Brewtown Gumshoe: Minnesota

Just in time for Scott Walker's presidential campaign kick-off, his economic revisionists are spinning yarns about steady improvement and a bright future due to Walker's policies.

Tom Hefty (conservative shill, Wisconsin Policy Research Institute affiliate and Journal Sentinel contributor) started this wishing-and-hoping form of policy analysis back in March. As I described his actions then, "He just rattles off numerous surveys that say Wisconsin is headed in the right direction, Wisconsin is poised for job growth and Wisconsin has a bright job outlook. More or less, opinions masquerading as statistics."

Kurt Bauer, chief executive officer of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, continued the wishing-and-hoping analysis.

First he claims it's really too early to tell if Walker's economic policies are working. Funny, when the data aren't on their side, conservatives are suddenly patient in their proclamations. Yet, the entire time Scott Walker has been governor has coincided with his cronies unrelenting boosterism, despite the fact that reality (the data) disproves their optimism.

Then, like Hefty, Bauer talks of many good business climate rankings and surveys showing good potential for Wisconsin. For conservatives, simply becoming a right-to-work state will somehow transform the economy. Too bad all the research looking at right-to-work has found no such definitive benefit. And, surveying conservatives about whether the policies they favor will be good for the economy is like asking a cocaine addict if he would like more cocaine. Despite the evidence of the damage being done, they still want more, more, more.

Next, though, he details all of the actual economic metrics where Wisconsin trails Minnesota. You know, reality. Those unimportant things like per capita income, unemployment rate, and education levels. Take that, Minnesota!

[source]

This is followed by a host of historical excuses/reasons why/how this has hamstrung Wisconsin. Surprise! Cities and states have histories and experiences that have shaped their progression. Poor Milwaukee is caught between Chicago and Minneapolis. Yet, having these two economically vibrant centers nearby has been good for Milwaukee, not bad. And we would have an even more regional economy, drawing more from both of those cities and strengthening the region as a whole, if we had improved rail transit amongst the three cities. A terrible Walker policy (killing the train) that will have implications in the region for decades.

Bauer then abruptly switches gears claiming Wisconsin is more business-friendly and therefore Wisconsin has a brighter future. "A better Wisconsin business climate will lead to a better Wisconsin economy. The opposite is true for Minnesota."

Doesn't the fact that Minnesota's economy has been performing better than Wisconsin's for the past few decades tell us that they have a pretty good business climate and a productive set of economic policies in place? Wisconsin has improved in the business climate ranking - we're now 32nd. Minnesota's ranking is 9th.

Wisconsin ranks dead last for start-ups, despite Governor Walker’s goal of creating thousands of new companies [post]

Source: Kauffman Foundation, State and Metro Trends.

Wisconsin is hardly even nipping at Minnesota's heels, even using the supposed indicators that the boosters claim show such promise for Wisconsin.

As was noted back in April, "Even the former mayor of Minneapolis, writing in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, felt the need to highlight the differences between Minnesota and Wisconsin policy-choices since Scott Walker took office:"

In Minnesota, Dayton turned a $5 billion budget deficit into a more than $1 billion budget surplus in just one term. By raising taxes on the wealthiest earners, Minnesota is now in a position to invest more resources into the state’s schools and infrastructure.

In Wisconsin, Walker was unable to take his state out of the red and is still facing a $2 billion budget deficit. Walker made the decision to cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires, while slashing programs and refusing investments at the expense of middle-class families and Wisconsin’s financial well-being.

In Minnesota, Dayton has moved forward Democratic policies like increasing the minimum wage, expanding Medicaid and investing in the middle class, and now we are seeing one of the most business-friendly states in the country. Just this year, Forbes ranked Minnesota as the ninth best state for business, seventh in economic climate and second in quality of life.

In Wisconsin, Walker opposed a minimum-wage increase and equal-pay legislation, rejected federal funds to expand Medicaid, and attacked Wisconsin workers with right-to-work and anti-collective-bargaining policies. As a result, the cost of doing business in Wisconsin is higher than the national average, and median household income is thousands less than in Minnesota.

