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6/3/2010
Empty jobs rhetoric – truth is in the job numbers
Get used to it - Wisconsin Dems bragging about their “jobs bills” – all of your money thrown at this company or that company, this or that complicated, narrow tax credit. Rep. Penny Bernard Schaber’s (D-Appleton) “newsletter” is illustrative:
Getting people back to work was my highest priority. As Vice-Chair of the Assembly Committee on Job, [sic] the Economy, and Small Business, I helped oversee our job creation legislation. These efforts brought more than $4 million in tax incentives and grants to Fox Valley employers like Foremost Farms, NetPeak Energy Group, Aurizon Ultrasonics, and Pacon Corporation, saving or creating hundreds of jobs in the Fox Cities alone.
Here’s the big list (thanks, WisPolitics), cobbled together for Dem candidates running for reelection, of the huge number of “jobs” programs passed over the last two years.
Assembly Minority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald responded:
This memo confirms what we have been saying all session about the Democrats' jobs bills - too little, too late. With nearly $5 billion in new taxes and $2.2 billion in stimulus borrowed from our grandchildren, Assembly Democrats spent less than 3% of that money on private-sector job creation, but committed $5.78 billion to new government spending.
Fitzgerald goes on to whine about how few jobs bills were actually passed and that many of them were Republican ideas anyway. Geesh. Indeed. I don’t care who’s talking about it. The overriding point that needs to be made again and again is those increased taxes and Wisconsin’s horrific business climate. Just a couple of examples…
- A 4.3% loss of private business establishments since 2006, a loss greater than all neighboring states and the nation.
- A 2010 Business Tax Climate ranking of 42 of 50 states, dropping from 38th in 2009
Here’s the clincher – the jobs numbers. Contrary to Ms. Bernard Schaber’s claims, her district’s (City of Appleton, Outagamie County) job situation is nothing to write home about. The figures below compare numbers as of April of each year.
Number of jobs, down 2.5% since 2006 2010 29,728 2008 30,763 2006 30,496
Number unemployed, up 64.2% since 2006 2010 3,298 2008 1,762 2006 2,009
Unemployment rate, up 61.3% since 2006 2010 10.0% 2008 5.4% 2006 6.2%
This is getting people back to work?
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
Isn't there a way for us to just say "thanks, but no thanks" and have them hear our message?
Really - if they were to get the hey out of the way, and stop trying to manipulate the way business is done in this state, we could have as robust an economy as Texas and Florida have.
At the same time a major adjustment has to be made to the backs of Wisconsinites ... we need to remove the yellow stripe and insert a spine.
While the government is guilty of over-assuming their role in our lives, the citizens have to stop looking to 'mommy' (Madison) to stop kissing our boo-boo and trying to make it all better.
If you have a marketable skill, get off your butt and market it! You're better off in business for yourself than working for someone else. Much higher earning potential and you don't need a TON of up-front money to get started.
JUST DO IT - if I can, you can.

Jeff R. (Thu Jun 03 07:36:37 2010)
Drill deeper. The numbers reflect more than "too little too late", or mis-spending. They are a product of multiple plant closings, layoffs, an economic base that is challenged, lack of capital due to banks unwilling to risk, competing economic development interests refusing to collaborate with one another for the greater good, a political and business politic so broken that it is unable to imagine a shared vision for a successful Wisconsin business climate and the beat goes on. It is not productive to blame this mess on Penny Shaber. She is simply trying to help in a sea so tumultuous that it is nigh on impossible to navigate. If we could stop bickering and blaming long enough to understand that we are the enemy perhaps cool heads could prevail long enough to put a plan together that would increase the likelihood of moving Wisconsin out of the ratings cellar to a better more productive place. We need a plan that is supported by the people in every sector of Wisconsin that charts a new and inspiring vision for future success. As we speak, New North is trying to do just that, design a series of steps that might change the business climate enough to put us in the top ten instead of the cellar.

billie (Thu Jun 03 08:08:24 2010)
Jo, the jobs issue is not going to be fixed overnight. We skirt around it, but ignore the root cause. And I know you are tired of hearing this, but it affects every issue you espouse. It took years of campaign contributions to pass NAFTA and trash the banking regulations, years to trash our jobs and economy, and years of war and kissing up to countries like India and China by subsidizing companies to relocate jobs there, all to appease our campaign system and the defense industry (which is a major contributor).
Either fix it or quit complaining. If our politicians do not have to satisfy the special interests they will be freed to run the country like a business.

