When the Obama administration put together aneconomic stimulus plan to head off a second Great Depression, Republicans madea political decision to oppose any government action to improve the lives ofAmericans.
It was a clever way to try to keep the newDemocratic president from succeeding in saving the country while pretendingRepublican obstruction was based on some high-minded philosophy of government.
Republicans weren’t opposed to reversing the loss ofmillions of jobs and putting people back to work, mind you. They just didn’tthink it was the government’s role to help create jobs. Never mind that was theonly way President Franklin Delano Roosevelt got the country out of theoriginal Great Depressionby massive federal spending on jobs programs.
The embarrassing part for Republicans is now thatsubstantial amounts of money are starting to reach hard-pressed areas aroundthe country without their support, it’s doing exactly what stimulus spending issupposed to dostimulating jobs.
In Wisconsin, that has put Republican gubernatorialcandidates like Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and former CongressmanMark Neumann in the ridiculous position of opposing an $823 million financialwindfall for the state.
The funds are part of stimulus spending to makeWisconsin a vital link in a high-speed rail system connecting major Midwesterncities including St. Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison and Minneapolis-St.Paul.
Within days of the announcement of the originalfederal spending, more announcements of new jobs followed. That’s why it’s calledstimulus.
Milwaukee Benefits
The latest announcement is a major one, both forwhat it is and where it is. Spanish train manufacturer Talgo announced that itwould build its first U.S. assembly plant for the growing high-speed Americantrain network on Milwaukee’s North Side at the abandoned A.O. Smith/TowerAutomotive site.
Talgo will start off with 125 jobs building at leastfour trains for Wisconsin and Oregon. But clearly by establishing itself in thecenter of the United States as a major manufacturer of the country’s trains ofthe future, the Milwaukee plant is well positioned to expand right along withthe system.
These are the so-called “jobs of the future”everybody talks about, but very few cities have yet seen. Milwaukee is about tobecome a recognized world leader in high-technology train assembly.
As important as getting in on the ground floor of anational growth industry is where it is being located.
Ever since A.O. Smith and Tower Automotive abandonedthe site, the concrete desert left behind in the heart of Milwaukee’s blackcommunity has been a painful reminder of all the family-supporting jobs goneforever from Northern rust-belt cities.
Now, an industry of the future becomes the firstpiece in the city’s development of a new Century City business park in thecenter of the city to provide skilled jobs for the next century.
The train assembly plant also is expected to createhundreds of jobs for parts suppliers in Milwaukee and Wisconsin.
As the news gets better and better, Republicans arestill stuck with their original opposition to accepting nearly a billiondollars in stimulus funds from the federal government.
Walker and Neumann have even gone so far as to claimif either of them became governor, they would try to shut down the partiallybuilt high-speed Midwestern train network unless the federal government agreedto come up with $7 million more for the state’s annual operating costs.
Get that? Republicans would stop $823 million infederal spending in the state that would create thousands of jobs forWisconsinites because they are opposed to the state spending a cent toward itsown economic development.
Increased state tax revenue from those new jobsalone would more than pay for operating costs.
That does not even include all the future jobs thatwould be created once high-speed rail is operating throughout the Midwest.
Here’s one idea any Milwaukee County executiveshould be thinking about: High-speed rail service from Chicago would connect 10million people in the Chicago area to a stop right at Milwaukee County’sMitchell International Airport.
Suddenly, Milwaukee’s airport becomes just asconvenient for Chicagoans to use as the far more crowded and problematicO’Hare.
The jobs created by high-speed rail aren’t limited toMilwaukee. Stops between Milwaukee and Madison in Brookfield, Oconomowoc andWatertown promise additional economic development for those areas.
Let Walker and Neumann explain why they opposecreating more jobs in those communities as well.
Meanwhile, Mayor Tom Barrett, the Democraticcandidate for governor, is on the side of stimulating jobs.
Let’s see. Stimulating versus Adamantly Opposed toAny Stimulation. Which one would you go out with?
