Further Down The Rabbit Hole

Those righteous evangelicals say it's alright for the president to have extra-marital relations.

And, Republicans, formerly law-and-order stalwarts, are now claiming there is a secret society in the FBI to overthrow Trump.

Holy fuck! This is insane! How blatantly hypocritical are the Republicans going to get? Is there anything they won't lie about or find an excuse for?

I really don't know what to say about the Republican party anymore. They've slowly been destroying the country since Reagan, yet since Donald Trump they've taken stupidity, absurdity and ineptitude to a whole new level.

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

You'll Get Your Medicine When You Finish Mopping The Floor

Able-bodied Adults Will Have To Work For Medicaid, Under Plan From Gov. Scott Walker, Trump

Yet ...

Work Requirements Don't Work

and

Medicaid Work Requirement Would Harm Unemployed, Not Promote Work

As usual, Republicans are rewarding their rich donors and hurting those who need it most. How Christian of them.

Weekend Reading

Amazon Is Thriving Thanks To Taxpayer Dollars
The Mathematicians Who Want To Save Democracy
High Speed Rail Study Shut Down In The Midwest
The NFL's Secret Formula For Saving The U.S. Economy
No, Donald Trump Has Not Made The Economy Great Again
Foxconn's Low Return On State Investment
Bill Helps Real Estate Industry
Massive New Data Set Suggests Economic Inequality Is About To Get Even Worse

So Much For The Local Control Republicans Are Always Preaching

Here they go again. Republicans love to say one thing and do another. They love to accuse the Democrats of doing something that the Republicans are actually committing. Republicans are always giving lip-service to local control, the will of the people and localities being able to govern as they best see fit. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the Republicans are opportunistic, duplicitous, self-serving liars.

Republican Bills Prohibit Local Labor Rules

In Wisconsin, especially the administration of Scott Walker, the state feels an endless need to meddle in local control. Again, the exact opposite of the bullshit they spout when they're in front of the camera, stumping during campaigns or writing their opinion pieces in the local papers.

Just as they meddled in Milwaukee's residency requirement (against their supposed dogma), they now want to forbid local rules for wages, hours, overtime, benefits and discrimination for businesses being contracted by those localities.

This only benefits labor exploitation. This suppresses wages. As usual, this gives the upper hand to those who've already got too much hand.

For Further Reading:
What Will Local Control Hypocrisy Cost The GOP In North Carolina?
Local Control Takes Backseat To Power For State GOP
GOP Abandons Local Control For Top-Down Governance
Hypocrisy In GOP-led State Government Overreach
Conservative Hypocrisy On Local Power
States Rights For Bathrooms, But Not For Marijuana
Blue Cities Want To Make Their Own Rules. Red State Won't Let Them.

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

Best Metal Music 2017

Dying Fetus - Wrong One To Fuck With
Archspire - Relentless Mutation
Goatwhore - Vengeful Ascension
The Black Dahlia Murder - Nightbringers
Vomit Remnants - Hyper Groove Brutality
Septicflesh - Codex Omega
Full Of Hell - Trumpeting Ecstasy
Lunar Shadow - Far From Light
Ne Obliviscaris - Urn
Satyricon - Deep Calleth Upon Deep
Belphegor - Totenritual
Hallas - Excerpts From A Future Past
Sheidim - Infamata
Suffocation - Of The Dark Light
Elder - Reflection Of A Floating World
Pallbearer - Heartless
Power Trip - Nightmare Logic
Mastodon - Emperor Of Sand
Cannibal Corpse - Red Before Black
Sunlight's Bane - The Blackest Volume, Like All The Earth Was Buried

Igorrr - Savage Sinusoid

Darkest Hour - Godless Prophets And The Migrant Flora
Necrot - Blood Offerings
Locust Leaves - Subtler Kind Of Light

S&P Stock Index 1949-2016

[Edelman Financial Services, The Big Picture*]

*The chart above is one of my favorites. It shows what market returns look like following a major crash. 

The usual caveats apply — post Great Depression took 25 years to return to breakeven, and Japan circa 1989 still needs the Nikkei Dow to almost double to get back to the high from almost 30 years ago. If you were retiring during those periods you were pretty much hosed. 

Still, the cyclicality of markets is very worth noting.

Ticked Off About TIFs

I'm typically not a fan of the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL). They're usually the initiators of some harebrained legislation, lawsuit or legal opinion promoting freedom whilst railing against big, bad government. But we really do need more people paying attention to the corporate welfare and subsidies being lavished on private entities through economic development incentives.

