Three years ago, Minnesota elected a DFL governor (Mark Dayton) whose slogan was “tax the rich,” and in 2012 it gave his DFL party control of the Legislature. Three years ago, Wisconsin elected a Republican governor (Scott Walker) with a Republican Legislature pledged to implement the anti-tax, anti-union, least-government approach that 21st century conservatism says is the best way to produce jobs and economic growth and the greatest good for the great number.
In a must-read op-ed in Sunday’s New York Times, University of Minnesota political scientist Larry Jacobs stepped back to see which approach was getting better results so far.
It isn’t even close. Minnesota is growing and thriving far more than Wisconsin:
Three years into Mr. Walker’s term, Wisconsin lags behind Minnesota in job creation and economic growth. As a candidate, Mr. Walker promised to produce 250,000 private-sector jobs in his first term, but a year before the next election that number is less than 90,000. Wisconsin ranks 34th for job growth….
Along with California, Minnesota is the fifth fastest growing state economy, with private-sector job growth exceeding pre-recession levels. Forbes rates Minnesota as the eighth best state for business….
The lion’s share of Minnesota’s new tax revenue was sunk into human capital. While the state’s Constitution required that half of the new revenue balance the budget in 2013, Mr. Dayton invested 71 percent of the remaining funds in K-12 schools and higher education as well as a pair of firsts: all-day kindergarten and wider access to early childhood education. Minnesota was one of the few states that raised education spending under the cloud of the Great Recession.
By contrast, Mr. Walker’s strategy limited Wisconsin’s ability to invest in infrastructure that would have catalyzed private-sector expansion, and he cut state funding of K-12 schools by more than 15 percent. Per student, this was the seventh sharpest decline in the country.
Health care presents another difference. When Mr. Walker refused to establish a state health insurance exchange or to expand Medicaid…
Mr. Dayton is on course to improve Minnesota’s already low uninsured rate. He expanded Medicaid to cover an additional 35,000 people and accepted Washington’s offer to pick up the cost — as half the states, including a growing number with Republican governors, have. Mr. Dayton also created a state insurance exchange, which enrolled more than 90 percent of its first month’s target.
Overcoming GOP messes
Gov. Dayton had to overcome a $6,000,000,000 debt left behind by Pawlenty. Pawlenty pseudo balanced the budget by shifting money from education so he could look presidential. I suspect Walker has presidential aspiration too, so look out Wisconsin it is going to get much worse. The GOP wants to run the country but have already proven they can’t do that, reference George W. Bush’s and his mess. The GOP can’t even run their own party so they have some hard work ahead before they can handle grandiose presidential ideas.
So true
Pawlenty failed on all accounts.
Now we have a governor who is moving this state forward. Wis is left in the dust. Jus feel bad for the people. BUt they had their chance to recall him.
Pretty damning facts, I’d say.
I’d also say that I’m proud to be a Minnesotan.
I’m sure this will be a topic of conversation over the Thanksgiving holiday when I return to my family home in Madison in a couple of days!
You get what you pay for
I moved here, from WI, 20 years ago because the opportunities were better. That seems more true now than ever.
Not a comparison for Business
Per The Tax Foundation’s 2014 edition of the State Business Tax Climate Index….
Minnesota #47 in Business Tax Climate (dropped from #45)
Wisconsin #43 in Business Tax Climate
I can’t say either of us should be proud.
Proof of the Pudding
If that (highly subjective) ranking means anything, why is Minnesota doing significantly better economically than Wisconsin?
Business Taxes
Dan, that depends on what you get for your money. You can’t just look at raw figures and declare that one is bad and another good without first getting it into context.
Of course
While The Tax Foundation is nominally nonpartisan, it has a history of pro business bias and alignment with business interests.
Be more interesting to look at the net inflow of businesses into the two states.
I believe that businesses are voting with their feet for Minnesota.
I’m talking about aggregates; not anecdotes which you can pick and choose to support whatever position you want.
Nonpartisan?
