Paul Soglin: Waxing America

The Holiday Message: What the Morgridges Gave Wisconsin Youth

We are thankful for the work of the Morgridges, a couple of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin natives now living in California. John, the successful entrepreneur who grew Cisco Systems into a billion dollar company, and Tashia a special education teacher, gave us multiple gifts this week.

The first was the donation of $175 million that will go to educate public high school graduates who intend to succeed in Wisconsin public colleges and universities. As The Capital Times reported:

The grants, which do not need to be repaid, are to be awarded through the UW System and the Wisconsin Technical College System. Students will be eligible to receive aid for up to 10 semesters.

The second was the impetus for others to make similar contributions to enhance educational opportunities for our kids.  As John said, "This is just the start. We believe that the fund will grow substantially as others are inspired to join us in this effort."

The last gift was the most important.  Let Tashia Morgridge say it in her own words:

Wisconsin 's public high schools do an outstanding job of preparing students for higher education. We are committed to helping ensure that higher education is accessible and affordable.

It is further exemplified by an anonymous  comment to The Capital Times story:

If concerned and successful citizens see the University of Wisconsin as such a good investment, why doesn't the Legislature?

Anyway, ranting aside, the families of Wisconsin owe a huge thanks for the far-sighted Morgridges. They are using their wealth in the most generous and best possible way: investing in Wisconsin's future.

Private sector gifts are wonderful and necessary. However, Wisconsin and its citizens will never reach the potential that is our destiny if we this simple message is ignored in the Wisconsin State Capitol.

Maybe Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) would like to invite this capitalist to share his views with its members on social responsibility, the purpose of education, and the role of taxes.

Update 7:28 am:  from this morning's Wisconsin state Journal -

Dan Hurley, a state policy analyst with the American Association for State Colleges and Universities, said the donation also will give Wisconsin a competitive advantage in improving its overall education level and economy.

"It 's not about your name or about your alma mater but it 's about an entire generation and an entire state, " Hurley said of the message delivered by the Morgridges. "It 's about competitive advantage in arming the next generation and this gift will go a long way toward opening up access and sending a message to Wisconsin 's youth. " (emphasis added for the benefit of WMC)

Official Waxing America Religious Leader: Reverend Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping

In a move which will undoubtedly mystify the most cynical of holiday shoppers, Waxing America has decided it needs an official website minister.

In a brilliant act with both  secular and ecumenical implications, our publication has joined the gospel of the "Church of Stop Shopping," not to be confused with that other house of splendor, "The Last Exit Before the Freeway Church."

I can relate to Reverend Billy. He was arrested at a Disney store imploring the flock not to shop. He is pastor non grata at politically incorrect Wal-Mart and politically correct Starbucks. He asks the most profound of profound questions, "What would Jesus buy?"

He and the members of the Stop Shopping Choir, a group of 40 red-robed singers who accompany him on trips to Wal-Mart, Starbucks and other temples of consumerism where he attempts to spread his message, whether people want to hear it or not, are featured in a new documentary film called "What Would Jesus Buy?" Produced by Morgan Spurlock ("Super Size Me"), the movie follows the group on a cross-country anti-shopping crusade.

In this   documentary, Reverend Billy warns us of the pending shopocalypse.

I was crushed to learn that Reverend Billy is not a real minister but a street performer who was chased out of the sanitized clean up of New York City in the 1990's.  But that is a minor detail. His forty arrests speak volumes.

Republicans Push Socialist Agenda, Telephone Company Dropped From Capitalism

In yet another effort to destroy the marketplace and  capitalism, Republicans are again using government regulation to advance their social of agenda of redistributing wealth and crushing the entrepreneurial spirit.

As the United States Senate moves towards a vote on the Telephone Company Bail Out and Subsidy Bill, otherwise known as the Telephone Company Immunity Plan (FISA)*, Senator Christoper Dodd (D CT) may be the only pillar of democracy and free enterprise left in Congress.

The Bush foisted plan was simple. Enlist the phone companies to illegally turn over private records of subscribers without a warrant or a court order. Now the errant capitalists are fearful of numerous lawsuits which might cost them millions of dollars.

Rather than let the marketplace work things out, the Republicans are trying to use legislation to immunize the telephone commies companies against liability.

A bunch of self-righteous, politically-bought hypocrites who dare not talk or shoot straight.

They do not believe in the Constitution or capitalism. They believe in their own fat wallets.