So, good for WILL filing a lawsuit on behalf of some Eau Claire taxpayers who say the city abused Wisconsin's tax incremental financing law that includes cash payments to a private developer or company.

The lawsuit argues that the $1.5 million in direct payments and half of the redevelopment payment for the Confluence Project are an illegal property tax rebate for the property owner. That could violate the state Constitution, which says property taxes must be assessed in a uniform manner, said Rick Esenberg, the lawyer for the plaintiffs in the case.

Here's how I described TIFs back in 2008:

Another much touted, yet becoming more so destructive, policy tool is tax incremental financing (TIF). These were initially established to bring investment to blighted, low-income areas. But nowadays, more states are loosening their eligibility requirements and allowing affluent areas to reap the benefits. TIFs allow a municipality to issue a bond to pay for part of the costs of the new development. The property tax revenue generated by the development is then used to pay off the bonds. Some municipalities also allow sales tax increments, where the sales tax generated by the new development can be diverted to redevelopment costs.

In essence, using taxpayer money (cheap credit from a municipality) to finance speculative development where the rewards benefit the usual cast of characters at the expense of the community at large.

WILL's lawsuit is a step in the right direction, but this needs to be passed at the federal level. Otherwise it becomes a local competitive disadvantage. We would be legally prohibited from bribing companies, while other states and cities still would be able to participate in the current economic development blackmail dance.

For Further Reading:
TIFs, Greenfields, and Sprawl
Subsidizing Sprawl, Subsidizing Walmart
Straying From Good Intentions
Shifting The Burden
Recession Shriveling TIF Revenue Returns
Property Tax Abatements and Your School
Legislation Introduced to Help Troubled TIFs

The Job Creation Shell Game

Economic Development, Tax Incentives and The Plutocracy It's Creating

Wisconsin Reading

Wisconsin Ranked 29th In Job Growth During 2nd Quarter
Should Milwaukee Annex Part Of Racine County For Foxconn-Related Housing?
Hey, Scott Walker: I Have A Few Ideas About Why Millennials Don't Want To Live In Wisconsin
Foxconn Subsidy Now Exceeds $4 Billion
Seattle Adds People Without Adding Traffic

Holiday Reading

The FDA Is Cracking Down On The Shady, $3 Billion Homeopathic Drug Industry
How Many Taxpayer Dollars Is An Amazon Warehouse Job Worth?
22% Of City Workers Live In Suburbs
Study: Rich Kids 10 Times As Likely To Become Inventors, Creating 'Lost Einsteins'
Math Says You're Driving Wrong And It's Slowing Is All Down
State Of Wisconsin's Spending On Private Workers Up 57% Since 2010
Eau Claire Lawsuit Could Impact Foxconn, Other Developments
In Defence Of The Labour Theory Of Value
Can We Cut The Crap On The Debt From The Tax Bill Hurting Our Kids?
7 Reason To Be Thankful For Social Security
6 Reasons for Progressives to Stop Worrying and Love the GOP Tax Scam

We All Do Better When We All Do Better

Father Kenneth Petrie of Mr. Spankey and The Hipthrusters

Weekend Reading

The Reagan Boom, Kind Of Like The Ford-Carter Boom
The Washington Post's NAFTA Fantasy: 10 Years Later
Yes, Robert Samuelson Says It's Time To Cut Social Security And Medicare
Red Versus Blue States In The Job Recovery
Never Mind The 1 Percent, Let's Talk About The 0.01 Percent
The U.S. Economy Is Creating Millionaires At An Astonishing Pace. But What's It Doing For Everyone Else?

Republican Tax Scam Reading

Republican Tax Plan Leaves $1.5 Trillion Bill For Middle Class To Pay
Law Professors Just Published A Delightful, 34-Page List Of Ways People Will Game The GOP Tax Plan
Cut We Cut The Crap On The Debt From The Tax Bill Hurting Our Kids?
What Happened When North Carolina Cut Taxes Like The GOP Plans To For The Country
I'm A Depression Historian. The GOP Tax Bill Is Straight Out Of 1929.
The Biggest Tax Scam In History
Incidence And Welfare Effects Of Corporate Tax Cuts
Voodoo Too: The GOP Addiction To Financial Deregulation
Schroedinger's Tax Hike
It Started As A Tax Cut. How It Could Change American Life.
Republicans Are Getting Ready To Repeat Kansas' Tax Cut Disaster
The Four Big Tax Deceptions

Note To Trump Voters: An Ally Can Turn

Is This Amateur Hour?