The facts are clear: Walker and the Republican trickle-down economic policies have made it practically impossible for Wisconsin to recover from the recession, and the state consistently sits at the bottom of the region in private-sector job growth.

Bruce Thompson's article, at Urban Milwaukee, asks, Why is Minnesota outperforming Wisconsin? He ultimately concludes Minnesota is doing many things correctly and, "Empirical evidence can lead to better solutions—but not if it is treated only as grist for a pre-determined position." Minnesota is following the evidence, Wisconsin republicans are merely digging in their heels continuing to push policies they know are unfair and inefficient.

For Further Reading:
Scott Walker & Wisconsin's Slow Job Growth

38th, For Republicans, Is The Head Of The Class

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Ruinous Walker's Downfall (Too Bad He's Been Bringing Wisconsin With Him)

The more Scott Walker garners national media attention, the more he displays his ineptitude. On Glenn Beck, Walker flip-flopped and came out against legal immigration. Walker sputtered and yammered on ultimately saying nothing as Martha Radditz attempted to validate Mr. Walker's foreign policy bonafides with questions regarding Syria.

Robert Kraig, executive director of Citizen Action Wisconsin, details the many failures of Scott Walker:

Scott Walker's historic proposed $300 million cut to the UW System follows his first state budget, which contained slashing cuts to our equally precious and highly ranked elementary schools, high schools and world renowned technical college system. These cuts are a sustained assault on the core concept of the Wisconsin Idea that investments in education are among the most vital we can make to improve the human condition and expand opportunity to everyone...

This attack on the Wisconsin Idea goes beyond funding. Walker's scheme to spin off our universities, stripping public accountability from a system the people of Wisconsin built together...

Walker's brand of conservatism is not interested in such knowledge, and in fact runs counter to the facts at its core. In Walker's doublespeak, forcing people off health coverage is innovation, wind farms are a greater threat to human health than fossil fuels, slashing money for education is reform, the failed voucher school experiment is a success, dismal job creation numbers are a comeback, $7.25 an hour is a "living wage," gutting unions raises wages, and a budget deficit is a surplus.

Scott Bauer, of the AP, continues the list of Walker's negligence:

Walker calls for eliminating oversight of for-profit colleges, letting private insurance companies into the state's managed care system and cutting money for public schools that lose students to private voucher schools...

He's going even farther by proposing a $300 million, or 13 percent, cut in state money for the University of Wisconsin and freezing tuition there for two years while granting it more independence from state laws...

He's also proposing to eliminate 66 science and education positions at the Department of Natural Resources, in the name of efficiency, but leading to charges that the move will increasingly politicize the agency...

The Republican-controlled Legislature is also pushing back against Walker's plans for the university and his plan to borrow $1.3 billion for roads and $220 million for a new Milwaukee Bucks stadium.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article18671142.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article18671142.html#storyl

As you can see, one of the items on Walker's wish list is decimating the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources' Science Bureau. Wisconsin is known for its beautiful lakes, rivers and landscapes. Part of the reason for this is the State's stewardship through the Department of Natural Resources. Yet again we have another example of Walker's policies flying in the face of Wisconsin tradition. In a tourist-friendly State, known for its natural beauty, ending the Bureau responsible for such ultimately hampers Wisconsin's future.

The possibility of ending the Science Bureau corresponds with Walker's ban of the staff of the Public Lands Board from talking about climate change. For Walker, Wisconsin doesn't need oversight of our natural resources, nor should we concern ourselves with a discussion about the climate. It appears the chosen platform for Republicans is to bury their heads in the sand and to dig in their heals with more deregulation and tax cuts.

Even the former mayor of Minneapolis, writing in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, felt the need to highlight the differences between Minnesota and Wisconsin policy-choices since Scott Walker took office:

In Minnesota, Dayton turned a $5 billion budget deficit into a more than $1 billion budget surplus in just one term. By raising taxes on the wealthiest earners, Minnesota is now in a position to invest more resources into the state’s schools and infrastructure.

In Wisconsin, Walker was unable to take his state out of the red and is still facing a $2 billion budget deficit. Walker made the decision to cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires, while slashing programs and refusing investments at the expense of middle-class families and Wisconsin’s financial well-being.

