BadgerPundit

Hello and Welcome

Welcome to BadgerPundit.  This site just went live on January 10th, and has already attracted some attention due to generous links from Boots & Sabers, Charlie Sykes,  and other members of the Wisconsin blogsphere.  I thank you all for your warm welcome, and hope that I will be able to contribute some interesting perspectives on issues of concern to Wisconsin and the world at large.

As Admiral James Stockdale once memorably asked, "Who am I? Why am I here?"  Fair questions both.  I am currently a student at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, who has commited to a career with an investment management firm in the Milwaukee area.  Prior to business school, I was employed by a different firm in Milwaukee, so I already know the area well. Although I am not from Wisconsin, I have made a conscious decision to pursue a life in this state, and hopefully to raise a family here.  In doing so, I have forgone opportunities in many other states, because I believe Wisconsin has many wonderful virtues and strengths- although the state faces many serious challenges as well.

Having staked my career and my future life in the state, I (like all residents) have a compelling interest in the Wisconsin's prosperity, quality of life, property values, and economic development.  This site is an effort to actively participate in the many crucial public policy debates which will shape Wisconsin's future- on taxes, on government, on education, and on the economy.  It is my belief that Wisconsin faces an important crossroads in the next decade.  Over the past 30 years, Wisconsin has lost considerable ground relative to the rest of the United States.  The state was once wealthier, more populous, and more influential than it now is relative to other American states.  Population growth is stagnant, political influence is on the wane (as witnessed by the electoral vote lost in the 2000 census), and Milwaukee has slid from from being among the 15 largest cities in the U.S. to barely cracking the top 40.  These are trends which should greatly concern every resident in the state.  BadgerPundit's grandfather could hardly believe it when the Milwaukee Braves in 1966 moved to Atlanta.  Grandfather had lived in Milwaukee in the 1930s, and it was inconceivable to him that a southern cow-town like Atlanta could steal a baseball franchise from the thriving metropolis of his memories.  Yet it happened.  And today, the metro Atlanta area has grown to nearly three times the size of the Milwaukee MSA, despite Milwaukee's considerable head start at the beginning of the 20th century.

How did this happen, in spite of Milwaukee's attractive location, well-developed economic base, and proximity to the giant urban center of Chicago?  It can't be the weather, given Chicago's own growth and the economic dynamism of the Twin Cities area.  Although the causes of Milwaukee's relative economic malaise are complicated and diverse, BadgerPundit firmly believes the root of the problem is to be found in an overly-intrusive state and local government, excessively high taxes, and a dysfunctional hostility towards business, free enterprise, and economic realities.  All these maladies are unfortunate relics of the famous "progressivism" of LaFollete, a discredited creed of statism, protectionism, and interference with private property  to which Wisconsin leftists cling with ferocious and self-destructive tenacity.

Having lived in the LaFollette-ravaged Wisconsin of a century later, I believe it is manifestly obvious that Wisconsin taxpayers are not getting good value with respect to government services.  There are too many government employees at every level, who are insufficiently productive and usually overcompensated (particularly with absurdly generous benefit packages) relative to their actual merit or economic utility.  High taxes encourage wealthy residents to move to other states (like Florida, which has no income tax), while an overly generous welfare system invites the sick, the lame, and the hopeless to grab a warm coat and come live off the public dole in America's Dairyland.  In a country which permits free movement of people and capital, this is a recipe for economic suicide.

For those Wisconsites who are acquainted with the private sector, and who believe in individual rather than collective responsibility, it is well past time to stand up and say "Enough!".  I have watched in frustration as Wisconsites complain about their taxes, and yet through indifference or inattention, meekly submit to the ever escalating demands of teachers' unions and public employees.   Like the weather, everyone talks about taxes, but nobody does anything about them. BadgerPundit hopes to goad people into action rather than complaint.  Republican or Democrat, those who care about the future economic viability of Wisconsin must expel from office legislators who renege on tax promises, and those who refuse to stand up to public sector unions.

This fight is a difficult one, which requires the new weapons of the alternative media such as the blogsphere.  In Wisconsin, we confront an iron triangle of a leftist media (e.g. the Journal Sentinel), a radical local academic community, and highly organized, self-interested "public servants."  All reinforce the same message, which is essentially the view that Wisconsites would rather have "services" than their own money, that our taxes aren't really that high, that "living wages" aren't an obstacle to economic growth. Labor sponsored outfits such as COWS or the IWF will trot out highly tendentious surveys, based on misleadingly worded questionaires, to support this alternate view of reality. Well, as Groucho Marx once observed "Who are you going to believe- me or your own eyes?"

BadgerPundit therefore hopes to help people get mad, get active, and demand positive reform in the Badger State.  Our new friends at Boots & Sabers have done tremendous work on the developing TABOR fight-  I firmly believe TABOR will prove to be one of the most critical fights for Wisconsin's future.  If we (conservatives, libertarians, the overtaxed, and the just plain fed up) can't win this one, then I fear there is no hope for the state.

