Highway to Hell

The highway cabal is alive and well in 2022. The highway growth machine is an antiquated giant that keeps chewing up transportation budgets while doing nothing to alleviate the congestion. The media is more than happy to continually produce content detailing how wonderful each new highway project will be. For example, I-94 project about progress, connection. Sadly, the results are never as promised.

Milwaukee has made major highway investments in the Plainfield Curve, the Marquette Interchange and the Zoo Interchange, among others, over the past few decades. All these resources and money have done nothing to alleviate traffic congestion or make commutes any smoother for drivers. In fact, it has made things much worse. The roads, and routes, are more complicated and congested than ever. Travel times have increased, not decreased.

The political power of the highway cabal is evidenced by the fact that induced demand is a well-known result of highway expansion, yet we keep expanding highways. As Benjamin Schneider states, "When traffic-clogged highways are expanded, new drivers quickly materialize to fill them." Or, as Adam Mann out it, "Building bigger roads actually makes traffic worse."

As the report The Congestion Con details:

In an expensive effort to curb congestion in urban regions, we have overwhelmingly prioritized one strategy: we have spent decades and hundreds of billions of dollars widening and building new highways. We added 30,511 new freeway lane-miles of road in the largest 100 urbanized areas between 1993 and 2017, an increase of 42 percent. That rate of freeway expansion significantly outstripped the 32 percent growth in population in those regions over the same time period. Yet this strategy has utterly failed to “solve” the problem at hand—delay is up in those urbanized areas by a staggering 144 percent.

Those new lane-miles haven’t come cheap and we are spending billions to widen roads and seeing unimpressive, unpredictable results in return. Further, the urbanized areas expanding their freeways more rapidly aren’t necessarily having more success curbing congestion—in fact, in many cases the opposite is true.

If we really want to improve transportation safety, access to jobs, and mobility, we should be simply repairing (making safer) the roads we have while improving our modes of public transportation. 

For Further Reading:

How Induced Demand Explains the Vicious Cycle of Congestion

Expanding highways and building more roads actually makes traffic worse

Induced Traffic and Induced Demand

Generated Traffic and Induced Travel

Wisconsin Reading

Taxpayers Make Bucks, Brewers Rich
Gov. Tony Evers Wants To Renegotiate Foxconn Deal
Wisconsin Republicans Are Yucking It Up About AOC's Green New Deal While Trade Wars Crush Dairy Farmers
7 Numbers That Explain The Election
Committee Questions Grand Avenue Deal
Canadian National Investing $120 Million In Wisconsin Rail Infrastructure
True Colors Show In State Capitol

Streetcar Or Safety

Looks like Milwaukee Alderman Tony Zielinkski might be setting himself up as a challenger in a run to be the Mayor of Milwaukee.

Current Mayor Tom Barrett recently announced he might have to eliminate some safety-worker positions (police officers, firefighters,nurses, code inspectors) due to budgetary constraints.

Zielinkski immediately ridiculed the Mayor, saying even mentioning the possibility of cutting positions as "reckless" and "unreasonable".

Zielinkski framed the discussion as being between keeping the positions and building the streetcar. Because those are the only two budgetary choices that can be made - keep safety positions or build a streetcar?

And, just for some context, Wisconsin has spent over a billion dollars on new stadiums for the Brewers, Bucks and Packers in the last decade. Private sport structures whose benefits go to their private owners. But Milwaukee spending $128 million on a streetcar to be used by residents, tourists and businesses is a waste?

Barrett, himself, even stated that cutting those positions is not what he wants. But sometimes, as Mayor, you have to make choices that won't please everyone.

I get that the streetcar is a bit of a lightning rod and certain persons with access to the media love to pile on about what a waste the streetcar is. Although every other major city has some sort of streetcar, light rail or similar. So, it seems more like, as usual, Milwaukee is behind the curve as far as what businesses and workers want in amenities and infrastructure. Local infrastructure is what creates jobs and draws businesses, residents and tourists.

In our current police-state era, funding for defense/police/safety can never be diminished. More officers and more guns, always. In 2013, 59% of the City of Milwaukee budget went to just the police (41%) and fire (18%) departments.

We've been doing this for decades now, it hasn't worked. To keep funding this imaginary, more-cops-is-the-answer paradigm, is simply throwing away money. Why, when it comes to defense or safety, is there no limit on the amount of people needed or the amount of money that should be spent? At the local, state and federal level, America's defense/safety budgets dwarf those of other nations. Yet, we're no safer. What is all this money being spent on? Seems like there is obviously a lot of efficiency that can be made.

The Police Association's President Michael Crivello stated, "We're going to do everything to keep this community safe, but we won't be as effective as we otherwise would be should we be properly staffed."  How is this quantified? What does "properly staffed" mean? What metrics is the Association using to determine safety, effectiveness, staffing, etc.?