In Minnesota, Dayton has moved forward Democratic policies like increasing the minimum wage, expanding Medicaid and investing in the middle class, and now we are seeing one of the most business-friendly states in the country. Just this year, Forbes ranked Minnesota as the ninth best state for business, seventh in economic climate and second in quality of life.

In Wisconsin, Walker opposed a minimum-wage increase and equal-pay legislation, rejected federal funds to expand Medicaid, and attacked Wisconsin workers with right-to-work and anti-collective-bargaining policies. As a result, the cost of doing business in Wisconsin is higher than the national average, and median household income is thousands less than in Minnesota.

The facts are clear: Walker and the Republican trickle-down economic policies have made it practically impossible for Wisconsin to recover from the recession, and the state consistently sits at the bottom of the region in private-sector job growth.

Walker has always used Wisconsin's big cities as whipping boys, especially Milwaukee. The cities are examples of crime, excess and un-American activity. Again, Walker's policies fly in the face of reality. The trend over the past decade has been a move back to the city. Companies are trading their suburban locations for the city. Others have noted how suburban sprawl stifles the economy. Right here in Wisconsin, Milwaukee has seen numerous companies move back to the city:

In January 2015 Plunkett Raysich Architects announced it was moving back to the greater Downtown area.

A long list of companies that have decided to move from the suburbs to Downtown or Walker’s Point in just the last few years, including Stormwater Solutions Engineering (from Pewaukee in 2012), Corvisa Services (Wauwatosa, 2012), Natural Resources Technology (Pewaukee, 2013), Readers Digest (Greendale, 2014), Irgens (Wauwatosa, 2014), HSA Bank (Glendale, 2014) and Stark Investments (St. Francis, 2015).

In the period from 2006 to 2012, the city was adding a long list of businesses to the redeveloped Menomonee Valley. Many of those companies relocated from the suburbs, including Proven Direct (from Menomonee Falls, 2007), Derse Inc. (Wauwatosa, 2008), Taylor Dynamometer Inc. (New Berlin, 2008), Zimmerman Architectural Studios Inc. (Wauwatosa, 2009), J.F. Ahern Co. (Menomonee Falls, 2012), and a more recent addition, Solaris (West Allis, 2015).

As examples of Republican-policy results: The Fiscal Times wrote, 15 Fortune Companies Paid No Federal Income Taxes In 2014. Bloomberg discovered 10% Of S&P 500 Companies Avoid Paying Taxes. Which coincides with Elizabeth Warren's recent hammering on the failure of Wall Street regulators.

Nationally we've seen the best job growth since the late 1990s. Yet, since Scott Walker, Wisconsin's job growth has trailed the national average.

All of this highlights the fact that Unions Still Matter. They are still the best advocate for good wages, health care, and retirement. They are also the most important institution in the fight against inequality. But the goals of Unions are opposed to the upwardly-redistributive policies of Scott Walker and the Republicans, thus, unions must go.

Maybe Scott Walker should focus more on Wisconsin than his presidential ambitions. Which, by the way, recently cost Wisconsin taxpayers $138,200 for Walker's trip to Great Britain. With his approval rating steadily declining, we can only hope we're in the midst of the downfall of Scott Walker.

Friday, March 13, 2015

Scott Walker: The Opposite of Anything Good

Scott Walker continued his political legacy of claiming his policies are accomplishing the exact opposite of what reality is telling us they are actually doing. He's got Wisconsin open for business, he's cutting taxes, he's growing jobs, etc.

President Barack Obama commented on Scott Walker's passage of right-to-work in Wisconsin:

"Wisconsin is a state built by labor, with a proud pro-worker past," Obama said. "So even as its governor claims victory over working Americans, I’d encourage him to try and score a victory for working Americans -- by taking meaningful action to raise their wages and offer them the security of paid leave. That’s how you give hardworking middle-class families a fair shot in the new economy -- not by stripping their rights in the workplace, but by offering them all the tools they need to get ahead."

