |
Milwaukee's been losing population since the 1960s, but the release valve's shutting quickly as the losses trickle to less than a percent -- the best population news Milwaukee's received since the city grew 16.3% during the 1950s -- and the city gets younger.
You don't have to set foot in the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion at the Milwaukee Art Museum, place a complicated order at Alterra Coffee, buy rounds of organic and gluten-free beer at Lakefront Brewery or see the city's starring role in Bridesmaids to realize that Milwaukee's changed quite a bit in the past decade. Those may, however, be some of the best indications of the city's youth movement that dropped the median age from 30.6 in 2000 to 30.3 last year, well below the nation's average age of 36.8.
As a result, the town once known for dying breweries and Happy Days reruns is ending up in some fairly enviable places, including the Daily Beast's list of the Best 50 Cities For Love and No. 9 on Forbes' list of Best Cities for Singles. A city rivaled only by Las Vegas for most bars, clubs and restaurants per capita, Milwaukee's GDP has grown enough to keep the taps flowing with a boost from $78.9 billion in 2006 to roughly $83 billion today behind growing companies such as Manpower and a reduced dependency on traditional employers such as MolsonCoors' Miller.
Though the Brewers aren't blowing the retractable roof off Miller Park and the Bucks have teams fearing the deer a little less in recent seasons, a Super Bowl win by a certain team in the suburbs is enough to give local fans something to cheer about. With all the museums, galleries, music venues and watering holes to visit, however, it's tough to fit the local teams into the schedule."
Heads I Win, Tails I Win.
"Business" men get paid regardless of how they perform.
Run a bank into the ground and you're rewarded with millions, and offered millions to keep "running" the bank.
Deaf or Just Stupid?
Why is it that even though numerous studies and analyses have found public workers total compensation is LESS than comparable educated and experienced private sector workers, we still hear and read, on an almost daily basis, about public workers lavish pay and their extravagant benefits?
Compound this with the facts that public workers actually provide services to taxpayers and those services have been found, a majority of the time, to be cheaper than the privatization of such services. Whomever [Republicans and Wall Street] decided our economic ills were the fault of government and public employees has led us astray and distracted us from the real causes and culprits.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
On The ~th Day, House Republicans Rested
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Republicans Lecture Democrats About Deficits?
Ronald Reagan tripled U.S. debt. George W. Bush doubled it. Over the past 30 years, Republicans have been the party of frivolous spending. Lavishly rewarding cronies while punishing the poor and working class.
Republicans sudden concern with debt and deficits has nothing to do with job creation nor economic policy. Just more Republican flip-flopping with the hope of political gain.
Class Warfare
If you do drugs and you're poor we'll throw you into the streets. Actually you will just lose your unemployment benefits. But if that's your only income, you'll probably end up in the streets.
But, if you're wealthy and you received subsidies, giveaways, tax breaks, low-interest loans and a host of other handouts from taxpayers; and your casino-type speculation helped bring down the world economy; don't worry about punishment or an end to the giveaways. In fact, we'll find ways to make the poor and working-class citizens sacrifice even more so that you can have more handouts from taxpayers.
If you smoke a joint you will no longer receive your less-than-$300 weekly unemployment check. Yet, if a corporation's greed and speculation (partially funded by taxpayers) happens to collapse the economy, it's perfectly OK for that CEO to spend $1.2 million to redecorate his office, while continuing to receive taxpayer dollars. This dichotomy perfectly illustrates the inequity of our public policies.
American "democracy" at its finest.
Monday, July 4, 2011
We Have A Revenue Problem
The U.S has the third lowest total taxes (as a percent of GDP) among 28 OECD countries.
The U.S. has the second lowest corporate taxes (as a percent of GDP) among 26 OECD countries.
U.S is one of least taxed developed countries.Sunday, July 3, 2011
We're Broke?
"The final figures show that the median pay for top executives at 200 big companies last year was $10.8 million. That works out to a 23 percent gain from 2009," reports Pradnya Joshi.
