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WISGOP Assembly Speaker Vos Hopes You’re Stupid

With the news that Foxconn plans to drop manufacturing at a plant that was supposed to hire thousands of workers, for which people lost their homes, and that was the centerpiece of Scott Walker’s corporate welfare and crony capitalism, Speaker Robin Vos blames…newly-elected Gov. Tony Evers. Oh, brother: Vos must hope that Wisconsinites are stupid enough to believe…

Ignorant Policymakers Will Produce Ignorant Policies

Rep. Justin Amash, who is as close to a libertarian as any Republican in Congress, offered this observation about Wilbur Ross, Trump’s Secretary of Commerce: It’s amazing that Wilbur Ross was nominated and confirmed to be secretary of anything. He’s shown over many years that he doesn’t understand basic economics, and to describe him as…

The Broad Outlines of 2019

For many years, I would begin the year with predictions for the twelve months ahead.  Events since 2016 have made predictions harder,  but one can still discern some short-term developments for the city.  These prospects, of course, form an online of topics to ponder, and about which to write (often requiring that one return to the…

Once a Gerrymanderer…

Wisconsin, with a gerrymandered legislature and a crony capitalist, lame-duck governor, was never going to have an easy transition back to a tradition of democratically representative government and sound economic policy.  The men who engineered years of the wrong approach were never going to go gently to the political outer darkness that, deservedly, awaits them.…

The Walker Cabinet Officers’ Open Letter

Four cabinet secretaries of the Walker Administration have come forward to criticize the governor, and three of them have co-written an open letter against Walker’s relentless emphasis on political gain over sound policies. One of the signatories of the letter is Paul Jadin, who was Walker’s first Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation leader. It says all…

Walworth County’s Working Poor

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…

Daily Bread for 9.30.18

Good morning. Sunday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of fifty-one.  Sunrise is 6:51 AM and sunset 6:37 PM, for 11h 45m 05s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 70.2% of its visible disk illuminated.   On this day in 1938, the Munich Agreement temporarily sates Nazi Germany’s territorial ambitions:…

Daily Bread for 9.29.18

Good morning.  Saturday in Whitewater will be increasingly cloudy with a high of fifty-eight.  Sunrise is 6:50 AM and sunset 6:38 PM, for 11h 47m 58s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 80.1% of its visible disk illuminated.   On this day in 1957, the Packers dedicate a new stadium: “On this…

Daily Bread for 9.4.18

Good morning. Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of eighty-six.  Sunrise is 6:23 AM and sunset 7:23 PM, for 12h 59m 37s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 33.7% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the six hundred sixtieth day.Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first…

A Tax Incremental Financing Review

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…

The Trump Tax Bill: Massive Federal Deficits

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…

The Next Guest Speaker

Last winter, the Greater Whitewater Committee, a local 501(c)(6) business league, invited Matt Moroney (a longtime Walker operative) to speak to residents on Foxconn’s many supposed benefits. The Daily Union‘s longtime stenographer correspondent dutifully and uncritically reported on Moroney’s remarks.  See A Sham News Story on Foxconn. Over the years, key leaders of this business league have served…

Foxconn’s (Overwhelmingly) Low-Paying Jobs

Residents of Whitewater (or at least the ones attracted to corporate welfare) had a chance this winter to hear a state operative extol the benefits of billions in public money for Foxconn.  The local 501(c)(6) business league, the Greater Whitewater Committee, brought in a guest speaker to tout the project.  See A Sham News Story on…