Never one to miss the latest cause celebre, Alderman Zielinski calls for city employees to undergo sexual harassment training.

Speaking informatively and passionately about public safety and harassment are worthy, just and necessary endeavors.

Using these topics to gain yourself attention and to score some political points is not mayoral. Every idea you think of and every policy you develop doesn't need to be covered in the local paper or webzine. As an alderman, you should want to do the best for your constituents everyday, no matter who notices. If your body of work is commendable, it speaks for itself.

It's a great idea, as an Alderman, to say " Hey, let's have each department do a refresher on what is expected in the workplace and what anti-harassment policies and procedures are in place."

But, instead, to introduce this directly after announcing a your mayoral intentions, to seemingly bring attention to yourself more so than to the issue, reeks of self-centered opportunism.

For Further Reading:

Streetcars, Safety and Hucksters
Safety, Guns and Opportunists
Streetcar or Safety

Quit Playin' Games

As I surmised back in June, one of "The Backdrop Boys," Tony Zielinski is planning on challenging Tom Barrett for mayor.

For Further Reading:

Streetcars, Safety and Hucksters
Safety, Guns and Opportunists
Streetcar or Safety

Karen Fonseca For President

[source]

Put Your Money Where Your Yard Sign Is

If you are one of those gung-ho, 'back the badge' crusaders; one who believes there is never enough police and the costs for those police are always justified, then you need to pay more in taxes. The police take up the majority of nearly every municipal budget, and their burden on budgets continually grows.

So how about if you have a 'back the badge' sign in your yard, or when you obtain your 'back the badge' sign, you're automatically signed up for an additional 10% tax on your yearly earnings to help pay for the exorbitant costs of the police? Otherwise, how about supporting a mayor when he tries to reign in the ever-increasing demands and costs from police departments?

They promise to serve and protect, and in return, Milwaukee police officers are rewarded with full pensions after 25 years on the job. For some, that means retirement as early as age 42. Milwaukee's mayor said the costs are cutting into public safety. 

"Unfortunately, it's going not to police officers on the street. It's going to pay for their pension," Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said in October. 

So how expensive are these police pensions? WISN 12 News did the math. 

According to city records, a 42-year-old retiree gets an average $57,134 in pension yearly. By the time he's 65, he'll have collected $1.3 million. If he lives to 80, he'll collect an additional $857,000. That's more than a $2.1 million pension payout. 

But there's more than one. 

The average retirement age at Milwaukee Police Department is 53, but there are 834 officers between 42 and 52 currently collecting pensions. The cost to taxpayers for a single year is nearly $48 million. [source]

Weekend Reading

Another Budget Trick From Lyin Ryan And Company
What Red States Are Passing Up As Blue States Get Billions
More Guns Do Not Stop More Crimes...Why Do So Many Americans Believe The Opposite?
The Theory Behind Trump's Tax Cuts Is Exactly What Gave Us The Failed Bush Economy
Gov. Walker Endorses The Federal Tax Scam That Favors The Rich
Making America More Like Scandinavia
Who Wants To Market The Streetcar?
Don't Be Fooled By GOP Tax Reform Promises
Milwaukee's Riverwalk Earns Prestigious International Award
What More Evidence Of Collusion Do You Need?
Slippery Scott Is At It Again
GOP Bill Cuts Taxes For Private Jet Owners, Hikes Taxes On Students

The Wisconsin Idea: The Possibilities Of Cooperation

The push and pull forces of development seem to be at odds across the State of Wisconsin. Rarely does it seem that cooperation or a more regional perspective takes precedence in molding economic development around the state. The Governor has his take, mayors have theirs and different private players in the different cities have theirs.

Transportation (and its routes) takes a certain shape in one locality, while a completely different strategy prevails elsewhere; with no cooperation between the two in the final product, even though agglomeration economies are there to be had.

Energy and environmental policy shares this same blinder. Rather than working together to decrease energy costs, to upgrade systems, to protect the environment, parochial self-interest prevails and we all end up less efficient and less attractive for businesses or residents.

Public policy (heavily influenced by private interests) seems to be encouraging a "me first" attitude. Which is fine for many decisions. But when transportation, the environment, education, and health care issues (which impact every citizen) are being planned, a broader metropolitan, statewide or regional perspective is imperative.