I’m surprised Paul! The Tax Foundation is basically the national incarnation of the defunct Taxpayer’s League here in MN, an extension of the Republican party. Neither entity knows a tax that it likes and both produce incoherent policy statements based on the ridiculous notion that tax rates in and of themselves tell you something about an economy or a business climate. They simply assume that the lower the tax rates are the better for business… this has no bearing on either business or economic reality. It’s not even pro-business, it’s just mumbo jumbo.
I agree
They would not listen to me when I asked them to compare mn with Wis and they just said Wis will eventually overtake us. Blah they are so close minded.
An objective evaluation: a half truth
Let’s see: liberal professor writes an opinion piece for a liberal newspaper that a liberal website sees as evidence that a liberal state is superior to a conservative state—as determined only by who has been governor for the past three years.
A more objective analysis of that proposition was done Aug. 29 by the liberal Milwaukee Journal’s Politifact team when it studied the identical claim made by liberal Minnesota State Sen. Joe Atkins. Politifact’s conclusion:”Minnesota outperformed Wisconsin by comfortable margins on four measures Atkins singled out, and on several other rankings that used various economic indices. On other measures, Wisconsin led or was about even with Minnesota. For a statement that is partially accurate, we give Atkins a Half True.
I don’t know how much research that the supposedly non-partisan Jacobs did, but leaving out this easily found judgment of the liberal hometown paper certainly brings into question his alleged independence. Was his piece truly a scholarly effort, or was it political wishful thinking by another liberal professor whose views were quickly embraced by the liberal New York Times?
Link: http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2013/sep/15/joe-atkins/rebuffing-scott-walker-minnesota-lawmaker-says-his/
Liberals
Darn those libruls and their crafty facts. If it wasn’t for you meddling kids (and your little dog too) they might have got away with it!
Thank you, Citizen, for exposing these charlatans for what they are. ‘Murica needs more upstanding patriots like you!
Liberal, liberal, liberal
Do you get paid every time you use the word “liberal?” Or are you playing a drinking game (“Down a beer every time someone says ‘liberal.'”)?
I bothered to read the survey that had the quote you cited (the whole article, not just the tag lines). The report in the liberal Milwaukee paper said that liberal Minnesota outperformed non-liberal Wisconsin on six measures, non-liberal Wisconsin beat liberal Minnesota on three measures, and the two states were pretty much tied on the others. Two of the three rankings in which Wisconsin outperformed liberal Minnesota were subjective measures (surveys of preferences of businesspeople, not liberal empirical facts like unemployment rates).
Aside from the fact that PolitiFact
is a somewhat right leaning operation run by the Tampa Bay Times …..
Rightwing?
Did everyone else laugh out loud at this?
Everything is relative…
I thought it was, however the reality is that if you are on the far left everything looks like it is to the right… Just as everything looks left when one is sitting on the far right…
Liberals stick together
Larry Jacobs is that “objective” educator liberal WCCO-TV reporters always go to when they need a “fair and balanced” perspective on a news story.
John Edwards nails it when he directs us to the newspaper column that reveals just how selective liberals such as Jacobs can be when it comes to “facts.”
I look forward to the election of President Walker in 2016. It will make my day.
Don’t hold your
Breathe. He probably will not be a governor at that point which would make my day.
Look At Income and Educational Attainment
According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2011 the median family income in Minnesota was approximately $7000 more than in Wisconsin. Per capita income in the same year was $3000 more in Minnesota than in Wisconsin.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2009 the percent of individuals in Minnesota who obtained a high school diploma was 90.5% whereas in Wisconsin it was 89.8%. The percent of adults age 25 years or older who obtained a Bachelors Degree or higher was 31.5% in Minnesota and 25.7% in Wisconsin.Those with a graduate degree was 10.3% in Minnesota and 8.4% in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin faces a brain drain problem. Note that high school graduation rates are quite similar for the two states, yet there significantly fewer adults in Wisconsin who have earned an undergraduate or higher degree. Graduates of colleges and universities in Wisconsin leave for better paying jobs elsewhere. Quite simply, Wisconsin needs to grow higher paid job opportunities.