Maybe we do need to keep the positions. But using fear and emotion to guide a decision is definitely not how policy should be made.

We should start by making a more scientific basis for these discussions and decisions. Platitudes and bumper-sticker slogans sound great, but they typically don't have the nuance and depth required for good public policy.

We could remove some exemptions, raise the local sales tax, add fees for certain services, collect more taxes, provide less incentives to private developers and businesses, and on and on. There are numerous ways fund the many services we all count on from our local government.

The saddest thing is that this is being pitted as a streetcar versus safety debate. It shouldn't be. These are not the only choices.

The Call Is Coming From Inside The House

Karen Madden, of the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune, recently reported, Wisconsin Roads Third-Worst In Nation. 

The numbers mark a dramatic decline in road quality. As recently as 11 years ago, Wisconsin's roads ranked No. 22 in the nation, and their deterioration affects almost every industry and motorist in the state, according to the study commissioned by the Local Government of Wisconsin Institute. 

Poor roads in the Milwaukee area cost drivers $700 a year in extra vehicle repairs, according to the study; in the Madison area, road conditions cost drivers an additional $615 in annual tire wear, maintenance and accelerated deterioration. Nationally, substandard road conditions cost drivers an average of $377 per year, the study found.
The primary culprit: State budget cuts that have slashed the amount of money dedicated to repairing both state highways and local roads, which has left fewer than half of Wisconsin's roads rated as "good" or better, the report found. 

The numbers come as no surprise to Emily Wattson, a 48-year-old Wisconsin Rapids woman who recently hit a pothole in Rudolph and wrecked the suspension on her 2008 car. 

"I paid more than $500 to get it fixed," Wattson said. "It threw the car out of alignment, ruined a tire and did some other stuff. 

"I don't think anybody is doing anything about the roads." 

Bad roads hurt manufacturing, farming and transportation, three industries that are vital to Wisconsin's economy, according to the Local Government Institute study entitled Filling Potholes: A New Look at Funding Local Transportation in Wisconsin. The group is a coalition of members of the Wisconsin Counties Association, League of Wisconsin Municipalities, Wisconsin Towns Association and Urban Alliance. 

The study found that if the state's roads aren't brought back into good condition, it could harm Wisconsin's struggling economy, which is rebounding from the Great Recession more slowly than other states in the Midwest. Companies that are considering moving to Wisconsin could choose to relocate in states with better infrastructure that doesn't cost them as much in annual repairs.

Yet, Republican Wisconsin legislators are proposing cutting road projects. (Which is understandable for any new road projects. But with the conditions of the current roads we have, it's borderline criminal to not repair them.)

If Wisconsin actually wants to be "open for business" we need to be maintaining, repairing and improving our infrastructure to attract businesses and workers. Defunding rail and road projects, alongside suppressing worker wages through union-busting, does nothing to improve the long-term health of Wisconsin's workforce or its built environment.

Despite all their bluster, Republican policies are actually hurting Wisconsin in every way possible. Wisconsin can't keep cutting off its own nose to spite its face.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Scott Walker's Press Secretary

Whether it's a Mayor, a Governor, or a President, their policies can only have so much of an impact on the economy. Thus, credit and/or blame is proportional to the amount of policies he/she has been able to pass and the intensity of those policies. Scott Walker has exacted numerous legislative changes and they have been radical in nature. 

The Journal Sentinel opines:

Wisconsin gained a few jobs last year — very few — and still trails the U.S. average for job growth, as it has for three years, nearly the entire term of Gov. Scott Walker. 

So, it has to be Walker's fault, right? 

Sorry, but A+B doesn't equal C — not in this case. 

The state's economy is vastly more complicated than such a simplistic and politically expedient explanation.

Where was such reasoned caution when the Journal Sentinel was campaigning for Scott Walker?

He was Wisconsin's savior with so many game-changing ideas. [For some reason, more deregulation and tax cuts were going to save us ... again.]

Now ... he's just one man and he can only do so much. So give him a break.

They then pull out the classic, "Well, they do it too" argument:

How do the political pundits on either side explain the fact that Wisconsin has consistently trailed the national average for a decade — during both Republican and Democratic administrations?

Too bad this claim is false.

Wisconsin's rank among the states in year-over-year employment change was 18th in 2003, in 2013 it was 41st. As the report Gauging Employment Growth In Wisconsin details:

As recently as 2010, and during four of the previous nine years (September 2002‐2010), Wisconsin’s employment growth rate exceeded the national figure.

The Journal then philosophizes, "We've long believed that the real reason for the state's sluggish job growth has a lot to do with Wisconsin's economic mix."

But wasn't Scott Walker opening Wisconsin for business? If you campaign guaranteeing business and jobs, don't your policies have to take some of the blame when the economy actually performs worse than it otherwise was performing?

