Video: Elizabeth Warren On Why We Support #OWS

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A New State Quarter?

Energy Rate Shift Will Subsidize Industrial Users For Their Economic Development

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C.U.B. Excerpt:
MADISON – The Citizens Utility Board is sorely disappointed by yesterday’s decision by the Public Service Commission, which will allow Wisconsin Power & Light to give discounts to industrial customers that will likely be subsidized by residential customers and others. Wisconsin Power and Light, a utility subsidiary of Alliant Energy, applied with the PSC on November 13, 2009 for permission to offer an “economic development rate” that would provide certain large industrial customers with a discount on electricity service.

The "economic development rate" otherwise know as the "privatize the profits and socialize the losses" free market rate. What a completely screwed up, backward and corrupted system we have called free market capitalism.

Developer Makes Bizarre Statement On Investment Capital

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After overhearing a short blurp on Wednesday's Neil Cavuto Show on Fox News Channel about a seemingly obsolete if not genuinely bizarre method a developer in Alabama is undertaking to fund his business venture, I googled country crossing gilley.

WTVY News Excerpt:
Gilley also explained how country crossing is the largest private investment in Alabama and he's not about to ask the government for any help. "We're not asking the taxpayers to pay for anything else, and we are certainly not asking our state or federal government for money they don't have."

"Build it and they will come. We are creating jobs."

The "not to ... pay for anything else" part is a little puzzling and I don't know how much truth there is to Gilley's claims about absolutely no government help or money. Still, it's the basic premise of his statement that struck me and how much of a big deal they were making out of it on Cavuto's Show. No taxpayer dollars used on a multi-million dollar private development? Imagine. That's unheard of around these parts. If something like that ever catches on, it might pose the greatest threat to capitalism as we know it.

Why Do Power Line Companies Need Ads?

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Have you noticed the uptick in local television ads recently from American Transmission Line (ATC)? Where can I shop for a competing power line?

JG Excerpt:
The line will give utility companies such as Alliant Energy access to cheaper power, company spokeswoman Luella Dooley said. The savings will be passed on to electricity customers, she said.

Corporate media sells corporate power lines to the public. Is there a downside? Whoo-why no. Will your electric rates go down? Suuurrre.

You’ll be able to start budgeting right away for next year’s vacation from the windfall savings.

Additional observations from 2007.

GM Should Rethink High Cost Of Oil

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It seems like a year has passed, but it was only three weeks ago when General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner announced plans to close four North American truck and sports utility vehicle (SUV) plants including our Janesville facility because of the spike in oil prices.

News.com Excerpt:
“We at GM don't think this is a spike or temporary shift; we believe that it is, by and large, permanent,'' Mr Wagoner said at a press conference ahead of GM's annual shareholder meeting in Wilmington, Delaware.

But, if they really believed what they were saying, the worst decision they could make is shutting down these strategically located plants in the United States. Here’s at least one reason why: It’s called reverse globalization.

Granted, the most notable effect of reverse globalization is that China – and others – have concluded that rather than lending to US firms at low rates so US firms can invest overseas, China would be better off just doing their own business investments themselves right here in America. All of those foreign investors buying up U.S. brand businesses, utilities, ports and anything else they can get their hands on, are practicing reverse globalization.

But the high global cost of oil is having a further leveling effect on business investment start-up initiatives and trends.

Supply Chain Network:
For heavy products, rising shipping costs are eroding the low-wage advantage of China over North America, say chief economist Jeff Rubin and senior economist Benjamin Tal. If oil prices continue to rise, the soaring cost of global transport will act like a major tariff barrier and lead to a substantial slow down in international trade, they argue.

This is why I believe GM will be making a mistake if they finally exit Janesville. If they build a product consumers will buy, closing down the plant because of high oil prices doesn’t make sense, particularly with the skyrocketing cost to transport their product within the continental U.S. market.

Supply Chain Network:
“In a world of triple-digit oil prices, distance costs money,” they say in a paper released Tuesday. “And while trade liberalization and technology may have flattened the world, rising transport prices will once again make it rounder.”

They’ve got the factory, and they’ve got the world class workers, rail system and infrastructure all set up.

If GM has their thinking caps on straight, they would reverse the recent announcement regarding the four plants in North America. Particularly if they really believe their own words, that high oil prices are permanent.

But something tells me it was never about the high oil prices, workers wages or benefits. Exiting operations is a sure sign that it's all about ensuring returns for the investors in the short term, and a business in decline in the long term. If GM finally leaves, they will have not only betrayed America, they will have betrayed the most basic business fundamentals for sustaining profitability, they will have betrayed themselves. GM will probably go down as the worst managed international corporation in the history of the world.

