Smog...what you don't know helps businesses pollute, expand and "create jobs."

So what you don't know about smog levels will hurt and maybe even kill you eventually...but try and prove it. You can't. That's free market magic Republicans are now shamelessly pushing. 

As Sheboygan County is trying to become the last full county in Wisconsin to meet federal standards on ozone pollution ... a bill to block the use of an air quality monitor in Kohler-Andrae State Park ... wound ban state funding of the air monitor and ask the EPA to stop using readings that show Sheboygan County exceeding federal ozone limits.

Uh, like it really matters where the pollution is coming from?

The pollution that's registered is from Chicago, Milwaukee, Gary, Indiana, and other southern Lake Michigan cities due to lakeshore winds that often blow from the south or southeast.

Unfair? Polluted air and smog is still bad...right? Republicans are now saying local businesses that pollute should be allowed to add to the rest of the blown in pollution because...that's only fair, right?  

Being over the limit ... Local companies say that's unfair, because most of the ozone pollution registering on the regional monitor is blowing north from Chicago. Dave Gass of the Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce says federal law makes it tough for local firms that emit pollutants that form harmful ozone to expand. "I know businesses that have moved operations out of the state..."

Polluters threaten to Move? The Upside Down world of what's Unfair: So it's fair to harm Americans, allowing preventable deaths to occur, so businesses can expand? But how about this:

According to environmental groups, data from the monitor provides evidence for the EPA to go after large polluters from the southern Lake Michigan region.the monitor at Kohler-Andrae helps show when the air is too harmful to breathe.

Republicans "As Is" Consumerism in a Buyer Beware Economy: Besides everything I wrote in my blog post, "Walker's Wisconsin, no longer safe for people...," Republicans have added the word "jobs" to every ridiculous "free market" idea.

Climate Denial and Beyonddddddd......it's a Republican thing:  Smog; Good for Jobs, Good for Children: 

Exhibit A: Pruitt announced Michael Honeycutt as the new head of the Science Advisory Board. Honeycutt has suggested that the health risks associated with smog are overstated.

Exhibit B: Robert Phalen, a smog researcher once famously said that modern air is “a little too clean for optimum health.” He claims children’s lungs need a few irritants to grow hearty, and that pollutants like coal are good for lung defenses. 

Speaking of coal and lungs, this was just reported:

(Trump) "federal mining regulators indicated that they are reconsidering rules meant to protect underground miners from breathing coal and rock dust - the cause of black lung - and diesel exhaust, which can cause cancer."

For the record, Republicans say they're pro-life, yet have policies that kill people (lack of health care, the death penalty, unrestricted gun ownership). Self awareness is not a conservative characteristic:

Air pollution is killing one in six people around the world, and it's more deadly than smoking, wars, malnutrition or obesity.

Surprise: Business, not Government, now telling us all what to do in and away from Work.

Republicans are always falsely claiming that Democrats want government to tell us all what to do. 

Ridiculous, I know, but those fabrications have taken our eye off the real "takeover;" what Republicans want more than anything is to hand complete control over to business, where they will tell us all what to do, in and away from work. Think about it, it makes sense. 

Two different studies look at what is really happening and what some would like to see happen:

New Republic: Real household wages in the United States have remained stagnant since the 1970s. Young people find an employment landscape defined by unpaid internships, temporary work, and low pay.

In Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don’t Talk About It), Elizabeth Anderson, a professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan, explores how the discipline of work has itself become a form of tyranny, documenting the expansive power that firms now wield over their employees in everything from how they dress to what they tweet. James Livingston, a historian at Rutgers, goes one step further in No More Work: Why Full Employment Is a Bad Idea … both books make a powerful claim: that our lives today are ruled, above all, by work. We can try to convince ourselves that we are free, but as long as we must submit to the increasing authority of our employers and the labor market, we are not.

That's why Republicans are always harping about the job creators, drug tests for the unemployed, training programs for food stamps...etc...they want employers, not government, to control what we do in and away from work:

Anderson’s most provocative argument is that large companies, the institutions that employ most workers, amount to a de facto form of government, exerting massive and intrusive power in our daily lives. Unlike the state, these private governments are able to wield power with little oversight, because the executives and boards of directors that rule them are accountable to no one but themselves. Although they exercise their power to varying degrees and through both direct and “soft” means, employers can dictate how we dress and style our hair, when we eat, when (and if) we may use the toilet, with whom we may partner and under what arrangements. Employers may subject our bodies to drug tests; monitor our speech both on and off the job; require us to answer questionnaires about our exercise habits, off-hours alcohol consumption, and childbearing intentions; and rifle through our belongings. If the state held such sweeping powers, Anderson argues, we would probably not consider ourselves free men and women.

