Trump Must Be On Drugs

Here We Go Again

 

Trump's Inheritance

 

Economists To Trump: Don’t Screw It Up

Endarkenment

So the supposedly Jesus-loving, flag-waving crowd feels a convicted felon, convicted rapist, bankrupt, tax cheat, philandering, con man is the best leader for our country and the example they'd like to set for the children. What a disgrace!

Republicans, don't preach another second about law-and-order, God, morality, right-and-wrong, or any of your other meaningless talking points. The Republicans are the party of stupid. They are the party of ignorance. They are the party of immaturity. They are the party of hypocrisy. They are the party of petulance. They are the party of greed. They are the party of misogyny. They are the party of racism. They are the party of homophobia. They are the party of transphobia. They are the party of cognitive dissonance. Republicans are non-thinking, spineless, windbags. 

But now let's talk about the apathetic American voter. In 2020, 66% of eligible voters went to the polls. Pathetic in it's own right. But, in 2024, what was deemed the most consequential election ever, even fewer voters turned out. Twenty million less people (as of this writing) voted for president in 2024 than in 2020. Embarrassing! 

Let's not forget about the media. Normalizing this insanity every step of the way. I'm not just talking about Fox News, Newsmax, and OAN. We all know they are full-of-shit shills. But all media outlets reporting on the Trump candidacy as if it were just any other. If anyone should have been continually sounding the alarm and raising questions about a cheating, traitorous, felon, it was our media. Instead, Trump got a pass. His incoherence and ramblings were largely ignored. The media overlooked the actual economic record of Biden/Harris and failed to correct the narrative that the economy was doing poorly. Everyone was focused on questioning Kamala and having her discuss specific policies. Meanwhile, Trump was allowed to ramble and dance at his rallies.   

I can't end this without mentioning the fact that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris entered office and ushered us out of the pandemic without pulling us down into a recession. In case you forget, Donald Trump had lost jobs, lowered the American standard of living, ignored the pandemic and told people to drink bleach. [Plus this, this, and this.] And, not only did the U.S. not enter a recession under Biden/Harris, our economy is leading the world - the stock market it up, GDP is up, wages are up, jobs are up, and inflation is down. As The Economist noted, The U.S. Economy is the Envy of The World. This is what the geniuses on the right have voted against and the apathetic slouches on the left decided not to vote for. Sad.

For Further Reading:
U.S. economic growth remains impressive. It’s the envy of the world, except at home
The American economy has left other rich countries in the dust
The U.S. Economy Reaches Superstar Status
The robust U.S. economy is leaving ‘other rich countries in the dust’
The envy of the world

Yes. You are better off under Biden than Trump.

Larry Summers: Corporate Greed Apologist

For Conservatives, Government Is The Problem and The Solution

Inspired by all the recent flurries we’ve had in Wisconsin, John Torinus is back shoveling the yellow snow of economic policy. He begins with two head-scratchers.

“Congress should think twice before getting too generous with weekly unemployment compensation. That’s because manufacturers are already having a hard time finding enough workers to man their factories.”

First, what is “too generous” for weekly unemployment compensation? Recent compensation has been bolstered by the fact that we’re living through a global pandemic. It’s part of a stimulus package to keep workers and businesses afloat. It’s not meant to exist into perpetuity.

Second, it’s been pretty clearly and universally established that manufacturers are having a hard time finding workers because the work is grueling and worth more per hour than the amount they are willing to pay.

Tornius alerts, “The labor shortage is real.”

Again, this is wrong. Pay that is not commensurate with the work that is being asked to be done is real. We have a compensation problem, not a skills shortage or a labor shortage.

Torinus then pretends that stimulus money distributed during the ongoing pandemic has left many just sitting at home collecting checks, and many others just planning to do this forever. This is classic Republican bullshit. They’ve been claiming this garbage forever. Poor and working class are lazy and will stay home if given then chance. Yet, conservatives will bend over backwards to cut taxes and provide incentives to the rich. Remember, The Haves are the job creators and something will eventually trickle down to the poor and working class.

He then talks of the plethora of living wage jobs available for any willing worker. “Employers have also raised starting wages in this area to $14 to $16 per hour.” $15 per hour results in a yearly income of just over $30,000.

