Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Wisconsin Bloggers: Individually and Collectively Inept, Inattentive, Incompetent

With one of the greatest blogging stories sitting right under their collective noses, Wisconsin bloggers sat on their collective behinds and allowed the mainstream media, the CBS Evening news with Katie Couric, to scoop them on the biggest stories of the departing year, the Shawano -SIST story of international intrigue:

Alleged Murder-For-Hire Rattles Small Town:Placid Midwest Town Turned Upside Down By Alleged Hit List And Secretive Group

All a reaction to news of an alleged hit list and claims by a so-called hit man, now telling his story for the first time.

"And I said, 'you want me to kill 60 people? You want me to kill the whole town of Shawano?" said Canadian businessman Bob Cameron.

Keteyian asked: "They were hiring you as a hit man?"

"Yes, they were," Cameron said.

"You're talking about the mayor, the city administrator, the city treasurer, the city attorney, the police chief, judges, investigators, fire commissioners," Keteyian asked.

"Uh huh," Cameron assented

Cameron says in late October he received $175,000 in wire transfers from people known to be part of a secretive group long run out of a house near Shawano called SIST.

Its is a story that could never be fabricated. The cast of characters are from the next great movie, a combined effort of the Coen Brothers and Quentin Tarantino.

The mayor (Kathy Bates) tops the list of sixty potential local victims. The Canadian hitman (Martin Short) was trying to do no more than collect some unpaid bills from the local cult when asked to wipe out half the town. The cult leader (Samuel L. Jackson in a reprise of his role of Jules in Pulp Fiction) is responsible for the investment of over $15 million in local real estate.

The real estate holdings fail and the county treasurer (Johnny Depp) is now foreclosing. The sheriff (Ben Stiller) and his deputy (Owen Wilson) manage to keep the town on edge as they tail two SIST members (Mike -Wayne-Meyers and Dana -Garth- Carvey), who prowl the city streets with a camcorder filming anyone they suspect is in cahoots with the town leaders.

SIST spokesman and attorney (Johnny Depp or should that be Robert Downey Jr.?) manages to bring some semblance of reality to the entire story claiming this was all a misunderstanding.

Sanity is maintained. The FBI agent (Brad Pitt) brings calm and peace to Shawano.(Pronounced Shawn-o as in Shauno of the Dead).

All this going on in plain view. Badger bloggers are writing about Republican committee assignments in the legislature, the performing arts, and Lake Michigan.

Phooey.

                

Economic Disaster That A Fool Could Forecast

Like most states, we are caught up in the cruel torture of national policies that are driven by greed, imperialism, and stupidity. Readrers of Waxing America will recall that in the spring of 2007 I forecasted a stock market crash and repeated it last January, Another War; Another Recession. Whatdidyah Expect?

Last  spring I used my limited abilities in forecasting the economy and predicted a stock market crash... For the second time in my lifetime a stupid, foolish war built on lies not only wrecked havoc with another country but it is destroying the American economy.

It does not take a rocket scientist to get it right... Go on take 10% of your income and set it on fire, throw it down the toilet, or just rip it up. And just for good measure, borrow a lot of money and rip it up too.

It is so simple. You cannot destroy your resources and your assets. Imagine the homes and schools that might have been built. Billions of dollars - now that is stimulation for the economy.

I am not a genius in these matters; it is that I am not driven by blind ideology in arriving at conclusions about the ecomony. A few years experience in the public and private sectors, an understanding of history and a willingness to distance myself from bad public planning, or lack of planning, no matter how politically popular the proposal, do help.

As the fall elections approach, candidates for the Wisconsin legislature and Congress from both political parties will warm your frontal lobes with cuddly promises of 'no tax increases,' cutting fat from the budget, and reducing spending.

If you are attracted to those soft sweet sounds, complete the job and instead of voting, just get a lobotomy.