The Journal closes, "We see no evidence that Walker's policies have made more than a marginal difference, for better or worse, for Wisconsin's economy."

So, the new governor turns down $800 million in Federal rail subsidies, he kills millions more by pushing Talgo (a train builder) out of Wisconsin, he guts collective bargaining, he cuts school funding, and he gives away millions more in tax breaks to his cronies. Yet, according to the Journal, none of this has anything to do with the fact that Wisconsin is economically performing worse than nearly every other state?

The misinformation campaign of Wisconsin's largest newspaper continues.

For Further Reading:
Prosecutors: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Part Of 'Criminal Scheme'
Gov. Scott Walker’s Campaign Violations

Mr. Excuses

Come on!

Scott Walker, just admit it ... you're a bought-and-sold hack, a corporate shill, a know-nothing.  Your incompetence has been showcased by anemic job creation.

But, of course, that's not your fault.

Walker attributes slow job growth to uncertainty created by recall election

It was your anti- collective bargaining rampage, refusing millions for rail upgrades, and the rest of your crony-inspired agenda that has kept Wisconsin's economy in neutral.

You're the governor; act like it! Take some responsibility for your ineffective policies. Stop trying to place the blame anywhere other than where it belongs - with you!

US Infrastructure Is A Disaster

• 1 in 9 of the country's bridges are rated as structurally deficient, meaning they require significant maintenance, rehabilitation, or replacement. 
• Of the 84,000 dams in the U.S., 14,000 are considered "high hazard" and 4,000 are deficient. It would cost $21 billion to repair these aging dams.
• 42% of the country's major urban highways are considered congested, and 32% of major roads in the U.S. are in poor or mediocre condition.
• Even though a third of Americans don't drive cars, 45% of households lack access to transit. 
• There are 240,000 water main breaks in the U.S. each year, and many water mains and pipes are over 100 years old.
• The Federal Aviation Administration anticipates that the national cost of airport congestion and delays will nearly double from $34 billion in 2020 to $63 billion in 2040.
• 90% of locks and dams experienced an unscheduled delay or service interruption in 2009. Barges being stopped for hours can prolong transport of goods and drive up prices.
• Congestion on rail lines is costing the U.S. economy about $200 billion a year, or 1.6% of economic output.
• Although public school enrollment is gradually increasing, national spending on school construction declined to $10 billion in 2012, about half of what was spent before the recession.
• National Park Service facilities saw 279 million visits in 2011 and has a deferred maintenance backlog of $11 billion.

10 Signs That US Infrastructure Is A Disaster

The Good & The Bad Of Our Infrastructure

There has been a lot of talk about infrastructure amongst politicians, pundits, economic developers, etc. as a needed path toward revitalization. Different groups analyzing America's infrastructure have given poor grades to the quality of our bridges, electricity and water infrastructure.

Yet, Evan Soltas recently opined about The Myth of The Failing Bridge:

Maybe it's going too far to say, "The U.S. is doing just fine, thank you very much." The nation would benefit from reordering its infrastructure priorities -- away from new highways, for example, where we are already overbuilt and usage is falling for the first extended period on record. And we'd do well to take advantage of low interest rates and idle construction resources to knock out all of our future infrastructure needs. 

But the idea that the U.S. has an infrastructure crisis? No. A broad, permanent increase in spending is unwarranted...

Between 2001 and 2011, annual public investment averaged 3.3 percent of gross domestic product, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The average OECD nation spent 3 percent of GDP over the same period...

Total public construction spending has varied between 1.7 percent and 2.3 percent of GDP for the last 20 years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By the Congressional Budget Office's slightly different measure, infrastructure spending has been between 2.3 percent and 3.1 percent of GDP since 1956...

Believe it or not, infrastructure has improved significantly over the last two decades. In its report for 2010, the Federal Highway Administration said that 57 percent of all vehicle-miles were traveled on federal highways with ratings of "good" or higher -- according to a measure of road quality pleasingly known as the International Roughness Index. That was up from 48 percent in 2000. The percentage of roads in bad condition has also declined: In 1989 6.6 percent of rural and urban interstates were rated "poor"; now only 1.9 percent of rural interstates and 5.4 percent of urban ones earn that grade.

Despite warnings from President Barack Obama, America's bridges have never been safer. The highway administration rated 21.9 percent of its bridges "deficient" in 2009, as compared to 37.8 percent in 1989. And contrary to Obama's implication, the word "deficient" does not mean unsafe, at least as the highway administration uses it. A bridge is "deficient" when it would benefit from expansion and renovation in line with usage.

Traffic congestion has diminished. In 1989, 52.6 percent of urban interstates were rated "congested" according to a comparison of peak volume to planned capacity. In 2009, the figure was 26.3 percent. 

So how can we have, as Soltas claims, steady infrastructure spending and improvements alongside others claiming failing grades for much of our infrastructure?