MINNPOST: Correcting THE VIEW’s perspective of reality (& Obama’
On November 12, 2013, this writer found himself accidently watching “The View”. Within 15 minutes, this writer was enraged by some the the comments being made by Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg & alleged Repubican Joe Scarsborough. This writer was so angered, he felt it prudent to wait at least a day to respond.
OBAMA’S PRESS CONFERENCE
In the meantime, President Obama decided to give a press conference today, November 14,2013. Before we address correcting “The View’s” perspective of reality, let us give appropriate time to President Obama’s Press
Conference. President Obama has admitted he lied about keeping your current insurance and your current Doctor.
At the same time, it is illegal for us rank and file Americans to make fraudulent
misrepresentations to induce another to enter into a contract. Any
contract which a rank and file Americans fraudulently induces another to
sign is null and void and unenforceable. America’s Foundation provides
that “All People are created eaual”. Another Foundation of America is
the Principle of the “Rule of Law”. Ergo, All People being created equal
are to be ruled by the same set of laws and legal standard. Further,
the Natural Law upon which this country is founded, provides that “Truth
is established by the Individual using their own observations and
reasoning”. (Proof Country Founded on Natural Law http://t.co/rZswNupbeO )
The
margin of passage of Obamacare was so narrow that Obama’s admitted lies
likely affected the outcome. Being fully informed, the overwhelming
majority of Americans have established truth for themselves and and
reject Obamacare. Ergo, in a nation predicated on “All People created
equal” the just, honorable and only course of action is to rehash the
debate with WE THE PEOPLE fully informed and recast the votes. But,
alas, Obama is not only a liar, but he is a Progressive.
Does The View’s perspective of reality match yours?
For
those unaware, the philosophy of Progressive Government Doctrine is that
masses do not know what is good for them and, therefore, the
Progressive Educated Elite are authorized to lie to the masses to get
them to do what the Progressive Educated Elite proclaim is in their best
interests.(You just can’t make this stuff up, research it yourself).
With the forgoing introduction, all that is left to be said that
President Obama is a liar. He subscribes to a Goverance Doctrine of
Progressivism which specifically authorizes lying to the masses. To
wit, at today’s Press Conference President Obama just made some more
misrepresentations and told some more lies to advance the Progressive
Agenda. And further, telling WE THE PEOPLE we can keep our present
original healthcare insurance for another year does not make the promise
we could keep your health insurance “period” any less of a lie.
Finally,
It just seems to this writer that before WE THE PEOPLE turn over 1/6 of
the economy to the government, there should be an intellectually honest
debate and vote to do so. Just call me crazy and unreasonable.(sarcasm)
That having been said, even now, this writer feels he has devoted too
many words to today’s Obama Press Conference.
THE VIEW
Which
brings us to “The View”. Ladies and Gentleman of November 12, 2013
program, today I will address you with respect as a fellow American,
presuming you have the best interests of rank and file Americans at
heart. This courtesy is only extended to you because at this point
because this writer doesn’t know whether representations and statements
you made that offended this writer and fellow Americans were made as a
result of lack of knowledge or with intent to allign yourself against
the best interests of WE THE PEOPLE. (President Obama recieved no such
courtesy as he is full aware of his duplicitous agenda) This writer
would ask you to “strike your colors” after reading this article so that
this writer and WE THE PEOPLE may know whether you are freind or foe to
the best interests of rank and file Americans. [On this episode of The
View, Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd and Jenny
McCarthy were the cohosts and Joe Scarsborough ,alleged Republican and
author of “The Right Play”, was the guest host)
That having been said,
it angers this writer to the core to hear others assert what his or
anyone else’s alleged perspective of reality is. Barbara Walters
barking “They need to stop…
To continue to read for free, please click here: http://goo.gl/iiY8g9
Those were my thoughts.
In Closing:
Thank you, my fellow citizens, for taking your valuable time to read and reflect upon what is written here.
If what is written here rings true to you, perhaps you should contact
your local elected officials and let them know. If you are afraid of
repercussions, snail mail it anonymously and ask them to respond in the
local paper or their own monthly/quarterly internet newsletter. Even if
this article refers to something outside you geographic area, it still
likely applies to your location. Remember all those taxpayer training
junkets we taxpayers send the bureaucrats on? They all learn the same
“livestock management” techniques to use on WE THE PEOPLE.
