Here's a few items recently that grabbed my attention.
1. I'll lead you off with a great article re-produced in the Wisconsin State Journal from talk show host Michael Smerconish , which illustrates how far TV has fallen in discussion of issues. As Smerconish brings up, sensible and decent does not move the ratings meter, so you get people like Michelle (Batshit) Bachmann getting face time over people who have a clue. And if Minnesotans come to their senses and vote that crazy woman out, you can bet she's getting a high-paid gig at Fox as some kind of "voice of conservative women" (regardless of how bullshit a rep she is of that demographic). It really seems that being respectful, moral (not religious, moral) and adult doesn't get you rewarded much in these days, and it's a significant reason why it feels like our country's decline is continuing. We have to stop it, and get some real standards.
2. Good article in the Journal-Sentinel this week on the lack of college grads in the Milwaukee area . Of course, one big reason is that angry-man radio is the image of Milwaukee to much of the rest of the state, and no one with any game wants to live around a bunch of mediocre trash like that when they can go somewhere else that doesn't have the garbage spewing itself about. But one other reason why was illustrated this week, where the Milwaukee Historic Preservation Commissions put the brakes on Glorioso Bakery's placs for the former Brady Street Pharmacy. Did they do it because Glorioso's didn't have the money to afford the building? No. Did they do it because a bakery's out of touch with the neighborhood? No. They didn't like a couple of details on the building's facade, and wanted it changed to things like vines on the front.
With all due respect, these Historic Preservation Commissions need to get a fucking life. The default position of these boards should be to allow things in your neighborhood unless it is an eyesore or the tenants are sketchy. They should not be micromanaging a good business possibility out of existence. Do you think vacant storefronts look better than an open business that may not fit your every image? The same crap happened with the busybodied, big fish, small pond thinkers who wanted to throw their weight around in Madison to try to shoot down the Edgewater development because it wasn't with the character of the dumps that are up and down Langdon Street. Look, I think there is an oversight function where planning and looks should be considered for a proposed development, but if it isn't absurd, BE AN ADULT AND LET GO. You are not an expert or a designer, you just serve on a city commission.
3. On a sad and somewhat related topic, MPS is planning to lay off nearly 500 teachers in their district as state aid cutbacks, lower attendance, and high benefit costs take their toll. As a former teacher myself, I know how important it is to keep competent folks in the classroom, and it is sick when people who do good deeds have to be laid off due to society's lack of desire to invest in solving serious problems. But MPS is also a classic example of what goes wrong when special interests care more about themselves than the product they are supposed to deliver. The MTEA consistently seems to try to maintain the status quo of the seniority system and their good health benefits, but this effort ends up being at the detriment of quality new teachers whose new ideas are needed to keep innovation moving in the classrooms. Likewise, MPS has always been willing to hire and pay for administration that tries to justify the schools' performance to overseers and taxpayers, but often at the expense of the real goal: DELIVERING QUALITY EDUCATION. An MPS teacher told me last weekend that the protective seniority system and clueless administration makes a tough situation all the more dispiriting.
A good solution to this problem? Obviously city takeover of the district is needed, as MPS' fate and the city's is intertwined, and the fates of tens of thousands of Milwaukee students can no longer be left up to a self-interested administration and board who compromises other city and social goals to justify their own existence. Yes Milwaukee, you are different than other cities, and need to have your schools treated differently as well. My second reform would be to have the layoff procedures go through the individual schools, with principals being allowed to veto up to a certain amount of seniority-based layoffs. This can also put pressure on some of the dead wood to take a hike, as the guilt and suspicions would grow among the teaching cohorts. Both of these items would probably lead to better results in the classroom- and if you aren't taking action in schools to improve classroom results, what are you doing them for?
4. Lastly, as the Gulf Oil spill continues to flow, and Milwaukee County's Behavior Health Division is damned by state inspectors for allowing an unacceptable situation to continue, the mentality of "government is the problem" proves to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. And it is not by chance. When you denigrate a job and the people who work it, how can you attract high-quality talent for those possible, and how can you possibly be surprised that the folks put in charge of it are hacks that end up asleep at the switch for things that anyone with an ounce of competence would deal with. Then again, folks like Scott Walker, George Bush, Paul Ryan and many of these other snake oil salesmen have never had a real job outside of politics or Daddy's business, so they don't know how to hire for productivity, or have an idea what good results look like. The success of these political d-bags depends on GOVERNMENT FAILING, and they don't care about the consequences of that result, as long as they can smugly smile and say it somehow proves them right.