If you want a candidate who will  provide a lump of coal to warm you in your decrepit retirement, and a dull knife so you can remove your spouse's appendix by candlelight in your toothless waning years, I suggest looking for the following promises:

• A pledge to the business community to provide an educated, trained workforce, not lower taxes.
• A pledge to increase spending on education from kindergarten through the University of Wisconsin and Voc-Tech Systems.
• A commitment to spend money on infrastructure that places a priority on the environment, health, and safety.
• A commitment to regulate where appropriate and needed.
• That infratstructure will be funded through borrowing as should any reasonable capital budget item.
• The operating budget, unlike the capital budget, will be funded by general purpose revenues, and only general purpose revenues. No borrowing here.
• It will be necessary to increase taxes. The increase will be progressive and will fall on wealthier taxpayers.
• A commitment to regulate where required for health and safety.
• A declaration that international trade which exports great jobs and imports poisonous pet food and baby formula is not working.
• There will be no reductions of state revenue payments to local units of government. These reductions only end up with increase in the property tax which has the impact of shifting taxes from the wealthy to the middle class.
• On the national level there will be increases in the income tax- progressive increases.
• If we fight a war, there will be honest talk. It is impossible to have guns and butter. If we fight a war there must be sacrifices at home as well as on the battlefield.
• If the candidate tells you they are highly regarded by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), tell that candidate to move to Alaska.

 

 

It does not take a rocket scientist to get it right... Go on take 10% of your income and set it on fire, throw it down the toilet, or just rip it up. And just for good measure, borrow a lot of money and rip it up too.

It is so simple. You cannot destroy your resources and your assets. Imagine the homes and schools that might have been built. Billions of dollars - now that is stimulation for the economy.

Republicans Blaming Pelosi: They Sure Showed Her and Millions of Americans

As the dust settled on Wall Street and the savings and retirement hopes of millions of Americans crumbled, it was clear the the House Republicans had their way. The Associated Press headline said it all, Bailout bill slapped aside; record stock plunge.

Down in the  twenty-fourth paragraph, long after the carnage and mayhem were reported came this:

Republicans blamed Pelosi's scathing speech near the close of the debate — which assailed Bush's economic policies and a "right-wing ideology of anything goes, no supervision, no discipline, no regulation" of financial markets — for the defeat. It was not much different from her usual tough words against the president and his party.

If there was ever demonstrable proof of the infantile nature of the extreme right wing of the Republican Party this was it. Out of spite, create the greatest one-day loss in the history of the marketplace. So much for the rationality of capitalism.

My guess is that not far off in the future we will see today's losses recouped, but that will be little consolation to the the millions of Americans who lost billions of dollars over a hissy fit.

My thoughts about the Democrats who voted against the bill are not kind, but at least their behavior was rational. Fearful of rabid Republican opponents who would use the issue in the election a month away, they ducked, or as we like to say here at Waxing America, "A candid examination of right-wing policies and the Democrats who play along..."

Who Is Responsible for the Economic and Financial Crisis?

The present crisis is the culmination of a series of events that go back to the election of Ronald Reagan as President and flowed through the subsequent years as the right wing mastered modern day communications, particularly cable TV.

The pinnacle was in 1999 with the repeal of Glass-Steagall, the Depression Era legislation that brought regulation and some degree of consumer protection to the financial marketplace. The public would not be wandering the dark hall of manipulators, oil speculators, and other creeps who took the art of capital formation to a new low, making money by pushing paper and never creating anything of value.

The Reagan Administration gutted regulation administratively in key areas of commerce and finance and was followed by the Republican control of the Congress and the ascendancy of Newt Gingrich, culminating in the adoption of the Financial Modernization Act of 1999.

This piece of legislation was drafted in 1998, and over the next year the Republicans overcame all opposition. To understand what happened it is necessary to examine the legislative process and the political climate of the time.

The Republicans were dominant and the Democrats were on the run. Fearful of losing more Congressional representation, the Democrats often capitulated, fearful if they stood up to  Gingrich, they too would lose their next election.