Employees, meanwhile, have few ways to fight back. Yes, they may leave the company, but doing so usually necessitates being unemployed or migrating to another company and working under similar rules. Workers may organize, but unions have been so decimated in recent years that their clout is greatly diminished.

Note this important point:

As corporations have worked methodically to amass sweeping powers over their employees, they have held aloft the beguiling principle of individual freedom, claiming that only unregulated markets can guarantee personal liberty. Instead, operating under relatively few regulations themselves, these companies have succeeded at imposing all manner of regulation on their employees. That is to say, they use the language of individual liberty to claim that corporations require freedom to treat workers as they like. 

Many workers, in fact, have little sense of the legal scope of their employer’s power. Most would be shocked to discover that they could be fired for being too attractive, declining to attend a political rally favored by their employer, or finding out that their daughter was raped by a friend of the boss—all real-life examples cited by Anderson.

Universal Basic Income? Milton Friedman was a big backer of the "negative tax" idea:

Instead of idealizing work and making it the linchpin of social organization, Livingston suggests, why not just get rid of it? Since people in this new world would no longer have to earn a salary, they would, Livingston envisions, receive some kind of universal basic income. 

UBI is a slippery concept, adaptable to both the socialist left and libertarian right, but it essentially entails distributing a living wage to every member of society. In most conceptualizations, the income is indeed basic—no cases of Dom Pérignon—and would cover the essentials like rent and groceries. Individuals would then be free to choose whether and how much they want to work to supplement the UBI. 

Leftist proponents tend to advocate pairing UBI with a strong welfare state to provide nationalized health care, tuition-free education, and other services. Some libertarians view UBI as a way to pare down the welfare state, arguing that it’s better simply to give people money to buy food and health care directly, rather than forcing them to engage with food stamp and Medicaid bureaucracies. 

The article concludes:

Both Livingston and Anderson reveal how much of our own power we’ve already ceded in making waged work the conduit for our ideals of liberty and morality. The scale and coordination of the institutions we’re up against in the fight for our emancipation is, as Anderson demonstrates, staggering. Employers hold the means to our well-being, and they have the law on their side. Individual efforts to achieve a better “work-life balance” for ourselves and our families miss the wider issue we face as waged employees. - Miya Tokumitsu is a lecturer of art history at the University of Melbourne and a contributing editor at Jacobin.She is the author of Do What You Love. And Other Lies about Success and Happiness.

ObamaCare a Business and Job Creator...now they tell us.

Who's the party of business? 

I think we could multiply the following story a thousand times over. Modern HealthCare:

Joshua Lapp left a full-time job with health benefits in 2014 to launch an urban planning firm with two partners. Columbus, Ohio-based Designing Locally has grown rapidly, with projects all over the county. There's no way Lapp, 27, would have considered starting his own business before the Affordable Care Act took effect because he has a congenital heart condition. He was able to buy a health plan through the federal exchange, which costs him $300 a month. He hasn't had to worry about insurers denying him coverage -- as they could before the law.

 “Being able to buy my own affordable plan on the exchange allowed me to step out on my own. It's a big enabler for all of us.”

But now that Republicans are planning on full repeal and delay, altering the business and job creating dynamic:

He and other young entrepreneurs don't like that the GOP repeal-and-delay strategy will leave them hanging in insurance limbo for several years. “If it's repealed, I might have to go back to working for a bigger employer,” he said. “The prospect of losing my business because I'm losing my insurance is sort of ridiculous to me.”

Do we have to go through something like this, and the business losses, just to prove Republicans are wrong about health care?

Promises, Promises: It's kinda hard to figure out; Republicans claim ObamaCare provides too much coverage, yet they've promised to create plans that will be even "better." Nonsensical, yes.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the conservative American Action Forum and former director of the Congressional Budget Office said, the GOP has “committed to keeping the premium subsidies and they've pledged to stabilize the individual insurance market.” The health plans available under the replacement system “will be even better.”

The premium subsidies will be smaller, it'll be a write off at tax time and not immediate like it is now on the exchange, and how will it be even better? My biggest pet peeve is the promise to do away with maternity coverage for men, as if men don't have anything to do with pregnancy?

“Both logic and evidence show that the ability to buy health insurance at reasonable prices, even if you don't work for a big firm, allows people to take chances in their work that benefits the economy and society in the long run,” said economist Douglas Elmendorf, dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and former head of the Congressional Budget Office.

Of course all of these debates avoid the elephant in the room; single payer. That would wipe out all the hoops and regulations, putting patients truly in charge:

There's research evidence that publicly provided health insurance prompts more people to start businesses. A 2015 Harvard Business School study found that after the Children's Health Insurance Program was started in 1997, the self-employment rate for parents of CHIP beneficiaries jumped 23%, and the their rate of ownership of incorporated businesses increased 31%.

