Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Wisconsin Business and Entertainment Climate: Belling Style

You have to wonder why Mark Belling hates Wisconsin and Milwaukee as much as he does. In his latest rant, subtitled, State’s business climate far from welcoming, the right wing radio entertainer asserts:

We are driving businesses out and telling new ones to stay away by raising taxes to obscene levels, regulating businesses to death, imposing impossible environmental restrictions and levying some of the nation’s highest health care costs. Until those things are fixed, the business climate is not going to improve.

With so-called friends like Belling, it is no wonder that there is more than a little confusion in the Milwaukee business community.

There is not one word in Belling's quiver about the most important challenge facing Milwaukee and the state, growing a vital workforce. The key to Wisconsin's future is eduction, job training and workforce development.

Other key elements that Belling gets wrong:

• Collections of taxes and fees in Wisconsin is average compared to the rest of the nation.


• Taxes on Wisconsin businesses are significantly lower.

• When businesses make location or expansion decisions the quality of the schools, the environment, safety, and the workforce all trump tax rates.

• Government and the private sector can work together within the M-7 environment. In fact, that collaboration will allow a frank and candid discussion of the changes that both government and the private sector need to make.

• Lowering the bar so that wage rates compete with China or even Alabama are not what Wisconsin business needs.

• The new economy is not solely based on "biotech and drug industries." The secret for Milwaukee is not to copy others but to work from its strengths, its industrial and financial base.

It is evident that there are elements in Wisconsin including Belling and the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce who are less concerned about the quality of Wisconsin's business climate, and more concerned about using the business community to drive a right-wing ideological political program.

For a true understanding of how far Belling is off the planet, take a look at the  Milwaukee 7 website and scroll down to the Strategic Planning link and look at the thoughtful reports. I may not agree with all of their findings but certainly, this is more substance than "inane cheerleading."

Senator Russ Feingold. Why He Is the Best

I found it on Wisopinion.com

It needs as much exposure as possible.

Russ Feingold on the New FISA Legislation

 

Marketing and Business Recruitment, Wisconsin Style

A few observations:

• John Shiely and his brethren who fault those on the left who have negative knee jerk reactions to "anything business" are correct. There are a suspicious lot of lefties who start with the assumption that anything that is good for business is bad for everyone else. That must change.
• That said, Shiely has little that is positive to contribute to the discussion and the rest of his charges just make life more difficult for everyone trying to build a positive environment.
• For those of us on the left who do want to see a business and labor partnership in growing Wisconsin's economy, Shiely does not make the job any easier. Comparing Wisconsin wage rates to southern states does not cut it. We are not interested in lowering the bar, and there is plenty of proof that a well-paid workforce more than makes up for the additional labor costs in everything from productivity to having more successful kids in the public schools.
• Other than Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) there is really no rationale for using tax cuts and incentives to lure business. TIF has that vital "but for" test, and that standard should not be waived.
• Consistently, taxes are down the list in determining where a company locates. High on the list are the "quality factors": parks and recreation, safe neighborhoods, great schools, sound transportation systems (both public and private), a clean and healthy environment, cultural activities.
• Working on enhancing the presence of existing businesses is always a more productive goal than recruiting outsiders. If the outsiders find that the work done to develop the local business environment is sound, they will come.

When you have a runaway plant, a company determined to go to the site with the cheapest labor force, no matter what the consequences, it is difficult to compete since the values between the company and the community are so disparate. You have to change the values of the company, not the community standards.

For those new to this discussion, here is the background.

Since the explosive presentations at the Public Policy Forum Milwaukee Business Leaders Meet Their Worst Enemy - Themselves, we have the following, which is far from a complete list:

• Illinois thinks we are doing just fine: We Don't Need No Stinkin' Limousines: Ask the Flatlanders.
• Minnesota thinks we are doing just fine: Milwaukee has good company in having image problems.
• Some think Madison and Milwaukee's problems are the same: Blaska's Blog: Read Milwaukee, think Madison.
• And some just do not want to quit:  Somehow, we have to put an end to Milwaukee's zero-sum culture , or as Jim Rowen notes  Briggs & Stratton CEO Urges "Positive" Tone, Then Has A Counter-Productive Meltown Himself.
• And up until now we have not touched upon another dozen bloggers who entered the fray, including the penultimate battle  Our own worst enemy finding Steve Jagler, of the Small Business Times and a friend of Wisconsin Business, taking on a plethora of entertainers from right-wing talk radio.

CUNA Mutual: Not Al Dunlap's Transformation. Yet.

Sunday the Wisconsin State Journal had a story about the so-called transformation at CUNA Mutual Group, Streamlined for success? 

Lost in the thousands of words were some very telling numbers that say a lot about the culture of the organization. According to a CUNA Mutual spokesperson, Jim Buchheim, said "the company has about 1,700 contracted employees companywide, including 980 in Madison."

That number, 980 contracted employees in Madison, is just stunning, especially in light of the fact that CUNA Mutual employees in Madison has declined from 2,578 in 2004 when CEO Jeff Post arrived to 2,006 in 2007.

