One Wisconsin Now

We have seen the Bush energy policy at work now for nearly eight years, it seems to be a plan based on not leaving any big oil and gas company behind. The policy appears to be the following simple formula: give a free pass to these massive special interests in any way possible, give them record amounts of handouts from the public and then allow them to “thank” the public by gouging them at every possible turn. This energy free-for-all has most definitely had an impact, unfortunately it has been a hugely negative one for individual citizens and the entire economy.

Consumers are paying record amounts at the pump, while Big Oil pulls in record profits. This has a major impact on the price of things like food and other essentials. In many ways it is responsible for a 17 year record high in inflation. As if working people weren’t hurting enough in this Bush economy, now we are getting early warnings about just how much more it will take to heat our homes this winter. Estimates from the Department of Energy project that heating costs will climb 21 percent in the Midwest this year. There is an expected 26 percent increase for homes that stay warm with heating oil.

Even with all of the bad news, John McCain has decided to follow the Bush economic and energy “plans”. As it has been previously documented, McCain has already learned how to roll over for Big Oil interests by reversing his own positions. Actually, McCain plans to go even further than Bush in many ways when it comes to appeasing Big Oil. He has not only decided to back Bush’s irresponsible tax cuts for the wealthy but he also gives away the treasury on even more tax cuts for big corporations. Big Oil would receive some $4 billion in additional handouts. It would be difficult to imagine, but such a McCain economy could make a terribly bad situation much worse.

Minnesota Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty is making his second trip of the summer to Wisconsin. He will be going to John McCain fundraisers in both Madison and Milwaukee that will cost $1,000 per couple. Rather than run around Wisconsin trying to raise money for campaigns, it might be advisable for Pawlenty to go back home and fix the mess that he has made in Minnesota.

Under Governor Tim Pawlenty Minnesota’s property taxes are up even though he made a campaign promise not to raise taxes. The Gopher State has actually endured a 70 percent rise in property taxes since 2002. [Sticker Shock, Minnesota 2020, 2/10/2008; Star Tribune, 3/30/03] Not only has Pawlenty’s tenure resulted in higher taxes but also in overcrowded schools and bad roads that are the worst that they have been in decades. In addition, Pawlenty’s signature job creation plan was totally panned by an independent auditor as useless and a waste of money. Even though Minnesota’s housing foreclosures are up to some of the worst levels in the nation, Pawlenty vetoed a bill that would have helped hundreds of families facing the loss of their homes. [Star Tribune, 5/29/08]

Given Pawlenty’s terrible record in Minnesota on issues from A to Z, it is a bit surprising that he has been chosen to be a lead cheerleader for John McCain. On the other hand, McCain is the same U.S. Senator that has eventually adopted almost all of the failed policies of the Bush Administration. Those are policies which have led us to economic, health care, energy and foreign policy disasters. It makes you wonder if John McCain has made failure a prerequisite to being one of his key advisors.

The Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF) has done an analysis of Senator John McCain’s oil industry subsidies plan and it doesn’t look pretty. At a time when Big Oil has all of us over a barrel and is making such obscene profits, John McCain is proposing massive tax giveaways and other hand outs to them. McCain’s proposals would give $39 billion in federal help for oil and gas companies over the next five years. These subsidies and tax breaks could be used in many different ways to help support a serious long-term solution to our energy crisis. The CAPAF analysis outlines how McCain’s $39 billion for Big Oil could be invested in renewable energy and it estimates how many tax dollars from each state will be spent subsidizing Big Oil.

CAPAF estimates that Wisconsin’s share of McCain’s $39 Billion giveaway to Big Oil is $640 million! That is enough to weatherize 230,000 homes, power 98,000 homes with wind, and create 155,000 homes powered by geothermal technology. Doing all of those things would also create an estimated 2,750 new jobs in Wisconsin. Instead of taking such a long-term and forward thinking approach, John McCain is suggesting that Wisconsin keep using the same old model that keeps enriching the same folks that repeatedly gouge us. Apparently Wisconsin is just supposed to thank Big Oil and hand over it’s share of the $39 billion in extra giveaways. Exactly what kind of energy policy is that? The simple answer: it’s McSame as Bush and it won’t yield any different result.  More pain at the pump and more record profits for Big Oil.

Over the weekend the Wisconsin State Journal ran a story about the search for a new head for the Department of Commerce. It addresses how the right choice for the job is particularly important right now, during a challenging economy. The story goes on to quote state Senator Ted Kanavas (R-Brookfield) who trots out the right wing's one trick pony on the economy, endless corporate tax cuts. We have seen how good that approach has worked nationally, but apparently old habits (and knee jerk reactions) die hard for the Brookfield Senator. OWN Executive Director Scot Ross was also quoted shortly after Kanavas saying that tax cuts shouldn't be the first choice in creating a strong economy. He went on to say the following:

"The next commerce secretary needs to support spending on roads, schools, universities and municipal services because that infrastructure makes businesses want to stay and move here. Experience shows both in the state of Wisconsin and the rest of the country that tax cuts won't buy loyalty from corporations."

