Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Our Public Market and Economic Opportunity: Capitalism in Madison

This weekend Ann Althouse mocked -she is good at that- the Madison Public Market:

Either they got more and more interested or they became conscious of the need to look interested. I would expect people, here in Madison, Wisconsin, to be aware of the importance of not looking bored or uncaring when someone comes at you with talk of "inclusiveness" and the "com[ing] together" of "cultures and ethnicities.

There is good reason why the analysis of the Public Market includes a focus on diversity, inclusiveness, and equity.

Here are some of the inputs in the analysis:

• As is usually the case following difficult economic periods, the recovery after the Great Recession was pretty good for middle and upper income households including most professionals. It was bad, and is still challenging, for low income families and individuals.
• The kind of entry-level jobs that used to provide parents opportunities to raise middle class bound children are quickly disappearing:
  
  • Full-time retail positions with advancement and career opportunities are replaced with part-time jobs with no benefits.
  • Entry-level positions in state government and at the University of Wisconsin are disappearing.
•  Wisconsin is dead last in entrepreneurship among the fifty states.                        
•  Madison is the major exception in the Badger State in creating new small businesses.
•  Entrepreneurship as an essential element of our economy is new to Madison because of our historic reliance on the University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin State government as a job creator.
•  For low-income people of all colors and races, entrepreneurship is one of the few opportunities for accumulating wealth without a college degree.
• The food industry is a robust sector for new businesses; over one-third of all new businesses in the US are founded by immigrants.

There are dozens pf public markets in the United States and they are as varied as their cities. The French Market in Chicago is expensive. It serves mostly highly processed foods to tourists and business people out for lunch.

Pike's Place Market in Seattle still provides a variety of fresh seafood to the locals, but it is expensive and losing its charm as it is now a major tourist destination. One only hopes it does not go the way of San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf.

The Reading Market in Philadelphia is in a class of its own. Its variety of foods, fresh and processed, and its history are unique, as is its relationship to the rail terminal.  When Madison was to have a rail connection to Milwaukee in the pre-Walker era, locating Madison's Public Market in direct proximity to the Madison terminal made sense.

In Minneapolis and York, Pennsylvania, are three different markets for Madison to emulate. The Mercado is Mexican and the Global Market is what its name implies. In York, the market vendors are almost all white, reflecting the population of the community. All three markets, particularity the Mercado and York, are in unassuming buildings, their focus is serving real people, not elites and cosmopolitans.

If Althouse can look beyond her own exclusive world, one reeking in privilege, perhaps she will escape the shackles of her rigid assumption that everything in Madison is crafted by liberals, reeking in socialism. At times these plans are crafted by liberals reeking in capitalism.

       

Thoughts about Food on Thanksgiving

As families come together to enjoy Thanksgiving this week, we pause to consider the joy of our dinners with family and friends.  Unfortunately too many families in Madison and across the country, are struggling, not able to put food on the table every morning, every afternoon and every night.  A staggering 14%, or 44 million Americans are labeled as “food insecure.”  Roughly half of all our children in the Madison Metropolitan School District are eligible for free or reduced lunch.

For many kids, on the weekends and during vacations, no school, no lunch.

A critical way to address hunger and health issues related to food consumption is through important investments focused on improving our local and regional food systems.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture continues to support these systems through over 20 different programs.  In Wisconsin alone, 31 projects related to the local food system are funded through these USDA programs.  However, these USDA programs cannot continue without comprehensive food and farm legislation.  Constant deadlock within the U.S. Congress continues to hinder movement towards an expedited five-year bill. 

The Farm Bill is critical if we are to combat hunger and food insecurity. A strong food and farm bill is essential to developing strong local and regional food systems that deliver fresher, healthier food to our tables.  It also strengthens our local economies in terms of economic sustainability and job creation.  The Farm Bill also reauthorizes the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP.  Over 45 million Americans depend on this assistance to maintain adequate diets.  Congress should keep the Nutritional title within the Farm Bill and not make significant cuts to the program that would only burden those most in need.

Through the work of the Unites States Conference of Mayors Food Policy Taskforce, I will be fighting to strengthen our local and regional food systems so that we may all enjoy an adequate, healthy meal, not just on Thanksgiving, but every day.  I urge everyone, producer, distributor, grocer, consumer,  and concerned citizen to contact members of the Wisconsin Congressional delegation to push for a comprehensive, multiyear Food and Farm Bill.