Its real simple. People were let go from positions as employees with full benefits while the company took on contracted employees who have no benefits, no rights, and can pack up the moment they hear, "You're fired."

It all brings to mind the debate within management communities about the way to transform a company. Curiously, years ago, CUNA Mutual was on the road towards total quality. The company had instituted quality circles and was making the difficult, hard, but very rewarding experience of a total transformation as envisioned by W. Edwards Deming.

There is another change agent for companies to emulate. Though we would like to, few us will forget 'Chainsaw Al' Dunlap. Dunlap  was the one who drove Sunbeam into the ground. 'Chainsaw Al'  Dunlap's tenure was marked by mass layoffs and dismissals and a sharp decline in morale.

This is not to suggest that the blood letting at CUNA Mutual is anything like what Sunbeam experienced, but it does demonstrate profound differences on how to transform a company.

Anyone who knows Deming's Fourteen Points, cannot help but recall the importance of:

Eliminate fear – encourage two-way communication, encourage employees to work in the organisation’s interest

You have to wonder how the morale is in an organization where the surviving employees see their co-workers discharged one day and replaced the next day with contracted workers.

You have to wonder what the implications are for a community when some workers are replaced so as to reduce overhead if some of those savings are going to managers in the form of significantly higher bonuses.

Update: February, 12, 2008: in some other presentations CUNA Mutual Group, I made some errors. An apology and correction can be found: An Apology TO CUNA Mutual Group and About those H1B's....

Selecting the Democratic Presidential Nominee: Obama

In my lifetime there were two candidates who offered real change. One was George McGovern and the other Bobby Kennedy. Neither was electable. One's campaign was cut down by the felonious Nixon administration; the other by an assassin's bullet.

There are four qualities or characteristics that we examine in selecting a presidential nominee.  They are positions on the issues, personality-trust, electability, and propensity to advance fundamental change.

We rarely get past the first two qualities. For each voter, the candidate's positions on critical issues such as choice, war, support of public education, and free speech rule out the vast majority of candidates. Left with only two or three serious contenders, the issue of personality takes hold. And then we move on to the hypothetical match-ups where the pundits speculate as to which candidates do best against the various nominees of the opposing party.

Consequently, it is unusual to view a candidate through the prism of fundamental change.

Few candidates offer themselves up as advocates of change. When they do, it is not as a catalyst for progress but as part of a rant against the bureaucracy, usually the pledge to bring change to Washington.

Governors from both parties, like Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan promised change. Neither weakened the grip of the lobbyists, neither ended corporate welfare, neither advanced the cause of social and economic justice, though Carter tried.

Barack Obama provides the opportunity for the Democrats to nominate a candidate who is sound on the issues, has the personality and public trust to win, and is promises fundamental change. On issues from war to poverty, economic development to the environment, Obama knows the priorities.

Most importantly his campaign statements and his performance as a United States Senator demonstrates he appreciates the narrow path a president must navigate to stand on principle and to compromise when required.

There is no one thing that Obama has said or done that leads me to the conclusion that he is to be trusted in uncharted waters, but it is the compilation of his record.

• He was prepared to stand before popular sentiment in 2002 and 2003 and question the foundations for the war in Iraq.
• He understands that to combat poverty, we need to enhance the family and advance public education. 
• He appreciates the problems created by NAFTA and that we need to make American products competitive abroad while we protect jobs in this country.
• He recognized the mistake made by Congress in compromising our civil rights and civil liberties in the overzealous attempt to ferret out terrorists.

i admire his appreciation for liberties and rights, his determination to get to the root of poverty, and his commitment to economic justice.

Most impressive was his judgment in questioning the premise of the Iraq war.  He performed far better than the so-called more experienced and mature leaders who should have known better. That is why I trust him with our future.

Judicial Activism: The Phrase You Will Hear For The Next Seventy Days

In the next two weeks the campaign for Justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court will unfold. The biggest spender will not be the candidates but Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC).

In its effort to unseat Justice Louis Butler, WMC will collect millions of dollars from its members and out of state right wing contributors to fund its issue ads against Butler, the incumbent justice.

The first of these issue ads, schedule for release in the next week of two, will probably drive home WMC's ideological message about "judicial activism."

The groundwork was laid last year when the the Federalist Society funded the writing of a white paper by Milwaukee attorney Rick Esenberg who teaches two classes at Marquette Law School.

The paper is entitled is entitled A Court Unbound? The Recent Jurisprudence of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Then last month WMC funded videos entitled, Prof. Rick Esenberg: The Wisconsin Supreme Court, A Court Unbound with  Esenberg orally expounding on the subject.

Finally WMC scheduled a series of sessions on the subject for February and March, WMC Regional Meetings: Wisconsin Supreme Court Unbound

All of this funded by WMC members who do not mind the WMC logo finding its way onto the forthcoming attacks against Butler.

Most of the companies who authorize these advertisements would never put their own name and logo on the advertisements.

As the anti-Butler campaign heats up, the judicial activism/court unbounded nonsense may not catch on.

