Economics
OUTSOURCED WISCONSIN TOUR VISITS KOHL’S IN WAUSAU AREA
https://vimeo.com/184266957
https://vimeo.com/185299781
WEALTH AND MONEY PART XIX: AMERICA BECOMES THE HOST
While mentally struggling for an appropriate title for this particular article in the Wealth and Money series, “THE EMPIRE DEVOURS ITSELF” came to mind. But this misses a critical distinction. The people of America are not the corporate and moneyed power structure in control of our government, our military and our economy. They are not the empire. Indeed, the people of America have become the victims of the empire. We are now the “colony.” If we are guilty of any wrongdoing, it is the sin of complacency.
But complacency unwittingly enabled the U.S. corporate and ...
CHANGING THE STATE PENSION SYSTEM COULD BE A BILLION DOLLAR MISTAKE
A Wisconsin Retirement Security Forum was held in Wausau. Claiborne Hill of the Wisconsin Coalition for Retirement Security presented some important facts about retirement.
Wisconsin’s State Retirement System is well-funded and in fine shape. It has $100 billion in reserve.
This money is our money. We state employees earned it and our pension is deferred income. Each month we put some money aside in the State Retirement System so that we can have a comfortable retirement.
Our state retirement fund delivers $4 billion a year in benefits to every corner of the ...
WEALTH AND MONEY PART XVIII: THE POWER BEHIND THE “POWER”
“The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves.” - - Henry Kissinger, justifying the U.S. overthrow (and assassination) of Chile’s democratically elected president, Dr. Salvador Allende, in 1973.
“Even Kissinger, mad as he is, didn’t believe that Chilean armies were going to descend on Rome. It wasn’t going to be that kind of an influence. He was worried that successful economic development, where the economy produces benefits for the general population - not just profits for private corporations - would have a ...
BUILDING LOCAL ECONOMIES AND COMMUNITY WEALTH
Henry George in his classic Progress and Poverty (published in 1879) said that all wealth resulted from the labor of the worker. The worker used his skill and creativity to transform natural resources into things to satisfy human needs and desires. This process was the basis of capital as well as all economic activity. Capital did not create jobs, workers did.
The current paradigm says economic growth, jobs, and prosperity are created from the top down. Give the super wealthy more and they will “invest” in the economy, jobs will be created, and everyone else will ...
WHAT UNIONS HAVE DONE FOR ALL WORKERS
WHAT UNIONS HAVE DONE FOR ALL WORKERS
By John Spiegelhoff
(Editor’s Note: John lost his life in a motorcycle accident in southwestern Minnesota. John was the Staff Representative for AFSCME Council 65. He also was the county chairman for Nobles County DFL. We re-print this article to remember John and to thank him for his dedicated work.)
Most of us who reside in Minnesota are pretty humble people. We do not like to brag or boast. When we take care of each other and do good things for one another, we do not make a big deal of it. It is just part of who we ...
WEALTH AND MONEY PART XVII: IT IS ALL SO UNNECESSARY
“The dark ages still reign over all humanity, and the depth and persistence of this domination are only now becoming clear. This Dark Ages prison has no steel bars, chains, or locks. Instead, it is locked by misorientation and built of misinformation. We are powerfully imprisoned in these Dark Ages simply by the terms in which we have been conditioned to think.” “Neither the great political or financial powers of the world nor the population in general realize that the engineering-chemical-electronic revolution now makes it possible to produce many more technical ...
Income Inequality
“That is not fair!” How many times have we heard that from our children or perhaps at work? Human beings are hard wired with a sense of fairness-of what is right and what is wrong. Most people believe that they should be fairly compensated for the work that they do. Most workers believe that a Corporate Executive Officer (CEO) of a company should get a little more than the average worker since they run the company. But over the last sixty years, a little more has turned into a whole lot more and we should be very concerned about this.
Since 1950, the ratio of ...
WEALTH AND MONEY PART XVI THE DEATH THROES OF EMPIRE
“Men and women of the United States armed forces in armored vehicles patrol the streets of Baghdad. They pass in the way of so many who have come before them: the Egyptian charioteers of Ramses II, the Macedonian phalanx of Alexander the Great, the Roman legionnaires of Caesar and Trajan, the Crusaders of Richard the Lion-Hearted, the legionnaires of Napoleon, the Camel Corps of Lawrence of Arabia. All of these have come through the Middle East. Many of them have come with the best of intentions, by their lights, to bring stability, even freedom to the Middle East. All ...
RETIREMENT PLANNING IN WISCONSIN
(Joyce Luedke is part of POWRS (Protect our Wisconsin Retirement System.)
Here is my summary of our June 24th POWRS Renewal Meeting with Karen Holden—UW-Madison Professor Emeritus of Public Affairs and Consumer Science.
Karen Holden referred to her research on retirement planning in the following articles.
https://www.ncpssm.org/RetirementSecurity/karen-holden-bio.pdf
https://aging.wisc.edu/research/affil.php?Ident=24
I. Financial literacy education.
A. This is crucial for the populace as a whole, but essential for people who do their own planning. Many ...