Torinus continues with even more drivel, “Yes, it is a noble goal to want a minimum level of income for every adult in the United States. But the better way to get there is through good-paying jobs in the private sector. Government jobs, which always seem to keep growing in number, may be necessary, but they do not propel the economy.”

Last I checked, the private sector has been around a while. We’ve deregulated, cut taxes and genuflected to their omnipotence for decades. Yet, the economy has been a roller-coaster of recessions alongside declining wages and benefits for most workers. And, despite Torinus saying so, the number of government employees has been declining, not increasing. As Fiona Hill, of the Brookings Institution, found, “Contrary to popular belief in the bloated growth of the U.S. public sector, the size of the federal government proportionate to the total U.S. population has significantly decreased over the last 50 years.”

Torinus’ article seems, in the end, to be an elaborate smoke and mirrors, which concludes, somehow, that the government is preventing the private sector from employing more people and also responsible for helping the private sector to employ more people.

He concludes, “We don’t need excessive unemployment compensation if there are lots of open jobs with good pay and benefits. Congress and the president have to get the incentives right. We can’t afford disincentives for working.”

Again, what is “excessive unemployment compensation”? What and where are these “open jobs with good pay and benefits”? Funny, too, that, with Republicans, “We can’t afford disincentives for working.” Yet, the subsidies, tax cuts and giveaways to corporations and billionaires can’t be considered anything but a disincentive and/or welfare. Somehow, in the twisted Republican logic, giving incentives to The Haves is sound economic policy, but giving incentives to those who really need it, is bad for business.

Midweek Reading

Changes that Would Make a Difference in the Biden Administration

AOC’S NEXT FOUR YEARS

The stock market is overvalued, according to almost every measure dating to 1950

What Foxconn Will Cost Taxpayers

The stock market’s strength tells us less about the true state of the economy than at almost any other time over the last five decades

By one key measure, household income, metro Milwaukee is worse off than it was in 1980

If Wisconsin's Legislature were a business, Republicans would've already been fired

How the Satanic Panic Led Straight to QAnon

TRUMP IS TERRIFIED ABOUT GOING TO PRISON AFTER LOSING THE ELECTION, AS HE SHOULD BE

Trump Supporters Spend Weekend Clogging America’s Highways

Disappearing Data

Data show these US industries have the most recession proof jobs

The Other Tool Democrats Have to Rein in the Supreme Court

The NFL rewards men who put their hands on women

The current state of the pandemic in five graphs

Republican senator ‘personally benefited from tax change he sought’ (Ron Johnson is a piece of shit)

To Hell With Florida

Science Denial and COVID Conspiracy Theories

Vos, GOP Use Faked Photos Against Opponents

Weekend Reading

Trump administration to finalize weaker mileage standards, dealing a blow to Obama-era climate policy

Trump says Republicans would ‘never’ be elected again if it was easier to vote

Coronavirus map of the US: latest cases state by state

How Many Jobs Can be Done at Home?

Tracking The Spread Of The Coronavirus In Wisconsin

John Menard Retail Bizarro

Big Money

Federal judge blisters Gov. Tony Evers and GOP lawmakers for not delaying Wisconsin's election

Bernie Sanders Calls For Wisconsin To Delay Upcoming Primary Due To Coronavirus

The stark differences in countries’ coronavirus death rates, explained

GOP Lame-Duck Law Blocks COVID-19 Aid

White House economists tried warning the Trump administration a pandemic would kill up to 500,000 Americans and cost the economy $4 trillion

Dinosaurs Roaming Amongst Us

Wisconsin Republicans continue to keep this state behind almost every other state in the country with their antiquated and illogical mindset.

GOP Legislators Kill Medical Pot

[source]

Prosperity By President

[source]

Weekend Reading

Voter Impersonations Very Rare, Studies Show
Property Taxes Increase Under Walker
Support For Kavanaugh Pattern Of Ron Johnson's Horrendous Record On Issues Of Sexual Assault, Sexual Harassment
Rewarding Corporations That Cut Jobs
How Liberals Could Declare War On Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court
Donald Trump And The Self-Made Sham
This Is How The Rich Steal From America
Milwaukee County Leaders Say They Will Seek A Fair Share Of State Tax Revenues
Lindsey Graham's Old Comments About Merrick Garland Come Back To Haunt Him
Wisconsin DOT Knowingly Paid Twice On Stretch Of Roadwork For Zoo Interchange
A Stats-Based Look Behind The Venture Capital Curtain

Unemployment

The U-6 rate is the unemployment rate that includes discouraged workers who have quit looking for a job and part-time workers who are seeking full-time employment.