True Believers:   Lead by the bill's principal author, Phil Graham, this group were cronies of the oil interests and the speculators. It included reactionaries from Gingrich to Grover Norquist.

The Supporters:  These were all of the Republicans and one Democrat in the Senate accompanied by a similar alignment in the House of Representatives, though there were more blue-dog Democrats who joined the GOP. The critical vote came when the Senate version of the bill was adopted.

On  May 6,1999, the Senate adopted its version of the bill on a vote of 54-44.  Supporting that bill was John McCain; in opposition were all Democrats except Hollings of South Carolina. Joe Biden wisely voted 'no.'

For a more detailed explanation see this post, The crisis is so bad the financial press turns bolshie, February 17, 2008.

After the House vote, the bill went to conference committee.

The Negotiators. In conference committee, negotiators  from both Houses of Congress worked out their differences. President Clinton got involved realizing that with final passage there would be a veto proof majority. The final version of the bill was adopted by the Senate in November by 90-8. Joe Biden again voted 'No.'

John McCain, in the most blatant example of cowardice, refused to vote for or against the bill. He voted 'present.'

 

For more detail: John McCain's lying is contagious

 

 

 

 

 

Gingrich: I Screwed Working Americans Once, I Can Do It Again

Newt Gingrich with his Contract on America was one of the principal architects of the 1999 repeal of a key depression era reform, the Glass-Stegall Act, that stabilized the United States economy and prevented unfettered speculation that could trigger economic collapse and bring ruin to hundreds of millions of families -people like Waxing America readers.

The product of his theoretical rubbish first bore fruits with the Enron and Worldcom disasters and this past week brought us the worst economic collapse in three generations.

Regardless of the outcome we must be clear about one thing. You and I and millions of hard working Americans who never had a chance to rip off bmillions, will pay.

In an instant, without increasing the tax rates, they made sure we pay.  This is going to come out of our taxes - money we already paid and money we will pay to the federal and state governments.

The loss of our hard-earned savings, the equity in our homes, and the collapse of local businesses are going to take their toll as well. 

There are some people who lost millions, hundreds of millions, and others who lost billions. Most of them made that money without creating true wealth; they created nothing of lasting value. They shuffled paper.

Now Newt Gingrich wants to lower the capital gains taxes to zero.

The man has learned nothing.

The curious thing is that he is not doing this for his own personal aggrandizement. True he enjoys the money he makes and the wealth he creates for his right wing friends.  

His real motivation is that he fashions himself as an economc theorist and wishes to be recognized for his intellectual prowess.

Not content with the destruction he created, he plows forward.

The man is a fool.

He should be tried for treason.

Economic Disaster Brought To United States By John McCain's Buddies

There is no question as to who is responsible for the right wing national socialist corporate bailouts, and the ruin brought to millions of Americans who are losing jobs, or homes, or both.

"A candid examination of right-wing policies and the Democrats who play along..."

In 1999, flush their their victories in the three prior congressional elections, the most extreme right wing element of the Republican Party deregulated the US financial system and allowed for the massive excesses that exploded in ruin and chaos.

Irony of ironies the Wall Street Journal wrote nine years ago:

With the stroke of the president's pen, investment firms like Merrill Lynch & Co. and banks like Bank of America Corp., are expected to be on the prowl for acquisitions.

The Wall Street Journal, which pushed the legislation from start to finish, never envisioned the blood in the streets as Bank of America devoured the wounded and crippled Merrill Lynch this week.

The FDR, Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 was gutted as were the protective regulations that guarded innocent Americans from the excesses of the greedy and the stupid who manged billions of dollars of their own and other people's money.

Behind the plundering iin 1999 were such notables as Phil Gramm, Republican of Texas and James Leach, Republican from Iowa who, at the time, had their names proudly attached to the legislation.

