Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Wisconsin Club for Growth - Invitation

The Wisconsin Club for Growth gets special mention today. Normally I ignore the wing-nuts who roam the right side of the blogosphere but these guys made me smile.

Recently they decided to go after the so-called Wiley-Soglin-Epic-Cullen cabal in a post called Chancellors Behaving Badly.

This is almost as good as making Nixon's enemies list. Here is what they said about moi in the Chancellor Wiley post:

...Wiley also runs a draft of his column by the formerly relevant Paul Soglin, who put down his bong just long enough to respond with a meaningless story about how his father enjoyed the work of Bertrand Russell. Soglin then suggests some media outlets Wiley could send his column to in order to get better coverage. Not surprisingly, Soglin also works for the UW...

Then I get my own section, Old Hippies Never Die:

To aid him in his effort to destroy WMC, an organization whose 4,000 members include both large and small manufacturers, service companies and local chambers of commerce, Wiley put a washed up old hippie on the University payroll so he could write an anti-WMC blog in his spare time. Wiley and his new colleague, former Madison Mayor Paul Soglin, are creating a new organization to replace WMC. Soglin provided Willey with a draft plan for the Wisconsin Partnership Project in August. Like most Soglin screeds, the plan is difficult to follow, but it does sound really expensive...

Then Wisconsin Club for Growth challenges:

Hey, guys, how about engaging the business community in an honest dialogue about theappropriate role of state government in Wisconsin, and a re-prioritization of existing state resources rather than simply investigating news ways to soak the taxpayers? You can start with those turncoats on the WMC board with whom you’ve been conspiring.

Milwaukee?  Panel discussion? Your best three, our three? January when the legislative session opens? Live television? Joint meeting of WMC and the AFL-CIO?

 

Best of three?  Superior, Kenosha, Wausau?

Wisconsin's Financial Crisis

Sunday's Wisconsin State Journal published an insightful article  State budget blame game, plenty to go around

At least $1.6 billion of the state’s massive budget shortfall stems from a spend-now, pay-later attitude pervasive in both political parties in the state Capitol, analysts said.
Gov. Jim Doyle and other state leaders have blamed the two-year projected budget shortfall, which threatens everyone from taxpayers to students and the poor, on the country’s souring economy.

There will be the usual budget cuts.

The only way to solve this problem is to increase taxes, end the accounting techniques that mask the problem, and institute a quality management program that improves the effectiveness and efficiency of Wisconsin government.

Before any of this happens, legislators from both parties must demonstrate the will to fix the structural problems.

If Republicans hang back, hoping to pin a tax increase on the Democrats, nothing will happen. If Democrats refuse to insist upon tax increases that are both progressive but also give consideration to Wisconsin's business environment, nothing will happen.

The difference is most other states are better prepared for the economic crisis, having set aside in rainy day funds and reserves an average of 11.5 percent of yearly spending from their main accounts, the report found.

By comparison, as of June 30, Wisconsin had set aside just $130 million in reserves, or less than 1 percent of the $13.5 billion of state spending that year.

It was Republicans in the legislature who prevented the adoption of a budget with realistic estimates for the 'rainy day fund.' It is those same Republicans who insisted upon cutting taxes when a tax increase was needed.

We all know what happened with the so-called 'hospital tax' that was killed by the extreme right wing in the Assembly last session.

Now it is up to the Democrats to apply pressure to these Republicans and insist that they be part of a realistic solution.

The Partnership for Wisconsin

The Partnership for Wisconsin is a collaborate effort of business, labor, professional, and academic leaders committed to a sound Wisconsin economy. The Partnership is a non-profit organization whose members share a common value, namely the importance of education for the growth, security and happiness of the individual, the family, and society.    The participants share a common belief that a highly educated and trained workforce is a critical element in making Wisconsin a better place to live, work and play.

The Partnership for Wisconsin acknowledges the benefits to the individual and society of an education.

A safe and healthy community is one that provides economic security and ensures economic opportunity for all of its members. Studies show that education is indispensable if individuals and their families are to fully realize the benefits of their labor.

Male college graduates earn well over $60,000 a year from the age of 35 to 60. High school graduates in the same age range earn under $40,000. The differential for women is similar. Women college graduates will earn over $40,000 a year while female high school graduates earn about $23,000 a year.

Society also benefits form the earning power of education.  Depending upon race and gender, the additional taxes paid by a college graduate compared to a high school graduate is between $200,000 and $400,000 in the course of a lifetime.