And that leaves WE THE PEOPLE with this conundrum: While our
#Government works full time with compensation and funded with our money
for the cause of #Tyranny; WE THE PEOPLE are forced to work part time
without compensation for the cause of #liberty with what is left over of
our time, money and energy.
Finally, this article is written with the same intentions as Thomas Paine http://ushistory.org/paine. I seek no leadership role. I seek only to help the American People find their own way using their own “Common Sense” http://amzn.to/kbRuar
Keep Fighting the Good Fight!
In Liberty,
Don Mashak
The Cynical Patriot
http://twitter.com/dmashak
http://Facebook/Don.Mashak
Don Mashak Google Plus http://goo.gl/1AUrE
WE THE PEOPLE TAR #WETHEPEOPLETAR
http://WETHEPEOPLETAR.blogspot.com
http://facebook.com/WETHEPEOPLETAR
http://twitter.com/WETHEPEOPLETAR
End the Fed(eral Reserve Bank System) #ETF
National http://bit.ly/ta3Rju Minneapolis http://bit.ly/tjZJKF
Bring Home the Politicians #BHTP
http://BringHomethePoliticians.com
Lawless America #LawlessAmerica
http://LawlessAmerica.com
Term Limits #TermLimit
http://TermLimits.org
Justice in Minnesota #JIM
http://JusticeinMN.com
Critical Thinking Notice – This author advises you as no politician would dare. Exercise Critical Thinking (http://bit.ly/ubI6ve)
in determining the truthfulness of anything you read or hear. Do not
passively accept nor believe anything anyone tells you, including this
author… unless and until you verify it yourself with sources you trust
and could actively defend your perspective to anyone who might debate
you to the contrary of your perspective.
Shouldn’t this be filed
under ‘fiction’?
And not particularly creative, at that.
I look forward to the election of President Walker in 2016.
President of what?
President Walker
He will take over the Presidency of the “Washed Up Governors Who Once Were Mentioned as Presidential Contenders by Some Republican Pundit” Club. Tim Pawlenty will be named President Emeritus.
As a long time former resident of Wisconsin,
I have to laugh at anyone who describes the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as “liberal.”
That describes me to a T: I’m also a long-time former resident of Wisconsin.
And I also had the same incredulous reaction to hearing that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was liberal!
Timing?
The thing I found most silly about the NYT opinion piece was that the opinion writer was complaining that Gov Dayton had been in control of the state for ~2 yrs and 11 mths. When the reality is that the DFL contingent did not start changing things in earnest until ~8 mths ago. Meaning that we have NO idea yet as to the consequences of their actions. From my perspective, the opinion writer is doing an excellent job of praising the fiscal constraint of Pawlenty and the GOP.
It will be interesting to see the impact of the DFL increasing taxes and spending. However I am thinking we will not know these for at least 2 years.
I think the strength of MN’s business climate has as much or more to do with our staunch and incredible corporate citizens. For example, imagine if Medtronic had not grown up here and made the metro into the healthcare device boomtown that it is. (not to mention Cargill, General Mills, Target, Best Buy, etc) Let’s reward them by taxing them more…
Corporations choose to stay
in Minnesota despite its higher taxes,
or in fact -because- of them.
They value the state’s investment in infrastructure, the availability of well educated workers, and the attractiveness of the state to employees who have a choice as to where to locate (and they are the most valuable ones).
If all you need is a plot of land and unskilled cannon fodder, than Wisconsin is great, but then the deep South is even greater.
Trash Talking Wisconsin?
Considering the number of MN kids that go to Wisconsin for Higher Ed, this may be a bit naive. Univ of Wisc Madison seems to draw some of our best and brightest graduates.
