Boots & Sabers

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Month: December 2020

Make Wisconsin a destination state

by | 1919, 21 Dec 2020 | , | 1 Comment

I forgot to post this… here is my full column that ran in the Washington County Daily News last week.

Elon Musk made big headlines when he announced that he would move Tesla’s headquarters from California to Texas, but he is actually a bit late to the trend. Over the past decade, over 10,000 companies have fled California for other states with Texas being the number one destination. Joining Tesla in just the last month, tech giants Oracle and Hewlett Packard Enterprise have announced that they are moving their headquarters to Texas. There is no reason why Wisconsin could not also be a destination state for businesses. It is a policy choice, and it will take some hard work.

Musk’s comments about his decision were as flamboyant as ever. Calling California “fascist” and “entitled,” he made his announcement with his customary flourish. But underneath the bombast is a calculated business decision to operate in a state that is a better climate for the business and his employees. It is the same business decision being made by thousands of companies.

The effects of coronavirus are enabling and accelerating the movement. When the pandemic forced employees to work from home, many companies and employees found that it worked well for both. Remote working is particularly sustainable in industries like technology and financial services. With employees able to work from anywhere, one of the challenges to moving a headquarters is removed. It is much easier for a business to launch into another state when they do not need to overcome the gravitational pull generated by employee density.

As companies are liberated from needing to worry as much about where employees live, they are free to look to locate in states that offer a better climate for the business and the top leadership. Texas is a destination because of the policy choices made by state leaders for decades. Texas has no personal income tax, no corporate income tax, a lower cost of living, a businessfriendly regulatory climate, world-class universities, and a vibrant, diverse place to live. There is no reason that Wisconsin could not become the Texas of the 2030s, but we will have to start making changes now.

Governor Scott Walker and the Republican Legislature made Wisconsin significantly more attractive to businesses in the last decade. They did so by reducing the regulatory burden and slightly controlling taxes. They did not make the big systemic changes or spending cuts that will be needed to make Wisconsin a prime destination state. In order to become a business magnet, lawmakers will need to lower the cost of living and doing business by do things like eliminating the personal income tax, reducing or eliminating the corporate income tax, lowering fees and taxes across the board, and reducing the regulatory burden.

For comparison, the state of Texas spends about $4,361 per person. The state of Wisconsin spends about $8,785 per person. Local spending is a little closer, but Wisconsin still spends more. Texas spends $5,663 per person while Wisconsin spends $6,169 per person. All told, Wisconsin state and local governments spend $4,930 more per year per person than Texas. That is $19,720 per year in additional taxing and spending for a family of four. Wisconsin cannot reduce the cost of government and, subsequently, the cost of living if it does not reduce government spending.

One wonders where all of that spending is going. Both states have world-class public universities, but Texas state taxpayers spend less than 50% per capita on them. Both states have a good transportation infrastructure, but Wisconsin state taxpayers spend 13.8% more per capita. Wisconsin is spending almost 28% more on K-12 education for marginally better results, but the student demographics are drastically different.

Generally, as one goes through the state budget, Wisconsin spends much more on almost everything than other states. It is difficult to see any additional value for all of that additional spending. “Value” should be the word that dominates the upcoming state budget debate. If taxpayers are going to spend 10%, 25%, or 50% more on something than other states, then state politicians should be able to articulate how taxpayers are getting 10%, 25%, or 50% more value for the dollars spent. If they can’t, then the spending is just being wasted.

The upcoming budget session is another opportunity for Wisconsin policy-makers to make the choices that will determine if Wisconsin will ever be a destination state for businesses and workers. If they choose to keep increasing spending because it is the path of least resistance, then businesses and people will continue to relocate into other states and Wisconsin will miss this historic opportunity when businesses are going to be moving more than ever.

Evers Pushes Legislature to Pass Spending Bill in Lame Duck Session

by | 1853, 21 Dec 2020 | | 1 Comment

I thought that Governor Evers considered legislation passed during a “lame duck” session to be unconstitutional.

Gov. Tony Evers is calling on Wisconsin’s two Republican legislative leaders to act “expeditiously and without delay” on COVID-19 relief legislation the Democratic executive says amounts to a “compromise bill” among the trio.

The proposal, which includes measures to cover vaccinations under the SeniorCare program for elderly individuals, extend unemployment insurance call center hours and allow the Legislature’s powerful budget committee to move money around to cover public health expenses, represents a collection of provisions Evers said lawmakers “have been able to find some agreement” on.