50 years ago, most of us had higher standards in what we wanted out of our services, and wanted this country to succeed, even if it meant that we would be wrong in the long-term. Instead, the idiot-logues just want to get elected, and more importantly GET PAID. And that's exactly why they have to be crushed and put in the swamp in the next few months.
Personally, I would much rather excel than necessarily win, and I don't know why that feels like a minority opinion, but it sure seems that way. That must be reversed, or this state and this country is as done as the Brewers' chances to contend this year.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
Paradox of government- listening to the squeaky, whiny wheels
Was at an interesting seminar today. It went over ways that government agencies can improve the outcomes of public input on projects. To the presenter's credit, he mentioned that many public meetings serve no purpose and only get in the way of good implementation and progress on projects.
Let's take a step back on this. One of the huge differences between the public and private sectors is that the public sector has to care what the average citizen thinks about a new initiative, strategy, or project. It's their tax dollars, their elected officials, and therefore their right to demand details and information. The same is certainly not true in the corporate sector, where businesses only have to please their owner and shareholders, and can say the hell with anyone else. This accountability is a huge reason why I favor the public sector over the privates when it comes to providing needed services to maintain a decent quality of life, because the private sector has no reason to listen or care about what effect their actions have on other citizens in their community or society at large - it's all about the Benjamins to them. And a recent poll agrees, as it finds citizens have high standards for the job they think government, and they have a near-record low approval rating of 22% for government because it has not done enough to solve our problems (with big business even lower, at 19%)
Where the public sector frequently fails to get the job done on putting in changes is because of this country's propensity to give political power to loud, organized groups that can focus on an issue. The average everyday citizen has no time or interest to take 3 hours out of their week to attend a public meeting, but you can bet a lobbying group can. So can the average couch-potato daytime talk show listener with no life to speak of. Those people get the ear of legislators, public officials, and media, and get a disproportionate amount of influence. Plus, it's a lot easier to be angry than to be accepting of a solution, or to even have an idea of any solution that works. This is what talk radio feeds on - lots of button-pushing, not a lot of answers. And the reason is because pushing buttons are where the ratings (and therefore the money) is at.
Not surprisingly, this is how issues with huge public support, like the need to modify our broken, growth-stunting health care system, don't get fixed as quickly or nearly as much as most citizens demand that it should, because the Silent Majority does not get the mike. One way that governments could reduce items like the farce that became the health care debate is to have a clear, concise story explaining the problem (i.e. rising health care costs with no requirement to serve citizens), and the reasons why government should act to reduce the problem (i.e. allow for more citizen choice in providers, better business growth by containing health costs, reducing the debt citizens have to go into to get care, better health outcomes due to regular check-ups, etc.) The Obama Administration should have predicted the lies and deceptions that were going to result, and had their story out ahead of it. Instead, they were surprised by the "death panel" and "socialism" lies about their plan, and had to explain it away after the horse was out of the barn, when they could have gone straight to the people ahead of the charges, and moot their impacts.
Now, that being said, governments also have to understand that citizen are by nature lazy and selfish. They think a government agency "listening" to them is a government agency agreeing with them. It is not. Government officials should take care to explain to citizens that they hear the concern they may have, but they will not choose that course of action because of x, y, and z. Now, they'd better have that reason lined up and have developed and communicated it to the public ahead of time, because citizens are rightfully confused and often honked off when something comes out of nowhere and is thrown in front of them. This can be done through direct contact such as mailings and other informative documents, not just through public meetings (would you waste your Wednesday night after work to find out where the new highway might go? I prefer to try out a solid cold one and some good sports over that, and I'm someone who knows and cares about this stuff!).
If government officials take those steps, they have every right to tell a citizen who complains "You never told us about this!", "Well, we mailed this, we went to the media here, we had this hearing there, we had more public outreach here, you had your chance to be heard." It's why the BS from the GOP about how the health care bill was "rammed through" was and is such a disgusting lie. The issue had been debated for 9 months and the various bills had been online for several weeks. If you didn't know about what was in it and what was being discussed, that's a YOU PROBLEM. One great thing and at the same time bad thing about American democracy is that we expect that citizens should be heard at every step of the process, regardless of how little expertise, understanding, and small-picture outlook a few vocal citizens may have.
