Economics


MINNESOTA WON AND WISCONSIN LOST

A letter to the editor: Minnesota’s Governor Dayton did just the opposite of Wisconsin’s Governor Walker. Dayton raised taxes on the super wealthy and corporations who had already received the huge Bush tax cuts, and the results speak for themselves: Minnesota ended 2014 with a $1.23 Billion Surplus that is expected to keep rising Wisconsin faces a $2.2 Billion Deficit for 2015 In the past 25 years the nation’s economy has grown by 83 percent, and workers today produce twice as many goods and services per hour on the job as they did in 1989. But after ...

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NOT A DEMOCRAT . . . . A HUMBLE OPINION

Democrat Donkey
As the dust settles on the November elections and the Democrats assess the damage, one thing seems increasingly clear. . . it is no longer clear at all just who or what is a Democrat. Given the apparent identity crisis, a process of elimination may be in order. . . If you are not willing to openly fight the historic wealth inequality that has replaced democracy in America, you are not a Democrat. If you are not publicly advocating the breakup of “too big to fail” Wall Street banks, you are not a Democrat. If you do not rigorously support criminal prosecution ...

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Quotations From Republican Senator Dale Schultz

Image of Dale Schultz
By the Middle Wisconsin Editorial Board   “We are now literally dismantling the state government, and people need to think long and hard about what they want for a future in our state,” “The K-12 system in the last few years has laid off 3,000 personnel, and it looks to me like that’s going to accelerate. Out my way, I would not be shocked if a huge percentage of school districts wind up going to referendum to have the privilege of raising their own property tax because the state has walked away from its principal responsibility of providing for a ...

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Wisconsin Becoming a Low-Wage Economy

Sign saying Save the Minimum Wage
By Jeanne Larson UW-Milwaukee Professor Marc Levine's October 2014 study for the Center for Economic Development, "Is Wisconsin Becoming a Low-Wage Economy? Employment Growth in Low, Middle, and High Wage Occupations: 2000-2013," uses Bureau of Labor Statistics data to illustrate a troubling long-term trend in Wisconsin: the number of low-wage jobs is growing much faster than middle- or high-wage occupations. Levine divided Wisconsin's 750 occupations into three tiers based on median wages, the midpoint where half the workers in the job are paid more, half are paid ...

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Vote “No” On the Constitutional Amendment to Isolate Transportation Funds – It Is a Bad Idea!

Constitution
Vote “No” On the Constitutional Amendment to Isolate Transportation Funds It is a Bad Idea! It is poor public policy to use constitutional amendments to isolate tax revenues for special interests’ benefit. Changing the state's constitution is no small thing.   States, municipalities, school districts, etc., create budgets to cover our local and state community needs. Our needs change all the time. Sometimes, disasters strike - homes and businesses are damaged and need immediate repair, people are injured and need extensive medical services, water mains break and ...

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“Ask the Candidate” – Issue Specific Questions

Debate
The Middle Wisconsin Editorial Board is excited to share with its readers a compilation of issue specific candidate questions.  We are hopeful that these questions can be utilized as a guide during a dialogue between citizens and candidates on some of the issues which face communities throughout the state of Wisconsin.  We encourage anyone using these questions to relay back to us some of the answers given by candidates so we may publish them on our website. The importance of an active citizenry is more important today than at any other period in our history.  A ...

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Let’s Pay the Bills First – Senator Kathleen Vinehout

Budget
The following article is a reprint of a recent news release by Senator Kathleen Vinehout to the people of Wisconsin. Middle Wisconsin feels strongly that the citizens need to be aware of the harm being done to our public schools and our children by the transfer of tax dollars to private institutions.   Let's Pay the Bills First by Senator Kathleen Vinehout “I don’t want another cent from the state until you guys pay the bills,” the business-owner from Durand told me. “I am tired of hearing about tax cuts and deficits.” “I want all the bills ...

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Unions: The Real Homeland Security

Job Security with key
Americans are obsessed with national security. Over half of the national budget is spent on defense. The Department of Homeland Security has brought us the biggest bureaucracy in the history of human kind. But for most of us real security is a job with a future, a family supporting wage, affordable healthcare, affordable housing, and a secure retirement. Family supporting jobs are on the decline. Average workers are being paid less when adjusted for inflation. Homelessness is on the rise. Workers in their 20's are especially insecure with high costs of schooling, ...

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Political Candidates and Middle Wisconsin Members Supporting the Fast Food Workers Strike

Middle Wisconsin and Candidates
From left to right: Paul DeMain - State Senate Candidate 29th District, Joyce Luedke - MW Member, Randy Radtke - President of Marathon County Central Labor Council AFL-CIO, Nancy Stencil - State Candidate 86th Assembly, Dave Svetlik - MW Member, Dorothy Miller - Chairwoman Marathon County Democratic Party, Rita Pachal - MW Member and Head of Wausau area Move to Amend, Kelly Westlund - US Assembly candidate Wisconsin 7th Congressional District.

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A Wealthy Capitalist on Why Money Doesn’t Trickle Down

100 Dollar Bills
Nick Hanauer, venture capitalist and self-described "plutocrat," says a healthy economy and an effective democracy depend on a thriving middle class of workers. The fundamental law of capitalism is: When workers have more money, businesses have more customers. Which makes middle-class consumers—not rich businesspeople—the true job creators. A thriving middle class isn’t a consequence of growth—which is what the trickle-down advocates would tell you. A thriving middle class is the source of growth and prosperity in capitalist economies. Our economy has ...

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