In 2010, 57 percent of all vehicle-miles may have been traveled on federal highways with ratings of good or higher, compared with 2000, but it could be that federal highways have been getting the bulk of infrastructure dollars. Regardless, a 9 percentage point improvement is still laudable. Yet, if this is where a majority of our infrastructure dollars were spent, we would expect to see an improvement.

Are population changes (primarily people moving), between 1989 to 2009, responsible for the decrease shown in traffic congestion? Because more people are living in certain mega-regions, does it follow that the areas which have lost population would have less congestion? Information concerning migration and commute times could help flesh this metric out.

Do we just need to re-prioritize how our infrastructure money is spent?

[source]

Jason Sattier has found that infrastructure spending is actually declining.

“In 2012, the Federal Highway Administration said 67,000 — 11 percent — of the nation’s 607,000 bridges were structurally deficient,” USA Today‘s Marisol Bello reports. “That means the bridges are not unsafe but must be closely monitored and inspected or repaired.” 

The chart above from Business Insider‘s Joe Weisenthal illustrates just how little money the federal government is spending on public construction. Despite this, proposals like an infrastructure bank can’t even get a vote in the House of Representatives.

The American Society of Civil Engineers 2013 Report Card gave our infrastructure a grade of D+. They estimate the U.S. needs $3.3 trillion in infrastructure investment by 2020. They estimate Wisconsin has 1,157 structurally deficient bridges, 71% of roads are of poor or mediocre quality, $6.2 billion is needed for drinking water and $6.4 billion is needed for wastewater. Almost 14% of Wisconsin bridges are either functionally obsolete or structurally deficient.

John Diehm and Katy Hall provide a graphic of bridge collapses across the country:

As Dave Jamieson notes, Washington Bridge Collapse: 759 Bridges In State Have Worse Sufficiency Scores.

The Times reports that, according to federal records, the bridge in question has a sufficiency rating of 57.4 out of 100, which is well below the state average of 80. Yet 759 other bridges have even worse marks.

Lydia Mulvany reported, "Seven Wisconsin highways built in the last 20 years are underused, raising questions about the more than a billion dollars they cost taxpayers, according to a report the WISPIRG Foundation released Thursday...The state still is spending billions on highways while cutting funding for local roads and other forms of transportation, the report said. The 2011-2013 biennial budget appropriated $1.2 billion for highway construction projects, and Gov. Scott Walker's current budget proposal includes more than $3 billion in highway spending."

It appears, across the country, certain infrastructure is getting the bulk of spending (highways and more recently rail), whilst the neediest infrastructure goes without.

Total federal clean-technology spending, by year (billions), 2009–2014

[source]

Not all is bad, as Brad Plumer details:

Our infrastructure is actually getting better in some areas. For the first time in 15 years, the grade for U.S. infrastructure rose, from a D to a D+. And six areas have seen improvement since 2009, including roads, bridges, rail, drinking water, solid waste disposal and wastewater treatment. Two big examples: 

1) U.S. rail is getting better: Rail in particular has seen some big upgrades in the past few years, partly thanks to stimulus money but largely due to private investment: “In 2010 alone,” the report notes, “freight railroads renewed the rails on more than 3,100 miles of railroad track, equivalent to going coast to coast. Since 2009, capital investment from both freight and passenger railroads has exceeded $75 billion.” 

2) So are our roads: America’s roads have also become sturdier in recent years, thanks to an uptick in federal stimulus spending as well as increased investments from states and the rise of private-public partnerships — overall investments have now increased to $91 billion per year.

We are taking care of certain infrastructure (highways), it seems. Yet we are obviously neglecting other areas (water, electricity). The findings appear to indicate that merely diverting some of the funding for new/repaired highways and roads toward other infrastructure needs could go along way in helping address some of our most pressing infrastructure projects.

For Further Reading:

Impact Of Infrastructure Investment On America's Future

Infrastructure Readings

Investing In Infrastructure

More Extraordinary Returns: Public Investments Outside Of "Core" Infrastructure

Public Investment & Private Sector Growth

Whatever The Cause, Washington State Bridge Collapse Points To Bigger Problems

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/05/24/192217/whatever-cause-washington-state.html#storylink=cpy

Scott Walker: Wisconsin's (Continually) Losing Bet

Taxpayers will pay more under Scott Walker health plan, study says

Gov. Scott Walker's proposed rejection of a federally funded expansion of state health programs would add some $50 million in costs to state taxpayers over the next two years, according to the Legislature's nonpartisan budget office.

Lost jobs ... unused investment ... how much is Wisconsin willing to endure?

But really, what did you (Walker voters) expect? These (disastrous) results are typical of Republican governance.

For Further Reading:
The numbers show that Democrats are better for the economy than Republicans.

Want a Better Economy? History Says Vote Democrat!