Warehousing, repair and telcom may not need the best and brightest…
http://unitedforjobsmn.com/b2b-taxes/
By the way, I have no affiliation with Wisc. My background is in SW MN and SE SD…
Not really again
Dayton has had no longer than Walker has had. If we want to look at how much time Dayton has had “in earnest” we would have to conclude that he’s accomplished a lot more in 8 months than Walker has in 35 months.
John,
what does the University of Wisconsin have to do with Scott Walker? Sure, Minnesota kids go to Madison, just like Wisconsin kids go to the U. This has zero to do with politics, and everything to do with wanting to get away from home, but not TOO far away. I’m finding it difficult to connect the dots between a student’s college choice and B2B taxes.
Relativity
I got a sense from the comments that many people here were saying that MN was excellent, and WI was lacking. My point is simply that WI is perceived as a great state with a great educational system by a large number of people, including a large number of folks I know that find Univ MN Twin Cities unacceptable. Most liked Madison better because it is a “college town”., whereas UMN TC is such a small part of the Twin Cities metro culture. My oldest daughter just chose Iowa State University in Ames for the same reason after being accepted to both.
I like MN, but I am not naive or egotistical enough to say it is “much better” than our neighboring states. I noted recently on G2A that after looking at the satelite image of both states, I think we had better be very thankful that we have as much tillable farm land as we do. With yields and prices up the last few years, I am pretty sure that has given us a huge leg up. Imagine if most of our state was like North of 94, I am guessing our GDP would not be nearly as high as it is. Especially with all the in state food processing plants we now have.
The point is making an argument that MN is better and WI is worse because of Walker / Dayton is way way way premature.
Not really
“I got a sense from the comments that many people here were saying that MN was excellent, and WI was lacking.”
We’re discussing an article that compared some economic indicators between the two states.
Madison
Is the biggest civilized area of WI.
B2B Taxes
Regarding B2B taxes and Students, Paul seems to think folks in WI are “cannon fodder”. I assume that means “academically challenged”… Since I see MN and WI as very similar, I am thinking MN better stay competitive or companies that can move, will move.
3PL’s, repair, and telcom firms are excellent examples. Just one short truck ride from Wisconsin. Who cares if the warehouse or repair site is in Mpls or Hudson…
Anti intellectuals and Republicans
I think the at the end of the day the problem that’s killing the Republican Party more than any other is going to be their complete inability to do any intellectual work. Decades of anti-intellectualism and high-school debate mentality have demolished the intellectual capacity of Republicans. No where amongst the Republican ranks can one find anyone or any organization that is capable of analyzing a problem or observation or even recognizing a legitimate public policy problem, much less producing any kind of coherent analysis or solution.
You can see this clearly in the commentary being offered here. None of the Walker defenders posting here seem to have the intellectual capacity to engage on the issue. I’m not trying to insult anyone, I’m just making an observation. Here we have a column based on an article that provides factual evidence. All we’re getting thus far is observations that this article and it’s facts have been produced by “liberals”. As if a fact can only be reliable if were produced by a “conservative”. This isn’t even a legitimate “bias” claim, this isn’t the lowest rung of the intellectual ladder, it’s failure to even step onto the intellectual ladder in the first place. The idea the the credibility of a proposition could be determined solely by the ideological orientation is absurd yet that all we get from these guys. And not just comentors here, it’s all you get from Republican “intellectuals” like Jason Lewis et al.
Flawed Logic
Paul,
Do you really believe that it makes sense to give Dayton and the DFL credit for the great current state of MN only ~8 months after they started changing things?
That has to be one of the least intellectual views I could imagine. Now if you were giving credit to the GOP for their ~decade in power bringing us to this good place, now that may make more sense.
In ~2-4 years we will know more about the impact of the DFL’s tax and spend plan…
You’re logic not mine.. and your right
John,
Assigning success based on length of time rather than actually policy is illogical, but that was your logic not mine.
What you have to explain is why it is that Walker with a full 35 months under his belt deploying the Republican plan has failed to surpass MN on these economic indicators? Unlike Dayton, Walker’s regime has been unhindered by partisan division. So if you’re going to credit 24 months of Republican policies with success in MN you have to explain why 35 months of those same policies have failed to produce the same or better results in WI?