A 2013 study found that after the ACA provision took effect allowing young people ages 19-25 to stay on their parents' health plans, they were more than twice as likely to start their own businesses. That's what Chicago public relations consultant Alyssa Conrardy did. At age 24, she co-founded Prosper Strategies, staying on her parents' plan for two years while she got the company off the ground. It now employs eight people and provides them with group health insurance.

“I don't think we could have gotten here without the security the ACA provided,” she said. “If the ACA is repealed, there are so many young people for whom entrepreneurship will no longer be a feasible financial option.”

Here are a few more entrepreneurs interviewed for this story, which means the impact nationwide would be devastating:

How the GOP's alternative model addresses annual and lifetime benefit limits and maximum out-of-pocket costs is a huge concern for Namir Yedid, 35, of San Diego. He left a job with health insurance in 2014 to develop several technology products. Soon after buying a plan on the California exchange, he was diagnosed with a rare cancer. Yedid's cancer is now in remission, and he's preparing to bring his first product to market. He currently employs five people. “There are plenty of talented people in the tech scene who couldn't take the risks I did and go out on their own without the ACA,” he said.

Ryan and HHS Secretary-nominee Dr. Tom Price have proposed putting people like Yedid into high-risk pools. Yedid notes that these state pools generally did not work well in pre-ACA days in providing affordable coverage for those with preexisting conditions.

He's angry, worried that ACA repeal without an adequate replacement could force him to give up his business and find a job with health coverage.

Lisa Martin, 35, of Cambridge, Mass., expresses similar frustration. She left a job with health insurance in 2014 to start her own website consulting business, made possible by the availability of ACA coverage. Soon after leaving her job, she suffered a minor stroke. Even though she recently switched to her partner's employer-based health plan, she hates the uncertainty. “What am I supposed to do in the next two to four years?” she lamented. “Why create anxiety and replace something that's meeting people's needs?”  

So what should budding business creators do?

Asked what he would advise people considering self-employment during the long interim period following repeal of the ACA, Holtz-Eakin said, “I'd make the leap. 

But Elmendorf disagrees, arguing the Republicans have not put out nearly enough details for the CBO to determine how good and affordable the replacement package will be and how it will affect the nation's uninsured rate. There's also no evidence, he added, that Republicans are willing to spend the large amount of federal money or impose the rules it will take to provide good replacement coverage.

“These self-employed folks should be quite concerned,” he said. “I don't know how they should proceed.”

Blissful “Stand with Walker” voters love 35th place for Job Creation, last place for business startups, broken jobs promise. Forward?

You have to wonder what it is about Scott Walker that makes these hapless dupes...happy.

It’s amazing how much slack republican voters give their “leaders.” And why isn't Walker a little pissed about falling hook-line-and-sinker for overblown CEO promises of "job creation." They're still laughing and still getting him to jump when told. 

But we can now see what Scott Walker’s record is, and it’s not the kind of performance you'd like to see on a resume, especially for president. 

Lets make a comparison; here's what Walker did during the economic recovery, and what Obama did:

jsonline: In the four years from 2011-'14, when the United States (Obama) posted a 9.3% gain in private-sector jobs, Wisconsin (Walker) created jobs at a rate of 5.7%, an increase that gives Wisconsin a rank of 35th among the 50 states in the pace of job creation in the full four years of Gov. Scott Walker's first term.

And it's only getting worse..

Wisconsin's private-sector job growth ranked 38th in the country last year, trailing the national average.

But what about Obama's failed stimulus, and Walker's big bold tax and spending cuts?

By the end of 2014, Wisconsin (Walker) had failed numerically to return to its pre-recession employment peaks, before the financial market meltdown in mid-2008. By contrast, the United States (Obama) had regained and exceeded its pre-recession employment peaks by the end of 2014.

By December 2014, Wisconsin posted 2,400,139 private-sector jobs, still below 2,412,898 in December 2007.

In the four-year period, Wisconsin landed in last place among its peer states in the Midwest, which share a common economy of factory cities and farm towns. Wisconsin's 35th job-creation ranking trails Michigan (10); Indiana (18); Minnesota (23); Ohio (25); Iowa (31) and Illinois (33). 

And THE PROMISE?

When he first ran for governor, Walker staked his candidacy on a pledge to generate 250,000 new private-sector jobs and repeatedly drew attention to his jobs target. The final government figure reported in those four years amounted to 129,154.

Hillary Clinton still crushes "Job Creator" myth.