[source]

For Further Reading:

Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers plus total employed part time for economic reasons

Alternative measures of labor underutilization

Foxconn Folly Update

Foxconn Industrial Operations Would Represent A Major New Source Of Air Pollution In Region

Emissions from the company’s operations in Mount Pleasant would rank among the highest in southeastern Wisconsin for pollutants that create smog, also known as ozone pollution, state documents show.

Foxconn Keeps Racking Up Taxpayer-Funded Help

Which leads to an obvious question – why do numerous levels of Wisconsin government continue to bend over backward to shovel billions of tax dollars to help this one company, when we could pay to meet many other needs in the state that would benefit far more people for a much lower cost? The insanity of the Fox-con continues to grow with each story you read.

Journal Promotes Phony Foxconn "Report"

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has promoted, without questioning, a “report” on Foxconn by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce that seems more like a PR piece than a study. With the headline “Foxconn would provide $51 billion boost, report says,” JS reporter Rick Romell regurgitates the MMAC press release as if it were hard news, rather than a transparent attempt to sell the more than $4 billion in government subsidies going to the Taiwanese company. 

Both Romell’s article and the MMAC release refer to a “report” done by it, but there is no link to any report in Romell’s online article (isn’t that a basic requirement for a newspaper story these days?) and the MMAC website reveals the analysis has no named author and consists of a one-page breakout of what it contends is the likely economic impact. 

This is not a study. It’s more like a marketing tool by a Foxconn cheerleader. 

Simply stated, the MMAC’s claims seriously exaggerate Foxconn’s potential impact on the Wisconsin economy.

Foxconn In Choppy Waters Over Plan To Drain The Great Lakes

Perhaps the biggest question, however, is whether the deal violates the Great Lakes Compact, a 2008 deal signed between the eight Great Lakes states and whose governing body includes Ontario and Quebec. The agreement aims to keep Great Lakes water from being diverted to areas far beyond the Great Lakes Basin, but it also requires that any water that is diverted be used to serve mainly the public, not industry.

Scott Walker, Foxconn, And The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation

The money spent on the Foxconn project will affect the state’s economy for the next several decades. The massive amounts of subsidies could create a higher tax burden and could divert resources from other state projects, especially because the deal would not begin to be a net return to the state until around the 2040s.

Even supposing that Foxconn employs the full 13,000 they say they will, if they fully meet capital investment requirements, the deal is far more expensive than is typical for incentives packages negotiated by the WEDC. For economic development programs that require job creation and capital investment, the WEDC, on average, plans to spend around $12,400 for each job created. The Foxconn incentive package would cost around $200,000 per job if only the tax credits are taken into account. That number rises to well over $300,000 if all aspects of the incentive package are included. This number could continue to rise if Foxconn does not follow through on its obligations, or if it continues to extract concessions from the WEDC and Governor Walker’s office (as they have already begun to do). Further, while Foxconn gets a large package of free land, infrastructure subsidies, and tax breaks, local businesses do not get the same. On top of that, Foxconn is not required to source materials from inside the state, so it will potentially bypass in-state suppliers. 

The Foxconn Deal would place unnecessary strain on the local economy. It will give a large foreign corporation a huge subsidy at the expense of everybody else. This unfair transfer of state funds happens as 27% of roads are in need of repairs, and schools need $800 million in additional capital funding. It is important that state economic development programs are transparent in their implementation, and that all contractual obligations are adequately enforced. Further, it is important that the Wisconsin government meet current funding obligations before smokestack chasing.

Buying Jobs Appears To Be The Scott Walker Job Creation Strategy

Looks like Scott Walker's jobs plan for Wisconsin is to merely bribe companies into staying and/or coming.

With another election right around the corner, alongside Walker's disgraceful record on jobs, he's going all-in with Wisconsin taxpayer money and buying all the jobs he can, at any cost.

He now wants to give Kimberly-Clark money to retain jobs in Wisconsin. Walker wants to work with the Legislature to approve an increase in the tax credits available for job retention from 7 percent in current law to 17 percent.

Seems Walker's plan is to run up the bill for Wisconsin taxpayers, under the guise of job creation, buying jobs for the State, just in time for his next campaign.