Knowing that the Republicans, along with some right wing and moderate Democrats could override his veto, President Bill Clinton signed the legislation when the liberal democrats were able to negotiate some minor protections for consumers.

The dynamics of how it was adopted were simple. Caught up in the unproven Right Wing Republican demand for deregulation of all American industries, intimidated moderates of both parties went along, fearful that they too would be swept out of office by Newt Gingrich's Contract On (with) America and the general revulsion in the public mind with anything labeled 'liberal.'

When the bill was adopted in the Senate eight members, including Wisconsin's Russ Feingold, had the conscience and the good sense to vote. "No.'

In a display of total lack of leadership, John McCain of Arizona was the only Senator to refuse to vote either for or against the bill. He voted 'present.'

McCain should step aside and let Sarah Palin head the ticket.

For an analysis and understanding of what went wrong, check out the American Prospect and the work of Robert Kuttner, who called this correctly from the beginning.

Most recently from the Huffington Post:  Wall Street Delivers. by Robert Kuttner on September 15, 2008.

Here is a post from none other than the website of right winger Sean Hannity. Economist Robert Kuttner has criticized the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act as contributing to the 2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis.

 

 

McCain Commercials Despicable

The words, "Joe Biden" were barely uttered by Barack Obama and the McCain assassin squad was slotting the new television commercials attacking the Democratic presidential candidate's selection for a running mate.

Suddenly Hillary Clinton, probably the only Democrat in the United States more despised by Republicans than her husband, is the McCain poster-child for a woman scorned.

From despicable to vile, from insipid to tragic, there are not enough adjectives to describe the McCain campaign's desperate attempt to narrow the gap with the Democratic front-runner.

From Willie Horton of two decades ago, to the WMC Supreme Court advertisements of 2007 and 2008 it is clear that these campaigns are run by Karl Rove and a new generation of his toadies.

While John McCain, with a straight face tells the nation that Joe Biden is an honorable leader, his campaign spend millions on a message void of content or substance.

It would be nice if someone, in either party, won a campaign against this type of vile trash and showed that content and substance can triumph.

I hope Joe Biden and the Democrats do not emulate this kind of trash when the Republicans select their vice presidential candidate.

I imagine if Hillary Clinton was the Democratic candidate for Vice President, Karl Rove would be orchestrating a campaign alleging that she fathered an illegitimate child.

WMC, Buchen Behaving Badly; Boldt Boxed

When I met with Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) Board of Directors President Tom Boldt November 19, 2007, our conversation, like our telephone call the previous month was polite, respectful, and to the point.

Bolt was committed to WMC's Issues Committee and their election strategy. He knew I was not going to stop my efforts to reveal who paid for the WMC issue ads and that I was going to hold his board responsible since they authorized and spent the money for the TV advertisements.

The discourse has been tough. Others joined in.

Clullen construction joined TDS and Foley and Lardner and left the board and the organization. Now we hear from UW Chancellor John Wiley and over-the-top WMC government relations officer, Jim Buchen.

Now Tom Bolt has a problem. He can either support Buchen and further alienate the majority of WMC board members who have no stomach for these shenanigans, especially when their businesses are named, or he can disavow Buchen reaffirming the belief that at least two WMC staffers, Buchen and Pugh, are out of control.

In any case, it is no secret that we are please at the Original WMC Watch as are ourfriends at One Wisconsin Now with their WMC Watch.

Buchen took Wiley's localized Madison article and made it a state wide issue. He did it fast and furious.  This is not the kind of attention that moderate businesses appreciate.

Our response will not be fast. We will continue to engage WMC members in creative and constructive discussion. We will be supportive of those who wish to leave as we will also encourage those who believe they can change the organization and its culture.

In the meantime Dave Cullen who took his company out of WMC two months ago must be feeling pretty good about escaping this disaster.

We have a large playing field.  Consumers of member companies. Directors of member companies. Newspapers and the electronic media outside of Madison and Milwaukee. College students. Farmers and small businesses.