“Moving forward on these provisions results in a piece of legislation that responds to some of the needs of Wisconsinites,” Evers wrote in a letter to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and incoming Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu Monday. “Therefore, I believe we must forward with a bill based on the items we can agree on, and it is imperative that the Legislature do so expeditiously.”

As it is, many of the provisions look like a rehash of his earlier bad ideas and some of them are new bad ideas. Here’s a copy of the bill. Let’s cherry-pick a couple:

Under the bill, requirements to administer various pupil assessments do not apply in the 2020-21 school year. The bill also prohibits the Department of Public Instruction from publishing a school and school district accountability report for the 2020-21 school year.

I guess we’re just going to admit that education isn’t really important and that our government schools gave up on it this year.

The bill allows the Department of Health Services to issue an order prohibiting the commencement of actions for eviction or foreclosure for any period before July 1, 2021.

Evers would force property owners to allow people to live for free for half a year, thus redistributing the economic damage and precipitating a wave of bankruptcies and (ironically) foreclosures. You’ll notice that there isn’t a provision to waive property taxes as property owners can’t collect any income to pay it.

Current law allowed a state entity to waive any requirement that an individual appear in person during the public health emergency declared on March 12, 2020. The bill expands that provision so that a state entity may waive such in-person requirements through June 30, 2021, if enforcing the requirement would increase the public health risk.

This is the attempt to force a virtual-only election in April.

We do need the legislature to step up and pass specific legislation to address some of the impacts of the pandemic. There are needs. But let’s get out of the idiotic motion of creating these massively expensive omnibus “compromises.” Come up with an idea; write a bill; vote on it. Let each idea stand on its own merit and let each legislator vote their conscience.

 

 

Wisconsin’s Labor Participation Rate Declines

by | 1517, 21 Dec 2020 | | 3 Comments

Concerning.

The state’s labor force lost 23,100 people over the month and the labor force participation rate dropped by a half-point to 66.9%. Unemployment was down by 33,000, but employment was up just 9,900, according to place of residence data released by the Department of Workforce Development.

Private sector employment was also down by 1,000, according to a separate survey of businesses used to track job growth.

The retail trade sector was particularly challenged, losing 5,200 jobs from October to November. It is down 11,400 from this time last year.

The leisure and hospitality sector also lost 2,100 jobs and is now down 74,200 from last year.

There were some bright spots. The manufacturing sector added 4,200 jobs, led by nondurable goods, which added 3,200 positions. Transportation, warehousing and utilities also added 2,200 jobs.

Wisconsin’s dip in labor force participation was among the 15 largest in the country last month. Washington was the worst, dropping 2.6 percentage points.

Wisconsin’s participation rate had dropped from 66.9% at the start of 2020 to a low of 65% in July. It had rebounded since then before dropping in November.

Another Gargantuan Spending Spree

by | 1503, 21 Dec 2020 | | 7 Comments

SMH.

Washington (CNN)Leaders in the House and Senate reached an agreement late Sunday on a $900 billion pandemic relief bill that includes enhanced unemployment benefits and direct cash payments.

READ: Text of the new $900 billion stimulus bill
There were several changes made from a proposal put forward nearly two weeks ago by a bipartisan group of lawmakers. Direct stimulus checks were brought in at the last minute. Direct aid to states and liability protections for companies were left out.
If the new bill passes, it will be the second-largest federal stimulus package after the $2 trillion CARES Act that Congress approved in March.
As far as I can tell, nobody likes or appreciates this. Fiscal hawks (me) thinks it spends too much money that we don’t have. Liberals think it doesn’t go nearly far enough and want to pass something even larger when Biden assumes office. People are laughing at the $600 check because it’s what rich people think poor people think is a lot of money (stole that from somewhere). Businesses dislike the extra unemployment payments because it’s hard to find workers right now.
Sometimes politicians like to glibly say that the fact that nobody is happy is the sign of a compromise bill, but in this case, nobody is happy because it’s a bad bill.
So why pass it?
Follow the money. Look at all of those billions of dollars flowing into the pockets of businesses, schools, unions, welfare programs, etc. Who decides who gets all of that money? How much will flow into the pockets of politically-connected people and interest groups?
This is bad governance designed to allow politicians to pretend that they are good at their jobs. They are not. I hope Trump vetoes this.