Socialized Bail-Out Saves Free Markets - Again

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Many investors, corporatists, anarcho-capitalists and some just down-right greedy money-grubbing businessmen swear up and down almost daily about the government’s hand in the so-called “free markets.” Cut taxes they say and stay the hell out of our business because after all, we’re the ones taking the risks. But the $38 billion injection by the Fed into the banking, lending and mortgage industries is just the latest in a string of bailouts over the last two decades and appears to have come at a welcome time considering the way the sham markets reacted on Friday.

The Escape Of the Enablers Excerpt:
Hello? If you believe in markets - which I do - this rescue is especially galling, because Wall Street enabled this mess in the first place. How so? By happily sucking up hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of suspect mortgages from marginal U.S. borrowers-and begging mortgage makers to create more of them.

This is part of the conundrum. We call them "free enterprise" and "free markets" and wish so badly they were, that we forget there are insiders, manipulators and purely fake markets created out of thin air and designed to swap notes, credits and I.O.U's in an effort to play by the rules. Somebody always wins and, somebody always loses.

Sure, we know the Fed will always bail out the bigshots just to avoid a catastrophic domino effect in the financial markets. And I don’t think anyone except a doomsayer wants the world's financial system to implode. But I'd feel a lot better if Wallstreet had to payback the taxpayers with interest for the handout and let the so-called “risktakers” for once, live up to their name.

Wisconsin Corporate Profits Subsidized By Taxpayers

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One of the few times the Gazette didn’t attempt to hide their loyalities was displayed in Thursday’s editorial titled,” Tax on Big Oil fuels problems on many levels.” Here, their readers were educated with the views of a Big Oil lobbyist as a legitimate response to the tax plan idea Doyle proposed on record oil profits. It really is a profits versus people debate, and offering their editorial column as a forum for special interests should only further diminish the Gazette’s credibility and power of their editorials.

JG Editorial Excerpt:
After all, barrels of cash seemingly flow from the wallets into the pockets of the five major petroleum refiners…..

This doesn’t seemingly happen…..it does happen.

JG Editorial Excerpt:
Prices at the gas pump seemingly go up and down arbitrarily regardless of oil prices.

Again, they don’t seemingly go up arbitrarily…….they do go up……arbitrarily.

JG Editorial Excerpt:
So it seems fair to tap into that cash to prop up our state’s transportation fund.

Actually I always thought it was Big Oil’s responsibility to help pay for roads, I had no idea they were not propping up the transportation fund.

JG Editorial Excerpt:
Dan Gunderson, a lobbyist for big petroleum companies, met Tuesday with the Gazette Editorial Board and confirmed many of our suspicions and concerns.

If there’s one person the average consumer wants to hear from to help make up their minds about taxing record runaway corporate oil profits its a…..corporate lobbyist!! The Gazette would have faired better here if they asked a used car salemen.

JG Editorial Excerpt:
By the way, contrary to public opinion, the five largest oil companies don’t own any of Wisconsin’s 3,300 retail gas outlets.

Then why does Gunderson find it important enough to even bother coming here? The fact is, Doyle’s tax on Big Oil profits has nothing to do with ma and pa, franchise owners or point of use taxes at all. That's the best part, local businesses will not be taxed.

State of the State Speech:
Tonight, I propose an oil company assessment of two and a half percent per barrel to support our transportation needs.

The Gazette then proceeds to scare investors, claim one tax will lead to another and then finally offers that Doyle’s plan may in fact be unconstitutional. Do you picture the oil lobbyist nodding in agreement? Just the idea that the Gazette bothered to use these old and worn-out fear tactics and then expect their readers to be led around by the nose by a Big Oil lobbyist should convince everyone that…Doyle’s idea just might float.

In a related AP story on page 3 in the local section titled ”Businesses lag in taxes paid,” it turns out that Wisconsin businesses pay only 35% of state taxes while the national average is 40%.

JG Excerpt:
But Jeff Schoepke, director of tax and corporate policy for Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state's largest business group, said taxes on its members are high enough and any increase would be passed on to shareholders and consumers.

We must assume then that shareholders and consumers in peer states have been paying the extra 5% all along. Depending on who you believe, individual state income tax filers have been subsidizing corporate profits in Wisconsin to the tune of $520 million annually or as high as $800 million annually.

The writer of this article chose to describe the WMC as simply the “state’s largest business group” while the study group, the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future was described as a “Democratic-leaning group.” But it didn’t end there. An entire paragraph at the end of the article was dedicated to informing the reader that the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future was founded by several union organizations and listed them all by name.

Ask a Republican: People or Profits?

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Once upon a time in America, you weren’t faced with a choice of either people or profits. You had them both. During that period, sometime before Ronald Reagan, the American economy was driven by employees and customers with profits however small or big shared by nearly everyone, relatively speaking. We didn’t know how good we had it back then, and certainly don’t realize how poor we have it now.