We need to retreat from the quick, flashy impulsive economic development paradigm that currently operates across the state.

PAY-TO-PLAY DEVELOPMENT

Corporate welfare is growing in Wisconsin. Scott Walker has transformed public aid to encourage private investment into a shadowy backroom shakedown. The former Commerce Department was turned into the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) by Scott Walker.

The WEDC has been unaccountable and unable to track job growth or even keep good records on how much they are giving away and to whom.

Walker and Wisconsin Republicans have whole-heartedly embraced crony-capitalism. They are more than happy to mortgage the future of Wisconsin residents and the environment for flashy press releases, news conferences, and campaign contribution promises.

Giveaways to Amazon in Kenosha and the looming Foxconn welfare are the most recent examples of Scott Walker's corporate welfare bonanza. And, Amazon has their hand out again hoping to bribe their way to a few more bucks at the Wisconsin taxpayers' expense. As Henry Grabar wrote, "North American cities have debased themselves in the Amazon HQ2 reality show. The worst is yet to come."

As John C. Brown detailed:

The Foxconn project comes at a high cost with uncertain economic benefits, but clear political payoffs. The political economy of Foxconn suggests who the winners will be: the governor of the state, for whom the proposal is the cornerstone of an effort to redeem himself on a pledge of job creation; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who can claim credit for a multi-billion infusion of investment in his district; and owners of land for the greenfield site, who will be paid sums well above the going price for farmland. For most of the rest of the state’s 2.8 million employed residents, the Foxconn deal likely misses the target. Near-term, it guarantees all residents will pay millions of net costs in higher taxes or reduced services. Promised for the longer term are jobs most likely concentrated in one of the most prosperous regions of the state and mostly inaccessible to those in the greatest need of an effective—and equitable—strategy for economic development.

Bruce Thompson concluded, "Bribing companies to relocate here doesn't work...Wisconsin’s attempts to lure companies—particularly manufactures—through subsidies have been largely ineffective and threaten to become increasingly expensive, by promoting an arms race among states...It is past time for our state’s leaders, particularly those charged with development in Wisconsin, to take advantage of increasing research data on what works and what does not."

Marc Eisen highlights better public policy pillars for economic growth:

ENVIRONMENT & DEVELOPMENT

In an odd (dis)incentive toward good environmental policy, Scott Walker is proposing a fee for Wisconsin electric and/or hybrid vehicles. A policy which would end up discouraging behavior that would be environmentally and economically positive. We would all (logically) prefer less dependence on oil, less pollution and the encouragement of green policies.

Walker's comments put him in the camp of Republicans who have argued owners of electric and hybrid vehicles should pay higher fees because they don't contribute as much toward maintaining roads. The state's 32.9-cents-per-gallon gas tax is its main source of funding, but electric vehicles don't use gas and hybrid vehicles use far less of it than standard vehicles.

It's all about the road-building cabal and the Republican's never-ending boosterism for such. The persistent march of sprawl ... wasteful, inefficient and unhealthy. Walker and Wisconsin Republicans would rather discourage clean energy (which results in cleaner air and water) and connective mass transit options; they prefer roads, interchanges and off-ramps.

Yet this continual spreading of concrete is also waterproofing the land from absorbing rain water...which is resulting in more destructive flooding.



Here, again, in numerous (environment, energy, development, transportation) instances we see the Republican position is in direct opposition to the best interests of the citizens. In fact, their position is wasteful, inefficient and harmful.

MILWAUKEE: WISCONSIN'S ECONOMIC ENGINE

Milwaukee has been on a roll. New development and redevelopment has been at a brisk pace for the past few years.

Often, surrounding such development, there are questions about funding, winners and losers, and equity in the location of these investments.

Recently there has even been talk of allowing a dedicated sales tax to fund certain programs.

Minneapolis/St. Paul and Indianapolis have been the economic stars of the Midwest over the past few decades. One of the key tools used in their ascension was the implementation of regional tax sharing. Rather than one suburb competing against another, or the city competing with a suburb, they pool tax dollars to enable an equitable growth to benefit the entire metropolitan area, rather than pitting one area against another.

As Whet Moser put it, "Building connections, both transit and political, between its municipalities while sharing the financial burden."

