Walker's Wisconsin Falling Faster And Harder

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According to this recently updated article, Wisconsin is ranked 44th in job growth. But even more unsettling is wages fell faster and harder than most of the nation. When ranked by the percentage change in all private-sector employment, Wisconsin ranked 45 out of 50 states.

Video: Brother Ali - Work Everyday

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Work Everyday (Lyrics Excerpt)

VERSE 3

People stressing here’s the question
How they get people drinking tea in a recession
It’s deception how absurd is this
How are so many poor people conservative?

A pro artist I put it in the good music
A con artist job’s to make you look stupid
Lookie here I’ll teach you how to look through it
First thing you need to know every con got a hook to it

They seduce you with a little wealth
Say you could have some of these crumbs for yourself
If the government doesn’t make us help anyone else
You stuck a red sign on your foreclosed house

Make you think you’re taking back your nation
Then they turn it over to a major corporation
Those companies took the jobs overseas
And you handed them the wallet out your pocket for free

More lyrics here.

Is Hardcore Walker Newspaper Beginning To Waver?

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From a newspaper that endorsed the likes of Bush/Cheney, McCain/Palin, Scott Walker, David Prosser, J.B. Van Hollen, Paul Ryan, Ron Johnson, Romney/Ryan, Tommy Thompson, Ryan again, Walker again and Ryan, Walker, Ryan, Walker, Ryan, Walker …forever and ever, comes this little jab at Walker (and at themselves) in their endorsement of Tony Evers for State School Super.

Editorial excerpt:
Evers’ opponent in Tuesday’s election is state Rep. Don Pridemore, R-Hartford. He’s an extreme demagogue who sees nothing wrong with Walker’s budget plans.

Is the armor breaking? Are pigs flying?

But wait! A couple weeks ago, the Gazette was also miffed by Walker's crazy ass decree meant to pit casino tribes against each other by granting any one of them the power to veto any new off-reservation casino proposal in the state of Wisconsin.

Unable to show any leadership of his own and unwilling to take a position he would have to stand with at the next juncture, Walker continues to divide and conquer others for his own benefit. That's all he does and he does it well. But this time because it may effect the casino development in local Beloit and the Gazette's own personal pockets, the Gazette's editorial asked, "If Walker opposes casinos, why not simply say so?

You mean like if Walker opposed collective bargaining, why didn't he simply say so during his campaign in 2010? Yeah, if only we all knew. Well, it's a little late but better than never I suppose.

Janesville Administration Talking About a Different Economic Development Strategy?

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In the aftermath of the sudden resignation by Janesville's director of economic development, the Janesville Gazette asked city officials why he will be receiving his normal salary until July 1, the effective date of his resignation. Let me repeat, "the effective date of his resignation."

With the absence of additional information about his employment contract and other "agreed to" stipulations at the time of the apparent mutual termination, the newspaper still tries to make hay of his continued salary. Oh well, that's what the Gazette does.

But one statement from the Assistant City Manager told of the city embarking on a different path for economic development. That should be big news.

JG Excerpt:
“We’re trying to move forward with economic development, and based on our strategies and what’s been accomplished in the past, we wanted to move forward in a different direction,” Winzenz said. “The decision was made to move in that direction, and in reaching that decision, Vic decided to resign his position.”

There are several issues here but I'll poke at just two of them. Who is "we" wanting to move in a new direction? The city manager who might be on his way out in a week or two? The city employee administration? The city council? It's possible I may have missed the council meeting or newspaper article announcing a change of this magnitude in the city's economic development, but I doubt it. It would have been a major story around town and since there is no mayor of Janesville or figurehead, they really should have explained who is calling the shots on this. But we don't have an independent newspaper that asks the tough questions either.

Secondly, what economic direction can be different than the one Janesville has been heading in for the past four years since after the GM Plant closed?

Don't get me wrong, this has the potential to be good news. Janesville and Rock County wage earning taxpayers have been held hostage by the tax-shifting legislative agenda of the politically active Forward Janesville and Rock County 5.0 business groups without creating any real new jobs. So any different path might be welcome.

Sure, some "connected" building owners and businesses have picked up tax credits and forgivable loans, but I have yet to see proof where those re-distributive tools were responsible for creating additional jobs. Now, when I hear the words "economic development" repeated by local officials, I think of the "elimination of democracy."

