Republican Hypocrisy

A Much Bigger Income Shift To Top 1% Than Anyone Thought

Landmark Study: A Much Bigger Income Shift To Top 1% Than Anyone Thought

A new analysis by the RAND Corporation examines what rising inequality has cost Americans in lost income—and the results are even bigger than expected.

Weekend Reading

The U.S. Only Pretends To Have Free Markets
So We're Supposed To Treat Donald Trump With Respect, After All This? Oh, Hell No
Elizabeth Warren's Plan To Pay For Medicare-For-All, Explained
Elizabeth Warren Proves She Does Her Homework With Impressive Plan To Fund Medicare For All
Senator Warren's Answer On Taxes And Medicare For All Is Exactly Right
How Elizabeth Warren Can Address The Medicare For All Question
The Happy, Healthy Capitalists Of Switzerland
Upgrade The New Deal, Riemer Declares
Everyone Deserves Clean Water
For Elizabeth Warren, The Wealth Tax Is About More Than Money
United States Spend Ten Times More On Fossil Fuel Subsidies Than Education
Thousands Of Scientists Around The World Declared A Climate Emergency And Warned Of "Untold Suffering"
The Debate Over Whether The Very Rich Pay Lower Taxes Than You, Explained
Unions Are Pushing Members To Run For Office - And It's Paying Off
We Get It, Rich Guys Are Not Into Elizabeth Warren
If Corporations Are Being Run To Maximize Returns To Shareholders, Why Are Returns So Low?
Did Warren Pass The Medicare Test? I Think So
Only A Global Green New Deal Can Save The Planet
Never-Before-Seen Trump Tax Documents Show Major Inconsistencies
If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich? Turns Out It's Just Chance

Privatizing The Profits, Socializing The Loses

There the "free" marketeers go again. Milwaukee real estate execs question Housing Authority's high-rise plan.

So, the City is booming. Development, jobs, tourism, new businesses...things are looking up.

As usual, when things start to gentrify, certain people are priced out of the market...yet those workers are still necessary for the booming economy to exist.

Enter affordable housing. Another policy answer to a society that doesn't pay a living-wage. If you're not going to pay a downtown-wage for a downtown-worker, public policy steps in to subsidize and correct the market.

It's as much a subsidy to the employer as it is to the worker. By subsidizing the housing of these workers, the government is allowing the employer to pay below-market wages.

Also, as usual, and wanting to have it both ways, local developers are complaining when the government steps in to correct the market. The Milwaukee Business Journal reported, "The Housing Authority in April introduced its plan, which calls for spending up to $150 million on a high-rise tower with 350 apartments, a mix of market-rate and affordable units."

Tim Gokhman, director of New Land Enterprises, told the Business Journal:

He said if the city has figured out how to generate a profit from a high-rise to subsidize affordable units, “teach the rest of the market how those profits can be attained.”

Because the profits aren't high enough for private developers, because the returns on investment aren't elevated enough, because the government won't just give them the money to do it, private developers are complaining when the government enters the market to provide needed housing for citizens. (Privateers complain when the government does any of the many things the magic "free" market won't do.)

Developers can't have it both ways. They can't claim they're the experts - the "free" market and the private actors have all the answers and will provide as long as the government stays out of the way. But then, in the very next breath, they come to the public for giveaways, tax breaks and other hand-outs they claim the need for their projects.

If the public has to give tax cuts, subsidies and incentives to private actors to get them to do something, why shouldn't the public entity just complete the project?

The private sector does some things well. But it's time we re-realize the same can be said for the public sector.

Weekend Reading: Economics Edition

Society-Wide Benefits of Raising The Minimum Wage
The Puzzle In The Labor Data
The Trump Tax Reform, As Seen In The U.S. Balance Of Payments Data
Why The 'Free-Market' Economy Is A Myth And How To Rebuild Public Power
The Failures of Neoliberalism Are Bigger Than Politics
What Kansas's Rebounding Economy Tells Us About The Farce of Republican Tax Cuts
How The Federal Government Rigs The Game Against Small Businesses
Make Corporations Pay For The Green New Deal
Rich Get Richer, Everyone Else Not So Much In Record U.S. Expansion
Unions Did Great Things For The Working Class

Amazon & Dead Zones

The "Free" Market Illusion

U.S. farmers to receive $4.7 billion to offset trade-war losses

As Foxconn breaks ground on Wisconsin plant, incentives hit $4 billion

Proposed Kimberly-Clark subsidies among largest in nation for each job retained

$500 million Green Bay Packaging project receives WEDC support

U.S. dairy subsidies equal 73 percent of producer returns, says new report

Friendly policies keep US oil and coal afloat far more than we thought

The U.S. spends $4 billion a year subsidizing ‘Stalinist-style’ domestic sugar production