Jack Lohman (Thu Jun 03 08:21:50 2010)
We can pity poor politicians who must swim in overwhelming waters, and point the sharp finger of blame at the special interests, but the greater problem is politicians in Madison and Washington who have their heads screwed on absolutely backwards. Those whose personal political philosophy rests on the belief that ruinous regulations and specious spending are the solution to all problems will steer the ship of state in the wrong direction even when the political waters are smooth as glass. What we need is common-sense politicians who honor the founders' understanding of government and have a basic grasp of economic history and theory.

Ron Zahn (Thu Jun 03 09:10:24 2010)
It's the SPENDING.
And you're right: "narrowcast" tax incentives raise the burden for most while lowering the burden for some.
I don't want Thompson, Barrett, or Walker making those decisions.

dad29 (Thu Jun 03 09:11:13 2010)
Ron, you are absolutely correct about "ruinous regulations and specious spending." My problem is that politicians are paid heavy campaign contributions to do both, and I don't want them taking money from those who want in my pocket. And I don't care if they are D's or R's, I want them paid only by the taxpayers they serve.

Jack Lohman (Thu Jun 03 09:29:41 2010)
You do not live and die by taxes. Tax rankings as done here do not reflect quality of life. Tax rankings do not reflect the quality of jobs or the job growth. You can have Florida and Texas and their favorable rankings but I wouldn't want to raise a family in either of those states. By the way, what good has Florida's or Washington state's low rankings when both those states have unemployment rates higher than Wisconsin's? Also note that of the top 10 most are either very small or are resource based. The whole issue of job growth is very complicated and to focus on one or two issues isn't sufficient. I believe that the entirety of state and local government working together to promote the skills, quality of life, and relatively low labor costs in Wisconsin will go much further to get companies to locate here compared to promoting to everyone that we have such a crushing tax burden based on a study by a private foundation.

dave allen (Thu Jun 03 09:34:30 2010)
And Dad, "SPENDING" is exactly what I am suggesting occurs as a RESULT of campaign contributions. What is it about bribes do we not understand?

Jack Lohman (Thu Jun 03 10:26:37 2010)
There wouldn't be any rhetoric on jobs if people weren't so blasted happy to ascribe employment to the list of government responsibilities. Nor that insidiously versatile term, "quality of life."

Andrew Ellis (Thu Jun 03 11:44:10 2010)
Andrew, I'm glad you and I have "ours." No need to fight the corruption that killed "theirs."