According to the story, city officials will be holding a strategy session with representatives of FJ and Rock County 5.0 in a couple weeks to define that "new" direction of the city’s economic development efforts. That could be very bad news as they could be doubling up on those failed trickle-down policies. So I'm not holding my breath.

On the other hand, I am forever the optimist. If there is any real truth to Janesville heading in a "different" direction from past strategies in economic development, I can't wait to hear more. Because if it's a strategy away from the currently administered development by elimination and away from the steady beat down of constituencies, this could be a positive new beginning. In that case, I would be one of the first to notice AND also one of their biggest boosters.

But again. I'm not holding my breath.

Will Paul Ryan's Local Supporters Demand, "Cut Us More!!"

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The Janesville Gazette ...God bless their hearts ...already had two major articles about the possibility of the Rock County Airport being listed among the airports whose control tower could lose government funding as a result from federal sequestration cuts. Well the guessing game is over. On Friday, the FAA released their list and the Rock County tower is among eight Wisconsin contract towers scheduled for closure beginning on April 7th.

The Gazette did play into the fear game about public safety in their recent editorial mentioning how airplanes might fall from the sky as one reason why the flow of government funding must remain uninterrupted. Oh, and of course the tower's value to ...economic development. They want that tower to remain funded and open.

At least one commenter at the Gazette seemed to be as puzzled as I am over the newspaper's position on the spending cuts ...

Comment posted at Gazette:
Who did YOU vote for? The Gazette endorses Republicans by a wide majority. This is what you all want if you want the sequester (austerity) budget. Remember that the austerity budget is the starting basis for Ryan's budget with even much larger austerity measures to kick in. This is the budget the Republicans unanimously voted for. The Gazette strongly endorsed Ryan so I wonder if they will step up to the plate and take responsibility for helping to kill the economy in Janesville through their endorsements...my prediction is a pretty strong "NO - NOT ME".

That’s a home run in my book.

It's absolutely true. The folks running the Janesville Gazette, Forward Janesville and the Rock County 5.0 are all fierce defenders and supporters of Rep. Paul Ryan, who not only was a key trigger man of the sequester, but whose own budget proposal is three times worse than the automatic cuts effecting the airport's control tower. Oh, never mind any of that. Sure, that's silly partisan stuff no one takes seriously, but the fact remains they endorsed Ryan for EVERYTHING in the last election.

BUT THERE THEY ARE jumping up and down over relatively small cuts that their rock star candidate insists isn't enough, but desperately need as a down payment for balanced budgets and to wean us off of government dependency. That's right, it's about upward mobility according to Paul Ryan AND Gov. Scott Walker. These bold spending cuts will result in strong economic growth, jobs and prosperity.

The hypocrisy from the so-called "spending is the problem" conservatives is simply mind-boggling. If they really do believe in themselves, why aren't they asking for more and deeper cuts right here on themselves? Don't be shy about the windfall of prosperity, we know you'll share it.

ADDITIONAL:

Think Progress - Economists Disagree With Paul Ryan’s Claim That ‘Debt Is Crushing Our Economy’

Earth To Chairman Ryan ...Come in. Chairman Ryan

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Congressman Xavier Becerra had this to say about Paul Ryan and his budget.

Politico Excerpt:
“Earth to Chairman Ryan. Come in, Chairman Ryan,” Becerra said at a press conference Tuesday. “Come back to Earth, because people want to get to work. People want to make sure that the earned benefits that they pay for are there for them when they finally need them, and I think what we have is a budget on the Democratic side that reflects the reality of people on earth.”

Ryan, who chairs the House Budget Committee, said he disagreed with Becerra on the characterization of his budget.

Surprisingly, Paul Ryan went on to say that the GOP wants the earthling vote too.

Isn't it time to send Ryan back to where he came from?

RELATED:

CapTimes - John Nichols: Paul Ryan? No, Congress should listen to Mark Pocan

AlterNet - Welcome To Ayn Rand Planet

USA Today - Ryan's Budget Narrowly Passes GOP-controlled House. No Democrats Voted For it

Janesville's City Manager On The Way Out Next?

