In my small town of fourteen-thousand, in rural Wisconsin, we have both the seasonal inconvenience of too much snow and the year-round inconvenience of planning and scheming bureaucrats. There are differences of scale between the municipal meddling that afflicts us and that afflicting big cities like Atlanta or Los Angeles. We’re not an over-taxed, over-regulated…
Planning
Economy, Free Markets, Planning
Why the Slow Recovery? – Cato @ Liberty
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Planning, Press Release
On the Innovation Center’s Anchor Tenant, Part 2
by JOHN ADAMS •
An official’s weak arguments don’t become better or more convincing on repetition. On the contrary, stubborn repetition only reveals additional errors and mistakes, offering more opportunities for a robust critique. Last week, I wrote about the selection of CESA 2, a taxpayer-funded agency, as the anchor tenant for Whitewater’s upcoming Innovation Center, a taxpayer-funded and…
City, Planning, Press
On Whitewater, Wisconsin’s Recent Bond Rating
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater City Manager Kevin Brunner recently touted an A2 rating from Moody’s Investor Services. It’s what he didn’t say that’s most telling. In his January 15th Weekly Report, Whitewater City Manager Kevin Brunner announced an affirmation from Moody’s Investor Services of the city’s A2 bond rating. The city’s rating is assigned to the sale of…
Economy, Free Markets, Planning
Wall Street Journal: The U.S. Isn’t as Free as It Used to Be
by JOHN ADAMS •
No, it’s not, is it? The United States is losing ground to its major competitors in the global marketplace, according to the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom released today by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. This year, of the world’s 20 largest economies, the U.S. suffered the largest drop in overall economic…
City, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Planning, Press
On the Innovation Center’s Anchor Tenant
by JOHN ADAMS •
Small-town Whitewater is spending about eleven million dollars in federal money and municipal debt for a Technology Park, with a showcase Innovation Center. The amount is more than the annual budget of the city, and it’s federal deficit spending, and municipal public debt, that will make this project possible. (Note: I will comment generally on…
Libertarians, Planning, Press
Libertarian Party of WI: Doyle’s Clean Energy Plan is Good News/Bad News
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a press release from the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin available about Gov. Doyle’s clean energy plan. The release happily acknowledges that the plan requires no new state spending, but correctly observes that mandates and regulations will further burden Wisconsin’s beleaguered economy. See, Doyle’s Clean Energy Plan is Good News/Bad News.
City, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Planning
On Second Thought, Maybe We Do Need an Innovation Center in Town…
by JOHN ADAMS •
I have had doubts about a multi-million dollar Innovation Center and Tech Park for Whitewater, Wisconsin. The costs are certain and rising, the benefits uncertain, and the city’s planning shifts from one Big Thing to another, like a series of teenage fads. Here’s what the Innovation Center is supposed to look like: Impressive,…
Economy, Free Markets, Planning
“Red-Ink Tsunami: Why Old Ideas Can’t Fix the New Government Perma-Crisis”
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Over at Economics21.org there’s a succinct, useful article on fiscal policies that simply won’t solve America’s economic problems. “Red-Ink Tsunami: Why Old Ideas Can’t Fix the New Government Perma-Crisis” is a useful reminder – a warning, really – of state and local government’s limitations. Here are the five “Strategies of Yesteryear that Won’t Work Today”:…
Planning
Come on, Wisconsin Politicians! You can lie at least as well as anyone in California or New York!
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Here’s the link to a map of Stimulus Jobs Inflated by State. In nationwide totals, this private tracking effort has uncovered reports amounting to 90,489 bogus stimulus jobs — and still counting. What’s Wisconsin show? 1. C3T Construction Co. in Milwaukee claimed to have created 24 jobs on projects that have not begun and for…
City, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Planning
The Next Big Thing
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
You may be sure that these days are scarcely ordinary – we are on the cusp of the extraordinary, the exceptional, and innovative. Nearly a month ago, Whitewater broke ground on a taxpayer-funded tech park, along a street renamed Innovation Drive, beside our existing business park. There was a brief ceremony, filmed for those who…
Planning
Reason.tv: Light Bulbs vs. The Nanny State
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Economy, Free Markets, Libertarians, Planning
Reason.tv: Government Providing ‘Country Roads to Serfdom’
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s video Thursday at FREE WHITEWATER, and here’s a video from Reason.tv’s Rough Cut blog, about the failure of government spending to improve conditions for West Virginia. Here’s a description accompanying the video: For decades, West Virginia has looked to the government to solve their economic problems, only to find themselves falling further behind. Today,…
City, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Planning
Whitewater at the Trough
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’m sure someone has a story to tell about how one of his Scandinavian ancestors swam across the Atlantic, hiked through the forests and prairies of America, and helped found this city with his bare hands. It’s just another version of the commonplace, “when I was a child…” stories one hears from crusty old relatives.…