 

Half of States Using Race and Ethnicity to Prioritize Vaccine Distribution

by | 1815, 19 Dec 2020 | , | 15 Comments

Well then… guess I’ll get in the back of the bus. Imagine if they were prioritizing white folks first…

Every US state has been advised to consider ethnic minorities as a critical and vulnerable group in their vaccine distribution plans, according to Centers for Disease Control guidance.

As a result, half of the nation’s states have outlined plans that now prioritize black, Hispanic and indigenous residents over white people in some way, as the vaccine rollout begins.

According to our analysis, 25 states have committed to a focus on racial and ethnic communities as they decided which groups should be prioritized in receiving a coronavirus vaccine dose.

 

The Dreaded Tier 4

by | 1422, 19 Dec 2020 | | 2 Comments

The insane response to this virus is not limited to our nation. Britain has gone bonkers too.

The planned relaxation of Covid rules for Christmas has been scrapped for large parts of south-east England and cut to just Christmas Day for the rest of England, Scotland and Wales.

From midnight, a new tier four will be introduced in areas including London, Kent, Essex and Bedfordshire.

Those in tier four cannot mix indoors with anyone not from their household.

Elsewhere in England, Scotland and Wales, relaxed indoor mixing rules are cut from five days to Christmas Day.

[…]

The country is set to enter a six-week lockdown from 26 December.

For tier-four areas in England, a stay-at-home order has been issued, with exemptions for those who have to travel to work or for education.

Social mixing will be cut to meeting one person in an open public space.

All non-essential retail will have to close, along with hairdressers, nail bars, indoor gyms and leisure facilities.

People elsewhere will be advised not to travel into a tier-four area.

The evidence is now clear that these types of lockdowns do far more harm than good. They have a mixed result in actually stopping the spread of disease, but they have a very certain result in terms of lost wages, depleted savings, hunger, poverty, mental health issues, crime, suicides, and countless other negative results.

Judge Reverses Demotion of Milwaukee Police Chief

by | 1415, 19 Dec 2020 | , | 10 Comments

Good.

MILWAUKEE — MILWAUKEE — A judge has reversed the Fire and Police Commission’s decision to demote former Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales.

Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Christopher Foley said the decision of the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission to demote Morales from police chief to captain was not proper.

In a seven page ruling, Milwaukee County Judge Christopher Foley condemns the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission. Foley writes the Commission failed to follow basic requirements for ousting the city’s top cop, writing in part, “It is clear this entire process was flawed.”

Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Approved

by | 0946, 19 Dec 2020 | , | 1 Comment

Pretty soon, we are going to have a dozen vaccines and a great argument over which one is best. As with most medical things, the answer is “it depends…” humans are infinitely different and the introduction of a foreign substance will have an infinite number of consequences. Still, it’s good to have choices.

Moderna has been approved by the US government as the country’s second Covid-19 vaccine, clearing the way for millions of doses to be released.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorised the US-made jab about a week after approving a Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine which is now being distributed.

The US has agreed to purchase 200 million doses of Moderna, and six million may be ready to ship now.

Renting Castles

by | 0858, 19 Dec 2020 | , | 2 Comments

Speaking of fat in university budgets… this blurb caught my attention while looking up stuff from a show I’m watching.

Dalkeith Palace has not been lived in by the Buccleuch family since 1914 and has been leased to the University of Wisconsin system for a study abroad program since 1985. Approximately 60-80 students a semester live in the palace, where they also take classes from U.S. and U.K. faculty members.

 

Johnson Stalls Massive Spending Bill

by | 2034, 18 Dec 2020 | , | 1 Comment

Kudos to Senator Johnson. It’s nice to see a teensy bit of fiscal hawkishness return to the Republican rhetoric.

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson on Friday blocked an effort to deliver $1,200 checks to Americans as a response to the ongoing economic of the coronavirus pandemic – citing deficit concerns in the final weeks of the Trump presidency.

He was able to block an effort by Missouri Republican Sen. John Hawley, who teamed with Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and sought ‘unanimous consent’ to attach the plan to a must-pass bill to keep the government open, with funding set to expire at midnight.

‘I completely support some kind of program targeted for small businesses,’ Johnson said on the Senate floor. ‘So what I fear we’re going to do with this bipartisan package and what the senator from Missouri is talking about is the same thing, is a shotgun approach,’ he said.

He raised deficit concerns and said the checks would be ‘mortgaging our children’s future.’ Congress enacted numerous relief packages totaling trillions before the election, but unemployment and economic pain has persisted amid a continued spike in infections and mandated distancing measures.

The Senator from Missouri asked for unanimous consent and there wasn’t. Good.