And  large Wisconsin businesses that realize that WMC does not know how to grow the econmony of Wisconsin.

Law and Order American Style: Fascist Home Wreckers

Last week's story from Prince George's County, Maryland was not unusual or rare except that the facts in this instance are so clear and unconverted. A police dog found a package at a shipping facility that contained thirty pounds of marijuana. They followed the delivery to the nice middle class home and then conducted a raid.

There was a problem. They knew nothing about the intended recipients of the package. Police raid Md. mayor's home and kill his dogs

Mayor Cheye Calvo got home from work, saw a package addressed to his wife on the front porch and brought it inside, putting it on a table. Suddenly, police with guns drawn kicked in the door and stormed in, shooting to death the couple's two dogs and seizing the unopened package...

...Police say the couple appeared to be innocent victims of a scheme by two men to smuggle millions of dollars worth of marijuana by having it delivered to about a half-dozen unsuspecting recipients.

Before this chaotic event was resolved, the two family dogs were shot,

Calvo insisted the couple's two black Labradors were gentle creatures and said police apparently killed them "for sport," gunning down one of them as it was running away.

and Calvo's mother in law was treated like the victim of a Fascist state:

But officials insisted they acted within the law, saying the operation was compromised when Calvo's mother-in-law saw officers approaching the house and screamed...

...when she was handcuffed and interrogated for several hours.

Nothing surprising here. Nor should you be stunned or shocked by the response of the police department:

Prince George's County Police Chief Melvin High.. defended the way the raid was conducted. He and other officials did not apologize for killing the dogs, saying the officers felt threatened...But officials insisted they acted within the law, saying the operation was compromised when Calvo's mother-in-law saw officers approaching the house and screamed.

Years ago I had a discussion with Madison police officers on city policy regarding searches and intrusions without a warrant. One officer defended departmental policy saying, "Recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions allow us to do it, it is within the law."

He was right, but I responded, "Just because the Supreme Court has lowered the bar, compromised rights to protect citizens from abusive process of law, does not require us to lower our Constitutional standards."

This is the result of the cynical appointments to the United States Supreme Court by Reagan, Bush, and Bush.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court rulings are no different with the court now owned by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) The election of Anette Ziegler and Max Gableman ensured a right-wing majority that will do all within its power to limit citizens' protections against illegal search and seizures and unwarranted brutal force.

Years ago I created a Public Safety Review Committee for the city of Madison.  This is exactly the kind of subject they should examine. It would be wise for them to call in police officials and go over the Madison standards in these kind of situations. Nowhere is it written that we have to live by the lowest common denominator whether it is set by Clarence Thomas or Max Gableman.

These folks were white and middle class, and the mayor. Imagine being black and not so middle class, and not the mayor.

Quality of Waxing America Readership Declines; Reds Everywhere

Sunday I posted on bicycling, Weekend Bicycling Report July 27, 2008 and Skippy, with obviously too much time on his hands, left a comment:

Where is your smartass poll about the Brewers melting down, now that they are a game out of first? You loved rubbing it in when they were having a rough patch, but dont mention them when they start to rock and roll...

Not one to admit mistakes, are you, you smug commie piece of...

Recall that on June 13th I posted a poll asking readers:

It is time for the Brewers to:

• Panic 8.5%
• Get a new manager 19.4%
• Stay calm; it is a young team, they will settle down. 37.6%
• Trade Weeks and maybe Hall and Hardy for some pitching 9.1%
• Build a new team around Fielder and Braun 6.1%
• Become a Cub fan 24.8%

The Brewers did make a trade for some pitching though they managed to hang on to Weeks, Hall and Hardy.

Now what I want to know is what does the poll, (yes the Cub offering was smartass), have to do with being a commie? It appears that the political dialog has sunk so low that it even would shame Joe McCarthy. After all, if in the 1950's one were to root for Cincinnati rather than Cleveland or the Yankees, they would not be called a red.