The benefits are not as stark, but still significant, if a high school drop out  were to finish school, or if a high school graduate were to have just one or two full years of higher education.

For example the public benefit of a high school education is $209,000. That amount represents the combination of greater taxes and reduced cost to the public of a high school graduate as opposed to a high school drop out.

From society’s perspective, it always pays to invest in education.

Add to this, the demands of Wisconsin business and industry for what one major employer who described his highest priority as a “need for an intelligent workforce.” Employers need workers who can contribute productively and intellectually.

The Partnership for Wisconsin recognizes that to provide for a sound education system there must be a fair and equitable system of taxation. In encouraging public support for education, the Partnership is committed to a Wisconsin taxation plan that not only adequately funds education, job training, and workforce development at all levels, but fairly distributes the cost among all of the parties who benefit.

The Partnership for Wisconsin recognizes that adequate investment in human capital and infrastructure are critical to stimulating private investment. For that reason, we are committed to encouraging a dialogue between the public and private sectors to set an agenda that acknowledges the many direct and indirect benefits that come from such strategies.

As its first commitment, the Partnership will focus on:

• Ensuring adequate financing of public education in all districts throughout the state of Wisconsin.
• UW System education. Financing adequate so that:
  • no in-state student has to pay more than % of their tuition
  • out of state tuition is not more than 100% of the cost of educating the student
  • Faculty salaries at the Madison campus are commensurate with other Big ten Schools
  • UW system Schools are (needs elaboration from academicians)…..
• A workforce development program through the VATC System  (more detail needed)….
• A tax structure that will most likely require an increase of existing taxes, the expansion of the tax base, and or the adoption of new taxes in order to adequately finance….(identification of educational and workforce development needs) 

The Partnership feels that our state must not only have an educated workforce but that we have an enlightened citizenry that understands the externalities and the consequences, or lack of consequences, from not giving full consideration to appropriate investment in human capacity as well as the learning environment.

For that reason the Partnership for Wisconsin is committed to supporting programs that are designed to provide economic opportunity to all Wisconsinites. A healthy state economy is predicated on strategy that encompasses all areas of the state, urban, rural, and suburban.

The Partnership, from time to time, may support the work of others or engage in its own research and policy development in areas related to education, workforce development, or which support the individual’s ability to further their education and training.  This may also include the examination of collaborations with employers, both for profit and non-profit, that are in need of an ever expanding educated workforce.

The Partnership recognizes that many factors enter into the decisions of investors to locate businesses in a community. Reputable studies show that public safety, efficient transportation systems – both public and private, a sound environment, cultural and recreational opportunities, along with fair taxation and a friendly attitude towards economic development are all critical elements that affect decision making.  For that reason the Partnership for Wisconsin, will convene workshops and forums throughout the state to discuss how to improve the economic climate.

Particular attention will be paid to how the international economic environment impacts Wisconsin business and the need to create sustainable industries that can compete in an economy that will afford greater opportunity to businesses that are ‘green.’

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., noted for his leadership in the civil rights movement could have found an alternative career as a leader in the quality movement when he said “All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”  The Partnership for Wisconsin joins in Dr King’s sentiment and is committed to urging both business and labor to collaborate to the greatest degree possible in providing fair and decent wages and benefits, working conditions and hours, and at the same time appreciating the contribution to improvement that every employee can make.

While the Partnership will not become involved in disputes between employers and organized labor, it will urge that resolution of differences be made with an eye to the long term consequences as well as the short terms needs of both parties.

Wisconsin has a long tradition of utilizing the research capabilities of its universities for the advancement in health, science, nutrition, safety, technology, culture, societal organization, and a greater understanding of the human condition. For that reason the Partnership for Wisconsin is committed to supporting research and academic freedom in all of our institutions of higher learning.

 

author's note: This is a draft written six months ago and now available on another web site. Over the past year I met with many Wisconsin business leaders. They were unhappy with Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC). They felt that WMC should be ignored and that a new organization established in our state. Based on what they were saying and my discussions with labor and academic leaders, I drafted a plan for the Partnership for Wisconsin.

 

I will post next week its origin  and why it relates to our state's economy.

Herb Score and Preacher Roe - Line Drives and Spit Balls.

Tuesday, two great idols of my youth passed away. Herb Score, the Cleveland Indian pitcher who received that horrid line drive off the bat of Gil McDougald died at the age of 75. It was unusual for a White Sox fan of eleven to admire an opposing pitcher who could break into the majors and routinely strike out 8 or 9 a game but Score was something special.

