Johnson: How to help the middle class? Improve the economy!!! Brilliant.

The often repeated Republican mantra of repealing health care should start ringing hollow by now, as the public starts catching on to how it will effect them in the long run, and the little covered innovations being made by insurers and providers to improve the system while cutting costs. Reform appears to have motivated everyone to change.

The middle class has a lot to lose too, if they continue to believe that giving free rein of economy over to business is going to somehow make their lives better. WITI-TV in Milwaukee caught up with Sen. candidate Ron Johnson, Russ Feingold's opponent, along with the Green Bay Press-Gazette's scorching interview about helping the middle class. For Johnson, business comes first.



Johnson's Ayn Randian perspective of business and money rings hollow as well, as we discover how he has benefited from government assistance, including health care:

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ron Johnson said Wednesday he was not aware
of the circumstances in which five of his employees at Pacur, his plastics manufacturing company, were enrolled in BadgerCare, the state's health insurance
plan for the poor.

During the campaign, Johnson has repeatedly said that his own health insurance plan at Pacur is the same one other employees have.

"Depending on the particular situation, if it's less costly for them to take
BadgerCare, they may choose that option," he said. "They have that freedom."

U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) criticized Johnson, saying the Republican
challenger couldn't have it both ways.

"When somebody runs on this notion that government can never assist business, it kind of gets embarrassing," Feingold said.

Earlier in the campaign, it was disclosed that, shortly before Johnson joined Pacur in 1979, the company had received a $75,000 federal grant for a rail spur. In addition, the company has participated in a government program that gave Pacur an estimated $4 million in low-interest loans from a private lender, and has hired prison workers whose health care plan is paid for by the state.

"I'm not saying any of these things are wrong, but you can't have it both ways," Feingold said. "He's gotten all kinds of government help. He didn't do it completely on his own, yet he criticizes those who got help from the Recovery Act. And it's completely phony."

Related articles

• Details, schmetails in Wisconsin (washingtonmonthly.com)
• Despite Bashing Government Aid, Ron Johnson Employs Prison Inmates With State-Run Health Care (huffingtonpost.com)
• WI-Sen: Anti-government Johnson uses prison labor to save money (dailykos.com)