Issue of the Week: When Is Enough, Enough?

Plus Hero of the Week

May 16, 2012

midnight

Last week, a snippet of the documentary As Goes Janesville was released that showed the newly elected Gov. Scott Walker chatting with billionaire Diane Hendricks, owner of ABC Supply in Beloit. Hendricks eagerly asked Walker, "Any chance we'll ever get to be a completely red state and work on these unions and become a right-to-work [state]?" Walker responded that his first step would be to "deal with" collective bargaining for public employees "because you use divide and conquer." So despite his public denials, Walker was privately plotting how to turn Wisconsin into a so-called right-to-work state. What Walker is trying to do is to divide workers by making ordinary Wisconsinites battle for crumbs. And those who are doing the conquering? They're going to make out like bandits with tax breaks and gaping tax loopholes, thanks to the actions of the Republican-dominated Legislature. In fact, Walker's confidante in the documentary—Diane Hendricks, whose personal wealth is estimated to be $2.8 billion—has no reason to complain. According to an investigation by the Institute for Wisconsin's Future, ABC Supply paid no state corporate income tax in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 (the most recent available tax data), even though the company's annual sales are close to $5 billion. No wonder why Hendricks can afford to donate a whopping $500,000 to Walker this year. While that may be chump change to her, it would take the average Wisconsin worker more than 10 years to earn that amount of money. So why is Hendricks complaining about workers' rights and fair wages? Doesn't she have enough money? Isn't ABC Supply thriving under the current state tax code? Must she take away what little job security workers have in Wisconsin so she can grab more for herself? Unfortunately, campaign donors who are motivated by greed have the same agenda as Walker: Reward the rich, because they contribute to campaigns—and stiff the workers, since they oppose Walker and the elite 1% like Hendricks. Isn't it time that this dysfunctional game ends? Heroes of the Week: Veterans Employment Alliance Volunteers The Veterans Employment Alliance, headquartered in West Allis (8544 W. National Ave.), works to alleviate the problem of unemployment among military veterans. In addition to advocating for veterans with employers and policy-makers, the Veterans Employment Alliance (VEA) is dedicated to helping veterans transition from military life to the civilian sector by providing workforce readiness and skills training. The VEA's Veterans Career Camp is a free two-week program designed to help veterans with their job searches. It boasted a 92% hire rate in 2011. VEA programs depend upon volunteers for their success. Volunteers serve at special events, as peer support specialists and as facilitators at the Career Camp. Readers interested in learning more about the group's mission and programs are urged to visit <a href="http://www.veteransemploymentalliance.org" target="_blank">www.veteransemploymentalliance.org</a> or call 414-510-0670.

Friends of the Shepherd

Help support Milwaukee's locally owned free weekly magazine.

LEARN MORE

Friends of the Shepherd

Help support Milwaukee's locally owned free weekly magazine.

LEARN MORE

Comments (6)

Comment Feed

Hendricks is a bigger loser then Walker, hope she ...

Hendricks is a bigger loser then Walker, hope she gets her butt sued and loses all her ill gotten gains!

Anonymous more than 12 years ago

Yep! Reward the successful with even more success,...

Yep! Reward the successful with even more success, they get lower interest rates on loans, higher returns on investments. In Engineering (that 2% unemployment and falling group), that "increase/reward the high(good), decrease/punish the low(bad)" method is called "positive feedback", which is also known to cause instability. Stability, or keeping things from getting more and more exaggerated, requires some negative feedback, which means the opposite, do the Robin Hood thing, take some from the wealthy, give some to the poor.

Or let's look at it another way. If I stopped a billion worth of entitlements to non-taxpayers, and decided to give it back to the taxpayer, I have a choice. I could give a million each to 1000 of the top 1%, totals a cool billion. Or I could give 1000 each to a million of the lowest fo the taxpayers, still totals a billion. -- The big difference is this. The 1000 each to a million working class families is going to be spent here on Main Street, allowing the corner bar, the Pizza parlor, the hair salon, anonymous's Roundy's stores to all get a piece of that billion dollars returned. pays more working class paychecks.

But, when you give a million to 1000 members of the top 1%, does Main Street get a piece of it? I think most of that "windfall" is going into an investment, which will be at the highest going rate they can find. Probably a Wall Street bank or a non-US "emerging economy". Not much of it makes it's way to working class paychecks on Main Street. -- Now, which method would best "create American jobs"?