Most corporations rely on a decent infrastructure to carry out their normal operations (roads, educated workforce, safety ect) . Most of that infrastructure is provided as a result of taxpayer investment. Blindly cutting away at it or finding ways to keep corporations from paying their fair share is actually counter productive for everyone. There are countless areas where public investment has spurred both the development of new technology and entire industries. Hopefully the new Secretary of Commerce will be a person that approaches the economy from a fresh perspective. Hopefully they will be an advocate for bold and broad solutions rather than joining the overly simplistic "tax cut choir" headed by partisans like Kanavas.

In anticipation of Senator John McCain’s Racine town hall meeting Thursday, several concerned Wisconsinites that will be unable to attend offered five questions that they would like McCain to answer.

John Valko, President of UAW Local 180 in Racine is concerned about the loss of good paying, family supporting jobs. He wants to ask Senator McCain why the country should continue the harmful policies that he supports which have caused our current economic crisis. This crisis includes the loss of some 92,000 manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin during the Bush administration. Specifically Valko cites John McCain’s support for disastrous Bush policies including unfair trade deals, and massive tax cuts for big corporations and the wealthiest individuals.

John Valko's question: “The policies you have championed have resulted in an economic nightmare for families across Wisconsin, so my question is: Why would we want to continue your failed policies which have devastated our country?"

State Senator Kathleen Vinehout wrote a column in the Tomah Journal recently. It debunks the conservative talking point that lower business taxes are a cure-all for everything that ails us. Conservatives have relentlessly parroted the talking point so often that some just accept it as fact without even looking at the actual data. The right wing has also changed the meaning of a “good business tax climate” from one that is simple, fair, and transparent to one that basically doesn’t exist at all.

In her column, Senator Vinehout exposes conservative groups, like the Tax Foundation and its Tax Climate Index. She correctly points out that it only measures the level of taxes but fails to give a more complete picture by including the economic growth of each state. Do the states with the lowest business tax actually bring economic growth and prosperity? Vinehout tries to answer that question by comparing the Tax Foundation’s ratings with the latest growth rates in state gross product. Here are just a few of Senator Vinehout’s findings:

As a top advisor to predatory lenders, as well as John McCain ex-Texas Senator Phil Gramm has been taking heat for calling people concerned about the tanking economy and the loss of the homes, jobs and futures as “whiners” experiencing a “mental recession.”

Having studied the career of Gramm as part of a research paper I had to write in the mid-90s, it was like a trip down memory lane when I heard the Huffington Post had posted something about Gramm investments in a couple failed Russ Meyer-inspired soft-core porn flicks.

To be certain, in the hypocrite hall of fame, Gramm’s got his wing. The smaller government, except when it comes to giving taxpayer money to my corporate clients, Gramm made a career of railing against “guvment” spending.

Last Thursday I found myself at a press conference held by local McCain supporters. The topic was generally about the economy and “small business” and was hosted at a company that had just moved to Milwaukee’s Fifth Ward. When I arrived at the location I was given a packet of information and led to the waiting area for the press. While waiting, I shared an OWN press release with the media on how McCain votes have been a disaster for women and the economy in general.

First Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker spoke and then handed it off to the host CEO. The last scheduled speaker at the press conference was former State Senator Cathy Stepp. She largely focused on her business and how the out of control gas prices are hurting it. Frankly, I was surprised that she would make energy policy her central theme at this press conference given John McCain’s awful record in both the U.S. Senate and in recent policy statements.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting on the prospect of $200 a barrel price for oil by the end of the year. The price has shot up over the last 7 years but that increase has been much more rapid in the last six months. During that time we have seen it go up from $100 to $150 a barrel. If the price actually hits the $200 prediction, that will translate to well over $6 a gallon for gasoline at the pump.

The pain at the pump is only the beginning of the budget crunch for the average working family. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported today that natural gas is also at a high for this time of year. Experts in that industry are predicting major sticker shock for energy customers, especially when we try to heat our homes in winter. Natural gas futures have jumped 82 percent since just the start of the year. The story reports that increases in the price of natural gas have already driven up electricity bills twice since March.