What Would Jesus Do?

According to Scott Walker, Jesus would:

• require able-bodied parents of children on food stamps to work or get training to receive more than three months of benefits
• increase the existing work requirement for all able-bodied adults from 20 hours a week to 30

Walker added, "“With more people working in Wisconsin than ever before, we can’t afford to have anyone on the sidelines: we need everyone in the game. We want to remove barriers to work and make it easier to get a job, while making sure public assistance is available for those who truly need it."

Maybe instead of "training" and "removing barriers," Walker should be helping to create family-supporting jobs. Like the 250,000 he promised. Instead, he seems more interested in cutting taxes on the rich, gutting regulations for his donors, and lavishing subsidies on his cronies.

Such good Christians those Republicans. Those god-fearing, god-abiding moral pillars...as long as you're not poor.

Their blatant disregard for most humans and the environment, alongside their unwavering support for their rich campaign financiers, one has to ask Why Do Republicans Hate America?

For Further Reading:
Why Claims of Skills Shortages in Manufacturing Are Overblown

The Fake Skills Shortage

After All the Talk About a Skills Shortage in the U.S. Job Market, the Real Problem May Be an Employer Shortage

Scott Walker signs bill easing regulations on high cap wells

Wisconsin, under Scott Walker, no longer leads in conservation

Stripping wetland protections to have consequences, intended or not

Wisconsin Foxconn Deal Waives Environmental Regulations

Four disastrous pro-pollution policies from Scott Walker and Wisconsin GOP you haven't heard about

Scott Walker Cuts Higher-Ed Budget, Funds Corporate Welfare

Scott Walker’s $3 billion fraud

Walker shows his priorities with $250 million subsidy to NBA billionaires
Water Pollution Skyrockets Under Walker

Privatization, Increased Costs And Income Inequality

The Journal Sentinel recently reported that, State of Wisconsin's Spending On Private Workers Up 57% Since 2010.

From laundry and legal services to computer upgrades and health care, state taxpayers spent $653 million last year on private workers, part of a growing reliance on outside firms to do public business. 

In the final term of Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, these payments dropped, falling from $490 million in 2006 to $417 million in 2010, according to figures from the state Department of Administration.

But under the first six years of GOP Gov. Scott Walker, spending on contractors rose by 57%, or several times the rate of inflation for that period. Contractors are often more expensive than state employees — but not always, officials said.

Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse) said that she would seek a nonpartisan audit of the spending on contractors, saying she's worried taxpayers are paying more than they would for state workers.

"Positions have been cut and outsourcing has happened and we have seen the price tag increase," Shilling said.

Overall, state jobs haven't been cut under Walker — they've actually risen by nearly 3% during his time in office to 70,400 full-time positions, according to the Legislature's budget office.

But outsourcing has risen more quickly. The Walker administration says the increase has been driven in part by a once-in-a-generation overhaul of state computers and by a shortage of state workers in some jobs.

And, this really isn't news. The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) found:

The government actually pays service contractors at rates far exceeding the cost of employing public employees to perform comparable functions.

POGO estimates the government pays billions more annually in taxpayer dollars to hire contractors than it would to hire public 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.

The Journal Sentinel actually researched the privatization issue years ago and found that Wisconsin transportation contracts would have been cheaper in 125 out of 214 cases if the work would have been done by state employees rather than a private contractor.

Good Jobs First's research into the privatization issues has discovered:

Creating Scandals Instead of Jobs: The Failures of Privatized State Economic Development Agencies 

“In 2007 we consolidated Wisconsin’s economic development efforts, including terminating a state-created private economic development entity, Forward Wisconsin, in order to reduce political favoritism and misuse of public funds,” said State Senator Mark Miller. “Unfortunately we reverted to old-style cronyism in 2011 with the creation of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation which has been plagued with predictable ethics improprieties and gross mismanagement.” 

The report finds that: 

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) was accused of spending millions of dollars in funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development without legal authority, failed to track past-due loans, and hired an executive who owed the state a large amount of back taxes. 

Based on this persistent pattern of abuses, the report concludes that the privatization of economic development agency functions is an inherently corrupting action that states should avoid or repeal. With the “economic war among the states” already dominated by corporate interests and bargaining dynamics made worse by a long-term drop in job-creation deals, taxpayers are best served by experienced public-agency employees who are fully covered by ethics and conflicts laws, open records acts, and oversight by auditors and legislators.