What did Boehner say some time back? The whole point is to lower the top tax rate on PERSONAL income, lowering CORPORATE income tax rates just will not do!

Now, look at it another way... Letting that billion dollars continue going to non-taxpayers... wouldn't that also be spent on a US Main Street? How many of those black welfare moms are buying mutual funds in "emerging economies"? Like it or not, their entitlement money is finding it's way into local working class hands.

Anonymous more than 12 years ago

That's the BEST way to reward the "hard-working ta...

That's the BEST way to reward the "hard-working taxpayer"... Use government tax-and-spend policy to give them more local paying customers! Higher consumer demand is the only thing that truly creates jobs.

Anonymous more than 12 years ago

So why don't we just print off lots of money and p...

So why don't we just print off lots of money and pass it out?  Look, giving money to poor people is the worst thing you can do for them.  Its like giving beer to an alcoholic, they will just abuse it.  THATS WHY THEY ARE POOR IN FIRST PLACE!!! THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO MANAGE THEIR MONEY!!!  Sure they spend it on Main St, for booze, lotto tickets, drugs, cupcakes, cigarettes, pop, and pizza. 
I'm not saying we should let the top 1% keep and extra million but we should give the good people in the top 50% a reward for choosing to be good people.

Anonymous more than 12 years ago

I wrote 5 paragraphs, P3 and P5 both let money spe...

I wrote 5 paragraphs, P3 and P5 both let money spent on Main Street "work" its way up through the taxpaying working and middle classes. P2 was the "supply-side" way to give it directly to where it is going to end up anyway, don't waste time letting it filter up through the lower classes. Whether the greenbacks going into the cash register drawer is coming from a taxpaying worker or from non-taxpaying welfare mom or drug-dealer makes no difference to the owner of that cash register. I'm sure you advised your P2-wannabe clients that way.
P5 was to keep giving it to the non-taxpayer, so they can spend it on Main Street.
P3 is to give it to the working taxpayer, so they can spend it on Main Street.
Of course, I would prefer P3 over P5, I just want to make sure it goes to the lower part of the working taxpayer, not to the upper part of the middle-class taxpayer. When I give it to the likes of anonymous, I know I'm giving it to P2, the man who will spend it some place other than Main Street. I just want to get that P3-boost from P2, not from P5. P5's continued existence assures the lowest members of P3 gets a chance to earn from it.
Can you prove to me that IF AND WHEN we 100% REMOVE FROM THE ECONOMY all the non-taxpayers (means leave the country or die), that the "hard-working, good people" who are left will be able to keep it's lowest members served? -- Or will you need a constant trimming off from the bottom of any that can't keep up the pace set by the leader?
The big question is... Does the voter see themselves as P2 or P3? I list P2 as the true members of the top 1%, actually the top 0.1%. Surveys show that 20% of the people believe they already are members of the top 1%, and another 20% think they soon will be in the top 1%. With about 40% voting for pro-1% causes, who are the ones that are blissfully ignorant?

Anonymous more than 12 years ago

Both sides are motivated by greed. Everyone wants...

Both sides are motivated by greed. Everyone wants to make more money. Unions survive on union dues and of course Walker's policies is eating into their rich pockets.

Of course the Shepherd makes personal attacks on a widow because her company pays very little income tax. I'm sure they pay a lot of property and sales tax along with their employees paying taxes. Just because a company has $5 billion in sales doesn't mean they have a taxable income. Hell I make $1.5 million last year and barely paid anything in income taxes, mostly because the income was non-taxable.

Walker has turned this state around. The real unemployment rate among financial, engineering, and technical workers is only about 2% and dropping. Everyone should have a right to work and not be intimidated into paying union bosses fees.

Ordinary Wisconsinites do not have to battle for crumbs. They are good, decent, harder and smarter working folk, who live in the suburbs, kids excel in school and sports, they own homes and pay lots of property taxes. The ones who fight over crumbs are the unskilled who go around with a bad haircut and a bowling jacket, nursing beers in taverns, and complaining about those gosh darn millionaires and billionaires.

Anonymous more than 12 years ago