Update 8:22 am: Using classical doublespeak, these treacherous termites use fancy names like Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act  when they are really doing domestic spying. As noted in the comments below, Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold deserves great credit for a five year struggle to protect out democracy against these Bush and Cheney lead subversives.

Russ Fights For the Constitution

As usual, our Senator, Russ Feingold, has it right on the FISA debate:

It's now up to the Senate to stand up for the rule of law and against the misinformation and fear tactics that the administration always rolls out on the surveillance issue. That means Democrats will have to finally stand up to the administration on national security issues.

... We can provide the government all the tools it needs to fight terrorism and protect the rights and freedoms that are guaranteed by the Constitution.

- Barry Orton

The Tempest: Bicycles and Snowstorms

Last week Bill Lueders, the News Editor of Isthmus and I chatted after he emailed me that "inquiring minds" wanted to know if I had taken a right turn, emulating John Dos Passos.

One of the problems of the 1960's, and every generational movement, before or since, for that matter, is the determination to define each act in moral, absolute terms. There is little room for discussion of relative importance or impact, and less room for dissension within the movement.

I criticized bicycling, in the dark, in a vicious snowstorm, with roads already difficult to navigate because of ruts in the snow and ice bonded to poorly plowed streets Bicycling Madison Style: As Dumb AS It Gets. I did not criticize any of the following:

• biking in subfreezing temperatures
• winter cycling
• ice biking or biking on snow packed streets
• bicycling in heavy traffic or streets poorly designed for bicycle safety
• biking in the dark

Yet it brought an avalanche of replies, over two hundred to my three posts. The replies are interesting. There were a significant number who focused on riding bicycles in the winter and the rights of cyclists. No quarrel here.

Several people noted that they had no alternative form of transportation - that for one reason or another there were no alternative means of transportation. I suggest that they do the same as anyone else stranded in a storm - either stay put or find an alternative means of transportation. The point does not change - biking in a dangerous storm after dark, with those kind of road conditions, is not worth risking your life.

Many of the comments were in defense of bicyclists' rights, accompanied by a torrent of criticism against drivers who do not respect the bicyclists' space. There was no one word in my posts conceding one inch of the space on the roads that rightfully belongs to those of us who use two wheels.

Lastly there were the posts on the environmental benefits of using a bicycle and a wave of attacks on carbon producing vehicles.

Excuse me for not using gasoline and spewing carbon emmissions (sic) when my commute takes less time by bike, is healthy for my body, and is far safer.

And that is the redefined essence of the debate.

While I criticized a specific act under specific conditions, my comments were taken as an assault on a life-style on a conscious environmental, political, social, and economic decision made by many readers. I had attacked their way of life.

It did not matter to them that my focus was a narrow specific circumstance.

And the rebuttal was more than just a defense of biking under winter conditions.  Note, that if you read all the comments, there are very few that actually defend riding in the snowstorm that prompted the debate.

Upon reflection, the furor was to be expected. Constantly under assault from the opposition, in this case motor vehicles, some bicyclist took any criticism on their own as an attack on themselves, on their culture, their way of life, and their core values.

A critic of any use of a bicycle, no matter how specific, must be a right wing, gas guzzling, carbon producing, cranky old man.

Those responses were interesting. Individuals who probably believe they are free of discriminatory bias launched an attack based on age. Others proudly announced their moral superiority. Some insisted that their right to access the public thoroughfare was absolute, regardless of the danger to their own personal safety.

All of us leave a carbon footprint. It is a matter of degree. It is virtually impossible to escape being a party to the exportation of jobs, a global economy that depresses wages and increases the need for carbon fuels, and incredible amounts of waste.

Just as individual acts contribute to solutions, so do larger local or state acts such as recycling programs, or national acts such as limiting carbon emissions. In the entire scheme of things, bicycling in dangerous snowstorms is an extremely modest contribution, and when balancing the value of human life, unnecessary.

As for the conservative, John Dos Passos part, I suggest reading posts at Waxing America for the past two years on :

• opposition to the war in Iraq dating back to 2002 -before it began
• a fierce attack on the Patriot Acts and defense of civil liberties
• defense of the rights of the most unpopular people to speak
• a hearty defense of consumers' right including criticism of the AT&T sponsored legislation to undermine the pubic when it comes to cable TV
• the right of Americans to freely walk the public streets without having to pay a toll
• Criticisms of Republicans and Democrats who tolerate torture
• Support of public education from the assault of right wingers who wish to privatize everything
• Support of labor unions

WMC and Milwaukee - Opinion Piece Published in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The following opinion piece appeared in this morning's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

WMC's policies on taxes hurt Wisconsin business growth

By PAUL SOGLIN

Posted: Dec. 15, 2007

While Milwaukee leaders work through the Milwaukee 7 to develop a sound economic strategy to build the region's economy, some of the area's most influential and important companies undermine that effort through their acquiescence and sometimes avid support of policies developed by the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.