Walker replied:

"On the heels of vetoing Keystone pipeline legislation, which would have paved the way to create thousands of quality, middle-class jobs, the president should be looking to states, like Wisconsin, as an example for how to grow our economy...Despite a stagnant national economy and a lack of leadership in Washington, since we took office, Wisconsin's unemployment rate is down to 5%, and more than 100,000 jobs and 30,000 businesses have been created," Walker told National Review Online.

As usual, all of Walker's boasts are completely bogus! As Politifact reported, regarding Keystone XL, "The State Department expects that the project would only result in only a few permanent jobs that last past construction." Keystone is not only bad for the environment, it is also not the job-creator its proponents claim.

The Journal Sentinel noted, "Wisconsin's job creation remained sluggish in the latest 12-month report."

Speaking of jobs, Jelly Belly Candy is closing their Kenosha operation. Haven't they heard Wisconsin is open for business? And, we're also right-to-work! Businesses should be stumbling over each other trying to get in here, at least according to the (misguided) logic Republicans keep selling.

As a glaring example of Walker's misplaced priorities, even though Walker likes to use the City of Milwaukee as a convenient whipping-boy, City Center - Including Milwaukee - Noted For Growth In New Jobs:

In Milwaukee, the city-center employment gain averaged 1.4% per year — nearly three times the figure for the 41 cities as a whole. The rest of the four-county metropolitan area, meanwhile, lost 1.3% of its jobs annually, according to the report.

Right-to-work - yet another Orwellian-termed boondoggle being sold across the country by Republicans. Common sense tells us we're not going to get better work conditions or better pay by limiting our leverage (strength in numbers).

Florence Jaumotte and Carolina Osorio Buitron wrote, "The decline in unionization in recent decades has fed the rise in incomes at the top."

Also (probably not hard to believe), Unions that backed Scott Walker are faring better than others. Pay-to-play and cronyism are top priorities of the Republican Party platform.

Right-to-work is a pet policy of the Monied Republican Influence Peddlers right now, thus Walker wanted to get on board so he could get the campaign money that goes along with boosterism for right-to-work.

Even John Torinus, conservative and former Journal Sentinel columnist, was taken aback by Walker and the Republicans push for right-to-work:

Another example: a low-key issue during the campaign was right-to-work legislation. Gov. Walker said it would be “a distraction” in his second term. A few legislators teed up the issue in their campaigns. But it was a minor issue at best, even though many voters guessed it would become a major GOP issue if the party controlled both houses and the governor’s chair.

Even though low priority, it has become a page-one issue. Call it a head fake. It’s now high priority for the GOP, even though only 8% of the state’s private work force is unionized. Non-union high growth startup companies, which will define the state’s future economy, also don’t care.

Jon Peacock discovered "Right to Work" Bill Would Suppress Wisconsin's Already Anemic Wages. He cites recent research by Marquette's Dr. Abdur Chowdhury, economics professor:

The potential net loss in direct income to Wisconsin workers and their families due to a RTW legislation is between $3.89 and $4.82 billion annually. Using a conservative estimate of an impact multiplier of 1.5, the total direct and induced loss of a RTW legislation is estimated between $5.84 and $7.23 billion annually. Based upon the two estimates of lost incomes and an overall effective tax rate of 4.0%, the economic loss in state income taxes is estimated between $234 and $289 million per year...

Right-to-work legislation would provide no discernible overall economic advantage to Wisconsin, but it does impose significant social and economic costs. The benefits of right to work enjoyed by some prospective employers are overshadowed by the costs borne by other employers and the state as a whole. Low wages would weaken consumption. Higher rates of labor turnover and adversarial labor-management relations would decrease productivity. And low-wage employment would burden the state with “mop up” costs (including social services, housing assistance, subsidized day care, school lunch programs, etc).

Even the NFL Players Association issued a press release against Walker's passage of right-to-work legislation:

Devoted food and commercial workers who spend their Sundays servicing our players and fans at Lambeau Field will have their wellbeing and livelihood jeopardized by Right to Work. Governor Scott Walker may not value these vital employees, but as union members, we do. We understand how devastating it would be if they lost the ability to have their workplace conditions and wages guaranteed through collective bargaining. We do not have to look any further than our own CBA to see that a band of workers, joined together as a union, can overcome decades of poor workplace conditions and drastically improve pensions and benefits...