After speaking with Tom Weaver of the Minneapolis Metropolitan Council, Ed Brock reported :

Seven counties in the Minneapolis metropolitan area have had a tax-sharing agreement since 1971, says Tom Weaver, regional administrator for the Metropolitan Council. The point of the programs is to discourage competition for the tax base created by shared infrastructure. "All this public infrastructure is paid for by all of us, so you shouldn't have one particular community where this infrastructure just happens to be located that gets all the tax benefits from that infrastructure," Weaver says.

As the Institute for Local Self-Reliance wrote:

The drive for increased property tax revenue, and in some cases sales tax revenue, can lead local governments to make land use decisions that conflict with other planning and economic development goals. A community might reject much needed affordable housing in favor of expensive homes, for example, or forgo office buildings with high-paying jobs in favor of big box retail stores with low-wage jobs, in anticipation of generating more tax revenue with a comparatively smaller burden on public services. 

The quest for revenue-generating development creates competition among neighboring jurisdictions, which may engage in bidding wars to offer developers the biggest tax breaks or least stringent environmental regulations. From a regional perspective, providing subsidies for businesses that have already decided to locate in the area is unnecessary and even destructive. A big box store, for example, will cannibalize sales from existing local businesses and shopping centers and, for the region as a whole, there will be no net gain in economic activity. 

In metro areas, the “fiscalization of land use” or “cash box zoning,” as this problem is known, fosters sprawl and polarization. Some jurisdictions are winners; others are losers. New suburbs on the urban fringe with extensive new commercial development and relatively affluent homes will have high quality public services with a relatively low tax rate. The central city and older suburbs, with declining commercial centers and lower-income families, will be forced to impose higher tax rates and deliver poorer quality services. This disparity tends to snowball and engender a cycle of sprawl as more middle-income families flee to the suburban fringe. 

Regional tax-base sharing offers one way to alleviate this problem. Under tax-base sharing, all of the municipalities within a metropolitan area agree to share tax proceeds from new development. This eliminates inter-regional competition; facilitates other planning goals such as preserving open space or maintaining a vibrant downtown; encourages suburbs and central cities to cooperate on regional economic development goals; and leads to a more equitable distribution of tax burdens and public services. 

State legislation is generally required to implement regional tax-base sharing. 

Here again, the state seems to be unduly burdening the primary wealth generator of the state whilst also handicapping Milwaukee's ability to raise revenues. Sadly, Milwaukee and its surrounding neighbors have never had a meaningful conversation about regional taxation and our shared interests. This is the outside-the-box thinking we need from our public policies to make the state a more attractive place for living and for investment.

CONCLUSION

Until, as a state, we can get past our prejudices about what we think about the big city, a small town, a rural area, etc., we won't be able to thoughtfully and adequately address the issues that impact everyone in the state.

Clean air, clean water, efficient transportation options, clean energy and other smart public investments benefit all citizens. If this state has any practical and forward-thinking leaders, we should be able to move forward to address some of these policies and implement meaningful action plans to not only benefit the citizens of Wisconsin, but to also make Wisconsin a more attractive place for business and tourists.

The current "me first" blackmail and bribery school of development isn't working.



For Further Reading:
Ending Job Piracy, Building Regional Prosperity
Regionalism On Purpose
Regionalism For Financing Development
Multilateralising 21st Century Regionalism
Regionalism: The New Geography of Opportunity
Comprehensive Study of Regionalism
The Calculus of Coalitions
The Regional City
Reflections On Regionalism
Governing The Fragmented Metropolis
Metropolitics
A Policy Agenda For Older Suburbs In The Midwest
Chicago Metropolitics
Fiscal Regionalism Levels Playing Field
Regional Tax-Base Sharing
Progressive Policies For Raising Municipal Revenue
Regional [Metropolitan] Tax-Base Sharing
Introduction to Tax-Base Sharing
How Minneapolis Is Growing
U.S. Metro Economies
2016 Public Transportation Factbook

Bill O'Reilly Is A Goon

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

Safety, Guns and Opportunists

As our media continues to sell fear to our increasingly consumerist culture, we are allowing a militarized mindset to rule our emotions, policies and initiatives. More guns and more police has been the rallying cry.

As Politico found, "Mass public shootings are roughly as common now as they were in the 1980s and ’90s. What has changed? The death toll."

And, as CNN discovered, this is primarily and American problem:

From 1966 to 2012, nearly a third of the world's mass shootings took place in the United States. A 2016 study looked at 292 incidents in which four or more people were killed. It found 90 of them occurred in America. Put another way: While the United States has about 5% of the world's population, it had 31% of all public mass shootings.