While others work to develop a sound regional economy, WMC is noted for its continuing whine that Wisconsin is a "tax hell" - a statement that is unfounded, misleading and takes us away from creatively focusing on real issues.

The M-7 was created in 2005 as an amalgamation of businesses leaders from Milwaukee and six surrounding counties. When you think of the M-7, you think of business and the public sector working together, workforce development, investment and regional cooperation.

Ed Zore, chief executive at Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. and co-chairman of the M-7 commented last year that the real challenge facing Wisconsin was not high taxes but developing a reliable, trained workforce. Now, he is leading the effort to use Milwaukee's access to fresh water as a tool of economic development.

As a recent Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article noted, southeastern Wisconsin's access to fresh water is "potentially the driver behind a new set of industries in an otherwise slow-growth, manufacturing-based region" ("Tapping into fresh water," Nov. 22).

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's commitment to a graduate School of Freshwater Sciences is just one more example of leveraging the existing assets of the area to provide a vital, healthy economy and environment.

All of this takes money and commitment. If the usual pattern is followed, a public investment in infrastructure and research is followed by private investment and an expanding economy.

Yet WMC is silent on this matter. In fact, everything it has done regarding the most recent state budget process undermines this effort. WMC opposed funding work force development programs badly needed for training workers in utility industries. It has opposed reasonable funding for the entire University of Wisconsin System. Worst of all, WMC keeps up with its "tax hell" chant.

This once-bipartisan organization is now extremely conservative and attacks any effort to fund needed public improvements from education to transportation. It opposes any improvements to the Wisconsin business and labor environment inconsistent with its narrow, no-tax-increase goals. The shortsighted WMC policies hurt Wisconsin business growth.

WMC claims we are the seventh-highest taxed state on taxes per capita. But that is misleading and inaccurate. Because of our progressive tradition, we prefer to collect revenues from fair taxes, not special fees. When all taxes and fees are examined, Wisconsin ranks 23rd in revenue collected. That places us right in the middle of all states.

But WMC is not interested in a rational portrayal of the situation. After all, then we might move on to the next issue, namely to determine who pays those taxes and what might be a fairer distribution of the tax burden.

While many Milwaukee business leaders are working with UWM, neighborhood leaders and political leaders to expand the economy, some of these very same people are undermining their own efforts.

A quarter of the members of the WMC board of directors come from the M-7 counties. They are the ones who approve WMC positions on education funding; raising money for the WMC Issues Committee, which runs ads against many Milwaukee-area elected officials; and perpetuating the notion that Wisconsin is a "tax hell."

One has to wonder how many of these business leaders, their employees, their customers and their board members would shudder when watching the WMC ads if they realized they were paying for them.

Paul Soglin, former mayor of Madison, is a political consultant. He blogs at www.WaxingAmerica.com

Schoolyard Bully Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce Cuts and Runs

Wisconsin's judiciary rose from a ranking of 23rd to 10th in a recent study.

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), the schoolyard bully, has cut and run. WMC is known for brandishing the weapon of fraudulent reports in an attempt to demean the Wisconsin business environment.

We see it most frequently when WMC trots out studies from the Tax Foundation, which distorts the Wisconsin tax picture, then says the Badger State is "tax hell." WMC ignores the more scholarly and accurate analysis done by University of Wisconsin Professor Andrew Reschovsky, which shows that when we examine all government collections per capita, Wisconsin ranks close to the middle of the 50 states.

Last year, WMC sent out a press release claiming that Wisconsin ranked low in the "quality of its civil justice system." With the ominous headline, "Ranking Dangerous Warning About Future Job Prospects," WMC flooded the press rooms of Wisconsin newspapers on May 11, 2006 with solicitations to contact either Jim Pugh or James A. Buchen.

On October 23, 2006, WMC put out another press release touting the U.S. Chamber of Commerce funded  2006 Institute for Legal Reform/Harris State Liability Systems Ranking Study.

This year the Institute for Legal Reform released its 2007 Report.  Wisconsin rose from 23rd to tenth in the newest study. Not a word from WMC. Not a peep. Not a press release or even an cough of indignation.