Wisconsin COVID19 Cases Are Down 50% Since Recent Peak

by | 2226, 17 Dec 2020 | | 12 Comments

Huh… no Thanksgiving spike? Just like no election spike… no Independence Day spike… no Labor Day spike… it’s almost as if the virus doesn’t really give a crap what we do.

New daily COVID-19 cases are down 50% from their peak a month ago in Wisconsin, according to state Department of Health Services data.

And contact tracers can again handle their daily caseloads after being overwhelmed in October and November, DHS Secretary-designee Andrea Palm said in a news conference.

Parents Are Voting with their Feet

by | 1614, 17 Dec 2020 | , , | 0 Comments

As expected.

A new study shows school districts that began the year with virtual education lost more students than districts that began the year with in-person education.

The study, “Opting Out: Enrollment Trends in Response to Continued Public School Shutdowns” by Will Flanders with the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), said, “Districts with exclusively virtual education saw a 3% decline in enrollment on average relative to other districts in the state.”

School enrollment is down overall as parents deal with difficult choices during the Covid-19 pandemic. On average, according to the study, school districts saw a 2.67% decline in enrollment this year. In previous years the drop was 0.3%.

“Everyone has had to make adjustments due to the pandemic. But the decision of many teachers’ unions to oppose any attempt at in-person learning appears to have consequences,” Flanders said about the study. “Many Wisconsin families have opted out of schools that are not even trying to accommodate in-person learning.”

There were schools that did see an increase in enrollment, virtual charter schools and parental choice schools.

Declining University Funding

by | 1640, 16 Dec 2020 | , | 15 Comments

Meh.

Wisconsin ranks 41st in the nation for total revenues going to higher education, according to a new report from the non-partisan Wisconsin Policy Forum. It shows the state ranks last in the Midwest.

The study shows that between 2000 and 2019, adjusted state and local tax appropriations per college student dropped from $10,333 to $6,846, which was 16.5 percent below last year’s national average of $8,196.

Between 2011 and 2019, the report shows state and local revenues dropped at the sixth-highest rate in the nation.

[…]

For the UW System, full-time enrollments have dropped by an average of 8.4 percent since a peak of 142,907 in 2010. Enrollments at the state’s two-year colleges fell by more than 47 percent between 2011 and 2019. Last year, two-year UW campuses in Baraboo, Barron County, Manitowoc, Marinette, Marshfield, Richland Center and Sheboygan each enrolled fewer than 300 students.

The report also noted enrollment at the state’s technical colleges has fallen by 22.5 percent since peaking in 2011.

The balance between funding sources is a policy decision. What has happened here is that the UW System has driven up spending despite declining enrollment. State and local lawmakers resisted maintaining the taxpayers’ commitment to the spending and the percentage share declined. For some numbers:

In the 2010-11 operating budget, the UW System spent $5.591 billion to educate 178,909 students. That’s $31,251 per student.

In the 2018-19 operating budget, the UW System spent $6.349 billion to educate 164,494 students. That’s $38,597 per student.

If you want to claim inflation… nope. $31,251 in 2010 inflation-adjusts to $35,988 in 2018. UW is still spending $2,609 more per student for no rational reason at all.

The problem here is just that the UW System spends far too much. They can increase the percentage of public support by just lowering their overall spending. But they won’t… because it’s not about the share of public support. It’s simply about the fact that they want even more money to waste.

 

“Indefinitely Confined” Democratic Elector Experiences Christmas Miracle

by | 2150, 15 Dec 2020 | | 5 Comments

Halleluiah.

Democratic State Senator Patricia Schachtner, one of Wisconsin’s ten electors who cast the state’s electoral votes for Joe Biden Monday, claimed that she was “indefinitely confined” to her home ahead of the November election, but pictures posted on her Facebook page show her out and about campaigning and enjoying leisure time away from home.

Schachtner and her husband Joseph appear on the Wisconsin Elections Commission list of nearly 250,000 voters who signed a statement on their mail-in ballots that they were indefinitely confined to their homes because of “because of age, physical illness or infirmity” or if they are “disabled for an indefinite period.”

DWD Still Failing Wisconsin

by | 2147, 15 Dec 2020 | , | 5 Comments

It’s been nine months and they still aren’t close to handling the workload.

The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development says it’s shrinking the backlog of unpaid unemployment claims, however a second backlog of denied applicants appealing the decision is starting to swell.

In an interview last month, DWD Transition Director Amy Pechacek told the I-Team there were approximately 12,000 claimants waiting on an appeal.