That is what happened when WMC went after Linda Clifford. The public simply did not care.  So WMC went to Plan 'B.'

Recall that in last spring's Supreme Court election, Clifford was referred to, in tones reminiscent of a horror movie, that she was an "IMMIGRATION LAWYER," conjuring up visions of the 5' 3" attorney wading across the Rio Grande carrying several aliens from Mexico on her back. Then she would go back across the border and bring in five more illegals.

Needless to say, the immigration work that Clifford did was to get work visas for professional, highly skilled workers, needed in the very industries that make up the WMC membership.

Never let truth or accuracy get in the way of a good, nasty advertisement.

Update: I corrected Esenberg's credential at Marquette. I thought he taught one class. As iTenant notes, he teaches two classes and that gives hum full faculty status. 

Hillary Clinton is Not Entitled to the Democratic Presidential Nomination

It may come as a shock to Hillary and Bill Clinton, but the New York Senator is not entitled to a free pass at the Democratic Party nomination for President. 

In fact she is not entitled to it at all.  She has to earn it and that means, in a fair and civil way, she must defeat other Democratic contenders.

One of the disturbing trends on the part of both Clinton supporters and the supporters of at least one of her opponents is the mini generational war. The older edge of the Baby Boomers confront the youngest of the Baby Boomers.  It is not good and it is not right.

Critics of Clinton have suggested she 'get out of the way.' Sorry, her age has nothing to do with her ability to be President. Some of her supporters have suggested that younger candidates sit on the sidelines until the Clintons are ready to step aside.  Sorry, that kind of seniority does not cut it.

In any case, the Clinton attitude that Obama never should have had the nerve to challenge Hillary is inexcusable.

Does CUNA Mutual Group Still Call WIsconsin Home?

CUNA Mutual Group, a long established and important Madison-based company has moved its legal corporate offices from WIsconsin to Iowa.

Now it is about to enter negotiations with the union that represents many of its workers, Office & Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 39.  It appears that CUNA Mutual has hired hundreds of employees in Wavery, Iowa and Fort Worth, Texas while laying off hundreds of employees in Madison.

Now  CUNA Mutual is using people at its Madison offices who are contracted employees to other companies and workers with H1B visas.

Stay posted.

Disclosure: I am under contract to OPEIU Local 39.

 

Update: February, 12, 2008:  in some other presentations CUNA Mutual Group, I made some errors. An apology  and correction can be found: An Apology TO CUNA Mutual Group and About those H1B's....

AT&T's U-verse in Wauwatosa: "Fire to the Node"

Maybe somehow you missed the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's story last week by Rick Barrett:  "AT&T Replacing Batteries - Device Blamed in U-verse Equipment Cabinet Blast in Tosa."

You probably didn't see the pictures from the 'Tosa Fire Department in telecom blog LightReading, but you should. Here are a couple:

 
Even Wigderson got in the act: "Cable Competition Could be Deadly."

But the best line came from Jeffrey Hevey, the Wauwatosa fire marshal:

"It's not like these things are blowing up left and right every day," he said. "Would I want to set up my granddaughter's play set next to one of these cabinets? Probably not. But if I were mowing the lawn, I wouldn't be looking over my shoulder, worried that the thing is going to blow up."

But Christmas Eve, when you're not mowing the lawn? Not to worry. AT&T told us last year, when these were exploding in Texas, that its testing showed the problem was a manufacturing defect and an isolated event, and the batteries were safe and stable.

Or maybe not.

 

-Barry Orton

Another War; Another Recession. Whatdidyah Expect?

Last  spring I used my limited abilities in forecasting the economy and predicted a stock market crash. Now almost a quarter of my retirement account is in cash (I wish all of it was.). I felt stupid during the summer and the fall as the stock market climbed and climbed.

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. The other shoe is going to drop, it always does. The only question was when.

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.

Every bomb we dropped on Vietnam was another $5000 thrown away. Every time a bomber took off another 500 students could go to college - for four years.

The Johnson and the Nixon Administrations convinced the American people they could have guns and butter while the national debt grew. Then to compound the waste and the inflation, the oil embargo followed.

The ideologues said that Carter created the problem and that Reagan solved it. The problem was created by the waste of war and an inflationary rise on fuel prices. That sounds familiar. It simply took time to work itself out. Bonzo could have been president in 1982 and the economy would have recovered.

Now history repeats itself. Though this time we get the benefit of the war and the skyrocketing oil prices taking place simultaneously. So it only took only six years to ruin the economy instead of ten.

And the stimulus package is wothless. A $600 tax rebate in my hands is not going to fix the economy.  Take the money and invest it in needed public infrastructure that will stimulate private investment.

The puboic sector should spend it on projects that will stimulate signifcant private inestment. There I said it. The government should spend more money.

Update 1:45pm :  Jim Rowen notes the impact of a budget  on municipal budgets:  If Real Estate Values Fall Across the Board.....

Then there is the impact on the State budget.  As one of our commentors says, that may be even more significant. The decline in income tax collections and sales tax collections will be devestating.