THE PANAMA PAPERS
The leaker behind the recent Panama Papers scandal revealed thousands of shell companies the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca used to hide assets for 14,000-plus wealthy individuals and corporations. Of note: Not many Americans were listed in the leak.
In “Panama of the North,” Susan Harley of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division indicates the reason few Americans were listed: The US is already well-established as a tax haven. Most states, like Nevada, require less information to start a company than to get a library card, a driver’s license, or even a ...
Wisconsin Civil Service Reform Is Ill Advised
Wisconsin's current administration was elected on an agenda of creating jobs, cutting taxes, and fixing the budgets shortfalls. They have failed to produce on all three points. Wisconsin is still lagging behind most other states in job creation. Tax cuts for most citizens have been zero or very small while fees have increased. The state budget is still a problem.
They have succeeded in creating an avalanche of ill-advised public policy changes which have nothing to do with their original goals. They began with turning down federal dollars for high speed rail and ...
THE POLITICS OF RESENTMENT
Growing up during the 50’s and 60’s in a small community in far northern Wisconsin, I was considered a “country hick.” Within this tightly-knit community, we parceled ourselves out by the church we attended, the jobs our parents held, whether we were farmers or business owners. Some community members were considered “high toned.” This term was applied to people who wore nicer clothes and drove a nicer car than most, worked “in town” rather than farmed or did manual labor.
The people “in town” were known as “city slickers” because we felt they ...
FINALLY…A BREAK FOR WORKING PEOPLE
Near the turn of the century and into the 1930’s, in order to feed your family and put a roof over your head, workers had to endure six day workweeks, twelve hour work days and marginal time with their families. After decades of mistreatment, workers had enough. They formed unions and asserted their rights and dignity in the workplace. But the struggle for fairness and equality in the workplace did not end there and also continues to this day.
In 1938 labor unions were instrumental in getting Congress to pass the Fair Labor Standards Act which introduced the forty-h...
AUSTERITY IS THE ENDGAME
Austerity is the endgame, the final subjugation. It is the offspring of Ronald Reagan’s corrupt ideology that “government is the problem” and Bill Clinton’s corrupt deregulation of Wall Street - - the unholy marriage of neocon and neolib. It is the weapon of the oligarchy, the instrument of bondage and control.
We are in a rigged game, a game designed to transfer money upward while blaming all things public for our impoverishment, a game designed to starve government of the people while sparing nothing for government of the corporation. It is a game that ...
Socialism in the U.S. Military
Calling your opponent a socialist is a favorite American political slur. The public has been programed to equate socialism, or any deviation from pure free market capitalism, with being un-American. The Constitution, however, does not say much about organizing the economy. Capitalism is not synonymous with freedom or democracy. It is entirely possible to have a socialistic, or even communistic, economy and a representative democracy.
Bernie Sanders is unique in openly claiming to be a democratic socialist. He does not intend, however, to change the structure of the ...
THE MANY BENEFITS OF UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MARATHON COUNTY
The University of Wisconsin system was the topic of an event hosted by D.J. and Mary Clare Freeman featuring Mandy Wright, a candidate for the 85th Assembly District; Katie Kalish, an Associate Dean and English faculty member at UW-MC; and Noel Radomski from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Katie Kalish has been part of the UW system since 2006. The guiding principle of the Wisconsin Idea is to reach every family in the state. The 13 UW campuses reach students and their families all across the state.
The UW-Marathon Campus is one of the Access Institutions. One ...
Selective Memories
The good old days are the memories of things that never were. We remember what we want to and disregard the rest. Every Memorial Day, in our zeal to honor those who have served, we have a national picnic feast of selective memory about war.
Our government is engaged in selectively remembering the Vietnam War. The Department of Defense is spending $65 million in a project to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the war. It is all about “honoring” the troops. As President Obama stated,
“As we observe the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, we reflect with solemn ...
LOCAL CONTROL
Local control has been the bedrock of democracy and is responsive to the needs and health of the community. At an alarming rate, the party in control of Wisconsin since 2011 has been assaulting our rights and freedoms to determine our destiny at the local level.
Since 2011, Republican lawmakers have passed 128 measures that restrict or reduce local control impacting Farmland Preservation, Public Instruction, Regional Transit, Shoreland Zoning Standards to name just a few. The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported this in a May 16 memo.
Eighty of these ...
Vote on August 9th
Remember to vote on August 9, 2016, and bring your IDs!