GOP Leaders Remind Voters the Economy Does Better Under Democrats

Wisconsin Reading

Amid 1,000 Layoffs In Wisconsin, Scott Walker Gets No Love From U.S. Chamber 

Other critics, though, say the job cuts suggest that waging war on public-sector worker unions, cutting funding for public education and proclaiming the state “open for business” won’t magically turn Wisconsin into a new economy powerhouse. 

“What it says to me is that political rhetoric is irrelevant,” says Jack Norman, past research director at the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future. 

Norman says companies make hiring and other decisions based on demand for their products and whether they can do business better in a different location. The effect of government policies is somewhere on the fringe, he says. 

On the other hand, Norman says one could argue the cuts to public worker take-home pay and other cost-savings measures under Walker have actually made Wisconsin’s economy worse. Here is a graphic showing job growth in Wisconsin before and after he took office. 

“I think we’re seeing a local version of the austerity vs. investment debate going on across the capitalist world,” says Norman. “And right now, some countries are getting rid of their austerity policies because they aren’t working.” 

Wisconsin Business Tax Burden Ranked No. 35

Just Follow The Streetcar Track Of Money

Republicans Move To Kill Milwaukee Streetcar

Light rail from downtown Milwaukee to Waukesha? Republicans at the state killed it. 

Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee (KRM) commuter rail? Republicans at the state killed it. 

Extending the Amtrak Hiawatha Service to Madison at 110 mph (with stops in Brookfield and Watertown)? Republicans at the state killed it. 

Building a maintenance base for trainsets the state had already purchased from Talgo? Republicans at the state killed it. 

Rebuilding the train shed at Milwaukee Intermodal Station? Republicans rejected federal funds to fix the non-ADA compliant shed and are now left with a situation that will cost Wisconsinites millions. 

A streetcar starter system in downtown Milwaukee? Republicans killed it. 

The common link? All the projects were proposed by Democrats, had a presence in the City of Milwaukee, and involved steel wheels on steel rails. 

Since becoming Governor in 2010, Scott Walker will have effectively rejected over $1 billion in federal money for rail transportation projects. The loss of high-speed rail funds to connect Chicago, Madison, and Milwaukee represent $823 million. The KRM funds would have beenat least $140 million. Assuming Walker (who has made clear his opposition to the Milwaukee streetcar) ultimately supports the amendment proposed by the Joint Finance Committee, he will also be rejecting $54.9 million for the Milwaukee Streetcar, which is the last of a $289 million 1991 federal grant.

In Rail-Free Wisconsin, More Good News Selling-Points

Alternatives Offered To Gov. Scott Walker's Proposal To End Residency Rules

The Fiscal Bureau reports that case law is on the side of Milwaukee on the subject of residency, noting that the U.S. Supreme Court and various state courts "have tended to uphold the constitutionality of the municipal residency requirements, generally siding with the public interests of governments and its policy reasons for such requirements."

State Budget Panel OKs Residency Rule Based On Distance

Sweeping aside a 75-year-old City of Milwaukee residency ordinance and others like it, Republicans on the Legislature's budget committee voted Thursday to allow police and firefighters to live at least 15 miles outside of any community in the state and bar utility ratepayers from having to bear any costs for a proposed streetcar in the city - potentially killing the project. 

On several votes Thursday, the Joint Finance Committee loaded up the state budget with policy items that had little to do with Wisconsin's finances. Many of the other policy items also limited the powers of local governments, such as a measure barring them from regulating the size of sodas.

GOP fakes up a controversy over the UW system's financial reserves

Opposition Group Zones In On Walmart's New Berlin Plans (Other Walmart reading: 1, 2, 3, 4)

The Facts Are In And Paul Ryan Is Wrong

Weekend Reading: Scott Walker

Job Slump Is Walker's Fault

Governor Walker's Fateful Decision On Rail

Now imagine an updated rail system carrying people from the Twin Cities to downtown Chicago in less than six hours — even faster than driving and on a par with a complicated airline connection. 

Oops! Don't consider it. That scenario is precisely what Walker killed when he gave back the $810 million — federal funding that would have paid the full capital costs of connecting Madison to Milwaukee... 

"Failing to invest in the infrastructure that undergirds the economy is a very dangerous move," says Kevin Brubaker of the Environmental Policy and Law Center. He rattles off the names of prosperous 19th-century American cities that decayed when their transportation links became obsolescent. 

How odd that a pro-business Republican governor didn't understand that dynamic.

Walker Loves Milwaukee? We're Not Feeling It

In 1951, Milwaukee County received only $1 back for every $2.10 its residents paid in state taxes. It was not until 1954, when the Wisconsin Supreme Court intervened, that population alone became the basis for reapportionment, and it was not until 1964 that parity was finally achieved, again under court auspices. 