US Cotton Subsidies Insulate Producers from Economic Loss

The Oil Industry Needs Taxpayers To Prop Up Nearly Half Of Its New U.S. Drilling

Weekend Reading

The Myth That Markets Get Prices Right Won't Die
Who Creates A Nation's Economic Value?
Donald Trump And The Next Big Crash
Kansas Rancher Explains How Trump Has Betrayed US Farmers
Michael Cohen Case Shines Light On Sean Hannity's Property Empire
The Dumb Money
Smearing Robert Mueller
A Critical Look At Suburban Triumphalism
Richard Florida Can't Let Go Of His Creative Class Theory. His Reputation Depends On It.
The GOP Has Become The Caricature The Left Always Said It Was
Trump's Company Is Suing Towns Across The Country To Get Breaks On Taxes
The Oil Pipelines Putting The Great Lakes At Risk
The War On Pensions Continues
Where The Great Lakes Compact Ends And Wisconsin Law Begins
Hidden Figures: How Donald Trump Is Rigging The Census

Sunday Reading

CEO Pay Rewards What Was Going To Happen Anyway
Refusing To Play Dead For Big Banks, Warren Gives Fellow Senators 17 Chances To Put Consumers First
Scott Walker Does Not Respect Democracy
Stock Buybacks Are Soaring To Record Levels - And Cory Booker Wants To Stop It
Neoliberalism: How Seeing Markets As Perfect Turned Into An Ideology Justifying Crony Capitalism
Republicans Say They Favor Free Markets. Yeah, Right.
Across 20,000 Pages, The Pursuit Of Foxconn Unfolds
Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Screnock Says He Wouldn't Hear Cases About Legislative Maps
Foxconn Deal Gets Even Worse
Hundreds Of Canadian Doctors Demand Lower Salaries (Yes, Lower.)
Larry Summers Makes The Case For A Governmental Bailout Of The American Heartland
America Is Giving Away The $30 Billion Medical Marijuana Industry
Why Is California Rebuilding In Fire Country? Because You're Paying For It

Weekend Reading

Born-Again Fiscal Hawks Turn Into Doves
The Economy Is Soaring, And Now So Is The Deficit.
GOP Abandoning The Free Market
Kimberly-Clark Proves Tax Giveaways Don't Stop Layoffs
Wisconsin's Public Sector Is Smaller Than Most States'
Jeff Bezos' Quest To Find America's Stupidest Mayor
Foxconn Package Cost Wisconsin Eight Times As Much Per Job As Similar 2017 State Jobs Deals
Let's See How Low The Unemployment Rate Can Go
How Progressives Can Criticize Trump’s $7 Trillion Deficit Without Preaching Austerity
Why American Workers Aren’t Getting A Raise: An Economic Detective Story

17 WTF Items From Donald Trump's Budget

'Morally Bankrupt' Budget: After $1.5 Trillion Gift to Rich, Trump Demands $1.7 Trillion in Safety Net Cuts

Sunday Reading

Too Big To Fail. Not Too Strong
The Koch Attack On Solar Energy
Recovery Has Created More Low-Wage Jobs Than Better-Paid Ones
Coburn Says Let Free Market Decide Race To The Bottom On Wages
Scalia Makes Huge Factual Error In Supreme Court Opinion
Do Fewer Unions Make Countries More Competitive?
There's No Evidence Privatization Works, But it Marches On
How Global Warming Is Scorching The United States
Charter Schools Fail: Report Calls Their Magic Into Question

President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address

Monday Reading

The Anti-Union Roberts Court
Corporate Profits Hit All-Time High, Wages Hit All-Time Low
Declining Number Of Union Members Affects All Workers' Salaries
11 Facts About The Affordable Care Act
5 Reasons America Has Never Been A Christian Nation
The Great American Mirage
A Manifesto For Economic Sense
The Myth Of The Free Market
The Myth That Entitlements Ruin Countries
Public Workers & Unions Are Not Overpaid

Coverage & Context

There has been some of coverage of the protests in Madison. Not nearly the same amount as the Tea Baggers saw when they were bullying and disrupting town hall meetings, whilst also, oddly enough, being referred to as patriots by the FOX mouthpieces. Primary coverage of the union-killing legislation in Wisconsin to a broader, national audience has been left to Daily Kos, Huffington Post, Rachel Maddow, and Ed Schultz.

