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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-wi-businesstongue-la,0,4357832.story
Democratic Sen. Mark Miller of Monona took the podium at a Madison gathering of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce members to talk about the state's budget problems. At the end of his speech he accused the business group of bad-mouthing Wisconsin's business climate over the last 15 years, discouraging business expansion. He then accused the group of destroying the state's reputation for clean politics and elections.
Thank you Mark.
Business, as a group, is opposed to a common good, wishing to reduce all goods to market commodities. Even defense would be privatized, as is evident in the use of contractors as military in Iraq and Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteWe saw the effort to put social security into the stock market and to eliminate New Deal social policies as 'Liberal Waste' and more big government. It's about time a courageous politician took on the WNC in public.
Thank you Senator Miller! My sentiments exactly! Representative government in action!
ReplyDeleteAs a business owner and active citizen, I too am embarrassed and saddened by WMC. The interests of Wisconsin have NOT been served by WMC, and the companies who support the divisive tactics of this group should be held accountable in the public arena and in the marketplace. (Boycott!)
A good and responsible business (or citizen) should care about the larger interests of the society (rather than narrow, selfish motives which constantly pits one "interest" against another.)
The Era of FDR (1933-1980)was an era of growing prosperity and wealth in our nation. The middle class expanded considerably, as did the standard of living, and our wealthiest citizens did very well too! Our tax structure was more equitable, and the level of public services was better.
The Reagan Era (1980-2008) was a time when government and the public sector were attacked and diminished. No longer did we share a common destiny as a nation. Citizens came to believe that government was the problem, and that one person's gain was another person's loss. Everyone was a "special interest". Ironically, the powerful corporatist ideology that attacked "entitlements" for the middle and lower class managed to slash services and upper-income tax rates, while enacting entitlements for themselves. WMC has been a mouthpiece for this destructive ideology.
Now, with our economy in ruins, and the fruits of divisive politics in full display, I feel no happiness in having been correct. We have lost a generation, with crumbling schools and infrastructure, rising costs, and no money to rebuild our needed public assets. Only the wealthiest Americans saw their incomes rise during the past 30 years.
Apparently, no one stopped to realize that the middle class and those less fortunate were the ones who built all this wealth with their own hands, and then spent their earnings to drive the economic engine of the FDR Era. The wealthy invested and built businesses throughout these eras, conservative and liberal; and the notion that liberal policies destroyed commerce or wealth is refuted by our recent history.
Henry Ford understood that workers needed to make a living wage in order to purchase the goods that they produced. The economic illiteracy of our age enabled conservatives to peddle snake oil as good public policy.
Let's not forget, WMC has been supporting supreme court justices who reject reasonable regulation of business activity. The rights of private citizens have been diminished, while the powers of corporations and the wealthy (the REAL elites) have been strengthened, at the exense of the common good.
We have shifted the tax burden from the wealthy to the working class, while slashing the public sector which had benefited everyone. There was a balance between labor and capital during the Liberal Era of FDR. And Capitalism was alive and well during this period.
Of course, businesses and citizens are free to associate and advocate as they choose, but why would any business or citizen continue to promote an ideology that has proven to be so harmful to the general welfare?
that ivy league education is shining through.
ReplyDeleteYeah, he takes them on - to their faces - and I don't think it was even reported on the WSJ, was it? Wouldn't you think this would be a headline?
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