Job creator is a marketing term for "filthy rich" and "greedy corporate CEO." It sounds so friendly.

Hillary Clinton doesn't have to apologize for telling the truth about "job creators" either.

Consumer demand creates jobs. It’s a pretty simple thing to understand, right? Not for numbskull conservatives. Here's how it works simpletons:

Things that are sold need to be replaced, and if demand is up, businesses hire more employees to keep up with that demand. That’s job creation. Even more mind blowing; consumers also supply business with employees. Without consumers, business would die.

But the comments from previous stories about Hillary Clinton’s statement are telling me GOP voters believe instead in free market Santa Claus's...benevolent corporate bosses. Businesses hire the poor unemployed sap because they feel charitable, even if it hurts their bottom line. Sure they do.

Republicans Gasped in Horror: The fallout continues, and it can only end badly for Republicans. This is not the debate they want to have. Yet the following is so ridiculous...:

The former secretary of state is as prone to putting her foot in her mouth as any other prominent political figure. Clinton tripped over her tongue by saying business don’t create jobs. “Don’t let anybody tell you it’s corporations and businesses that create jobs,” Clinton said, contradicting what she has written in several books and in her decades of public service. By Monday, the gaffe had mushroomed into a full-blown political controversy the likes of which haven’t been seen since 2012’s infamous “you didn’t build that.” 

Infamous "you didn't build that?" Of course Obama never said that, so it can't be infamous. But Clinton is a Democrat, and should havetold Republicans to go to hell, but instead tried to make things right...a liberal weakness:

Clinton meant to say that tax breaks for corporations and businesses don’t create jobs, as she later explained. But Republicans saw the remark as revealing Clinton’s inner leftist ... Talk of the gaffe dominated conservative blogs and broadcasts, as outside groups piled on. Every presidential candidate will face manufactured controversy, but usually not before the previous election has concluded. its notable that her ventures on the campaign trail for Democrats has been mostly flawless – until Friday.

There's nothing wrong with our "inner leftist," unless the media makes it seem like there is, which was done here. But laughably, a Bloomberg columnist tried to “nail” Hillary for contradicting herself. She actually didn't in the quoted passages below, because American companies in foreign countries would only “create jobs” to keep up withconsumer demand there, and not out of charity.

That's an acrobatic pivot from what Clinton wrote in "Hard Choices." As she wrote in one passage:“There were still too many barriers and restrictions, but American companies were slowly gaining access to Indian markets, creating jobs and opportunities for people in both countries.”

Here's another example, where "job creator" again refers to consumer demand in a foreign market:

“We had worked with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to organize the trip because more trade between America and South Africa promised to create jobs and opportunities in both countries.”

And then there's Chapter 22, "Jobs and Energy: A Level Playing Field," which details Clinton's work to help American companies compete abroad.

“When I became Secretary in 2009, I focused on two big questions about the global economy: Could we sustain and create good jobs at home and help speed our recovery by opening new markets and boosting exports? ... And were we going to let China and other relatively closed markets continue to rewrite the rules of the global economy in a way that would surely disadvantage our workers and companies?”

There is a disconnect, and I'm still trying to distill all of this in just a line or two. Thanks to Hillary, our chance to clarify our thoughts is coming.  

Fox News Heads Explode after Hillary Declare's: "Don't let anyone tell you that corporations and businesses create jobs!!!"

Hillary Clinton attacked the most popular GOP lie; businesses are job creators.

Demand creates jobs. Simple? It should, be but isn't.

Clinton is hell bent on hammering a stake through the heart of the supply side argument, that it has ever actually worked.

Check out what Fox News described as a gift wrapped gotcha, "Clinton’s comment will likely be used frequently to attack her as another big-government Democrat." Confident idiots.

...it's just that they didn't create the 250,000 jobs they promised.
Is Scott Walker a sucker or what?  

At a Democratic rally Friday in Massachusetts, Hillary Clinton’s attempt to attack “trickle-down economics,” resulted in a spectacularly odd statement, according to The Washington Free Beacon. Clinton defended raising the minimum wage saying “Don’t let anybody tell you that raising the minimum wage will kill jobs, they always say that.” 

She went on to state that businesses and corporations are not the job creators of America. “Don’t let anybody tell you that it’s corporations and businesses that create jobs,” the former Secretary of State said. 

Praise the Job Creators? So this is the free market...Are we picking winners and losers, Scott Walker?

Ah yes, the job creators.

Oh sure they're tough on the unemployed, but Republicans don’t mind rewarding the corporate welfare class for never paying enough to attract workers or plan ahead.

I never understood why companies didn't maintain apprenticeship programs for their own damn good.