Better yet why don’t you just explain how it is you still support trickle down economics after it produced the biggest financial crises in six decades?
Change Takes Time
First:
It took 10+ years of Conservative leadership to make MN as strong as it is today. So we will see with WI.
Second:
Hopefully things change in MN before we see the negative impact of 10+ years of “tax and spend” policies. So we will see in MN.
Finally:
Liberals often attribute success in ND and other Conservative states to oil, sea ports or some other “good fortune”. I personally think that MN has had some excellent “good fortune” during the last 5+ years. We have a lot of tillable land, and agriculture has been booming in the State. Land that was $1500/acres is now worth $4500/acre. We missed some droughts and prices have been great.
Looking at the map, it seems that most of Wisc has mostly pasture and woodlands. Neither has benefitted from the ag boom. In fact the higher commodity prices hurt the farmers that had to feed livestock. And besides the farmers themselves, we have equipment manufacturers, ethanol plants, etc in the state that have been rocking the last 5+ years. Imagine if most of our state looked like the iron range…
We need minimum wage laws because we don’t have Unions
We’ve already discussed the fact there is no such thing a “free” labor market, just markets that are skewed to various degrees one way or the other. (snip)
Sorry, this I accidentally posted this comment here instead of the thread on minimum wage. I’ve moved it over now. Didn’t mean to get off topic.
Buy American?
This is one of my favorite topics. Do you really support American workers with your own choices?
http://give2attain.blogspot.com/2013/11/why-do-liberals-buy-foreign-cars.html
Will you personally buy higher priced American made products or willingly pay some more in repairs to pay those higher wages? And to ensure the remaining Unions stay strong? (ie UAW in Michigan)
This is related to the WI vs MN discussion since my Chevy Suburban was built in Janesville WI before the plant was shuttered. And of course we also lost the Ford plant downtown.
Of course, I believe the worker’s wages and union power were reduced because greedy American consumers chose to stop “Buying American” in the 1980’s. They liked their cheaper and higher quality Hondas, Toyotas, Subarus, etc. And now they love their Hyundais, Kias,etc…
And now you want to mandate a higher minimum wage and make American products and services even more expensive. Do you see that in some way encouraging Americans to start Buying American? Or will that encourage even more Americans to buy foreign?
You can’t have your cake and eat it too…
How can you espouse a ‘free-market’ consumer system, and then complain when American consumers purchase, in your own words, ‘cheaper and higher quality’ products that are not produced by Americans, and then denigrate them for it?
To the whole ‘Buy American’ argument, I don’t think it’s really related to the MN vs WI discussion, just because you drive a Chevy Suburban that was built in WI. I once owned a Sony Walkman that was built in Japan but that doesn’t mean I’m going to pontificate about the merits of universal healthcare in the discussion thread on a story about the Senkaku Islands.
No Trade Wars
I whole heartedly support free trade, and Paul was saying there was no free trade.
Often Liberals contend that the Corporations/Wealthy are in charge and have somehow reduced wages and union power. I just like to remind folks that it is actually us consumers who are in charge and we reap what we sow.
Now “Conservatives” openly say they will buy or do what they think is best for themselves no matter the impact on others. (ie Ayn Rand-ish) Whereas Liberals say they are worried about their fellow co-workers, Union members and wages in the USA, so I find it hypocritical when they critique the corporations / rich while they themselves are behaving like “true capitalists”. (ie buying what they want, even though it reduces wages, weakens unions, etc)
Does that makes sense?
No.
The average consumer has a lot less buying power, given stagnant wages. The middle class spends money locally and in the country, instead of shipping it offshore. Just look at the last 30 years of the economy. It doesn’t matter how cheap the foreign-made goods are if people can’t buy them.
New Cars
Sarah,
I see lots and lots of news cars on the road every day. At least half of them say Toyota, Honda, VW, Hyundai, KIA, Subaru, Mazda, BMW, Lexus, Infiniti, Acura, Nissan, etc. It seems people do have money and are willingly and happily sending it overseas with the jobs and wages.