Jack Lohman (Thu Jun 03 15:51:33 2010)
Not Yours To Give Col. David Crockett US Representative from Tennessee Originally published in "The Life of Colonel David Crockett," by Edward Sylvester Ellis.
[Emily inputs the entire story below. If you've never read it, it's an excellent read. Here's a web site that may be easier (wider, larger type) to read. Jo]
One day in the House of Representatives a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its support. The Speaker was just about to put the question when Crockett arose:
"Mr. Speaker--I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, if suffering there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has not the power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the government was in arrears to him.
"Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks."
He took his seat. Nobody replied. The bill was put upon its passage, and, instead of passing unanimously, as was generally supposed, and as, no doubt, it would, but for that speech, it received but few votes, and, of course, was lost.
Later, when asked by a friend why he had opposed the appropriation, Crockett gave this explanation:
"Several years ago I was one evening standing on the steps of the Capitol with some other members of Congress, when our attention was attracted by a great light over in Georgetown. It was evidently a large fire. We jumped into a hack and drove over as fast as we could. In spite of all that could be done, many houses were burned and many families made houseless, and, besides, some of them had lost all but the clothes they had on. The weather was very cold, and when I saw so many women and children suffering, I felt that something ought to be done for them. The next morning a bill was introduced appropriating $20,000 for their relief. We put aside all other business and rushed it through as soon as it could be done.
"The next summer, when it began to be time to think about election, I concluded I would take a scout around among the boys of my district. I had no opposition there, but, as the election was some time off, I did not know what might turn up. When riding one day in a part of my district in which I was more of a stranger than any other, I saw a man in a field plowing and coming toward the road. I gauged my gait so that we should meet as he came to the fence. As he came up, I spoke to the man. He replied politely, but, as I thought, rather coldly.
"I began: 'Well, friend, I am one of those unfortunate beings called candidates, and---‘
"Yes I know you; you are Colonel Crockett. I have seen you once before, and voted for you the last time you were elected. I suppose you are out electioneering now, but you had better not waste your time or mine, I shall not vote for you again."
"This was a sockdolager...I begged him to tell me what was the matter.
" ’Well, Colonel, it is hardly worth-while to waste time or words upon it. I do not see how it can be mended, but you gave a vote last winter which shows that either you have not capacity to understand the Constitution, or that you are wanting in the honesty and firmness to be guided by it. In either case you are not the man to represent me. But I beg your pardon for expressing it in that way. I did not intend to avail myself of the privilege of the constituent to speak plainly to a candidate for the purpose of insulting or wounding you. I intend by it only to say that your understanding of the Constitution is very different from mine; and I will say to you what, but for my rudeness, I should not have said, that I believe you to be honest. …But an understanding of the Constitution different from mine I cannot overlook, because the Constitution, to be worth anything, must be held sacred, and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man who wields power and misinterprets it is the more dangerous the more honest he is.'
" 'I admit the truth of all you say, but there must be some mistake about it, for I do not remember that I gave any vote last winter upon any constitutional question.’
“ ‘No, Colonel, there’s no mistake. Though I live in the backwoods and seldom go from home, I take the papers from Washington and read very carefully all the proceedings of Congress. My papers say that last winter you voted for a bill to appropriate $20,000 to some sufferers by a fire in Georgetown. Is that true?’
" ‘Well, my friend; I may as well own up. You have got me there. But certainly nobody will complain that a great and rich country like ours should give the insignificant sum of $20,000 to relieve its suffering women and children, particularly with a full and overflowing Treasury, and I am sure, if you had been there, you would have done just as I did.'
" ‘It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of; it is the principle. In the first place, the government ought to have in the Treasury no more than enough for its legitimate purposes. But that has nothing with the question. The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be entrusted to man, particularly under our system of collecting revenue by a tariff, which reaches every man in the country, no matter how poor he may be, and the poorer he is the more he pays in proportion to his means. What is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge where the weight centers, for there is not a man in the United States who can ever guess how much he pays to the government. So you see, that while you are contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are even worse off than he. If you had the right to give anything, the amount was simply a matter of discretion with you, and you had as much right to give $20,000,000 as $20,000. If you have the right to give to one, you have the right to give to all; and, as the Constitution neither defines charity nor stipulates the amount, you are at liberty to give to any and everything which you may believe, or profess to believe, is a charity, and to any amount you may think proper. You will very easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and corruption and favoritism, on the one hand, and for robbing the people on the other. 'No, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity. Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please, but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that purpose. If twice as many houses had been burned in this county as in Georgetown, neither you nor any other member of Congress would have thought of appropriating a dollar for our relief. There are about two hundred and forty members of Congress. If they had shown their sympathy for the sufferers by contributing each one week's pay, it would have made over $13,000. There are plenty of wealthy men in and around Washington who could have given $20,000 without depriving themselves of even a luxury of life.' "The congressmen chose to keep their own money, which, if reports be true, some of them spend not very creditably; and the people about Washington, no doubt, applauded you for relieving them from the necessity of giving by giving what was not yours to give. The people have delegated to Congress, by the Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution.'
" 'So you see, Colonel, you have violated the Constitution in what I consider a vital point. It is a precedent fraught with danger to the country, for when Congress once begins to stretch its power beyond the limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it, and no security for the people. I have no doubt you acted honestly, but that does not make it any better, except as far as you are personally concerned, and you see that I cannot vote for you.'