Anyway, now you know where I'm coming from.  And please keep reading.

My Feelings Exactly

P. J. O'Rourke summarizes my feelings with respect to the upcoming inauguration with admirable concision:

My fellow Americans, I had intended to reach out to all of you and bring a divided nation together. But I changed my mind. America isn't divided by political ethos or ethnic origin. America isn't divided by region or religion. America is divided by jerks. Who wants to bring a bunch of jerks together with the rest of us? Let them stew in Berkeley, Boston, and Ann Arbor.

...The Tenth Commandment sends a message to all the jerks who want redistribution of wealth, higher taxes, more government programs, more government regulation, more government, less free enterprise, and less freedom. And the message is clear and concise: Go to hell.

O'Rourke always delivers the goods. Can't someone convince Dubya to hire him as a speech writer?

Beware of Teamsters Bearing Gifts

Boots and Sabers links to a new study from the Economic Policy Institute, which documents manufacturing job losses in Wisconsin over the past 15 years.  As BadgerPundit has noted below, any evidence provided by the EPI must be taken with a Department of Transportation sized truckload of salt, since the EPI is nothing more than a front organization for America's largest labor unions.   It is in Big Labor's interest to claim the American economy is in a perpetual state of crisis, in order to advance its agenda of restrictive labor laws, redistributionist government transfers, and protectionist trade laws.  Economists throughout the ages have known that these policy objectives lead to ruin, although hope springs eternal in Organized Labor's breast that voters will nevertheless refuse to see the things which are not seen. 

The Journal Sentinel's uncritical regurgitation of union propaganda notwithstanding, Boots and Sabers' conclusions with respect to the study are well taken.  Wisconsin has undeniably lost many low-skill manufacturing jobs over the past two decades, particularly in the Milwaukee area (as documented in this rather grim assessment from the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute).  Organized labor's response to this phenomenon is akin to Dorothy's technique in the Wizard of Oz: Labor thinks that by wishing hard enough, the status quo ante can be recovered.  A higher minimum wage for Milwaukee (or Wisconsin as a whole) will simply accelerate the exodus of low skill jobs from the region which is already being driven by more fundamental economic forces.

The dirty secret is this- all those manufacturing jobs are gone and they are never coming back.  And the fact that fewer Americans and Wisconsinites are working in manufacturing jobs today is evidence of America's increasing prosperity, not its economic decline.  Reasoning by analogy is helpful in considering this proposition.  In early 19th century America, virtually every able-bodied person was employed in agriculture.  Today, less than 3% of Americans work in agriculture.  Yet despite this "precipitous decline in agricultural sector employment", the American farm economy produces orders of magnitude more food, and a gigantic surplus for export.  The difference is the miraculous increase in productivity, which enable many fewer farmers to produce much more food.

Something akin to this is happening in manufacturing, even in Milwaukee.  BadgerPundit's grandfather once worked as an engineer in the old Allis Chalmers works during the Depression years (before my grandmother insisted he move south again if he wanted to marry her).  Today, these works are silent and the many thousands of jobs they once provided are gone.  Yet between Catepillar, Deere, and other manufacturers, the U.S. is making more tractors than ever, with many fewer employers.  Even some slimmed-down Milwaukee giants of old are still going strong, as witnessed by the recent earnings surges at Bucyrus and Joy Global (the old Harnischfeger), albeit with many fewer employees. 

It is primarily productivity gains which are driving the decline in manufacturing sector employment relative to other parts of the economy - and that is a good thing.  It is not China or a sinister plot by the Bush administration.  The fact that manufacturers in the U.S. cannot run a factory by paying $3.00 an hour is not due to minimum wage laws- it is due to the fact that Americans confront so many economic opportunities, the opportunity cost of their time is substantially higher than the cost of a worker's time in China.  That is evidence of success, not decline!

So Boots & Sabers is absolutely correct that a Milwaukee minimum wage law will fail as an economic cure all for the city or the state.  If Wisconsin politicians were really concerned about revitalizing the Milwaukee-area economy, they would focus on factors which would make the region more attractive to high-skill workers and knowledge industries.  Such factors include low taxes, inexpensive housing, good transportation infrastructure, and a non-intrusive regulatory environment. The recipe for prosperity does not include a surfeit of pampered bureaucrats, a meddlesome government in Madison, and a menu of dubious, overfunded "services" which justify high taxes but provide little or no benefit to most Wisconsin residents.

A comparison with my native state of Alabama shows how Wisconsin could bring even manufacturing jobs back to Wisconsin, if only the state could learn to govern less, spend less, and regulate less.  Over the past decade, Alabama has become a major center of auto manufacturing, landing large new plants from Mercedes, Honda, Hyundai, and Toyota. In Alabama today, auto plants and suppliers provide over 60,000 jobs and $3 billion in annual worker payroll which did not exist a decade ago.  Given its historical strength in manufacturing and auto suppliers, why didn't some of these jobs come to Wisconsin? Well, you know the answers - high taxes, unions, expensive labor, burdensome regulation, and a dysfunctional attitude towards business.