And don’t forget cell phones… Motorola and Apple products may be made there, however their profits flow back to American companies, employees, R&D, intellectual property, etc. Where as the money spent on those Samsung, LG and other brands phones are headed overseas.
My point is people started buying foreign which lowered the USA work load which reduced the wages. And this cycle just keeps repeating as consumers are now starting to buy Samsung, LG and other major appliances… (ie this follows clothing, electronics, cars, etc) Maybe it will be the end of the Maytag Repairman after all…
Thankfully I work for a company who exports high end test equipment to these foreign companies. So some of the money is recaptured.
So why do you believe consumers have less buying power/ lower wages?
By the way, I was running a bumper sticker survey. Of cars with Liberal bumper stickers on them, everyone so far was a foreign car… I am not sure what that means.
Your ‘survey’ means nothing. It’s anecdotal, biased, and un-scientific.
True
But watch for yourself just for fun…
Many of those *are* made in the USA
That they are headquartered in other countries does not mean that they aren’t built right here in the states. Many of those brands do build vehicles in the US, even the luxury brands. For example, every BMW x5 sold the world over is made in South Carolina. And besides that, parts suppliers are working in a global market. Even an American branded car is going to have parts that were made all over the world. So buying “American” isn’t as simple as you think, at least as far as autos are concerned.
Good Try
The only 2 foreign firms that do a modest of job of being “American” on a few of their models are Toyota and Honda. And they setup shop in places where the Unions would have little power. However they have worked hard to setup large development centers in the States.
Here is the best “American Content” index I have found. It accounts for more than just production.
http://kogodnow.com/autoindex/
At 32 out of 100, the X5 did score the highest for a BMW. Whereas a Chevy Tahoe scored an 83.5…
It likely isn’t this simple, but if you spend $40,000 on an X5 only ~$13,000 goes to Americans. Whereas if you spend $40,000 on a Tahoe ~$33,400 goes to Americans.
It doesn’t make sense. Paul’s comment, as he amended, was meant for a different article anyways. As Sarah goes on to mention, the need to purchase cheaper goods stems at least in part from a real wage stagnation or loss for the majority of people in this country. So, hammering “liberals” for making financially responsible decisions for their own family (which in your mind is to the detriment of society) as hypocrites while you yourself talk about fiscal responsibility is, well, hypocritical.
Chicken or Egg
I believe the consumer choices are the key driver of the “real wage stagnation or loss for the majority of people in this country”…
However many would prefer to blame someone else for their choices and problems…
walker
Scott Walker remembers creating jobs as assemblyman in Wisconsin . It was easy with ALEC. 32000 UNION public sector jobs. It is not as easy this time with out using your tax dollars. Scott Walker has created ALL Wisconsin`s budget problems working for ALEC. In 1997 Walker and Prosser as state assemblymen championed for ALEC with truth in sentencing telling the legislatures it would not cost a dime it was to give judges not parole boards the control over sentencing. Then Walker filibustered to stop sentencing changes after the fact misleading ALL the legislatures. With out the sentencing changes Wisconsin`s prisons quadrupled over night. Most people sentenced to 2 years now had to serve as much as 6o years. It shows Wisconsin has wasted 100 billion if you add the numbers to the state budget since 1997. Not including the building new or remodeling of 71 courthouses & 71 county jails & 441 police stations and dozens of prisons 28 billion plus interest. The total is over 28 BILLION plus the 60 Billion spent by social services to support prisoners families because the bread winner was a political prisoner as US Att gen Eric Holder explained. Then farming out prisoners in several states until the courts realized it was not allowed in the Wisconsin constitution. Wisconsin then hired 32000 union public sector workers to fill the jobs housing the prisoners from deputies , judges, district attorneys all owe Walker for creating there jobs. 32000 UNION PUBLIC SECTOR JOBS. This cost taxpayers over 3.8 billion or a half million per day to house these EXTRA prisoners per day in Milwaukee county alone. Wisconsin claims it has 24,000 prisoners compared to Minnesota`s 5500. Wisconsin`s corrections population is 104,000 with many in half way house and county jails and county prisons that are not counted.