And talk radio has only served to increase this dysfunctional system, because they try to tell these "everyday citizens" they have "common sense" when unlike the majority of us, they have time during the day to be duped by that ranting claptrap, and those shut-ins have no idea (or don't care) on the overall effect of a certain policy on the outside world. They also deride "elitism" when expertise in a given area should be a demand, and not a detriment to an official's competence. The elites should be educating the citizenry on areas that they know more about, and explaining it in plain, everyday language that allows citizens the chance to identify why the government is choosing a certain plan of action. But if citizens choose to ignore this outreach, I don't understand how that is a failure of government.
Angry-man radio is really the worst of the self-esteem movement, because it blames the listener's personal shortcomings and failures on symboiic and unseen forces that allow citizens to not take responsibility in solving the big problems that need to dealt with. As noted in the article on today's low faith in institutions, "On a psychological level, people are less likely to take responsibility for things these days," said Lou Manza, professor of psychology at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pa. "So if something goes wrong, it's somebody else's fault and somebody has to fix it." Talk radio empowers citizens in false ways through manufactured outrage and slashing at windmills, instead of giving true empowerment by expanding citizens' understanding of the world, and giving them the chance to use that knowledge to improve thier lives. Government can do this empowering too, but media doesn't get readership and ratings by talking about good things, so it makes competent, intelligent outreach all the more crucial for agencies and legislators to undertake.
Once governments realize the balancing act where citizen concerns should be listened to and taken into account, but are not the be all and end all of policymaking, they will function more smoothly, and the citizenry will believe in them more. But if they allow other parties to take control of the agenda and change the issues, government will not only have to settle for sub-optimal outcomes, it will play into the hands of those who think government cannot function, and reduce confidence. We're at a key breaking point in this country, where we either wrestle control away from the corporate state, or give it up forever. Good, respectful outreach combined with tough love is going to have to be the way that government, and by extension, the people, can triumph. If they have the guts to.
Let's take a step back on this. One of the huge differences between the public and private sectors is that the public sector has to care what the average citizen thinks about a new initiative, strategy, or project. It's their tax dollars, their elected officials, and therefore their right to demand details and information. The same is certainly not true in the corporate sector, where businesses only have to please their owner and shareholders, and can say the hell with anyone else. This accountability is a huge reason why I favor the public sector over the privates when it comes to providing needed services to maintain a decent quality of life, because the private sector has no reason to listen or care about what effect their actions have on other citizens in their community or society at large - it's all about the Benjamins to them. And a recent poll agrees, as it finds citizens have high standards for the job they think government, and they have a near-record low approval rating of 22% for government because it has not done enough to solve our problems (with big business even lower, at 19%)
Where the public sector frequently fails to get the job done on putting in changes is because of this country's propensity to give political power to loud, organized groups that can focus on an issue. The average everyday citizen has no time or interest to take 3 hours out of their week to attend a public meeting, but you can bet a lobbying group can. So can the average couch-potato daytime talk show listener with no life to speak of. Those people get the ear of legislators, public officials, and media, and get a disproportionate amount of influence. Plus, it's a lot easier to be angry than to be accepting of a solution, or to even have an idea of any solution that works. This is what talk radio feeds on - lots of button-pushing, not a lot of answers. And the reason is because pushing buttons are where the ratings (and therefore the money) is at.
Not surprisingly, this is how issues with huge public support, like the need to modify our broken, growth-stunting health care system, don't get fixed as quickly or nearly as much as most citizens demand that it should, because the Silent Majority does not get the mike. One way that governments could reduce items like the farce that became the health care debate is to have a clear, concise story explaining the problem (i.e. rising health care costs with no requirement to serve citizens), and the reasons why government should act to reduce the problem (i.e. allow for more citizen choice in providers, better business growth by containing health costs, reducing the debt citizens have to go into to get care, better health outcomes due to regular check-ups, etc.) The Obama Administration should have predicted the lies and deceptions that were going to result, and had their story out ahead of it. Instead, they were surprised by the "death panel" and "socialism" lies about their plan, and had to explain it away after the horse was out of the barn, when they could have gone straight to the people ahead of the charges, and moot their impacts.