An odd aspect in all of this, as Five Thirty Eight detailed, is that although mass shootings have become more common in the U.S., overall gun homicides have declined.

New York Magazine looked at FBI data from 2000 to 2013:

"Yes, there’s an upward trend. But the fact is that these incidents remain exceedingly rare," declares Jesse Singal.

Singal concludes:

While there’s been a short-term increase in one very specific, narrowly defined kind of violence, the overall homicide rate in the U.S.(the purple line) is on a long-term downward trend that includes the period covered by the FBI report. Mass shootings account for a tiny, tiny percentage of the total murders in the country — in 2012, the worst recent year for mass shootings, just 0.6 percent of total murders, according to the FBI’s 2012 homicide numbers. 

Overall, when it comes to violence the country is safer now than it has been in decades. Obviously there’s still much vital work to be done when it comes to gun control, understanding why violent people snap, and so on. But talk of “sharp increases” in terrible, shocking, but extremely rare crimes promotes an alarmist view of the world that doesn’t quite match the facts.

City of Milwaukee Alderman Tony Zielinski has been banging the police and safety drum lately. In his view, police are the answer. Mayor Barrett has proposed eliminating some police and fire positions in his latest budget. Zielinski has taken every opportunity he can to get in front of the camera and to issue press releases pleading for more police.

Here, again, what we think we know is false. The tripe Zielinski is peddling is false.

As Alex S. Vitale proclaims, We Need Less Policing. His research into the issue concludes:

Any real agenda for police reform should not look to make the police friendlier and more professional. Instead, it must reduce their role and replace it with empowered communities working to solve their own problems. We don’t need community control of the police. We need community control of services that will create safer, more stable neighborhoods and cities.

In We Don't Just Need Nicer Cops. We Need Fewer Cops Vitale continues:

We have to take steps to dial back our reliance on the police as the primary tool of resolving neighborhood crime and disorder problems.

And, not only do the police and fire departments take up over 87% of the entire City of Milwaukee budget. The cost of police misconduct in Milwaukee is growing.

Police misconduct has cost Milwaukee taxpayers at least $17.5 million in legal settlements since 2015, forcing the city to borrow money to make the payouts amid an ever-tightening budget.

That amount jumps to at least $21.4 million when interest paid on the borrowing and fees paid to outside attorneys are factored in.

Milwaukee Adlerman Zielinski's willingness to keep increasing the police force (and departmental budget) will do nothing for the safety of Milwaukee, but will surely crush the City budget with ever-increasing police costs. And, as the police costs continue to increase, less and less money with be available for any other programs or projects. This is ill-informed, misguided and suicidal public policy from a public servant seemingly more concerned with personal attention than with City efficiency and a responsible budget.

For those pundits and politicians that keep proclaiming more police is the answer to safety concerns, it really just shows that they haven't done their research or looked very hard at the issue.

The answer isn't more police, it's less guns and more community-oriented policies and programs.

For Further Reading:
What Does It Mean To Be Anti-Police?
Why Police Are Rarely Indicted For Misconduct
No, Protests Against Police Brutality Are Not Increasing Crime
Barrett Versus The Backdrop Boys

Facebook: Where Thinking Went To Die

Statement From Chief of Staff Patrick Curley

“Attempting to toss aside 100 years of good government and progressive policies is absurd. As Alderman Borkowski said, the file to gut the citizen member Fire and Police Commission powers was for show. I understand why Alds. Zielinski and Borkowski want to put on a show at a time the City needs to address an $83 million pension payment and escalating salaries and budgets for public safety. As members of the County Board they both voted for the infamous county pension backdrops that have cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. The last thing these two backdrop boys want to do is take on another pension issue, do their jobs and protect the taxpayers. Putting on a show is so much easier.” [source]

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

Weekend Reading

The Transfer Problem and Tax Incidence
You Better Learn Our Lesson
Lies, Lies, Lies, Lies, Lies, Lies, Lies, Lies, Lies, Lies, Lies, Lies
Subsidies, Spite, and Supply Chains
There's Very Little Welfare Left For Trump To Reform
Economic Might By U.S. Metro Area
The More Guns, Less Crime Scam
Intellectual Property For The Twenty-First Century Economy
Those Luxury Condos Look A Little Drab
Insects Are In Serious Trouble
How Amazon Undermines Jobs, Wages, and Working Conditions
Amazon HQ2 And The Rise of Big-Ticket Megadeals
Big Question For U.S. Cities: Is Amazon HQ2 Worth The Price?