Almost 50 years later, the imbalance has returned in a different form. Republicans considered population in their 2011 redistricting scheme, but they studied voting patterns just as carefully. The GOP packed likely Democrats into supermajority districts and gave their own party the statistical edge in contested areas. The results were not just anti-Democratic but anti-democratic. In 2012, Republicans won only 46% of the total votes cast for Assembly but took 61% of the seats... 

"If you want to keep people in the city," Walker piously advised, "you should have a great city." 

Excuse me? Where do you suppose the Brewers and the Bucks play, governor? Which city is the home of such giants as Harley-Davidson, Northwestern Mutual and the Manpower Group? Where is the state's most vibrant theater scene? Who's got the greatest concentration of fine restaurants? The biggest zoo and the best museum? Where does the Calatrava spread its wings? Where will you find one of the most gorgeous urban shorelines on the Great Lakes? The world's largest outdoor music festival? The state's greatest range of housing choices or, for that matter, the greatest range of human beings? ... 

The pull of the suburbs has been a powerful force in American life for decades - not just in Milwaukee - and it's clearly in any city's best interests to make residency a condition of employment. Milwaukee's rule has been on the books since 1938, and applicants still line up for jobs by the thousands. Those who are hired live among those they serve, and where's the injustice in that? ... 

Perhaps Walker's true colors shone most brightly during last year's gubernatorial recall election. The governor didn't just run against Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett; he ran against Milwaukee. His campaign ads showed polluted harbors and dead babies, and Walker actually said at one point, "We don't want Wisconsin to become like Milwaukee." You have to wonder if this guy even hears himself anymore. Most maps I've seen place Milwaukee well within Wisconsin's borders, but Walker ignored geography to score political points...

State-Shared Revenue To City Has Shrunk

Year	State-shared revenue
2003	$249,921,000
2004	$240,375,000
2005	$240,200,000
2006	$239,725,000
2007	$239,800,000
2008	$237,662,314
2009	$238,481,500
2010	$236,213,000
2011	$236,958,000
2012	$226,806,000
2013	$227,169,000

Share of budget for general city services	2003	2013
Fire Dept.	16.1%	17.9%
Police Dept.	34.6%	40.6%
Protective Services total	50.7%	58.8%

Walker's Boondoggle Emporium

Jason Stein and Patrick Marley, of the Journal Sentinel, recently wrote, "Scott Walker wants to invest nearly $100 million to build a faster system to track jobs data, tie technical school and university funding to filling high-demand professions and require nearly 76,000 people to train for work to collect food stamps."

Don't we already have job tracking systems? Employment-wanted ads? Guidance counselors? Advisors? Internships? Consultants? Private headhunters? Employment centers? Or does this have more to do with Walker wanting to have his own [duplicitous] metric(s) for job tracking so he can [falsely] claim he is actually creating jobs?

Will professions (and the degrees related to such) deemed to not be "high demand" simply no longer be taught? Also, how can schools (and their curriculum) possibly predict the exact worker-skill needs of the mobile, evolving, ever-changing economy (and the many sectors and businesses in it)?

During this period of high unemployment, Walker really wants to get tough on food stamp users? Yes, this exorbitant gravy-train must stop. And, what exactly does he plan on training them for? If there were jobs available, they'd be working. Yet another solution looking for a problem.

Surely some training responsibility must fall onto the actual employer (as was common practice until the job training and workforce development shams were implemented in the 1980s). What ever happened to businesses training their own workers? Or, how about just telling the businesses to pay prevailing wage rates to attract workers to the jobs?

Walker's proposals (as highlighted by the article) sound seemingly laudable, but they are so vague that they are realistically just meaningless rhetoric.

For state universities, Walker is proposing awarding $20 million for programs that help the economy, develop a skilled workforce and make higher education more affordable...

Walker's budget would also seek to increase the number of doctors and dentists in Wisconsin.

Yes, an educated, skilled workforce is a good thing. And, more doctors and dentists sound good, too. But we actually need citizens with insurance and/or money who can actually go to a doctor or a dentist. Plus, this would also mean more students would need to be able to afford medical and dental school.

For a guy that supposedly wants smaller government, Walker sure does like creating new committees and/or departments. As part of his Wisconsin educational system overhaul, Walker would like to, "Create a four-person state Office of Skills Development to coordinate the scattered worker-training systems of the state and adapt them to the needs of employers."

How much better would the job prospects (and future) of Wisconsin be if Scott Walker hadn't refused over $800 million in funding for upgrading the Hiawatha train? Now, for needed upgrades to the line (plus possible Talgo lawsuit claims), rather than being covered by the $800+ million Federal grant, it could cost the State of Wisconsin over $100 million.

Taken together, state taxpayers' share of the Hiawatha capital costs that would have been covered by the federal grant could total as much as $99 million, significantly more than the $30 million they would have paid for 20 years of operating costs on the Milwaukee-to-Madison segment.