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that average wages across all industries in right-to-work states were $4 per hour lower than those in non-right-to-work states. One study determined that Wisconsin would see a net loss of between $3.89 and $4.82 billion annually in workers’ incomes. In fact, Governor Walker’s anti-union efforts have resulted in Wisconsin leading the nation in job losses for two months in a row.

This proposed legislation unfairly risks the health and safety of employees by depriving them of on-the-job protections that unions have historically defended.

Minnesota's Republican billionaire (heir to the Target fortune) governor taxed the rich and increased the minimum wage. He took office with a $6.7 billion budget deficit and a 7 percent unemployment rate. By late 2013, Minnesota was the 5th fastest growing state in the United States. Forbes ranked Minnesota the 9th best state for business (Wisconsin was 32nd). Minnesota's current unemployment rate in 3.6 percent.

Derek Thompson, at The Atlantic, details one of Minnesota's star cities in The Miracle of Minneapolis:

In the 1960s, local districts and towns in the Twin Cities region offered competing tax breaks to lure in new businesses, diminishing their revenues and depleting their social services in an effort to steal jobs from elsewhere within the area. In 1971, the region came up with an ingenious plan that would help halt this race to the bottom, and also address widening inequality. The Minnesota state legislature passed a law requiring all of the region’s local governments—in Minneapolis and St. Paul and throughout their ring of suburbs—to contribute almost half of the growth in their commercial tax revenues to a regional pool, from which the money would be distributed to tax-poor areas. Today, business taxes are used to enrich some of the region’s poorest communities.

Republicans prefer the opposite strategy - Increasing Taxes on the Poor and Cutting Them for the Affluent. And based on this strategy, the New York Times found, "The bottom fifth of earners pay more than 10 percent of their income in state and local taxes, the top 1 percent pays closer to 5 percent."

Showing his care for women's issues and income inequality, in general, Scott Walker repealed Wisconsin's Equal Pay Law. The gender wage-gap in Wisconsin is predicted to be closed around 2068. Just 53 more year ladies!

If Scott Walker wants to help the economy and increase revenues for Wisconsin he could address our inequitable tax code. The Keystone Research Center and Good Jobs First report Tax Fairness: An Answer to State Budget Problems found, "If the top one percent were taxed at the same rate as the middle 20 percent, states and localities would raise $68 billion per year. Similarly, if the top 20 percent paid the same as the middle 20 percent, states and localities would generate $128 billion each year."

The Wisconsin Budget Project noticed the highest earners in Wisconsin already pay the smallest share of income paid in state and local taxes.

Walker's education cuts and tax cuts for the highest earners have not created anywhere near the number of jobs they claimed they would. In the end, these policies have lost revenue for the State.

Experience and the latest research point a pretty clear path for public policy and job growth in Wisconsin; if we care to actually follow such. Sadly, Scott Walker is only concerned with personal opportunity and the wishes of his paymasters. When it comes to policies that would be best for Wisconsin, Mr. Walker prefers to do the opposite.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Wisconsin Employment Doldrums

From Econobrowser, "Following up on last Thursday’s post, here is a depiction of how Wisconsin and Kansas — ALEC darlings — fare against Minnesota and California." [source]

Figure 1: Log nonfarm payroll employment for Wisconsin (red), Minnesota (blue), California (teal), Kansas (green) and the US (black), all seasonally adjusted, 2011M01=0. Vertical dashed line at beginning of terms for indicated governors. Source: BLS, and author’s calculations.

Brewtown Gumshoe

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Wisconsin, We Can Do Better Than Derrick Van Orden

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Sunday Reading

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Wisconsin Reading

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Sunday Reading

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Sunday Reading

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Wisconsin Reading

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Walker's Minions Giving Wisconsin The Business

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Ruinous Walker's Downfall (Too Bad He's Been Bringing Wisconsin With Him)

Friday, March 13, 2015

Scott Walker: The Opposite of Anything Good

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Wisconsin Employment Doldrums

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Weekend Reading