Or why they didn't raise wages to attract more workers, or for that matter, interest more people in their line of business.

But because they didn't, it’s now up to taxpayers to foot the bill:

WSJ: The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development will award grants totaling $1.5 million to help 37 employers in 15 counties train about 2,200 manufacturing workers for new jobs or better pay.

Don’t ever tell me that these guys are the “job creators” again. 

This tweet responded with a false premise: That I would agree to shutting down tech schools. Both tech schools and private apprenticeship programs can work simultaneously.

This all or nothing mindset by the ultra corporate welfare right is showing its true colors. 

Tax Cuts for Wealthy bad for Job Growth, add republican Rick Snyder to Failed Governors List.

Big "job creators" like Gov. Scott Walker and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder have lost the ideological battle they said they would win; jobs and attracting business. We already know how Walker is doing, so backing up our claim with Rick Snyder's failure just adds to the evidence that trickle down doesn't work. Ed Schultz:



Simple adjustments to tax policy, recklessly opposed by ideologically driven "principled" Republicans, could turn things around. Funny thing, Republicans won't give it a try. What are they afraid of?

Economically, America was never strong than in the 50's and 60's, when tax rates were above 90%. Did it end up penalizing success? Did the wealthy drop out, give up their businesses and walk away with their money? Did innovation stop cold? Kinda disproves the lunacy pushed by right wingers.

Back in the 50's, 60's and 70's, we were told that if we didn't try hard enough, there was always somebody behind us that would gladly take our place. That's still true today, but doesn't fit into the corporate takeover theme pushed by conservatives.

Here are some simple adjustments that could be enacted if we just gave them a try:

Citizen Action of Wisconsin and Economic Policy Institute held a media conference call to show how fair tax policy can promote growth in Wisconsin. While economic policy based on tax cuts for the wealthy is an article of faith for many elected officials, a new study shows such policies actually undercut job growth.

Figures from the Economic Policy Institute make the case that closing tax loopholes and ending tax breaks for the wealthy would raise revenue that could be used for job ­creating investments in Wisconsin ­­ producing 76,956 new jobs.

Citizen Action of Wisconsin Executive Director Robert Kraig said the national study is especially relevant in Wisconsin, which has bought heavily into corporate tax breaks as a core strategy only to continue to lag behind its neighbors in job development. “Not only is a tax system rigged for the largest multinational corporations unfair, it takes money out of the economy and depresses economic activity,” Kraig said.

By pairing job creation policies with permanent tax changes, deficits would be reduced substantially over the medium and long term.

Liberal Hell Hole, Dane County, creating atmosphere for Job Creation.

Despite all the liberal efforts to destroy the country and turn people into dependent hammock swinging freeloaders, they've inadvertently done just the opposite. Oh those hapless Democrats.

WSJ: The report released Monday by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance shows south-

central Wisconsin tops the state in job gains from 2000 to 2012, while southeastern Wisconsin leads in total job losses. Dane County fueled the rise, with the addition of more than 65,000 residents and 31,000 jobs during the 13-year period. South-central Wisconsin’s population — identified as Dane, Columbia, Sauk, Iowa, Lafayette, Green and Rock counties — grew 11.7 percent from 2000 to 2012, nearly twice the state average of 6.3 percent, and employment rose 6.4 percent, the study shows.

Meanwhile, the 10-county southeast region, extending from Kenosha County to Sheboygan County, grew more slowly than the state, at 4.8 percent, and lost 5.7 percent of its jobs from 2000 to 2012. The figures deflate the common belief that some Milwaukee employers moved to the suburbs or nearby counties, said Dale Knapp, research director for the nonprofit, nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. “We knew southeast Wisconsin wasn't doing great, but for it to be the worst-performing region in the state was a surprise,” he said.

Milwaukee County lost 60,000 jobs during the 13-year period, but neighboring Waukesha County, for example, gained only about 4,500 jobs, a 2.1 percent increase. “That, to me, is troubling,” Knapp said.

CEO's love High Unemployment States for their Desperate Workers.

I've said it before: the attack on FoodShare, the length of unemployment, sick leave pay, and the removal of labor rights are all schemes to create a desperate public, willing to work anywhere for as little as possible.

I've been proven right unfortunately:

Cap. Times: There was the report this week in Chief Executive magazine showing the state climbing to No. 17 on the “Best States for Business” ranking. That’s up from No. 20 ... The report in Chief Executive generated a fair amount of coverage, including this blog in The Baltimore Sun which asks why Florida, with an unemployment rate of 11 percent, is ranked No. 2 while Maryland with an unemployment rate of 6.9 percent is ranked No 41. One commenter theorized that CEOs love states with high unemployment rates so they can pay less in wages to desperate job seekers.