"I tell you I felt streaked. I saw if I should have opposition, and this man should go to talking, he would set others to talking, and in that district I was a gone fawn-skin. I could not answer him, and the fact is, I was so fully convinced that he was right, I did not want to. But I must satisfy him, and I said to him:
" ‘Well, my friend, you hit the nail upon the head when you said I had not sense enough to understand the Constitution. I intended to be guided by it, and thought I had studied it fully. I have heard many speeches in Congress about the powers of Congress, but what you have said here at your plow has got more hard, sound sense in it than all the fine speeches I ever heard. If I had ever taken the view of it that you have, I would have put my head into the fire before I would have given that vote; and if you will forgive me and vote for me again, if I ever vote for another unconstitutional law I wish I may be shot.'
"He laughingly replied; 'Yes, Colonel, you have sworn to that once before, but I will trust you again upon one condition. You say that you are convinced that your vote was wrong. Your acknowledgment of it will do more good than beating you for it. If, as you go around the district, you will tell people about this vote, and that you are satisfied it was wrong, I will not only vote for you, but will do what I can to keep down opposition, and, perhaps, I may exert some little influence in that way.'
" ‘If I don't’, said I, 'I wish I may be shot; and to convince you that I am in earnest in what I say I will come back this way in a week or ten days, and if you will get up a gathering of the people, I will make a speech to them. Get up a barbecue, and I will pay for it.'
" ‘No, Colonel, we are not rich people in this section, but we have plenty of provisions to contribute for a barbecue, and some to spare for those who have none. The push of crops will be over in a few days, and we can then afford a day for a barbecue. This is Thursday; I will see to getting it up on Saturday week. Come to my house on Friday, and we will go together, and I promise you a very respectable crowd to see and hear you.’
" 'Well, I will be here. But one thing more before I say good-bye. I must know your name.’
" 'My name is Bunce.'
" 'Not Horatio Bunce?'
" 'Yes.’
" 'Well, Mr. Bunce, I never saw you before, though you say you have seen me, but I know you very well. I am glad I have met you, and very proud that I may hope to have you for my friend.'
"It was one of the luckiest hits of my life that I met him. He mingled but little with the public, but was widely known for his remarkable intelligence and incorruptible integrity, and for a heart brimful and running over with kindness and benevolence, which showed themselves not only in words but in acts. He was the oracle of the whole country around him, and his fame had extended far beyond the circle of his immediate acquaintance. Though I had never met him, before, I had heard much of him, and but for this meeting it is very likely I should have had opposition, and had been beaten. One thing is very certain, no man could now stand up in that district under such a vote.
"At the appointed time I was at his house, having told our conversation to every crowd I had met, and to every man I stayed all night with, and I found that it gave the people an interest and a confidence in me stronger than I had ever seen manifested before.
"Though I was considerably fatigued when I reached his house, and, under ordinary circumstances, should have gone early to bed, I kept him up until midnight, talking about the principles and affairs of government, and got more real, true knowledge of them than I had got all my life before.
"I have known and seen much of him since, for I respect him - no, that is not the word - I reverence and love him more than any living man, and I go to see him two or three times every year; and I will tell you, sir, if every one who professes to be a Christian lived and acted and enjoyed it as he does, the religion of Christ would take the world by storm.
"But to return to my story. The next morning we went to the barbecue, and, to my surprise, found about a thousand men there. I met a good many whom I had not known before, and they and my friend introduced me around until I had got pretty well acquainted - at least, they all knew me.
"In due time notice was given that I would speak to them. They gathered up around a stand that had been erected. I opened my speech by saying:
" ‘Fellow-citizens - I present myself before you today feeling like a new man. My eyes have lately been opened to truths which ignorance or prejudice, or both, had heretofore hidden from my view. I feel that I can today offer you the ability to render you more valuable service than I have ever been able to render before. I am here today more for the purpose of acknowledging my error than to seek your votes. That I should make this acknowledgment is due to myself as well as to you. Whether you will vote for me is a matter for your consideration only.’"
"I went on to tell them about the fire and my vote for the appropriation and then told them why I was satisfied it was wrong. I closed by saying:
" ‘And now, fellow-citizens, it remains only for me to tell you that the most of the speech you have listened to with so much interest was simply a repetition of the arguments by which your neighbor, Mr. Bunce, convinced me of my error.
" ‘It is the best speech I ever made in my life, but he is entitled to the credit for it. And now I hope he is satisfied with his convert and that he will get up here and tell you so.'
"He came upon the stand and said:
" ‘Fellow-citizens - It affords me great pleasure to comply with the request of Colonel Crockett. I have always considered him a thoroughly honest man, and I am satisfied that he will faithfully perform all that he has promised you today.'
"He went down, and there went up from that crowd such a shout for Davy Crockett as his name never called forth before.'
"I am not much given to tears, but I was taken with a choking then and felt some big drops rolling down my cheeks. And I tell you now that the remembrance of those few words spoken by such a man, and the honest, hearty shout they produced, is worth more to me than all the honors I have received and all the reputation I have ever made, or ever shall make, as a member of Congress.'
"Now, sir," concluded Crockett, "you know why I made that speech yesterday.
"There is one thing now to which I will call your attention. You remember that I proposed to give a week's pay. There are in that House many very wealthy men - men who think nothing of spending a week's pay, or a dozen of them, for a dinner or a wine party when they have something to accomplish by it. Some of those same men made beautiful speeches upon the great debt of gratitude which the country owed the deceased--a debt which could not be paid by money--and the insignificance and worthlessness of money, particularly so insignificant a sum as $10,000, when weighed against the honor of the nation. Yet not one of them responded to my proposition. Money with them is nothing but trash when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one great thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice honor, integrity, and justice to obtain it."

