November 12, 2010
Hey Scott! How ya doin?
Governor-elect Scott Walker, with his Bradley Foundation brain Mike Grebe by his side, has not exactly dazzled us coming out of the gate. His goal of "Wisconsin Open for Business," 250,000 new, permanent, good-paying jobs (with benefits?) reminds me of the horse "Beetle Bomb," created by Spike Jones. First, he has found himself wondering and muttering about the $810 million he insists he will "return to sender" unless the mean old sender permits him to take the high-speed train money and put it into highways to keep the road builders happy while Walker sneaks his hand into their pockets for campaign cash!
Why would Obama or Congress permit that when lots of states are eager to take our near-billion for themselves? High speed rail is the future.
For openers, Grebe thinks Obama will flinch. One cannot discount that possibility. David "Let's Make a Deal" Axelrod might give in to pressure from Walker. Hells bells, he is ready to throw in the towel on the Bush tax cuts for zillionaires, a Korean NAFTA, and social security cuts, so why not bail out Walker? Yikes! Keep your eyes open wide.
Krugman on target again: Our guru writes that the "supposedly bipartisan panel" headed by DLC-supported Erskine Bowles joins with the nasty and surprisingly bitter Alan Simpson, appointed by Axelrod-Obama to lead us out of the deficit thicket, is a bad joke.
Simpson's letter to Older Women's League in which he described Social Security as being "like a milk cow with 310 million tits" is outrageous.
Instead of focusing on the Bush tax cuts and Simpson's nasty jokes during the lame suck session, we are treated to a sleep-inducing lecture from Bowles on taxes. Save it, Erskine! We ain't buying! Pelosi quickly and correctly labled the Bowles-Simpson-Axelrod idea "unacceptable."
We are now 10 days into Walker's job-creation period. Report? No new jobs yet; Kohler to reduce by 300 or so; the Spanish high speed train car builder is headed to Illinois; and Walker's favorite company Harley has rejected strings on $25 million in state tax credits. This rejection comes after the union gave big concessions including a seven-year wage freeze and the election of WMC's gubernatorial nominee, Walker.
By now, job creator "Open for Business" Walker should have created 1,770 new permanent family-supporting jobs but, alas, he has lost more than he has created. C'mon, Scott. Time's a wastin!
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Define, please, a "family supporting job"...
I'm sure it isn't one that pays minimum wage nor is it an entry level position. These days it probably takes at least $50,000 - 65,000 to raise a family of 2 adults and 2 kids.
These better paying jobs aren't in the picture. They simply don't exist.
Compound this by older Americans finding themselves out of work, 2-4 years of debt, foreclosures, etc, and we are mired in a mess.
Walker isn't going to solve our unemployment problems nor is he going to put a dent into our accumulated debt. He is turning out to be penny wise and pound foolish.
Do we really have to wait 4 years to oust him? And when we do, how many years will it take to fix his mess?
-Franz Fripplfrappl | Out | November 12, 2010
Mr.Garvey- Your buddy Jim Doyle and his friends used eight years to get us in the economic mess we are in and Scott Walker is to correct it in three weeks. Its nice to blog drivel isn't it?
-George | Pella Wis | November 12, 2010
My governor is smarter than your governor. My governor knows mass transportation is the future.
-Richard Kanak | Cherry Valley, Illinois | November 12, 2010
I don't think Doyle is a friend of Ed's.He promised the Fighting Bob progressives that the first thing he would do as our Gov.was to work to get big money out of our elections.After the election he opted for the big money boys.You know tax breaks for the rich so they could create jobs.
Like Tommy Thompson Who for 16 years promised to lower property taxes.The 16 years he was in office my property taxes went from $2,500.00 to $7,500.00.Again help the rich so they can create new jobs.He made sure that Scott McCallum would stay as Lt. Gov.because Scott would not interfere with his plans for helping the big boys.
Doyle on the the other hand didn't get who he wanted for Lt.Gov. Instead he got Barbara Lawton Eds running mate in the 1998 Governors race.The Garvey/Lawton team would not accept any donation over $100.00. She was also on the Heffernan comission working for election financial reform.Without her on the ticket he would not have won in 2002.He then ignored her for 8 years and would not support her for Governor.The money boys were telling him what to do.
This past election was all about money and the money won.
The money is gone and so are the jobs.
-Joe Gruber | Campbellsport,WI | November 12, 2010
Hey, I'm all for rail this line was more a political act to keep the Madison/Milwaukee Democratic Party nexus happy. There is a lot of the "Gee Whiz" factor here.
I think it shows how truly stupid our political class is. Why didn't anyone propose a route where "high speed" actually made sense. Something like Twin Cities to Green Bay, through the Fox Cities, to Milwaukee and then Chicago. THAT is the kind of interstate run where the feds are more legitimatly involved and where high speed makes real sense.
The run to Madison is a nothing but a connector route at best. What does it really connect to? NADA. That route isn't any longer than some of the Metra routes out of Chicago.
Get over it. While Walker and the other anti-train nuts are wrong in general the other side on this one is just as brain dead. IF you really think we need a "Lobbyists Express" Hiawatha type line to serve the polticos in Madison then so be it. Like I say, I am pro-train. But please, would everyone, anti-Walker folks included, get a grip here?
-Flanders McGoogle | Rio Creek,WI. | November 12, 2010
Bringing right-wing extremists from the Bradley Foundation into Wisconsin government guarantees more riches for the rich and more economic misery for everyone else. Peg Bradley was a fair and decent person. Her foundation has had over 20 years to help Wisconsin and what has it done? Nothing. Nothing but spew the hate and lies of the elite.
Wisconsin today is much like Georgia in the 1850's. A few wealthy landowners control millions of "slaves." Remember "The Bell Curve," the book that claimed blacks were inferior? That was the Bradley Foundation at work. Elitists, racists and hating democracy, these folks are now running Wisconsin. Just wait until walker starts appointing his buddies to our courts. Then we will see his true colors - even though everybody already knows what this college dropout is all about.
-George | Sun Prairie, WI | November 13, 2010
To George from Pella, WI. Methinks you're wrong in blaming Doyle for the debt problems. First the disclaimer. I'm no fan of Doyle (voted for Eddie Thompson in 2002 and Nelson Eismann in 2006) the governor but voted for Doyle as AG because he did a pretty good job.
Look back a few decades. When Governor Dreyfus left office in 1982 he dumped a $500 million debt on Tony Earl. Earl won the governorship in 1982 promising to erase the debt he inherited. Tony put a .5 cent surcharge on the state sales tax which would go off when the debt was retired. Tony kept his word and when he left office after being defeated by Tommy he left the state with a rainy day fund of about $36.
When Tommy T fled to Washington he dumped a $1.5 billion debt on Doyle. Remember, it was Tommy who raided the State Retirement Fund after Doyle told Tommy he couldn't legally raid the pension fund. As I recall the money had to be repaid with interest. That was a brilliant move wasn't it?
Lighten up on Doyle about the debt. He had to sell the tobacco settlement at bargain basement prices to help pay off Tommy's debts.
I suspect that one day we will look back on the Doyle days as being much better than what those those two backwoods fundamentalist rural rustics are about to do to Wisconsin.
-Kim Tschudy | New Glarus, WI | November 14, 2010
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