Republicans just taxpayer funded corporate lobbyists.

Our elected Republican corporate lobbyists at the Capitol are having a hard time defending "job creators" when in fact, there aren't enough people seeking jobs. The complete contempt they have for Wisconsinites as valued employees and human beings is nothing short of brutal.

Higher Wages Attract Workers to Wisconsin? Republicans apparently see no value in attracting labor to the state by offering higher wages. Note: 70 percent of the economy is driven by consumers spending the money they earn by working.

Department of Workforce Development Secretary Caleb Frostman called the (wage) increase ($10.25) "modest" and "incremental." He argued it would help spur economic growth by giving low-income workers more spending power ... "It shouldn’t be a partisan issue," said Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison. "We are lagging behind (other states) once more in not increasing our minimum wage."

In the upside-down world of Senate Republican corporate lobbying, the "ripple effect" of consumer spending is ignored completely. Statements like "people are begging for employees" totally misses the point that wages suck and Gov. Evers is trying to attract workers to the state. Note-Sen. Olsen uses the word "people" in place of "business." 

via GIPHY

Republican lawmakers ... criticized the governor's budget for not doing more to attract workers to Wisconsin. "People are begging for employees," said state Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon.

GOP lawmakers argued the (hike in wage) plan would hurt the economy. "What's the ripple effect to employers when we impose more expenses on them?" said state Rep. Shannon Zimmerman, R-River Falls.

The contempt elected Republican lobbyist have for you and me as hard workers? Are you kidding:

Evers would also increase unemployment benefits and remove drug testing for unemployment insurance. Republican lawmakers said that would make it too easy for some to live on those benefits, without seeking work. "It makes it easier to stay at home," said Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette. "I would suggest this budget is riddled with free rides."

I guess Nygren missed how low unemployment numbers kinda disproves his condescending theory about "free rides" and "staying at home."

Our elected lobbyists think Wisconsin workers wouldn't be motivated to earn higher incomes than $10.25 an hour...you know, the opposite of basic human nature:

Rep. Shannon Zimmerman, R-River Falls, said she used to be a minimum-wage earner and, at that time, was intent on “improving.”“If we just raise it (minimum wage), what incentive would I possibly have had to improve?” Zimmerman said

Republican Sen. Howard Marklein wants the good old 60's back when $5 a day was enough? Would I kid you:

Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, said his career started when he did farm work for $5 a day. 

Not enough is said about the Republican's free market disaster, the Great Recession, the massive job losses, and bankrupt businesses. The eventual recovery guided by Obama and the Democrats? Every Republican-dominated state took credit for that:

Republicans also expressed concern about Evers' proposals to roll back Wisconsin’s right-to-work law and reinstate the prevailing wage on state construction projects, both of which were important to the Walker administration. "I think a lot of those policies we’ve implemented are the reason we’re in the position we are today," said Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville.

"...the reason we're in the position we are today!!!"

A Higher Minimum Wage better than Walker Ad Campaign: 

The governor’s plan eliminates funding for a marketing program aimed at attracting millennials, veterans and University of Wisconsin System graduates who have moved out of Wisconsin. Democrats on the committee argued that is the right move, saying the state should focus on creating an attractive environment for those people, rather than marketing to them. "You need to create communities they want to live in," Taylor said.

Republicans Far Right Political Theories Hurting Income: Higher wages/greater consumer spending:

Republicans are Bad at Capitalism!!!

I recently came across this tweet that strikes at the heart of what should be the debate:

Building on that list:

Bad at Capitalism #1-This is one reoccurring jaw dropper that is now normalized: Republican free market capitalism uses the government, the same government they hate want to get out of the way of business, to give out taxpayer funded state revenues to private businesses?

Bad at Capitalism #2-Republicans passed liability laws protecting business from capitalism's greed, corruption, bad products, and consumer lawsuits! They limited private sector attorney's fees too. Deregulation is really just new regulation against consumer interests and protections.

Bad at Capitalism #3-Wisconsin Republicans gave so much taxpayer money to Foxconn, they didn't have enough for Kimberly Clark's demand for cash.

Bad at Capitalism #4-Republicans against government interference actually praise and idolize "Art of the Deal" god Trump, even as he distorts markets by threatening private automakers, Harley Davidson, banned foreign tech companies, raised consumer taxes in the form of tariffs, gave us the biggest trade deficit in history, and gave business a huge tax cut forcing U.S. taxpayers to pay its bills by borrowing.

Bad at Capitalism #5-This is the BIG one!!! Republicans promoted a capitalism friendly deregulated Wall Street that crashed the global economy, the Great Recession, and wiped out hundreds of major retailers that employed tens of thousands of jobs.

Bad at Capitalism #6-The old switcheroo: Republicans realizing how bad at capitalism was to business without "socialist" protections, they turned capitalism's brutality loose onto the public...

Noam Chomsky: After the greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior of Wall Street led to their collapse, it is a system which provided trillions in government aid to bail them out.” In other words, we now have socialism for the rich and free market capitalism for everyone else. This is a perverse inversion of the historical norm.

Bad at Capitalism #7-Republicans are now ignoring free market energy companies moving to clean energy:

Driven by investor pressure, growing public concern and mounting scientific urgency ... the fervor around the Green New Deal is accelerating this shift and accentuating Republicans’ isolation and their internal divisions ... Virtually all executives acknowledged climate change as a pressing issue and a few, including CEOs of major oil companies like BP and Equinor, implored the industry to do more and embrace big policy changes. (Some Republicans) likening the Green New Deal to genocide and responding to a question about climate change by explaining photosynthesis.

Bad at Capitalism #8-Republicans think their tax cuts will result in roaring free market business profits that will pay for lost government revenue and produce good paying jobs...

USA Today: The bottom line 2018 deficit number is significant because it occurred during good economic times, when the federal deficit typically falls rather than spikes. According to the Monthly Treasury Statement for fiscal 2018, the year that just ended Sept. 30, the deficit was $779 billion — a $113 billion, 17 percent increase over the$666 billion deficit recorded last year.

This was the biggest one-year increase in the deficit since 2009, when the Great Recession wreaked havoc on federal finances. 

A simple analysis of what Treasury reported shows that virtually the entire deficit increase was because the tax cut enacted in December reduced revenues substantially.

And while Republicans push supposed capitalism and bash "socialist" areas of the state like Dane County and Madison, they should be thanking them for making the jobs numbers look really good;

The truth is Scott Walker did nothing but took credit for a recovering economy. And after looking at his mind numbing tweets, we can breath a little easier.

Capitalism and Millennials: "Malcolm Harris, an editor at the online magazine the New Inquiry, begins his book Kids These Days: Human Capital and the Making of Millennials," had this message:

What made millennials so burned out? Why are they having fewer kids? Why are they getting married later? Why are they obsessed with efficiency and technology?

And Harris' answer, in so many words, is the economy. Millennials, he argues, are bearing the brunt of the economic damage wrought by late-20th-century capitalism. All these insecurities — and the material conditions that produced them — have thrown millennials into a state of perpetual panic. If “generations are characterized by crises,” as Harris argues, then ours is the crisis of extreme capitalism.

I spoke to Harris about the case he lays out in the book, and why he thinks millennials will have to overthrow the system and rewrite the social contract if they want to meaningfully improves their lives — and the lives of future generations.