Homicides In U.S. Cities

[source]

Kellywise

Groper In Chief

The Dancing Clown

You're The Asshole

Spencer Prewett - Involuntary Doppelganger

Weekend Reading

Gun Violence In America, Explained In 17 Maps & Chart
White American Men Are A Bigger Domestic Terrorist Threat Than Muslim Foreigners
The History of Sears Predicts Nearly Everything Amazon Is Doing
The Future of Wisconsin
How To Buy A University Department
County Must Pay $6.7 Million Verdict
America's Gun Fantasy
The Case Against Partisan Gerrymandering
Partisan Gerrymandering Got The Sotomayor Treatment
I-94 Cancellation Has Huge Impact
WisDOT Asks Feds To Rescind Decision For Controversial I-94 Expansion In Milwaukee
Let's Talk About Paul Ryan's Scorching Duplicity On Gun Violence, Mental Health, and, Well, Everything
The Republican Plan To Rob America

I'm Clark And I Like Biscuits And Waffles

Streetcars, Safety and Hucksters

Constituents of City of Milwaukee Alderman Tony Zielinski may want to read his recent bloviating regarding the Mayor’s 2018 City of Milwaukee Budget.

He’s wholeheartedly opposed to the City’s streetcar project. Yet, and this shows his desperation to develop a coherent rebuttal, Zielinski is presenting this as a choice between either funding the streetcar project or eliminating some police and fire fighter positions.

Because that’s the only two choices we have as a City – streetcars or safety? More appropriately, it’s a safe political road to getting Zielinski some attention – playing off the misplaced fears of citizens to continually funnel more and more money to police and militaristic options. 

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. The State and the City has also doled out millions in subsidies to businesses for years and years.

But here comes Zielinski with numerous press releases condemning the Mayor and the streetcar.

Where were all of Zielinksi’s press releases condemning the millions of dollars in giveaways to stadiums, developers and other corporate interests?

Milwaukee is spending $128 million on a streetcar to be used by residents, tourists and businesses.

How is this a waste?

Every other major city has some sort of streetcar, light rail or similar. So, it seems more like 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.

As an alderman supposedly so concerned with constituents’ tax dollars being spent efficiently, how much of the entire Milwaukee budget does Mr. Zielinksi want going to police and fire?

As Bruce Murphy highlighted in a recent article, “In 2004, when Barrett started as mayor, the police and fire budget represented 62.7 percent of the city’s combined shared revenue and property tax levy; by 2017 the police and fire budget accounted for 87.7 percent. Increasingly, it’s become difficult for the city to pay for anything but police and fire services…Today, police and fire workers account for 77 percent of all taxpayer contributions to city employee pensions.”

So, Mr. Zielinski, how much more of the City of Milwaukee budget should go to just police officers and fire fighters?

How much more do we need to spend on public safety Mr. Zielinksi? How many police officers does Milwaukee need? Let’s see the numbers. Let’s see your analysis. How are you arriving at your conclusions?

Milwaukee has 42 police employees for every 10,000 people in the City of Milwaukee. Ranking Milwaukee 14th in the U.S. The average in the U.S. for cities with a population over 500,000 is 24 police employees for every 10,000 people. The population of the City of Milwaukee ranks 30th among the 100 largest cities in America.

Milwaukee already has almost twice as many police employees as other similar-sized cities.

To pretend to be concerned about the budget or to present this as acting fiscally responsible is deceitful. Just like when federal politicians complain about the federal budget while simultaneously pumping more money into the Pentagon. For Zielinski to talk of City budget woes, yet he wants to throw more money at the two most heavily-funded departments, he cannot be taken seriously.

Maybe if we focused more on infrastructure to attract businesses we could create more jobs, alleviating some of the poverty and inequality in Milwaukee and, thus, reducing the need to spend a majority of the City of Milwaukee budget on police officers.

As City of Milwaukee resident who voted for Zielinski as my representative, I am extremely disappointed by his position. It is incredibly short-sighted.

Maybe Tony should do some reading about urban infrastructure, transit, connectivity and smart growth. Does Mr. Zielinksi not realize that his Bay View neighborhood benefits from the growth in downtown Milwaukee? Does he not understand that the construction, new restaurants and positive developments occurring in Bay View are related to the boom that is taking place in downtown Milwaukee? It’s partially because of the FIRE industries located in the downtown, where many Bay View residents work, that Bay View residents have the disposable income to spend on bars, restaurants and other attractions. (Not to mention all the workers involved in the construction and/or renovation of these projects.) To hamper the streetcar, and thus the potential and attractiveness of the downtown, is to hamper Bay View. The investment in the streetcar is an investment in all of Milwaukee, including Bay View.