All of these costs are overburdening working families and impacting our already fragile economy. This is where the failed Bush policies of irresponsible tax cuts for the wealthy, coddling Big Oil, and lacking a forward thinking energy policy has brought us. U.S. Senator John McCain has been a rubber stamp for those polices in the Senate. He supported Bush as much as 100 percent in 2008 and 95 percent in 2007. In addition, McCain now says that he will make Bush’s tax cuts for the rich permanent. Actually he will go even further by offering unprecedented tax giveaways to some of the biggest corporations in the country. Under this economic scheme, Big Oil would get some $3.8 billion in tax giveaways. To the average person, such a massive giveaway to the very industry that has us over a barrel makes no sense at all. To John McCain it’s just business as usual.

Over the last few days Republican Congressman Paul Ryan has been getting more underserved love from the media. They called him everything from a “rising star” in the Wisconsin State Journal to a “medicine man” in a Washington Post column by the infamous right winger Robert Novak. In both stories there seems to be an attempt to hold Paul Ryan up as some sort of last hope for the withering conservative movement. The big problem is that Ryan doesn’t stand for anything new at all. He has been one of the most reliable rubber stamps for the Bush Administration and most of its failed policies. Yes, many of the same policies that have brought us to a place of near economic disaster.

During his first eight years in Congress, Ryan voted in favor of every single budget – joining the then-Republican majority in increasing the federal budget by more than $1 trillion. Ryan has been a loyal foot soldier for the Bush Administration on issue after issue. He provided the deciding vote for the middle-of-the-night passage of the disastrous Medicare Part D Prescription Drug plan. This from a guy that is now calling for a leaner government?

Ryan talks ad nauseam about fiscal responsibility but this is a guy that has fully supported the Bush disaster in Iraq costing taxpayers some $1.7 trillion dollars. This is money that we simply don’t have. At the same time, he has been a big cheerleader for irresponsible tax cuts for the wealthiest, even if we have to charge it all to the taxpayer credit card. In whose world is any of this sound economic policy? How is this record any different than the Bush Administration and their failed policies? Exactly how can Paul Ryan be perceived to be above the Bush disaster when he has been shoulder to shoulder with him for the entire time?

The Bush economy has long been a disaster for working people but has only recently started to affect the very wealthy. It has been an economy of massive tax cuts for the wealthiest, endless loopholes and handouts to the largest corporations, while charging everything to our national credit card. While Senator John McCain has declared that “the fundamentals of the economy are very strong,” reality is showing that he couldn’t be more wrong if he tried.

Just last week, we learned that the jobless rate has jumped in what is the biggest rise since 1986. This week, a study revealed that childhood poverty rates have risen both nationally and in our state. Nationally, there has been an increase of 1 million children living in poverty. The percentage of children living in poverty in Wisconsin has jumped from 12 percent to 15 percent since 2000. That amounts to an increase of almost 200,000 more children living in poverty. Much of the increase in childhood poverty is directly tied to the loss of jobs during this Bush economy. Sadly, this is not likely the end of these kinds of depressing statistics.

Conservatives like to praise the magic of “the market” when discussing anything about the economy. Hopefully they will finally understand what progressives have been saying for years. The Bush approach of tax cuts for the rich and hand outs to corporations has been “market tested” and has proven itself to be a complete economic disaster.

On May 27, the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance did a new report showing Wisconsin dropped out of the ranks of the 10 highest-taxed states for the first time in more than 25 years. Indeed, going all the way back to 1963, when the state first adopted a sales tax, Wisconsin has ranked in the top 10 every year except 1980 and 1968.

As recently as 1999, when Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson was near the end of his long tenure, Wisconsin ranked as the third-highest taxed state. Today, Wisconsin has dropped to 11th-highest. That's quite a change, and it got extensive coverage in the Wisconsin State Journal . The story was picked up by other newspapers statewide.

But the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sat on the report for nearly a week and then barely reported it: The disclosure came in the 23rd graph of a story telling us "Property taxes jump 3.8%, most in 3 years." At the very end of this story telling us taxes are going up, the paper devoted just four paragraphs to the news that the state dropped out of the top 10, and used a quote from Taxpayers Alliance President Todd Berry saying the ranking merely showed that some other states increased their taxes.

U.S. Senator John McCain has been trying to focus on economic policy recently, even though he has admitted that he needs more education on the subject. One thing that would be helpful in this discussion is for John McCain to stop contradicting himself on things like the Estate Tax.

When asked for his position on the estate tax in 2005, John McCain said that following:

I follow the course of a great Republican, Teddy Roosevelt, who talked about the malefactors of great wealth and gave us the estate tax. I oppose the rich passing on fortunes.

This statement doesn’t exactly square with what John McCain just said yesterday about the estate tax. While talking about the economy, McCain proclaimed that “The estate tax is one of the most unfair tax laws on the books.”

So much for “straight talk.”

The more than 100 percent hike in gas prices under the Bush administration continues to take a devastating toll on Wisconsin families -- the latest casualties are 2,600 family-supporting jobs at Janesville's General Motors plant.