The platitudes and bromides Walker (and Republicans, in general) spews are just that, sweeping generalizations which are too loosely operationalized to be actionable and/or too idiotically simplistic to be taken seriously as well-planned, thoughtful proposals.

For Further Reading:
Government Spends More On Corporate Welfare Than Social Welfare
Employers Whose Workers and Their Dependents are Using State Health Insurance ProgramsWalmart Is The Largest Food Stamp Recipient

Take Your Business Elsewhere

Is this some kind of sick, cruel joke? Turning down $23 million for high-speed internet!? Maybe if Scott Walker put the money to work - manufacturing trains, laying rail, erecting turbines, and installing high-speed internet - we'd be creating jobs and igniting the economy, whilst improving our infrastructure, thus enhancing our ability to attract business. And, maybe we could stop punishing everyday workers and the poor.

Update:

$70 million more is at risk.

Mean Streets

Weekend Reading

Conservative Talking Points In Economic Analysis

Growing Without Driving

How The Recession Changes Us

Potential Benefits Of High-Speed Rail

Rail Transit

Light Rail Transforming Cities

... what could have been.

Derailed

Another element of the story, from Milwaukee Rising. Rail moves more than just people.

There Once Was A Middle-Class...

Scott Walker is preemptively, and in what has become a repeated talking-point, attacking public workers for his soon-to-be governorship. An often-regurgitated, yet false, mantra of Walker and his minions is that public workers haven't sacrificed. (And he and the Journal continually repeat this lie in article after article hoping people will accept it.) To believe this, we'd have to forget pay freezes, layoffs, furloughs, paying larger portions of health care costs, and even terminations have occurred. He would like to see workers pay 5% of their pension plan, rather than zero, and pay 12% of their insurance premiums, instead of only 4 to 6%. He'd also like to see unions completely disbanded and outlawed. But that's the end game, he's willing to take baby-steps to get there. If he and the Republicans have to destroy the middle-class to do it, so be it.

The Journal Sentinel prints many stories every week, bellowing on and on about each and every one of Walker's hair-brained ideas as if they were good policy, well-conceived, or plausible. In most cases, none of it passes scrutiny. It's just more of the tactic of appealing to the lowest common denominator - emotion and anger - of the base. Getting the base riled up with talk of killing the train, standing up to unions, getting government off of businesses backs and, of course, lowering taxes.

The Journal tells us, the public is "fed-up." And, they use a Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (a thoroughly discredited pro-business, anti-labor group) poll to prove it. To the extent the public is "fed-up," it is only so because of the continual efforts of the Journal Sentinel and groups like WPRI spreading lies and causing (unwarranted) resentment towards unions. No matter the facts, regarding their unwavering attacks on unions, the Journal believes, "It's justified."

The Journal also wants the public sector to be more "flexible." This is jargon for being able to fire workers at a moments whim. What we really need to be a successful, sustainable, consumer nation (according to the Journal Sentinel and business blowhards) is for workers to be easily fired whenever they start making a living wage. Cheap, low-wage work, in this diabolical worldview, is the key to our shared success and prosperity.

Pushing again for the partial privatization of the Wisconsin Department of Commerce, the Journal Sentinel parrots Walker's business-friendly talking-points. I've addressed this ill-conceived privatization scheme previously. "As evidence for the need for the new agency initiative, the Journal notes, Wisconsin, 'once in the top twenty in per capita personal income...had fallen to 27th by 2008.' (Wisconsin in the 20th most populous state.) They then talk of how such agencies help turn things around. They cite Indiana and Michigan as evidence of such positive experiences. Michigan is the 8th most populous state, it ranks 26th in per capita income. Indiana is the 16th most populous state, it ranks 37th in per capita income. The unemployment rate in Wisconsin is 8.5%, it's 10.1% in Indiana and Michigan. If we look at median household income, Indiana ranks 32nd, Michigan 30th, and Wisconsin 21st. GDP change between 2006-2008 was -0.6 in Indiana (ranking 41st), -1.5 in Michigan (ranking 47th), and +0.7 in Wisconsin (ranking 27th). They are performing worse than we are, yet we should follow their lead?"

Almost on cue, where would we be if Pat McIlheran didn't have something biased, ludicrous, and wrong, as usual, to say. He finds Scott Walker "electrifying." He feels Walker is correct going after public sector labor costs because "that's where the money is." He doesn't mention nor contextualize the fact that labor is also what creates wealth. The unionization of workers simply allows them to collectively bargain to obtain a fair proportion of the gains of their productivity. Something we should support for all workers. A fair day's pay for a fair day's work. The McIlherans, Walkers, and Republicans of the world would rather see workers with less rather than tighter profit margins and smaller compensation for CEOs.