The I-Team received more than a dozen emails from unemployed residents who felt their claim was unfairly denied. Some of them said their hearings are being set months out. Others are still waiting just to get a date, including Dan Cacciotti of Racine.

Ancient Languages

by | 2129, 15 Dec 2020 | | 2 Comments

I love this stuff.

But if you approach the village’s central cafe, you’ll hear a rather unusual sound. It’s the buzz of conversations among elders in a 3,000-year-old language called Tsakonika.

The speakers are the linguistic descendants of ancient Sparta, the iconic Greek city-state, and part of a rich cultural heritage and population called Tsakonian.

Thomais Kounia, known as the “empress of Tsakonika” for her mastery of the language, tells her friend about the bread she baked that morning, but my Greek translator cannot understand her. Instead, Kounia translates for him in Greek, and he then tells me, like a game of Chinese whispers. I am in awe. These ladies are some of the last fluent speakers of one of the world’s oldest living languages

Today, only about 2,000 of the 10,000 Tsakonians, primarily elders, still speak Tsakonika at all, and the language is limited to 13 towns, villages and hamlets located around Pera Melana. While Greek is the region’s official language, Tsakonika is often spoken at home and casually in public here. Yet, its future remains uncertain.

Make Wisconsin a destination state

by | 0741, 15 Dec 2020 | , | 4 Comments

My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. I continue to charge the windmill of Wisconsin government’s spending problem. Here’s a part:

Wisconsin cannot reduce the cost of government and, subsequently, the cost of living if it does not reduce government spending.

One wonders where all of that spending is going. Both states have world-class public universities, but Texas state taxpayers spend less than 50% per capita on them. Both states have a good transportation infrastructure, but Wisconsin state taxpayers spend 13.8% more per capita. Wisconsin is spending almost 28% more on K-12 education for marginally better results, but the student demographics are drastically different.

Generally, as one goes through the state budget, Wisconsin spends much more on almost everything than other states. It is difficult to see any additional value for all of that additional spending. “Value” should be the word that dominates the upcoming state budget debate. If taxpayers are going to spend 10%, 25%, or 50% more on something than other states, then state politicians should be able to articulate how taxpayers are getting 10%, 25%, or 50% more value for the dollars spent. If they can’t, then the spending is just being wasted.

The upcoming budget session is another opportunity for Wisconsin policy-makers to make the choices that will determine if Wisconsin will ever be a destination state for businesses and workers. If they choose to keep increasing spending because it is the path of least resistance, then businesses and people will continue to relocate into other states and Wisconsin will miss this historic opportunity when businesses are going to be moving more than ever.

Barr Resigns

by | 2005, 14 Dec 2020 | , , | 15 Comments

Harrumph

Donald Trump ousted Bill Barr as attorney general Monday after a face-to-face White House meeting – having raged at the chief law enforcement officer keeping the Hunter Biden probe secret.

Trump announced the departure in a tweet which presented Barr’s decision to go as his own.

‘Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job!’ Trump said, then said Barr would ‘spend the holidays with his family.’

[…]

The departure came the afternoon after it emerged Barr used the force of his office to instruct prosecutors investigating Hunter Biden not to take any steps that might cause the probe to be publicly revealed in the run-up to the election.

Trump publicly complained about Barr over the weekend. He told Fox News Barr ‘should have stepped up.’

‘All he had to do is say an investigation’s going on,” Trump said. ‘When you affect an election, Bill Barr, frankly, did the wrong thing.’

Barr did a disservice for the American people in keeping the investigation of Hunter Biden a secret. I don’t know if Hunter is guilty, but the fact that someone so close to a presidential candidate is being seriously investigated for illegal dealings with foreigners and corruption is something that the American people should have been able to weigh in the balance when making their choice.

By and large, Barr did a decent job as AG, but in the end, he is, has been, and always will be, a creature of Washington.

Space Force Wins First Battle

by | 0809, 14 Dec 2020 | | 1 Comment

Hoorah.

The US Space Force has won a transatlantic video game tournament against teams from other branches of the American and British armed forces.

The American team defeated the Royal Air Force in the final of the Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War tournament, while the British Army and Royal Navy had been eliminated in previous rounds – coming third and fifth in the overall competition.

The tournament, which took place on Friday, was created by the Call Of Duty Endowment charity and funded by the games developer Activision Blizzard to help unemployed veterans find quality careers.

While I support the Space Force and think it was long overdue, I question the need to train on tactical squad combat :)

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