He never recovered from that line drive to pitch in the majors other than as a journeyman, but he succeeded as a great sportsman. After his active career ended he spent close to thirty five years in the Indians broadcast booth, never expressing anger or remorse over the baseball injury or an automobile accident that almost cost him life.

Score broke in with Cleveland in 1955, when major league teams played 152 games and promptly won 16 games while striking out a major league leading 245 in only 227 innings.  The following year he was 20-9 ,while he struck out 263.

I searched for that devastating picture of Score's battered swollen face but could not find it. For some reason, as horrid and uncomfortable as it made me feel, it was a reminder of our love of the game.

Preacher Roe was special, as were all of the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950's. After all, to love the Dodgers was to hate the Yankees. Roe spent seven seasons with the Dodgers appearing in three World Series, all against the Yankees.   His best year was 1951, when he went 22-3.

You had to be a fan of a guy named Elwin by his mother, but called 'Preacher.' Actually he was a schoolteacher.

More importantly, he manged to throw the banned spitball. Through the years, there is one part of cheating in baseball I truly admire.  It is the spitball. Sorry, kids.

There is something about pitchers, craftily using nail files, bottle caps, or hair gel, as Roe was alleged to have done, that I respect, as they attempt to use cunning and deceit to defeat the thug with the club.  

No Bailout for Automakers Unless...

I will not support a bailout for the U.S. automakers, General Motors, Ford, and what is left of Chrysler,  unless provision is made to stop them from lobbying and influencing elections and public policy.

It is that simple. That is the price for public money. Without proper restraints, the automakers will continue with membership in organizations like the United States Chamber of Commerce, the Institute for Tort Reform, and even Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC). Like bankrupt (fiscally and morally) AIG, millions of dollars will be funneled into these organizations.

AIG sent $23 million to the US Chamber.

These dollars will be used to lobby Congress, purchase television ads supporting the reelection of Republicans like Norm Coleman (R-MN), and issue ads designed to elect their friends to Congress.

More often than not these ads will elect anti-choice, anti-public education, anti-gay officials at the national and state level.

It is unconscionable that if the public, you and me, take a stake in owning the automakers, that our companies, our investment, be used to advance a right wing political agenda.

Bailout: Bernanke Blunder and Betrayal

It is now evident that those of us who supported the bailout of greedy financial services companies were betrayed -along with the millions of Americans who opposed the bailout. Maybe the opponents were correct - these creeps cannot be trusted.

As reported by Bloomberg News, Fed Defies Transparency Aim in Refusal to Disclose:

(originally)...Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return.

As AIG receives its second infusion of public money, bringing the public commitment to $150 billion, fed chief Bernanke and his cohorts at Treasury refuse to divulge the amounts provided to other key financial services companies that were operated by thieves masquerading as prominent wall street financiers for so many years.

Bloomberg is upping the ante with its lawsuit deigned to throw sunlight on the debacle, Bloomberg suing Fed to disclose bailout details

"The Fed has lent $1.5 trillion to banks, including Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., through programs such as its discount window, the Primary Dealer Credit Facility and the Term Securities Lending Facility. Collateral is an asset pledged to a lender in the event that a loan payment isn't made.

"The Fed made the loans under 11 programs in response to the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. The total doesn't include an additional $700 billion approved by Congress in a bailout package.

 

Palin Lashes Out At Americans

Back in Alaska, Governor Sarah Palin is now providing extensive interviews reflecting on her brief tenure as the Republican candidate for Vice President of these United States.

She expressed dismay at the sexist treatment she received from the Republicans who handled her campaign, noting that she did not experience that kind of behavior in Alaska, and suggested that, "The lower 48 have something to learn from us."

That kind of generalization is exactly why Palin is unqualified to be Vice President and why Republicans should think twice before anointing her as some sort of party leader.

Palin took experiences based on a relationship with the kind of toadies that Karl Rove trains to run national Republican campaigns and attributed that behavior to the rest of us.

That is not to say Wisconsin, New York, or Colorado are free of sexism and gender bias.

However to claim that the rest of us are some sort of Neanderthals based on the comments and behavior of the worst of her own political party shows a bias in itself.

If Palin wants to really do something about bias, prejudice, and discrimination in our society, she can start by fixing the Karl Rove clones in her own party before casting aspersions upon the rest of us.