Let the free market decide? Job killing 22nd place in Broadband Access Due to Unprofitable Rural Areas.

Just like electricity was some 80 years ago, the roll out of broadband to rural areas today is not profitable or in the best interest of our telecommunication giants. So surprise, we've still got a problem.

Democrats have pushed to bring inexpensive service to rural and uncovered areas of Wisconsin, only to get blasted for their efforts. State Republicans have even tried to get the state out of the internet provider business when it comes to schools, libraries, etc. which get service at a reduced rate, whining it’s unfairly competing with private providers.

How’s that free market working out?  Again, Republicans are on the wrong side of this issue and have killed jobs and held back the economy. Conversely, Democrats have done nothing to make this a campaign issue.

Lack of Broadband Access Killing Business, Big Surprise:

jsonline-Rick Barrett: A lack of reliable and affordable broadband service in many areas in Wisconsin is hampering the ability of individuals and businesses to capitalize on new technologies … Wisconsin ranks 22nd among states in average broadband speed and 26th in adoption of broadband service faster than 4 megabits per second.

Those aren't encouraging numbers as Wisconsin strives to compete in a national and global economy, said Reed Hall, secretary and CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., a quasi public agency that represents business interests. "People want to work and live where there is quality and affordable broadband. Businesses have not yet started because of a lack of broadband in some areas of the state," Hall said. "I really think areas of the state that don't have adequate broadband are at a disadvantage. A lot of companies don't want to move to regions because broadband isn't there," Hall said.

Let the Free Market Work-Stimulus a waste of money and a boondoggle? And yet Republican policies have encouraged this disparity. Will they get the political blow back they deserve, and will Democrats point out how backward this conservative policy is?

Other communities and broadband providers have used federal stimulus money to expand service.

Let the Free Market Work-Small government Republicans Turned Down Help:

But state officials turned down a $23 million federal grant aimed at delivering broadband to more schools and libraries. Among other things, federal officials wanted a commitment that the infrastructure the grant would fund would be used 20 years or more. Otherwise, Wisconsin would have to repay the money.

Republicans Balk at lack of ability to sell off the taxpayer built infrastructure to freeloading telecommunication Giants:

"The details associated with that grant, and the strings attached to it, made it unworkable. It was the right decision to send the money back," said Bill Esbeck, executive director of the Wisconsin State Telecommunications Association, which represents broadband providers in rural areas. He disagrees with the assessment that large parts of rural Wisconsin lack broadband.

Telecommunication Giant behind the Curtain: We don’t have a problem? Until it’s profitable, expansion has been put off:

Last fall, some providers said they might cancel or delay expansions because of changes aimed at bringing an $8 billion Universal Service Fund into the digital age … providers said they couldn't predict how much of the money would be available to subsidize rural broadband projects. That made them hesitant to invest in expansions costing millions of dollars.

Hall says expanding the service in rural areas is comparable to the expansion of the electrical grid in the 1930s. "To me, it's the next frontier. And it's just as important," Hall said.

Goodbye Unemployment!!! Scott Walker ushers in “slave labor.”

The unemployment insurance program has been around a long time, and along the way, it has been fine tuned to protect employees and employers alike.

But Scott Walker has decided it would be more fun to kick the recently unemployed while their down-and-out. Imagine how many businesses would love to pile on?

Well few did just that and more at a Friday session about unemployment insurance in Chippewa Falls. Try to make any sense of this one horrible employers reasoning:

Julie Court said her employee at Chippewa Falls Chiropractic tried hard, but wasn’t able to do the work. But after getting complaints about the woman’s work, Court fired the employee at the end of a job probation period. The former worker then applied for, and received, unemployment, a benefit employers pay through unemployment insurance.

“The unemployment insurance person told me over the phone that it’s not the fault of the employee that she cannot do the job,” Court told local lawmakers. “That’s zero rights as an employer when someone cannot do her job,” Court said.

Don’t play dumb: “Zero rights?” Court had the right to pick the right person in the first place. Not being good at a job is not a reason to deny unemployment, especially when you have a willing worker.

What Court is doing is blaming the worker for her bad decision. She's so bad a business woman that she even said this:

“I’m not hiring again when I have no rights,” Court said.

Really, even when she needs to hire someone? Bullshit; she wants to get off scot-free by working people and then firing them without any liability. But that’s why we have employment laws now, and did away with slavery.

But it’s even worse when someone in charge of a job center hates helping the jobless, and resents them for some imagined sense of "entitlement:"

Dan Lytle, coordinator for the Eau Claire County Job Center called a state requirement that job seekers have to do two jobs searches a week to continue receiving unemployment as ridiculous, saying that figure was too low. “There needs to be significant changes to kind of put a fire underneath their pants,” Lytle said of the job seekers. “There is a huge false sense of entitlement for people who are collecting the (unemployment) benefit,” he said.