emily matthews (Fri Jun 04 07:36:44 2010)
There is one thing now to which I will call your attention. You remember that I proposed to give a week's pay. There are in that House many very wealthy men - men who think nothing of spending a week's pay, or a dozen of them, for a dinner or a wine party when they have something to accomplish by it. Some of those same men made beautiful speeches upon the great debt of gratitude which the country owed the deceased--a debt which could not be paid by money--and the insignificance and worthlessness of money, particularly so insignificant a sum as $10,000, when weighed against the honor of the nation. Yet not one of them responded to my proposition.
So... nobody helped the widow.

(Fri Jun 04 16:43:02 2010)
Ya know, it occurs to me that this idea that legislators should be more careful with the tax revenues applies to tax breaks as well. If we give away tax breaks to the big money people it takes away from the rest of us just as giving "charity" to those in need.
I would prefer to give to those in need.

Dean Weichmann (Fri Jun 04 18:22:31 2010)
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• Kagen and Reagan in the same breath?
• Menasha: behind the 8-ball, but not biting the dust
• Any way you slice it, Wisconsin government wants (further) in on health care
• The World is Flat...what about health care?
• The PAC - too precious to fail. Day 3
• News follow-ups: Appleton West, Kagen at the White House
• Fox Cities PAC - too precious to fail - Day 2
• Fox Cities PAC - too precious to fail
• New Transit Tax coming your way
• Rep. Petri has his finger in the dike - I guess
• AASD Retirement Costs Burdensome
• Health care, health care, health care, health care
• Water rate increase was no slam dunk
• Education for all is just a bad dream
• New Year's resolutions from a parade snob
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| 2006 |
 December
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 November
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 October
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 September
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| 2000 |
 May
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