To start, the streetcar will connect the downtown – its employment centers, the lakefront and the major attractions (Summerfest, Art Museum, the Bucks arena, etc.). Hopefully, if Milwaukee can be as forward thinking as every other city its size, we will expand the system…connecting to Miller Park, UWM, Marquette and Mitchell airport, to name a few.

Zielinski’s latest press release - October 2, 2017 - proposed eliminating $208,000 for two streetcar management positions and instead moving that money to police officer positions. Since police officers average around $65,000 per year, this would equate to roughly three police officer positions. Which, of course, makes no sense. Are these just political ploys to introduce Zielinski to a wider audience within the City for a possible mayoral run? Plus, eliminating management from the streetcar only burdens its potential. Citizens, businesses and tourists will benefit from a well-run streetcar.

The City of Milwaukee has made repeated cuts to other departments and vital community services while, up to this point, leaving untouched the fire and police department. This cannot continue. Should the Mayor continue to allow the police and fire departments to strong-arm the City of Milwaukee budget? Why should every other department, worker, and/or project continue to accept less, while the police officers and fire fighters continue to get more and more?

The Mayor is functioning with less and less. And, in the face of such adversity, his budget seems practical and reasonable.

Where were Zielinski's press releases when other vital departments’ budgets were being cut and their employees were getting furloughs, laid-off, not getting raises, paying more for health care and contributing more to retirement? Was he bashing the Mayor then for not funding those departments? Other departments’ budgets haven't seen increases in years, many have seen cuts, yet the police and fire fighters keep getting theirs. They always do. And that’s why they take up 88% of the entire budget!

Zielinski's comments and position on the streetcar should definitely be in the forefront of his constituents' minds during his next re-election campaign. His short-sighted outlook will have negative long-term consequences for Bay View, Milwaukee and the citizens.

For Further Reading:
Infrastructure Financing Options for Transit-Oriented Development
Measuring Benefits of Transit-Oriented Development
Impact of Transit Cuts On Access To Jobs In Metropolitan Milwaukee
Light Rail In Milwaukee: An Analysis Of The Potential Impact On Economic Development
Strategic Value Creation In Infrastructure Projects
Why America's Public Transportation Is Crumbling

Aside:
Alderman Zielinski has just released yet another press release.

A driver ran a red light the other day and killed a woman and her daughter. The accident is terribly saddening (any avoidable accident such as this always is).

Zielinski is now demanding city-wide installation of red-light cameras.

Here, again, we have a situation that will cost the taxpayers money. The red-light cameras will need to be purchased, installed, monitored, repaired and occasionally upgraded.

I'm not against such technology. I'm just saying, this, too, costs money.

For Zielinski, the money spent on cameras would be fine. But spending on a streetcar, which would also benefit local citizens, is too much. Even though a streetcar would mean less people having to drive and, thus, less people possibly blowing through red lights.

It should also be noted that red-light cameras will not prevent accidents. They don't stop cars that have gone through red lights. If you're not noticing the red light and blowing through it, you're also not going to notice the camera.

Guns Matter

For Further Reading:
The American Impulse to Equate Guns With Freedom and Masculinity With Violence Is Killing Us

If Newtown Wasn't Enough, Why Would Las Vegas Be Enough?

Midweek Reading

Solidarity's End. Neil Gorsuch is giving conservatives the chance to virtually destroy American unions.
More people were arrested last year over pot than for murder, rape, aggravated assault and robbery - combined.
Republicans propose tax cut plan to give more money to wealthy contributors.
Yellen's masterful bond-market puppet show.
Washington Post news article argues it is better to tax work than vacant property in London.
Three important points about the Republican tax plan.
I helped create the GOP tax myth. Trump is wrong: tax cuts don't equal growth.
How to make 500-year storms happen every year.
Supply-siders still push what doesn't work.
Why American workers pay twice as much in taxes as wealthy investors.

The Kremlin Konnection

Corporate Consolidation

Spare Me Your Righteous Indignation

Choice Helps Few Public School Students

Choice Helps Few Public School Students. 68% of voucher students already attended private schools.