Do they feel entitled because they worked for it? My god.

If you've ever been on unemployment, then you know what I’m talking about. Try applying 4 times a week for 3 or 4 months in a row, for jobs that aren't in your field of expertise, and pay a lot less than you’re getting in benefits.

What you're seeing is the next step, after business takes control of government, where they begin wiping out safety nets and benefits. Gee, are we there already?

Do you believe "businesses are pulling back, out of uncertainty about...election?"

We've never seen so many businesses “wait” till after an election before, to…what, sell or manufacture product? I thought demand had more to do with that? Are we seeing a business movement that uses partisan excuses to push their agenda?  Of course, and it’s amazingly coordinated.

I don’t recall ever hearing this “wait and see” approach before:

Shawano Leader: Aarrowcast will lay off 90 employees effective Wednesday in what the foundry says is a temporary measure prompted by a drop in orders from its customers. Chief Financial Officer Jon Moreau said many of the foundry's customers are pulling back out of uncertainty about the upcoming election and what the country's tax laws will look like going into 2013 (the fiscal cliff). Moreau said customers are not necessarily waiting to see who wins; they just want it to be over. "A conclusion to the election would help," he said. "Having it completed, and having some decisions made by Congress."

So how has President Obama’s policies affected business in general, especially Aarrowcast’s?

Aarrowcast was first hit by the economic downturn in 2009. The company's workforce was a little over 300 people when layoffs reduced that number to about 230. By January 2010, the company was able to start hiring again and gradually boosted its workforce well above pre-recession levels. In June, Aarrowcast began a major expansion that will add to the foundry's melting and blasting operations … increase productive capacity by more than 20 percent.

So Obama’s been bad for business…?

Believing his own press, Billionaire Steve Wynn thinks he's a Job Creator, not Consumers.

Consumer demand is over 65 percent of the economy. For the billionaire...I mean "job creator" class, they think they did it all. Talk about believing your own BS propaganda.

RealClearPolitics: On the Tuesday broadcast of the nightly Nevada political program "Ralston Reports," Steve Wynn, CEO of Wynn Resorts sat down with host Jon Ralston to discuss the presidential election.

Here's what we can expect when these guys take over:

Billionaire Steve Wynn: I've created about 250,000 direct and indirect jobs according to the state of Nevada's measurement. If the number is 250,000, that's exactly 250,000 more than this president, who I'll be damned if I want to have him lecture me about small business and jobs. I'm a job creator.

Guys like me are job creators and we don't like having a bulls-eye painted on our back.

The president is trying to put himself between me and my employees. By class warfare, by deprecating and calling a group that makes money 'billionaires and millionaires who don't pay their share.' I gave 120% of my salary and bonus away last year to charities, as I do most years. I can't stand the idea of being demagogued, that is put down by a president who has never created any jobs and who doesn't even understand how the economy works.

This is one of the most arrogant, fantasy based rants I've heard to date. When Wynn compares his job creation record with Obama's, you just want to laugh at the fool. First time business people start off as having not created any jobs, should they just give up? No, they wait until demand requires more product, and then as a last resort, hire employees. Wynn is not only filled with himself, he's also got an ample supply of BS thrown in.



Wynn even repeats the disproved "Obama gave money to Brazil for drilling" lie. Rich doesn't mean smart.

Vilified Wealthy now Hiding in the Shadows, Afraid and Embarrassed. Won't someone help them please...

The most surreal commentary appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel over the weekend, that is funnier than it is offensive, and it’s really, really offensive.

Christian Schneider may have to hide who he is in public after this editorial:

jsonline: Somehow, beef jerky has become the snack of kings; walking down the street while munching on dried meat is suddenly an indicator of vulgar opulence.

In a way, the rise of beef jerky as status symbol reflects how public attitudes have changed toward wealth in general. Wealthy people, once proud of their success, now try to hide it out of embarrassment. For instance, the upper class used to have an agreed-upon dress code; now, the ideal is to be filthy rich and dress like a hobo. Gone is the grace and elegance of the upper class - they have been so vilified, they now must walk among us in disguise.

Feeling sad for the rich yet? Schneider apparently didn’t get the Frank Luntz memo that replaced “wealthy,” with the middle class friendly term “job creator.” But there’s more laughs…I mean sadness to follow:

I would argue the Occupy ethos has something to do with rich people masquerading as the middle class. Nobody wants to be derided as a "one percenter," or have to defend their success on a daily basis to a bearded guy who has all his mail delivered to a tent.  