Right-wingers and other anti-unionists have claimed most of those in Madison are out-of-towners, others dismiss the protesters as a small number of individuals in a state of over 5.6 million. Although, it should be noted, over 1.4 million Wisconsin citizens are not eligible voters

Roughly 73 percent (4,136,000) of the total Wisconsin population is eligible to vote. Just over 15 percent of Wisconsinites are represented by a union (380,000). Which means, 9 percent of eligible voters have a direct (economic) interest in opposing the Scott Walker's agenda. And that doesn't take into account that directly-linked union workers also have a wife, husband, voting-age children, a mom, a dad, a brother, a sister. You get the idea. There are a lot of other people who have benefited from having a unionized family member.

When it's all said and done, many eligible voters are directly or peripherally linked, and thus, have a positive opinion of unions. Which helps explain why over 60 percent of Wisconsinites polled support the protesters, and support collective bargaining. As more have discovered the "details" of Walker governance, the majority wish they had voted for Tom Barrett.

Just considering those within or close to a union, that's a large base of voters to have consistently in your pocket. Democrats have traditionally garnered the steadfast support of the unions. Which gets to the heart of why Republicans want to destroy unions. This will weaken Democrats. And, ultimately, weaken the public sector and enable a more vigorous privatization schedule for public sector services and property by Republican politicians.

If allowed to succeed, Republicans could be putting us on the slow and steady road to the complete selling-off of public goods. Selling public lands and buildings, turning over public services to private cronies, and dismantling regulatory agencies. Back to the days of unfiltered and unfettered market fundamentalism, similar to the late 19th century, that frenzied time of speculation and accumulation which led to the Great Depression.

[photo]

But (regarding the "they're out-of-towners and only a small number of people anyways" meme) if there were actually more Tea Party, anti-union, pro-Walker, etc. voters who really wanted this Walker agenda passed, why haven't they descended onto the Capitol and outnumbered the supposed out-of-towners and labor activists? Republicans know this isn't the case. Hence, they and their corporate-backers are left to use their money-advantage to flood the airwaves with highly misinformed and reality-distorting ads in support of Walker.

More Wisconsin citizens support collective bargaining than oppose it. Also, knowing what they know now, most Wisconsinites oppose Walker's budget and its draconian cuts. Thus far, even with the Koch brothers organizing and providing bus transportation, pro-Walker-ites have only numbered in the hundreds at any one location. Talk about a small number of people.

Snow Day Reading

Disconnect Between Economic Growth & Median Income

Koch Brothers Earned Billions, Laid Off Thousands

Obama's Bid To End Oil Subsidies

Obscene Bonuses For Execs

There's No Such Thing As The Free Market

Wall Street Pay Hits Record High

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Yet another great example of the hypocrisy in our public discourse. We hear all the time about how inept government is, how spending is out of control, and how the market and operating "like a business" is the magical route to a world of happiness.

Harley-Davidson participated in $2.3 billion from the Fed. (Harley's many subsidies have been well-documented.) As the Journal Sentinel reported, "Area banks, Harley-Davidson took help from the Fed." This is typical of most anti-government mouthpieces. They belittle aid to the poor, to federal and state programs, and to pretty much anything that doesn't directly benefit their balance sheet. But, they simultaneously always encourage and have their hands out for government largess if it benefits them.

Not to pick on Harley, but it would be nice to hear some of these same corporations that get hand-outs actually acknowledging the important role our government plays in the market and economy. Maybe we could actually start having an adult discussion about this. The government plays a crucial role in the legal and financial operation of the country, and they also maintain the infrastructure that allows business to function.

Instead we get douchebags like Ron Johnson moaning that the government doesn't create jobs and that it should stay out of the market. Yet he forgets to mention the handouts and low-interest loans that allowed his own job and company to grow. And this is Wisconsin's newly elected Senator whom is going to lead us down the path to prosperity? He is going to usher in a new era of honesty and sound accounting? Still waiting for the day when we can discuss the equally important roles of the public and private sectors like adults.