If Wisconsin wants to restore dynamism to its economy, the state could do well by changing its attitude.  Corporations and businessmen are not the enemy- they are the engines of wealth creation.

NYC Liberals Making Friends

The Village Voice offers the following reasoned critique of Americans who disagree with it on a wide swath of foreign policy, economic and social issues:

   

Remember Red State America- liberals hate you and everything you stand for.  With gems like this, Democrats let the mask fall.  If you go to church or think you pay too much in taxes, they think you're a moron.  They think all Americans are morons, just like Michael Moore and Oliver Stone when they speak to foreign audiences.  Just like what Russ Feingold thinks of Wisconsinites when he's not in Wisconsin.

Don't get mad- get even.  Look past the disingenous appeals that liberals will lamely offer in 2006, and punish them at the ballot box by retiring even more Democratic senators.

Feingold, Alabama, and Flying Pigs

BadgerPundit had the good fortune to have grown up in the great state of Alabama, a place for which I continue to have an abiding fondness.  Thus, I found this article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel to be especially amusing.  The JS article is an exercise in alternative reality wish fulfillment for the antediluvian paleoliberals who still control that paper's editorial policies.  The JS editors suppose that Russ Feingold would be an attractive candidate for national office.  In fact, this Paul Wellstone clone is much too left-wing even for the people of Wisconsin, who for some reason haven't yet wised up to what a loony lefty Russ is.  But I know this much: Russ Feingold will never play in Peoria, much less in Alabama or anywhere else in Red State nation.  The fact that the JS thinks Feingold's sanctimonious condescension  will win him in any friends in central Alabama is droll indeed.  Alabamians are warm and hospitable, and we all hope the Senator enjoyed his golf trip and will return soon.  But the vast majority of the Heart of Dixie, in private, hope that Senator will take his politics and put them where the sun don't shine.

Still the Viqueens...

Damn it, Brett, how do you expect to win if you throw 4 interceptions?  And now, for only the second time ever, the Packers lose a playoff game at Lambeau...that the loss is to the hated Minnesota Vikings only adds insult to injury. Randy Moss is still a spoiled brat, however, and Favre is still the man.  Only nine months until next year.

"Meritocracy" Apparently Doesn't Include Editors of the Economist

Andrew Sullivan links to this article in the Economist, which purports to describe signs that meritocracy is dying in America.  Although written in the smirking, snarky style for which the Economist is famous, the piece is so riddled with factual errors, omissions, and logical absurdities its hard to know where to start.  Quoth the Economist:

The most vivid evidence of social sclerosis comes from politics. A country where every child is supposed to be able to dream of becoming president is beginning to produce a self-perpetuating political elite. George Bush is the son of a president, the grandson of a senator, and the sprig of America's business aristocracy. John Kerry, thanks to a rich wife, is the richest man in a Senate full of plutocrats. He is also a Boston brahmin, educated at St Paul's, a posh private school, and Yale—where, like the Bushes, he belonged to the ultra-select Skull and Bones society. Mr Kerry's predecessor as the Democrats' presidential nominee, Al Gore, was the son of a senator. Mr Gore, too, was educated at a posh private school, St Albans, and then at Harvard.

It's hard to take this hysteria seriously, when the article overlooks the lowly provenance of "The Man from Hope", George Bush's immediate predecessor in office.  For God's sake, Bill Clinton was Arkansas trailer trash who rose to become President in 1992 and was re-elected in 1996.  Isn't that the embodiement of the American dream the Economist claims is long dead?  What about the humble origins of Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter?  If the Economist were to bother studying American history, it might realize that there is Jackson to every Adams, a Truman to every Roosevelt, and a Nixon to every Kennedy.

Having embarrased itself with this non-evidence of "social sclerosis", the Economist then compounds the error by approvingly citing a study from the generically but misleadingly named Economic Policy Institute.  In fact, the EPI is a far left think tank funded and controlled by organized labor.  Check out the EPI's board of directors here, and you will count no fewer than 9 senior union executives, in addition to such ultraliberal (some migh say socialist) luminaries as Robert Reich and Robert Kuttner.  Kuttner, for readers who don't know him, is the founder and editor of the American Prospect, which is the most fevered and hysteical leftist magazine in America, including even Mother Jones.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the EPI would fund and produce research which alleges declining social mobility, economic stagnation, and a hopeless plight for the working man against those cold-hearted capitalists at the top of the income distribution.  Lurking always behind such research from organized labor are the invariable demands for greater income redistribution through taxation, coercive collective bargaining powers, and protectionist trade barriers.  Although the EPI apparently snookered the Economist into broadcasting such Big Labor propaganda, the study's assertions are both sloppy and substantively false.