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Daily Bread for 2.6.22: Food Dye, the Eighth Wonder of the World!

  Good morning. Sunday in Whitewater will be intermittently cloudy with a high of 37.  Sunrise is 7:02 AM and sunset 5:15 PM for 10h 13m 11s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 30.9% of its visible disk illuminated.  On this day in 1967, nationally-known activist Stokely Carmichael speaks at UW-Whitewater as part of…

Daily Bread for 12.11.21: A Christmas Gift For, and About, Scheming Development Men

Good morning. Saturday in Whitewater will see snow this morning, of little accumulation, on an otherwise cloudy day with a high of 36.  Sunrise is 7:16 AM and sunset 4:20 PM for 9h 04m 43s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 55.4% of its visible disk illuminated.  On this day in 1901, Morris Pratt…

Daily Bread for 9.26.21: The Vaccine Divide and the Economic Divide

Good morning. Sunday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 82.  Sunrise is 6:47 AM and sunset 6:43 PM for 11h 55m 49s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 73% of its visible disk illuminated.  On this day in 1789, George Washington appoints Thomas Jefferson the first United States Secretary…

Competition: Good for Individuals and Society

Pres. Biden plans measures to increase market competition. David Leonhardt reports Biden’s New Push (‘The U.S. economy suffers from a lack of competition. President Biden wants to change that’): The U.S. economy has been less dynamic in the 21st century, by many measures, than it was in the late 20th century. Fewer new businesses are starting.…

Adding the Amounts Spent for Foxconn (So Far)

Wisconsin’s new deal with Foxconn will reduce the cost to state taxpayers, but local governments have already spent vast sums on a project that will not – by Foxconn’s own belated admission – come close to what was originally, and ludicrously, promised. Bruce Murphy writes of The True Costs of New Foxconn Deal: the true cost…

Foxconn: Seth Meyers on One of Trump’s (and Walker’s) Biggest Scams, the Foxconn Deal

The Wisconsin Foxconn project that Trump, Walker, and local development men touted was a house of cards, with each card in the deck no better than a three of spades. Their supposedly serious effort now finds itself a national punchline. Previously: 10 Key Articles About Foxconn, Foxconn as Alchemy: Magic Multipliers,  Foxconn Destroys Single-Family Homes, Foxconn Devours Tens of Millions from State’s…

Foxconn: New, More Realistic Deal Means 90% Reduction in Goals

After years of flamboyant lies about what Foxconn would be able to achieve in Wisconsin, there’s a new deal with that foreign corporation. That new arrangement reflects a reduction of 90% or more in what Wisconsin expects and what the state will offer. Local governments have already wasted millions on absurdly grandiose, false promises Not…

Foxconn’s Venture Capital Fund

Bruce Murphy has a solid assessment of Foxconn’s much-touted (by Foxconn) venture capital fund in About That Foxconn Venture Capital Fund. It’s well worth reading in full. A few key points: Unfulfilled: Louis Woo of Foxconn had promised this venture fund for startup companies would naturally connect to Foxconn’s innovation centers in Eau Claire, Green Bay…

A Janesville, Wisconsin Resident on His Town’s Politics (with Similarities to Whitewater)

Over at the Real Janesville™ Twitter feed, a resident of that nearby city offers observations on his city’s politics. In a tweet stream from 3.11.21, he describes the election scene in Janesville. First the feed, then a few remarks of mine on Whitewater. Advice for Janesville city council candidates: Don’t think you’re an agent for…

Texas (But Not Only Texas): Regulatory Capture

Regulatory capture is a simple concept: it applies when regulatory agencies become dominated by the industries or interests they are by law required to regulate. These agencies begin to act to benefit particular incumbent firms or people in the industry they are supposed to be overseeing. The concept is also sometimes called agency capture or…

Whitewater Common Council Meeting, 1.19.21: 6 Points

The Whitewater Common Council met last night, 1.19.21. The agenda for the meeting is available. A few remarks, on selected items of the agenda —  1. Public Works Buildings. Whitewater plans to update its public works buildings, now scattered over a multi-acre plot near Starin Road. The total estimated price is high for a small town (about…

Markets and Markets

One reads that Whitewater now has an option, for most of the city, of grocery delivery from nearby cities. As it is, Whitewater has a Walmart, but no stand-alone, full-service grocery. Private delivery service is a benefit to the community. It’s better to have more grocery options than fewer. These are private enterprises providing private delivery…