For Further Reading:
Blackmailed Into Oblivion
Combined Reporting
Harley Subsidies
Rumbling For Dollars
The Subsidy Game As Corporate Strategy
To Deny Corporate Demands

Weekend Reading

After Voting to Kill Recovery, 100 GOP Lawmakers Tout Its Success
As Milwaukee's Economy Fails, How Can Public Schools Succeed?
Budget Deficit Scare Story and the Great Recession
Distinguishing Fraud From Failure: A Prosecutorial Primer
Free Market in Free Fall and You Pay
How to Spot a Deficit Peacock
How to Walk the Fiscal Tightrope
Instead of Jobs Tax Credit, Let's Fix Our Infrastructure
Questions About The Coming Wave of Second Mortgage Writedowns
Rank Hypocrisy on Subsidies
Richest 400 Taxpayers See Incomes Double, Taxes Halved
Slapped in The Face By The Invisible Hand
Toyota Recalls: Another Bush Disaster

Watering Down Corporate Accountability

Lately, there's been a big push for making Milwaukee a water research hub. Richard Meeusen, CEO of Badger Meter Inc. and board member of WMC, has been one of the number one cheerleaders behind such efforts.

In 2003, Badger Meter paid $125, 728 in corporate income taxes. In 2004, they paid $418,391. 2009 net earnings of Badger Meter were $14.35 million; alongside $60.8 million in sales. The IRS recently allowed Badger Meter "a tax break on operations in France the company discontinued in 2006." Badger Meter has also outsourced some research and development as another cost-savings measure. Next year, the company will move one-third of it's factory jobs to Mexico. Even though Badger Meter's sales were down 11.6 percent from 2008 ($68.83 million) to 2009 ($60.81), their net income was up 146 percent ($5.83 million to $14.36 million).

In 2007 Richard Meeusen was compensated $842,331 (1.2 percent of earnings; 14.4 percent of net income). In 2008 he made $1,082,133 (1.8 percent of earnings; 8 percent of net income).

Are these the types of companies we want to lead our community forward? Public-private partnerships (taxpayers partially fund the costs, private entities get the profits) are the norm. But knowing this, why would we continue to push this inverse Robin Hood scheme of having general taxpayers finance private sector speculation? In this case, pumping private dollars into facilities and research and allowing the transfer of this knowledge to private entities for their profit. Why must the knowledge and discoveries of our universities and public sector be spun off to private entities? Why would we allow such efforts to be outsourced to Mexico? In the long-run it seems such efforts would be better kept in public hands under local control. Especially in the case of water, which is now recognized as our most valuable resource.

Badger Meter benefits heavily, already from the tax code. Now they are positioning themselves for yet another subsidy, by piggybacking the frenzied environment of "water research" in the City.

The same companies that benefit from such public investment are usually the ones barking in the media about a "government takeover," "socialist policies," and the unfairness of social programs and policies that support the neediest. (Even those these programs are only 1 percent of the State budget.) Contrarily, they never fail to have their hand out.

If these companies would also be promoting living wages, secure retirements, universal health care, unionization, and other social goods, I'd have no problem with a portion of public dollars investing in such responsible, community-oriented companies. Sadly, this is rarely the case. Therefore, it's time to turn off the subsidy/tax-break spigot and allow these companies to operate in the "free" market they so adore.

Update:

The Journal Sentinel gave an editorial platform to Richard Meeusen and Paul Jones, CEO of AO Smith, to disparage the University of Wisconsin investigating whether or not to implement water programs at 13 of the university's campuses. They feel it would dilute the efforts and spread the initiative too thin.

[If this water research initiative is the end-all, be-all, why hasn't their been any discussion and debate about it? The only opposition to putting all our eggs in one basket, came from UWM professor Marc Levine. The reaction to his research, which completely debunked the idea of an entrepreneurial university and Milwaukee as water research hub, was derision and unresponsiveness. UWM's water program deserves investment. (So do many other university programs.) But this isn't about whether or not they are deserving, it is precisely about placing all our bets on one roll of the dice. Being such astute businessmen, I'm sure Meeusen and Smith can appreciate portfolio diversification.]

I don't completely disagree with Meeusen and Smith's reaction. Although their view may have more to do with concentrating the efforts and investment near their businesses in Milwaukee, than with a truly altruistic dedication to water research. Campuses such as Green Bay, Superior, and Parkside, which are also on/near Lakes Superior and Michigan, could be valuable partners in water research.

Free Market Mystique

Some food for thought from Jeff Cohen.

McArdle's Mendacity

A great smackdown of Megan McArdle and her hypocrisy. A revealing example of how many on the right bash government, yet wouldn't be where they are in life without it.

Reminiscent of the message in Ha Joon Chang's Kicking Away the Ladder - in which he tells the story of economic development through the ages. All the paths taken by today's developed countries are no longer the paths recommended by those countries to the presently developing countries.

Even though a government job was good enough for McArdle's father, opened doors for lucrative work, paid for her private schooling, and appears to have allowed quite a nice standard of living for her and her family, government is bad and the market is our true savior.

For Further Reading:
Media Are People Too
Pushing On A String