There is no free lunch. This boils down to a choice between living wage, public jobs or siphoning that money to less accountable and more costly private actors, where most of that money goes to fewer workers or even fewer private business owners.

Continuing this "privatizing will save money" charade only benefits the select few receiving the contracts at the expense of the community and the good jobs that could be created for residents.

If we're really concerned about good jobs and good neighborhoods we would be wise to allow public workers to provide the needed services rather than contracting more costly private companies.

Aside:

This privatization scam also ties in with the recently overturned City of Milwaukee residency requirement. For 75 years, if you wanted to receive a paycheck from the City, you had to live and pay taxes in the City.

But Republicans are racist (not all, but seemingly most) and don't want to live near people with darker skin than them. They like the good paying job, with good health care and retirement benefits. They just don't want to live near all those undesirables in the City. And, just because the City pays their way, they still have no responsibility for anything that happens in the City.

Yet, they also love to belittle government as out-of-touch, inept and over-reaching. But they'll gladly cash that check and enjoy those pension benefits. David Clarke and his $100,000 pension is a great example of this hypocrisy.

So, they should be able to have all the benefits but none of the responsibility. So much for the mouthpieces of personal virtue and duty to your fellow man.

And, just as the City predicted, 22% of City workers now live in the suburbs. In essence, 22% of labor costs for the City, which could have been spent, most likely, back in the City, now goes outside the City. Thus less revenue (those 22% of workers spending their earnings) percolates within the City, which ends up costing taxpayers more in the long run.

Weekend Reading

Passing Through To Corruption
Trickle Down? Not Now, And Not For A While At Best
The Uninsured Are Overusing Emergency Rooms - And Other Health Care Myths
8 Bad Science And Health Ideas That Should Die With 2017
The Places That May Never Recover From The Recession
In A 30-Minute Interview, President Trump Made 24 False Or Misleading Claims
How America Got Addicted To Road Salt - And Why It's Become A Problem
Does Social Media Make People Less Social?
Ex-Sheriff David Clarke To Receive $100,000 Per Year Government Pensions
City May Contest Foxconn Electricity Deal
City Kills Contract With American Sewer
Why Inequality Predicts Homicide Rates Better Than Any Other Variable
Economists Are Obsessed With "Job Creation." How About Less Work?
How Market Competition Really Works
Most Wealth Isn't The Result Of Hard Work. It Has Been Accumulated By Being Idle And Unproductive
If You Look Behind Neoliberal Economists, You'll Discover The Rich: How Economic Theories Serve Big Business

The Foxconn Con Update

Democrats Question State's Ability To Track Foxconn Job Creation
What Foxconn Means For Wisconsin
WEDC Won't Release Foxconn Contract Before It's Signed
The Secrets of Foxconn
Start Me Up: Wisconsin Needs More Than Foxconn To Fix Its Economy
Fox-con Secrecy And WEDC Arrogance Continues
How Legislature Is Bypassing The Courts
Foxconn Water Diversion Story Needed More Attention
How To Build Wisconsin's Economy
Why Foxconn's Wisconsin Promise Of 13,000 Quality Jobs Is An Empty One
Walker's "Wisconn Valley" Is A Con All Right
Paper Peddles Bogus Foxconn Report
Trump, Walker and The Foxconn Con
Foxconn Deal Suspends Judicial Rules
Newest Deals Shows Foxconn Flaws

Wisconsin Reading

During "Recovery" Much Of Wisconsin Stayed Subpar
The Two Wisconsins
The Man Who Beat The Highway Lobby
Little-Known Wisconsin Finance Authority Draws Scrutiny For Debt Deals Worth Billions
Wisconsin, Midwest Rejecting Coal
What Happened To Wisconsin?
Abele Battles Board On Budget
An Arena Fairy Tale With Blurred Morals
WEDC Failing To Track Job Creation, Retention
Rigged: How Voter Suppression Threw Wisconsin To Trump
Taxes Down, But No Impact On Jobs
The Bizarre Politics of Ald. Tony Zielinski
Zielinski Bashes Barrett, Flynn
Missing Out: Recent Tax Cuts Slanted In Favor Of Those With Highest Incomes
Middle of The Pack: Wisconsin Government Revenue Is Similar To That Of Other States