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Just days after the sudden resignation of Janesville's economic development director comes word that Janesville's city manager, Eric Levitt, has been listed as the finalist for the city manager's job in Simi Valley, Cali.

Ventura County Star Excerpt:
Eric Levitt, 45, has been city manager of the Wisconsin city for more than four years. Janesville has about 63,000 residents.

Simi Valley is conducting a background check of Levitt and no contract has yet been offered.

If hired, Levitt would succeed City Manager Laura Behjan, who retired last month. Behjan temporarily succeeded City Manager Mike Sedell, who retired in July after 17 years on the job.

Apparently, he's been looking for a way out and I can't blame him one bit. I'll be saving further comment until after a decision has been made.

Benefit Or Burden? Janesville's Economic Development Director Resigns

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Here's a story from the Janesville Gazette about the City of Janesville's Economic Director (initials V.G.) resigning abruptly from his approximate $100,000/annual job.

It stirred my interest for several reasons. One among them is the fact that it was a same-day resignation/termination supposedly based on personal reasons. Unfortunately, that explanation can cover almost anything, but it's the rest of the twisting story that convinced me that there is more at play here than meets the eye.

The resignation takes on a politically motivated aspect with the "non-partisan" Janesville City Manager, Eric Levitt, sending what appears to be a bizarre memo that same day to the city council (JVL city council is majority FJ and RC5 tools) in defense of the city's work with the notorious Rock County 5.0 business cartel and the equally secretive inter-governmental agency, the Rock County Alliance. At that point, why Forward Janesville is NOT mentioned in this memo becomes a puzzling omission in the story.

Lastly, the city manager states that he might not want to replace V.G. with another economic development director anyways and suggests instead he may want to "contract" with outside organizations (no kidding), or spread the director's responsibilities among several others within the department. Apparently, all of this came bubbling up on the same day and because the Gazette is unwilling to ask the right questions or poke holes in the veneer, you can just about draw any conclusion your imagination allows out from the story.

So what's going on here?

Last week, I observed and wrote about a noticeable change in the area's "divide and conquer" philosophy for economic development as drawn from the Gazette's publicity story about the business cartel's annual lobby day in Madison.

As noted in the posting, for the first time in years, the Gazette made no mention or caption in their report identifying the private special interest groups' Rock County 5.0, Forward Janesville or their officials participation at the event. Instead, the newspaper wrote about teams and "civic leaders," included a caption of City Manager Levitt and named several area legislators as "united" in pushing the legislative agenda of the special interest group. I felt the group's dominating presence in the newspaper's previous lobby day articles compared to their obvious absence today was a significant change in their strategy, if not a new media direction.

Keep in mind that the right-wing engineers running the Rock County 5.0 believe Wisconsin's high standards of worker's rights, wages and government regulations are burdens that must be eliminated while they promote government collectivist hand-outs and tax credit legislation for themselves under the guise of job creation.

The resignation of the city's economic development director however brings an additional association. In this newspaper article from last year, V.G. was seen actively participating in Rock County's 2012 "Lobby Day" event along with officials of the Rock County 5.0 and Forward Janesville. For this year however, V.G. was not mentioned or captioned in the Gazette's Lobby Day story from two weeks ago. This, only to be followed by his resignation/dismissal and a defensive posture from the city manager. Is there any connection? I don't want to read too much into it except that it does follow an expected pattern.

It also confirms that recent movements occurring in their "divide and conquer" strategy show that they have battened down the hatches and are in full battle gear. What this means is Forward Janesville and the Rock County 5.0 are calling the shots and have acquired so much power that they have legislators and local public employees doing their bidding and lobby work and because they've successfully reversed the pursuit, folks working in local government appear to be in subservient fear of losing their jobs more now than ever.

There is little doubt that a major part of the business cartel's philosophy is the elimination of any perceived burdens on their self-interest economic development. If that perception has any merit and I think it does, the director's position of Janesville's economic development department may have been designated as one of those unnecessary burdens.

Note: As in the past, I've used only the initials of the resigning economic director as a courtesy to his privacy from name-searching web crawlers.

ADDITIONAL:

Rock Netroots - Economic Development Group Sees No Value In Economic Development Center (Nov. 2010)