The Legal Institute study is silly. It is the unscientific opinion of 1,599 attorneys. It is not a cross section of the public, it is not even attorneys who represent ordinary people. All 1,599 attorneys are corporate attorneys representing the interests of a narrow element of our society.

The implications of this study for WMC are profound. They cannot claim that is it filled with errors, since it is one they touted in the past to bash the Wisconsin Supreme Court. WMC cannot publicize the study since it shows significant improvement in our judicial system headed by a Supreme Court that WMC abhors as being too liberal.

All of which says more about WMC than the judicial system.  WMC are a bunch of bullies who can't play straight. It is amazing how a company can belong to WMC and still say they are working to make Wisconsin a better place to work and play, and to educate our kids.

In stark comparison, Milwaukee 7, The New North, and the Collaboration Council are all regional organizations designed to build Wisconsin's image and economy, and they are doing it without resorting to demeaning name calling and fraudulent "research."

(A version of this post was published today as an opinion in the Capital Times under the headline: "Paul Soglin: No peep from WMC as report shows state in better light.")

A Plague on the House that Ruth Built

The Report To The Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation Into The Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball is available for your reading pleasure.  After a while it becomes repetitious and it repeats itself as the title might suggest.

It is clear that this kind of shenanigans could not go on without the complicity of everyone associated with the game - owners, managers, general managers, players, and, of course, the press that covered the sport.

Screw all of them.

If a single one of the accused players ever ends up in the Hall of Fame, they should step aside and defer to the induction of a player worthy of recognition, Shoeless Joe Jackson.

I take comfort that some of the most notable and biggest, in terms of abuse, salary, and girth, of the named players were New York Yankees.

Laffer Laughing at Belling's Curve

The Laffer Curve suggests there is an optimal rate for government to collect taxes. It does not suggest that lower tax rates are optimal.

Mark Belling stretched the fantasy curve again. We will not waste time getting into the debate as to the flawed logic behind the thinking of the Laffer Curve. As a reminder, Arthur Laffer suggested, as noted at Investopeid.com , Laffer Curve, that:

The curve suggests that, as taxes increase from low levels, tax revenue collected by the government also increases. It also shows that tax rates increasing after a certain point (T*) would cause people not to work as hard or not at all, thereby reducing tax revenue.

In other words Mark Belling is just plain wrong when he says:

Laffer’s theory was that as tax rates declined, economic activity (and therefore income) would increase resulting in more taxes paid to government.

If you believe in this hocus-pocus, at least get it right. Laffer argues that there is an optimal point were the tax rate will result in the greatest revenue for the government.

Set the tax rate too high, and revenues decline. Set the rate to low and revenues decline.

In other words, taxes might be too low.

More misinformation from right wing Milwaukee talk radio.

Out of fairness to Mark, his analysis on Mike Dikta's attempt to help old injured football players was good. Maybe Belling should stick to sports.

Time to Haul Away the Madison Snow and Pay the Piper

The hope of Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz to avoid the major cost of dealing with the snow came to a tumultuous end today with the third heavy snowstorm in ten days. The public safety issues and the economic impact of the impassable streets must be addressed.

We know that the city was hoping to carry over $4.5 million from 2007 to 2008 in order to balance next year's operating budget. Well. it is just not going to happen. The budget has taken a hit for three major plowings and one minimal clean up.

Now the city must do an additional city wide clean up and follow that with a major effort downtown. That is going to involve going street by street, removing all vehicles, plowing from curb to curb and then removing most of the snow.   

The problem is compounded with the unrealistic expectation that the city could not only ignore purchasing new plowing equipment, but that it could reduce the number of available vehicles for plowing. No additional equipment was added in the last seven years. That occurred when the city installed the new cart collection equipment. The old trucks could handle a plow blade; the new trucks are too delicate and sensitive to plow.

That raises another interesting point: take a look at Gilman Street. Even if the garbage trucks could get though, there is no place for the residents to place their carts.

The hit may be upwards of $1.2 million. City leaders have all of next year to figure out how to solve the fiscal crunch. Now is the time to face the reality of these successive storms.

Update 9:16 am: This from the morning Wisconsin State Journal: Snow removal budget is out the window

Streets Division spokesman George Dreckmann...said, Madison's snow-removal crews will have gone through the additional $625,000 the City Council approved a week ago to cover costs from cleanup efforts earlier this year and this month — and then some.

Each storm costs the city about $300,000, Dreckmann said.

Did you ever wonder why more often than not, it is spokesman who always speaks for the city and not the mayor?