Mega Church Mega Business

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Getting Down To Business

Ad Nauseam Entrepreneurialism

John Torinus has an interesting article, UW System Needs New Kind of Leader, which raises pertinent issues and offers some reasonable options.

The only area I have strong disagreement with is his recommendation to "Emphasize entrepreneurship on each campus. Entrepreneurs re-invent economies, which Wisconsin will need in the rebound from our deepening recession. Some campuses are well down this path."

Entrepreneurship, entrepreneurialism, etc. has been pushed ad nauseam over the past few decades. This serious-sounding talking-point has little supporting evidence. This idea that everyone is a business mogul and everyone should be investing and/or starting a new business or venture, is a big reason this country is so ill-informed, ill-prepared, has crumbling infrastructure, and has seen the environment continually degraded.

The UWM Center for Economic Development performed an exhaustive study debunking the myth of the entrepreneurial university. The Hechinger Report echoed similar findings in Think universities are making lots of money from inventions? Think again. Derek Lowe found similar results for his article Innovation, at Universities and in Industry. Two others whom have studied the issue extensively, Matthew Wisnioski and Lee Vinsel, have noted identical results, most recently in The Campus Innovation Myth.

The "entrepreneurialism" drum is one that we should have stopped pounding long ago.

Stick To Manufacturing & Commerce

WMC Unveils It's Plan To Reopen Wisconsin Business

WMC Opposes Help for First Responders

Big business group gets legislative change so it's harder for police, fire fighters to get workers comp.

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) - the name says it all. WMC are not infectious disease experts. Why should anyone care what their pandemic-opinion is?

They're more worried about their bottom-line (which is understandable) than the people who help make that possible for them. The WMC is fighting to make it harder for police and fire fighters to get workers compensation. I've had my issues with the pay-structure of police and fire departments. But using a pandemic to suppress others while lobbying for your own pocket-book, that's pretty low.

WMC, stick to manufacturing and commerce. We'll let the scientists, doctors, nurses and experts handle the pandemic. We'll let them decide when things can get back to "normal".

Oh! Big Surprise

Top wage earners get biggest benefit from Gov. Scott Walker's tax cuts

"People shouldn't be misled to think there's much in it for the bottom two-fifths of Wisconsin," Peacock said of Walker's latest plan. 

Reschovsky said the proposed property tax cut would be of some help overall to renters, since it would help to hold down rent increases. But it would also help state companies with Wisconsin parcels and well-to-do families with vacation homes, not just elderly homeowners struggling to pay their annual tax bills.

Top 5% of Wisconsin Residents Get 18% of Tax Cuts Proposed by the Governor

We’re primarily concerned that Governor Walker’s plan ignores holes in the current budget, and creates a deeper hole in the next one – boosting the structural deficit in 2013-15 to $825 million.

That said, many people have asked us about the distribution of the proposed tax cuts, and we asked the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) to crunch the numbers for us. The ITEP analysis — which focused just on the two major changes in the Governor’s plan — found that the top 5% of Wisconsinites, who made $161,000 or more in 2013, will get 18% of the tax cuts. By contrast, the bottom 40% get just 15% of the benefit.

Holiday Reading

Why Shopping At Walmart Is No Bargain
Raising The Minimum Wage: Old Shibboleths, New Evidence
Is Service Work Today Worse Than Being A Household Servant?
It's Business That Really Rules Us Now
Thorstein Veblen's Critique Of The American System Of Business
NFL On Defense With Tax Break 
California's Finances Improving Faster Than Expected
Right Vs. Left In The Midwest
After Less Than 20 Years, Atlanta Braves To Get New Stadium

Midweek Reading

Why Government Is Virtuous
Can't Deny Global Warming After Seeing This Graph
Republicans Stopped Worrying And Learned To Love Government
Here's One Smart Way To Fight Big Box Stores
Highway Revolts Break Out Across The Midwest
Collapse Of Science, Not Housing, Ended The American Dream
Congress Has Only Itself To Blame For IRS Troubles
How Shareholders Are Ruining America Business
Wielding Derivatives As A Tool For Deceit
Consumer Debt Is Soaring. That's Good News (For Now)

The Romney Files

The Federal Bailout That Saved Mitt Romney
The Hiring Of The President
History Shows Business Experience Doesn't Make A Good President
Impacts Of The Romney Budget Proposals
Inside Romney's Tax-Dodging Schemes
The Meaning Of Mitt
Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney & The Fantasy Budget
Romney's Budget Proposals Necessitate Large Cuts
The Romney Plan
Romney's Private Equity Magic Trick
Transaction Man
The True Story Of Mitt Romney & Bain Capital

Run It Like A Business?

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