One reads that the self-described Republican candidate for the 43rd Assembly District will hold a meet and greet next week at a private establishment in town. Good for him – free speech is a core political right. (He’s also scheduled to appear at a local candidate’s forum this week. See The First & Last Questions.) He’s a…
CDA
CDA, City, Economy, Local Government, Poetry, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, Walworth County, WEDC, Wisconsin
Majority of Walworth County’s Renters are Rent-Burdened
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
A new study, Paying the Rent, from the Wisconsin Policy Forum finds that a majority of Walworth County’s renters are rent-burdened, placing the county in the top five most distressed in the state by that measurement. (There are, of course, 72 counties in Wisconsin, so Walworth County is among the weakest of a very large…
CDA, City, Economy, Local Government, Poverty, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, Walworth County, WEDC, Wisconsin
Walworth County’s Working Poor
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In Whitewater and throughout Walworth County, huge numbers of residents are “asset limited, income constrained [yet] employed” (ALICE®). A report from the United Way of Wisconsin, entitled ALICE® ASSET LIMITED, INCOME CONSTRAINED, EMPLOYED WISCONSIN, reveals the truth about many in our community. Walworth County measures slightly worse than the already-disappointing state average. The talk of…
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economy, Employment, Foxconn, Government Spending, Open Government, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, UW Madison
Foxconn’s Secret Deal with UW-Madison
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
These last several years in Wisconsin have seen a politics of corporate manipulation of public spending and a retreat from principles of open government. Businesses and business lobbying groups routinely expect public money for business projects that should be wholly private. (Scheming development gurus often refer to taxpayer money as their ‘tools,’ as though the…
CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Culture, Distraction, Economy, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Local Government, Marketing, Planning, Politics, Poverty, State Capitalism, WEDC
The Two Questions that Haunt Old Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Two questions haunt Old Whitewater (where Old Whitewater is a state of mind rather than an age or a particular person): What does it mean to be a college town? and What is meaningful community development? (There are other serious questions, but one can be sure – at the least – that these two have Whitewater…
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economy, Employment, Foxconn, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, WEDC
“Later This Year”
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
One reads that Foxconn [is] planning to buy land for innovation centers later this year. Read a bit closer, however, and one learns that ‘later this year’ is about as undependable as ‘the check is in the mail’ or ‘I gave at the office’: A question regarding innovation centers was one of many from Democratic Assembly Minority Leader…
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economics, Economy, Government Spending, Local Government, State Capitalism, Taxes/Taxation, That Which Paved the Way
A Tax Incremental Financing Review
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Today at four o’clock, the Joint Review Board is scheduled to review Whitewater’s tax incremental districts. Views of tax incremental financing – especially in a place like Whitewater – are a good test of someone’s basic understanding of economic development. Indeed, the test reduces to a simple relationship: the more one contends that tax incremental…
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economy, Employment, Foxconn, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, WEDC
Foxconn Deal Melts Away
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Rick Romell and Molly Beck report Foxconn now declines to say it plans to build type of factory named in state, local contracts: But in a shift from its stance of two months ago, the company on Wednesday did not offer assurances that it still plans to build the type of liquid crystal display panel plant…
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Economics, Economy, Free Markets, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Local Government, Politics, State Capitalism, Taxes/Taxation, That Which Paved the Way
The Trump Tax Bill: The Illusory Pay Bump
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In the spring, before and after a local election, the Whitewater Community Development Authority issued two press releases praising a part of the Trump tax bill as good for Whitewater. CDA executive director Dave Carlson presumably wrote the releases, and Larry Kachel, the CDA chairman, stars in one of them as offering gratitude for gerrymandered congressman…
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Economics, Economy, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Local Government, Politics, Taxes/Taxation, That Which Paved the Way, Trump
The Trump Tax Bill: Massive Federal Deficits
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The Whitewater Community Development Authority’s press releases flacking a part of the Trump tax bill for Whitewater show only that they either don’t understand what the Trump bill means for America, or that they hope others won’t understand. (See press release 1, press release 2.) This bill will drive the federal budget deficit to astonishing and…
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Economics, Economy, Politics, Taxes/Taxation, That Which Paved the Way, Trump
The Trump Tax Bill: The Wrong Incentives
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Whitewater’s Community Development Authority twice touted a part of the Trump tax bill as good for Whitewater. (See press release 1, press release 2.) Continuing a general look at the bill, it’s clear that it’s bad public policy, producing the wrong incentives. By its very nature, a tax bill is a government policy, favoring some allocations…
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economy, Employment, Foxconn, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, Paul Ryan, State Capitalism, That Which Paved the Way, Trump, WEDC
Trump, Ryan, and Walker Want to Seize Wisconsin Homes to Build Foxconn Plant
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
A video on how Trump, Ryan, and Walker are abusing eminent domain law and seek to destroy the homes of Wisconsinites to build the Foxconn plant is well worth watching. The short video was removed from YouTube over a bogus copyright claim, but it’s back online. (In the time since the video was first published,…
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Economics, Economy, Politics, Taxes/Taxation, That Which Paved the Way, Trump
The Trump Tax Bill: That’s Not Reform
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Whitewater’s Community Development Authority represents a specific part of the Trump tax bill as beneficial to this city. (See press release 1, press release 2.) For today, looking at the bill generally, it’s bad for America: it’s a sham reform instead of a beneficial restructuring, and it makes this country’s outlook worse. Benjamin H. Harris and Adam…
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Economics, Economy, Local Government, Politics, Taxes/Taxation, That Which Paved the Way, Trump
More About that Trump Tax Bill
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In the spring, Whitewater saw two Community Development Authority press releases touting a specific part of the Trump tax bill. (See press release 1, press release 2.) In response, this website replied (1) with a link to a Congressional Budget Office study implying that, overall, the Trump bill will boost incomes for foreign investors but not…