Oops, I forgot to grow the beard. Ron Johnson’s meal ticket into the millionaires club through marriage if often ignored, like in this passage that forgets about such minor details:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel referred to rich people as "the most fortunate," as if they just sat around, waiting for the money stork to drop a million bucks down their chimney.

Schneider reflects the greedy daydreams of conservative voters who think that someday they too, will be outrageously rich, instead of comfortable middle class (who wants that?). In one fell swoop, Schneider says a lot about who these people are:

As someone who can currently barely afford to pay attention, I am an aspiring one-percenter. And when the world opens up the money spigot to me, I will be wholly unapologetic for my wealth. I will dress like Mr. Peanut, buy sweaters for rescue dogs and purchase Miller Park just so I can watch What's Happenin' reruns on the big screen by myself. And most important, I will laugh maniacally while walking down the street and shoving beef jerky into my mouth.

After reading this conservative tripe, is there anything funnier than the use of the word “nonpartisan:” Christian Schneider is a senior fellow at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, a nonpartisan conservative think tank.

Government Regulation getting in the way of Business? Just the opposite.

EPI’s Lawrence Mishel and Isaac Shapiro reported, Government regulation isn’t impeding the recovery: That means that this recovery is far more investment-led than the preceding ones.

Let's Help Papa John's avoid the Affordable Care Act.

Papa John's says they're going to increase their pizza prices by about 15 cents, because of Obama's Affordable Care Act.

One manager said she might have to lay people off, so they stay under the 50 employee limit that gives them an exemption.

Let's help Papa John's, and go somewhere else. That's what consumers can do to save money, and help those "job creators" who bully the public with threats of price increases that borders on blackmail.

Let's say good-bye to Papa John's, CEO John Schnatter's bad management, and his odd and horrible ad campaign warning of rising prices that blame Obama. Hope the tea party customers keep all of their money and help Papa John's carry out their business plan to limit employment. That's American, that's what we call job creator? From Newsy:



I thought I was brutal. Stephen Colbert didn't mince words:

The Colbert Report
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Busting the Myth Around Job Creation and Tax Rates.

Do tax rates influence job creation? Of course not, but I'll bet most American probably think so if they're buying the sell job by our sold out press.

Lawrence O'Donnell uncovers the truth from Washington Post reporter Ezra Klein and venture capitalist Nick Hanauer.

Wall Street Loves Cheap Foreign Labor and Profits, then Whines about Weak U.S. Hiring.

You don’t have to know much about investing or Wall Street to know, that after encouraging and profiting off corporate offshoring and cheap foreign labor, that it’s a bit hypocritical to act surprised we’re experiencing slow job growth.

I mean really, let’s get serious;

AP: The Dow Jones industrial average fell 124 points, wiping out its gain for the week, after the U.S. government reported that only 80,000 jobs were created in June. It was the third straight month of weak hiring.

And the bright spot…longer work hours?

BRIGHT SPOTS: There were a few bright spots in the bleak jobs report, according to Sharon Stark, chief market strategist at brokerage firm Sterne Agee. She says the number of work hours and average hourly earnings increased last month.

Campaign Promise Broken: Where's the Outpouring of Jobs, Scott Walker?

I’ve been meaning to write about, and follow-up on, Scott Walker’s recall election campaign promise that job creators were splitting at the seams waiting to hire people once they knew Walker had been reelected.

While getting ready to fill-in for Sly in the Morning and installing new carpeting in a house full of furniture, computers, and wiring, I ran across this perfect description at Rock Netroots. Here’s just a section of their commentary:

Just two weeks after the recall was over and the job creators favored and endorsed Scott Walker won the right to finish his term as governor, the WMC wasted no time to tamp down that one-month old campaign speculation of a jobs explosion. Sorry they basically said, it's not gonna happen anytime soon because there's a "workforce skills gap" in the state. That was just a minor inconvenience they forgot to tell us about in their jobs explosion campaign for re-election. Oh well, they never said anything about actually hiring anyone.

According to this article posted in the Janesville Gazette, they claimed it’ll be at least another year before the state will see any significant job growth. Now this week yet another article titled, Knowledge can help solve state’s workforce paradox continues with the skills gap excuse for no jobs. Notice the WMC and Walker enabler Gazette did not use the word “education” – now it’s "knowledge." Well, maybe because Scott Walker just cut $800 million a year from knowledge Doh!

 …ah, I mean education. You get the picture. It’s one excuse after another excuse after another and another. If excuses were jobs at the WMC, we’d be at full 100% employment.

Let's not forget the massive panicky ad campaign by business groups and the state to hedge Walker's promise of a jobs explosion.