According to the Capital Times, "The unprecedented rise in gasoline prices helped put 2,600 General Motors employees out of work in Janesville." The Janesville plant was first opened in 1919 and will close as early as the end of 2009.

No word yet John McCain, who visited Wisconsin last week, if he will end his support to give another $3.8 billion in tax breaks for big oil. This is on top of $5 billion in tax breaks for big oil he already supported while serving as a rubber stamp for the failed economic policies of the Bush administration.

Perhaps Janesville's Paul Ryan, the McCain-Bush cheerleader featured so prominently last week, will hear from his constituents about just how effective those tax cuts for big oil have been. But considering the message from all these Washington insiders is "stay the course," none of the workers, nor their families who are being shown the door because of $4-gallon gas prices should hold their breath.

The Institute for Wisconsin’s Future (IWF) released a new report on Wisconsin non-profit hospitals and their billions of dollars worth of tax-exempt property. The report finds that those properties could be generating at least $117 million in property taxes yearly to help ease the property tax burden on individual taxpayers and small businesses. The report includes a list of all 124 tax-exempt hospitals and medical centers, located in 100 communities statewide. It includes tables with data on each non-profit hospital in the state, including potential local property tax payments.

Wisconsin’s property tax exemption for non-profit hospitals dates back to a time when they largely served the poor. But now, as the IWF report says, “these former almshouses are massive, sometimes luxurious institutions.” In addition, most of the facilities that were once located nearest to the poor are closing while large palace-like structures are being erected in wealthier areas. Increasingly the larger non-profit hospitals are behaving more like their counterparts in the for-profit world. According to data that IWF obtained from the Wisconsin Hospital Association, these hospitals posted nearly $1 billion in income in 2006.

I don’t envy the lobbyist that has to argue a case for what has become a massive industry in Wisconsin. Non-profits with a combined revenue of $11.5 billion. A combined 2006 profit of $1 billion. Non-profits owning a combined $5.8 billion in real property. Erecting palaces in more affluent areas while closing down operations in the poorest areas of the state. With this kind of data, how can even the most seasoned lobbyist defend the status quo with a straight face?

The State Senate took the lead today to end the loophole that lets Wal-Mart and other big corporations evade $15 million annually by exploiting the state tax law (and the taxpayers).

Under the tax evasion scheme, tells the Institute for Wisconsin's Future, Wal-Mart would have one part of its business pay another part of the biz for rent allowing it to "reduce" its Wisconsin profits and consequently, reduce the amount of money it's required to provide the taxpayers of Wisconsin.

Wispolitics is reporting that a deal has been reached on a budget repair bill. They report that the deal would use $209 million from tobacco securitization payments and would delay $125 million in school aid payments into the next biennium. The compromise would also close a corporate tax loophole being used most notably by the largest corporation in the world, Wal-Mart. Wispolitics is reporting that addressing this loophole will add $15 million in revenue to the state budget.

Holding large corporations accountable by closing this loophole is a good start, but there is a much larger corporate loophole that still looms. The Wisconsin Department of Revenue estimates that the “Las Vegas Loophole” costs the state $260 million a year. In using this tax loophole corporations set up dummy corporations in places like Nevada to avoid paying their fair share in Wisconsin. Closing this one corporate loophole could have solved our current budget gap all by itself.

Corporations take full advantage of our state’s infrastructure and other assets. They should also take full responsibility at tax time. The time of shortchanging the State of Wisconsin and passing the buck to individual taxpayers should end. Closing the “Las Vegas Loophole” would have not only solved our short term budget issue but also the long term inequality that is currently built into our tax system.

Just last week John McCain announced his economic plan which largely consisted of continuing the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy and going even further by providing massive tax giveaways to some of the largest corporations in the world. McCain even came to Milwaukee to have a closed door meeting with big business elites. Neither at that meeting nor in John McCain’s economic plan could you find a place for the poor. Yet that has not stopped him from having what he calls a “forgotten places” tour this week. Different week, different McCain.

In announcing the tour McCain said that “there must be no forgotten places in America” but his economic policies don’t support that rhetoric. The centerpiece of McCain’s economic plan is almost entirely focused on corporate America and giving them trillions in tax breaks. That along with his flip-flop on the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy will prove costly to our nation’s treasury. Since McCain can’t possibly pay for these giveaways, he has called for a yearlong freeze in federal spending to at least help close some of his proposed budgetary gap. At a time when the cost for everything is continually rising, such a proposal will essentially cut valuable programs that serve the average American and the poor.

Someone should tell John McCain that you can’t remember the poor during a heavily scripted campaign tour but forget them when you are developing budgets and policies that have a negative impact on their lives.