Today, American companies and manufacturers flee to areas around the world, employing cheap labor and operating in unregulated environments, all in the name they tell us, to sell for less. Things which really count for our quality of life that cannot be outsourced like gasoline, energy, hospitals, healthcare, housing, pharmaceuticals, private utilities, and local business monopolies are all still operating in that prosperous American economy, an economy based on selling for the highest prices the market will bear. All the while serving customers competing in a global economy whose compensation and wages are based more and more on the lowest the market will bear. Things are more complicated than that for sure, but grasping this simple concept is a big step to understanding why some of us are doing so well, while others are doing so poorly.

This is why I believe Democrats are trying to help level the playing field for everyone, before its too late. They are not afraid to use government as the great equalizer for the good of its people and recognize that greedy capitalists and corporatists are draining hard earned dollars from those living here on global market wages.

In his State of the State speech, Gov. Doyle says he may have found a way to tax one of the worst offenders of this imbalance without passing the tax onto consumers.

State of the State:
Tonight, I propose an oil company assessment of two and a half percent per barrel to support our transportation needs. It will be illegal for them to pass the fee on to consumers … with criminal penalties if they break the law. Let’s turn the tables on big oil, and give Wisconsin families a break.

If it is legal and durable, it is possible that Gov. Doyle may have found the “Holy Grail” everyone has been looking for to exert fiscal justice against price gouging and windfall profits at its highest levels.

Naysayers and supporters of profits over people have tremendous wealth and media tools at their disposal and will try to quash this plan before it gains any traction. They will try to pretend that taxes collected by the state somehow benefit Doyle and not the people. Nothing can be more preposterous. That other states have tried similar ideas with limited success is no cause for concern, Wisconsin Democrats know this tool needs to be sharpened.

That is why State Senator Judy Robson is requesting support on this matter and has issued a letter encouraging input from Wisconsin residents. Those dollars confiscated at the pump by Big Oil are lost forever if we do nothing.

In Rock County it is important to write a letter or speak to your Republican Representatives, local newspapers and organizations like the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) expressing your views and asking them where they stand. For people or profits? Don’t be discouraged if they sidestep your question or refuse to answer because if they do, you’ll know they’re not for you.

Write to:
Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce
Republican Assembly Leader Scott Fitzgerald
Rep. Brett Davis - 80th Assembly District
Rep. Scott Gunderson - 83rd Assembly District
Rep. Stephen Nass - 31st Assembly District
Rep. Thomas Lothian - 32nd Assembly District
Sen. Neal Kedzie - 11th Senate District

Carping about Imports

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Being an avid angler, I could not help but look in disbelief at the video of the flying fish. Apparently we have another exotic import to deal with adding to an already growing list of invasive intruders. The fish are Asian Carp and when a motorized device such as a motorboat is in the water nearby, the vibrations send the skittish fish into a flying frenzy. They have already taken over parts of the Illinois River, are said to be voracious eaters and are displacing native fish such as bass, catfish and bluegills. No matter what, this is not a good thing.

Many people may find this interestingly funny, but it is just another blow to our American way of life. We have been invaded not only by people who enter our country illegally, but also by different species of plant, insect and animal life that have never been in our country before. Thousands of years have successfully passed without the promotion of globalization, a system of trade what many economists and political leaders feel is mandatory for human progress. People who understand the consequences resulting from this profit oriented globalization are wrongfully labeled as “isolationists” or “protectionists” when they just want to keep the choice of life they have fought for secure, here in America.

Just consider the list of invaders that have taken over and displaced native species. The latest insect invader, the Emerald Ash Borer may end up destroying millions of Ash trees throughout the midwest. Chicago including nearby areas have fought off the Asian long-Horn Beetle and we have plenty of Eurasian Milfoil choking our lakes and rivers. Zebra Mussels and round Gobies threaten the Great Lakes, while closer to home in southern Wisconsin we have Garlic Mustard and Purple Loose-Strife among an ever growing list of invasive plants taking over. I haven't even scratched the surface.

I can’t help but think of the eerie similarities and correlation to all of this with foreign produce, electronics, furniture and vehicles that we willingly introduce into our economic environment just to “save” money. How imported vehicles have displaced our own American built is nearly identical to the spread of Garlic Mustard displacing lower growing native plants. The natives have simply been out-competed and are less prolific. How many products like an American made television for instance are now “extinct.” How far away is the lake perch, plankton or native phlox from becoming extinct?

The foreign made goods come at a huge price to our quality of life while those that raked in the profits have said they are doing us all a favor. People who refuse to ignore the problem are ridiculed and called complainers and whiners. Invasive people, plants, insects and fish combined with polluted air, contaminated water and soil are a threat to our national security and all seem to emanate from one central source, if you know what I mean.

From now on, I’m going to refer to the flying Asian Carps as “Toyotas,” just for kicks. That ought to rile a few feathers.