As Walker growls, "We really need to get public sector wages and benefits under control." Of course the Journal throws this out there as accepted fact. No context, no data, no questions asked. Therefore, accepting such a blanket generalization must mean Wisconsin has higher union representation than other states, the labor costs must be a massive share of the annual budget, the costs must be rising disproportionately compared to our cohorts, and wages and benefits must really be out-of-line when compared to private sector workers with the same age and experience.

But, as the evidence shows, none of this is true. Wisconsin has a 15 percent unionized workforce versus a national average of around 12 percent. Hardly an overly unionized labor sector comparatively speaking. As the Wisconsin Budget Project discovered, only 12 states had a leaner public sector than Wisconsin. "When the number of full-time equivalent positions was measured relative to each state's 2009 population, Wisconsin was 4.4 percent below the national average... Government employment across the U.S. has grown slightly since 2000, but has declined in Wisconsin... State and local spending for public employee payrolls was 9 percent below the national average and ranked 33rd... In 2008, Wisconsin was 8.2% below the national average in the number of state and local employees for every 1,000 state residents, ranking 41st nationally." Keith Bender and John Heywood have found that when public and private sector workers, in the same industry, with the same education and experience are compared, public workers earn less. Plus, over the last 20 years public workers' earnings have actually declined relative to their private sector counterparts.

The Journal also passes the buck regarding their support of Walker for governor and his colossal rail screw-up. Their bad press and weak and/or nonexistent support for the rail project heavily influenced voters and their antipathy toward rail. Yet, in their warped minds, the failure was the fault of rail advocates. "Rail advocates need to do what they can to make sure the opportunity comes around again - and to more convincingly make their case." The Journal, the largest paper in the largest city in the state, couldn't do anything to help make the case for rail? Maybe if the Journal lobbied for rail as much as they do for Scott Walker, Paul Ryan, and the right-wing's middle-class killing policies we wouldn't have to hope for a second chance for certain opportunities.

Comically (though I'm sure not intentionally) the Journal quacks, "If there is one thing Walker has shown in his tenure as county executive, it is an abiding intolerance for the failures of business as usual." Yes, Scott Walker likes to fail, continually, in his own delusional, illogical way. How special.

For Further Reading:

The Persistent Deception

Union Yes

Welcome To Walmart

The Tracks Of My Tears

In there were any doubts, Scott Walker has officially diminished Wisconsin's competitive chances. He has started his governorship by losing money, jobs, businesses, and development. Due to the waffling and our governor's general disdain for rail, the Federal Government will be awarding $1.2 billion (formerly going to Wisconsin and Ohio) to other states. "Open For Business"? Bullshit!

Taxpayers' yearly support for the rail line was estimated at $4.7 million. According to the Census Bureau, in 2008, there were 2,236,518 households in Wisconsin. This equals roughly $2.10 per year, per household. As Bill Sell posted, 2 cents of every $10 of our transportation budget would go toward the rail line. Presently $9.20 of every $10 goes toward roads. Transportation expenditures breakdown thusly: 92% on roads; 4.4% on mass transit; 3.4% for railroads, harbors, and airports; and the proposed line would have gotten .2%.

$810 million in infrastructure, jobs, and development for $2.10 per year, per household, or for .2% of the transportation budget - sounds like quite a deal. Too expensive? Nonsense! This is a sad day for Wisconsin.

Open For Bribery

It should be obvious to anyone that Scott Walker's dislike for the rail line is inversely related to his close connections to road builders. Hence, he'd like to see the money going towards more roads and continued sprawl - inefficient and environmentally degrading development.

He's been ever-so-slightly backtracking, adding caveats and qualifiers. If he stops the train he knows he will not only lose the money already spent on contracts, Talgo and those jobs, and the spin-offs from such. We will lose out on $810 million dollars. The kind of money we spent on build Miller Park, but we can't use (nearly the same amount) for infrastructure projects to benefit the region, it's workers, and our economy.

This is a great example of Republican politics. Appeal to voters emotions, conflate cronies wishes with those of general voters, promise the sky, then when reality hits, backtrack and make excuses as to why the initial declaration must be altered, or simply blame someone else or some "liberal" law.

I'm still having trouble understanding the derision of rail by the right. Maybe it has something to do with their isolationist attitudes and general lack of curiosity. Do they not know that nearly every other advanced region, city, country, etc. has a developed rail network?

Does Scott Walker really want to be the guy that makes Wisconsin's largest urban area the only major city in America without a more advanced rail network? Which is a huge competitive disadvantage. This doesn't really square with "open for business" mantra. This stupidity and shortsightedness would be laughable if it didn't hold such powerful implications for the future of the state.

For Further Reading:
Governor-elect Should Do Math On The Rail Line
Road Builders Get Return On Their Walker Investment
Trains And The City
Walker Open To Redirecting High-Speed Train Money To Other Rail Projects
Walker Urges Obama To Let Rail Funds Go To Roads