Wisconsin's Three Billion Dollar Hole

It is fun winning elections. It is no fun running a government in miserable economic times. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tells us: State Democrats face $3 billion budget hole

Capitol Democrats, you just got what you wished for. Are you still sure it's what you want?

For at least two years, you'll have to run state government - and it's in a deep financial hole.

...crafting the next two-year budget. That won't be easy because Doyle has said that budget faces a deficit of more than $3 billion.

The problem goes back a decade to flush times when the Republicans spent without limit, cut taxes, and failed to save for a rainy day. Then came the economy collapsing when the dot com bubble burst and the subsequent stock market collapse following 9/11.

The Democratic majority is inheriting a structural problem that goes back to when the Republicans controlled the Governor's office and at least one if not both houses of the legislature. 

In recent years the best Governor Doyle and the recent Democratic Senate majority could do was jerry-rig temporary solutions and hope the economy would recover so that sales taxs and income tax revenues would increase. Assembly Republicans made sure there were no permanent solutions. Matters only got worse.

There are some tough choices facing the legislature and the Governor next session. Fail to raise taxes, and the state's infrastructure collapses and the budget deficit worsens to the point where it can create permanent damage to Wisconsin's economy.

Raise taxes imprudently, and Republicans will exploit the crisis by appealing to beleaguered home owners on fixed incomes. The irony of course, is that the Republicans and WMC enacted numerous tax cuts in the recent years that benefited the wealthy and shifted the responsibility of paying for government onto middle class families with incomes well under $100,000.

Revenue collections must be increased.

The worst way to do it is is to follow the Republican-WMC model by shifting costs to the property tax. Most desirable is increasing the income tax rates and make it more progressive. That combined with modifications to the sales tax open up creative solutions.

Democrats must come to understand that expansion of the sales tax may not be all that regressive. Especially when we consider that a significant portion of it is paid by out of state residents. The legislature must look at increasing the rate, especially to help pay for education, and expanding what it covers while leaving the exemptions for health, shelter, and food, along with modifications to the income tax.

Keep in mind that while WMC bellows about Wisconsin being one of the highest taxed states, that claim is misleading. Government gets revenue from two sources - taxes and fees. Wisconsin is a very low fee state. When fees and taxes are combined, total government revenues collected by Wisconsin put us in the middle of the 50 states.  A reasonable increase in sales and income tax revenues will not change our competitive position.

As for the continual loss of manufacturing jobs, that is a product of Republican-Gingrich-Norquist based trade policies that contend that there should be free international markets even though Asian competitors pay slave wages and their industries are heavily subsidized by their governments.

When Washington fixes the trade problems, Wisconsin will do just fine as long as we have an educated, well-trained work force.

Dear Rachael, Alexandra, and Natasha:

Dear Daughters:

In 1966 roommate Jesse Samburg and I were discussing the tragedy of American foreign policy.  The War was devastating Vietnam, our nation, and our generation. Casualties were mounting and Lyndon Johnson was escalating the war. We spoke about LBJ and his generation's responsibility for the loss of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese and American lives. 

I said to Jess, "After the Vietnam war is over, another cruelty is that it will divide our generation, perhaps forever."

That war divided us and prevented my generation from participating in profound change. We worked hard, we did bring change, good change that lead to the election of the first black president, but we never fundamentally changed the premise upon which our government functions.

Your generation experienced something we never had. You have a President you can call your own who represents unimaginable possibilities for your nation and the world. JFK brought hope but he, and all of the Presidents who followed him up to George W. Bush,  were a continuation of the political ideology of the first half of the twentieth century.

Bill Clinton was a Baby Boomer and represented my generation.

He did and he did not.

His birthday, his idealism in the 1960's, smoking dope, and  embracing the rhetoric of social and economic justice says he was part of my generation.

His most dominant policies, particularly, his economic policies that destroyed millions of American skilled jobs, and in turn, reduced the economic purchasing power of those families, says he was not a part of my generation.

I had lunch with John Odom today. We planned it two weeks ago to get some work done and to celebrate the anticipated victory of Barack Obama. John said, "Obama's greatest strength to bring real change to this country is his use of the bully pulpit."

I replied, "As President, Obama can do more by inspiring a generation than all of his programs the Congress may pass. If these millions of young people can vote, they can take the next step and go to a city council meeting, attend their child's parent-teacher conference, and vote in local elections next spring."

John continued, "Obama should inspire  them to stay in school, go to college or get technical training, get married, have a family..."