Friday, July 1, 2011
The Walker Jobs Plan: Layoffs
Elections have consequences. State budget cuts have consequences.
As James Rowen notes, Big Teacher Layoffs Announced for Milwaukee; Another Walker Jobs Success.
Milwaukee has roughly 350,000 working-age citizens. If we use an average yearly total compensation of $50,000 for each of the 350 teachers being laid off, this works out to $50 per year, per working-age taxpayer, to fund these 350 teachings positions. The "savings" from these layoffs is a minuscule part of the overall budget. Walker has taken an ax, rather than a scalpel, to the budget.
It's one thing to cut wasteful programs. No one would argue against such. It's quite different to butcher a crucial pillar of being a competitive economy - our schools. And, it's especially egregious when one does this while claiming the sky is falling and while also giving millions away in corporate tax breaks.
Scott Walker has no problem initiating hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate tax cuts, while simultaneously slashing education spending. Big businesses already complain about the lack of skilled workers. How will increasing class sizes and demoralizing our public education system help to provide a more robust and skilled workforce?
As I noted in an earlier post, Walker wants the state to borrow $75 million to combine museums of state history and veterans into one 200,000 square foot building. Walker also wants almost $119 million to replace the Department of Transportation's headquarters." We're broke, but we have $200 million for two non-essential buildings?
So...during a recession, a few of the highest priorities for our governor are: unnecessarily combining two museums, replacing the public headquarters of the department involved with the road builders (a huge Walker campaign contributor), and downsizing our educational system.
The recall elections can't happen soon enough.
The Walker Way
Budget serves up tax breaks for wealthiest Wisconsinites.
"Walker's budget creates two new provisions to provide income tax shelter for capital gains."
"The new exemptions will reduce revenues by $16.1 million in 2011-12 and $20.2 million in 2012-13. Once fully phased in by 2016, tax collections would fall by over $100 million annually."
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Public Versus Private? Or, Workers Versus Plutocrats
Corporate Profits are at historic levels. Yet, many corporations pay an effective tax rate of zero.
Although profits are up, workers are not sharing in the bounty of their productivity. Unemployment still remains near double digits.
Executives are pulling in ludicrous pay, especially when compared to everyday workers.
Public sector workers total compensation as a share of state expenditures has declined over time. Workers, whether public or private, have been sacrificing. As their stagnating compensation clearly shows.
Public workers are highly educated. Nearly 60%, versus 30% for the private sector.
And, when actually compared for education and experience, public workers earn less. By bashing public workers, we are allowing the private sector to push down wages for all workers.
Productivity - output per unit of input - has climbed steadily. Workers are doing more. But they are not being rewarded. Compensation in the private and public sector has stagnated.
In every educational-attainment category, Wisconsin public workers earn less than their private sector counterparts.
The "it's the government and public workers fault" diversion we've witnessed over the past few years has been an elaborate mirage perpetrated by the creditors and financiers who've absconded so much of our nation's wealth over the past few decades. This is a classic from the conservative playbook - keeping Democrats fighting amongst themselves (public v private worker), while also delivering blows to the foundation of democratic policies and politics (unions). What do you know, everyone forgets that the uber rich are robbing us all blind. And now we're getting policies that are destroying our government and its institutions that help the majority of citizens. Instead, we're giving corporate tax breaks, downsizing regulatory agencies, privatizing our public educational system, and selling off public goods and services.
For those who still haven't heard, supply-side economics is a failure. Tax breaks do not pay for themselves. Raising taxes on the rich by 2% will not trigger Armageddon. The tax-cutting frenzy (specifically for the wealthy) over the past 40 years is the reason for our deficits and crumbling infrastructure. We don't have a spending problem, we have a revenue problem.
If we're looking for ways to fund the programs we all appreciate and the infrastructure we all depend on regularly, maybe we should be going where the money is - the CEOs and their corporations.
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