While we succeeded on the local and even state level, we failed to build working majorities that brought fundamental change and return this country to the principles upon which it was founded.

Rugged individualism is part of the American story, but it is the exception, not the rule. This country was built when we embraced the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, which in turn were based on the Magna Carta and the concept of the social compact.

The United States was built on the assumption that there are certain basic services that government should provide and national defense is only one of many.

That social compact goes back to the Greeks and the Romans. It is reflected in our public works programs such as aquifers, aqueducts, bridges and roads. It is demonstrated in public libraries, schools, and lighted sidewalks.

The expansion of the frontier was an American phenomena, financed by the granting of public lands for free, mail and communication systems, a military that was not always used wisely, and a sharing of the water and waterways.

Even the rugged individualists benefited from neighbors gathering for a barn raising or harvest or to tend to the herd in times of illness.

No western movie is complete without the storyline of the community banding together to hire a school teacher and build a one room school.

That is not socialism; that is America.

Use this election to rediscover the American story and separate the myths and legends from reality. Use this election to unify your generation.

Borrow from my generation and make your own reality.

Embrace a foreign policy that changes the world through understanding and generosity, not just force. Embrace a domestic policy that recognizes that public investment is for struggling townspeople and the sons and daughters of the ghetto; it is not just for failed selfishly-run businesses.

Vietnam defined my generation. Let this election define yours.

November Elections 2008: The Morning After

I woke up this morning glad to have done the radio show on WTDY last night with Sly and Bill McCoshen, a Wisconsin Republican who will, hopefully, have a lot to say about the future of his party, but disappointed that I did not attend the parties where so many of my friends celebrated last night.

I was surprised at my own emotional response to the election of Barack Obama. I was more filled with wonderment about what the next four years will bring rather than joy over his election.  Perhaps it was the projections that he was going to win that took the edge off the victory.

In any case, for the first time in my lifetime, and that includes the election of JFK in 1960, or my years as mayor when Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were elected, I am truly excited about the future and the unknown possibilities for our nation and the world. The economy and the wars will prevent any immediate social change, but it is coming.

The engagement of so many young people of so many different colors in this election holds more hope for the future. Voting is the first level of civic engagement. With persistence and hard work, hopefully they will stay engaged by running for office themselves, getting involved in their children's' education, and voting in subsequent local and state elections.

• I missed the gathering of the supporters of the Madison school referendum which won by a large margin, putting to rest the myth that there is some kind of secret plot by the supporters of public education to place these measures on the ballot when turnout is low.
• The Democrats took control of the Wisconsin Assembly. Marc Pocan gets a big thank you for adopting a "50 state" strategy and finding great Democratic candidates in as many Assembly districts as possible.
• Perhaps the biggest local disappointment was the apparent defeat of outstanding Trish O'Neil in the 47th District. She was the victim of one of the nastiest television advertisements this election season.
• While Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) was defanged, it is evident that extreme right-wing money and energy was shifted to outside groups like  Coalition for America's Families, the Club for Growth and All Children Matter which continues to produce WMC-style attack ads.
• In Oshkosh, Gordon Hintz was returned for a second term to the Assembly's 54th district with 66% of the vote.  Keep an eye on him. Here is a legislator who is effective, principled, and a nice guy.
• The biggest Midwest disappointment was Al Franken's apparent loss to incumbent Republican Norm Coleman in the Minnesota US Senate race. Franken would have made a great senator and Coleman is an opportunistic jerk. Coleman has some serious ethical problems in casting future votes regarding the financial bailout which he supported, since AIG put $25 million into the US Chamber of Commerce over a five year period and then the right wing business group spent a hefty sum in his support.
• Best news from the left coast: As of this posting, it appears that same sex marriage survives in Californian. Barely.  Update 2:42 UGH
• Those who checked in here last night can see from my solitary post that it is too difficult to do live radio and  blog simultaneously.
• Congratulations to the high school students who got involved in the school referendum and and all of the electoral races even though they will not vote for a few more years.
• I suppose my nice introduction of Bill McCoshen, above, will get back to the social conservatives and doom him as an influential leader in fixing the Republican Party. With moderate business leaders estranged from their party, and Democrats in control of both houses of the legislature and the Governor's office, they have no place to go. Now is the time for the Democrats to reach out and form a coalition of labor, business, and education leaders to fix and fund education from kindergarten through college in Wisconsin.

Guilty pleasure I will pass on today - No right wing Milwaukee talk radio; I have too much work to do and it will be more fun spending the spare time chatting with friends.