Now, that being said, governments also have to understand that citizen are by nature lazy and selfish. They think a government agency "listening" to them is a government agency agreeing with them. It is not. Government officials should take care to explain to citizens that they hear the concern they may have, but they will not choose that course of action because of x, y, and z. Now, they'd better have that reason lined up and have developed and communicated it to the public ahead of time, because citizens are rightfully confused and often honked off when something comes out of nowhere and is thrown in front of them. This can be done through direct contact such as mailings and other informative documents, not just through public meetings (would you waste your Wednesday night after work to find out where the new highway might go? I prefer to try out a solid cold one and some good sports over that, and I'm someone who knows and cares about this stuff!).
If government officials take those steps, they have every right to tell a citizen who complains "You never told us about this!", "Well, we mailed this, we went to the media here, we had this hearing there, we had more public outreach here, you had your chance to be heard." It's why the BS from the GOP about how the health care bill was "rammed through" was and is such a disgusting lie. The issue had been debated for 9 months and the various bills had been online for several weeks. If you didn't know about what was in it and what was being discussed, that's a YOU PROBLEM. One great thing and at the same time bad thing about American democracy is that we expect that citizens should be heard at every step of the process, regardless of how little expertise, understanding, and small-picture outlook a few vocal citizens may have.
And talk radio has only served to increase this dysfunctional system, because they try to tell these "everyday citizens" they have "common sense" when unlike the majority of us, they have time during the day to be duped by that ranting claptrap, and those shut-ins have no idea (or don't care) on the overall effect of a certain policy on the outside world. They also deride "elitism" when expertise in a given area should be a demand, and not a detriment to an official's competence. The elites should be educating the citizenry on areas that they know more about, and explaining it in plain, everyday language that allows citizens the chance to identify why the government is choosing a certain plan of action. But if citizens choose to ignore this outreach, I don't understand how that is a failure of government.
Angry-man radio is really the worst of the self-esteem movement, because it blames the listener's personal shortcomings and failures on symboiic and unseen forces that allow citizens to not take responsibility in solving the big problems that need to dealt with. As noted in the article on today's low faith in institutions, "On a psychological level, people are less likely to take responsibility for things these days," said Lou Manza, professor of psychology at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pa. "So if something goes wrong, it's somebody else's fault and somebody has to fix it." Talk radio empowers citizens in false ways through manufactured outrage and slashing at windmills, instead of giving true empowerment by expanding citizens' understanding of the world, and giving them the chance to use that knowledge to improve thier lives. Government can do this empowering too, but media doesn't get readership and ratings by talking about good things, so it makes competent, intelligent outreach all the more crucial for agencies and legislators to undertake.
Once governments realize the balancing act where citizen concerns should be listened to and taken into account, but are not the be all and end all of policymaking, they will function more smoothly, and the citizenry will believe in them more. But if they allow other parties to take control of the agenda and change the issues, government will not only have to settle for sub-optimal outcomes, it will play into the hands of those who think government cannot function, and reduce confidence. We're at a key breaking point in this country, where we either wrestle control away from the corporate state, or give it up forever. Good, respectful outreach combined with tough love is going to have to be the way that government, and by extension, the people, can triumph. If they have the guts to.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
WE WANT MORE!
Looks like the economy keeps improving in "tax hell" Wisconsin, as the recent state unemployment figures show that the state added a seasonally-adjusted 16,000+ jobs last month, and 71 of 72 Wisconsin counties had drops in their unemployment rate in April. Wisconsin now sits at 8.5% unemployment, which ain't great, but is also 1.4% below the national rate. No doubt, things are looking up, despite what GOP operatives in media and politics ar trying to tell you, and it kind of puts the lie to the argument that higher taxes will be a job-killer. Amazing how hard work and an educated work force counteracts much of that.
And the state wisely responded to an originally misleading headline in the Journal-Sentinel that indicted health care reform would raise state costs between 2014 and 2018. As the state wisely followed up, this reform will mean the feds will take much of the state's coverage, and save hundreds of millions of dollars compared to how it would have worked under the status quo (and comparing to the status quo should always be the first test when you make a decision, the failure of the status quo is why health care needed and still needs to be changed). This is an extremely helpful development, as total expenses for the state's Department of Health Services had to be increased by $2.3 billion in this most recent budget, and is now responsible for more general funds than the UW System . And even with those increases, the state still had to cut $600 million from Medicaid, with more reductions possible.
Wisconsin has been almost punished by being responsible to tis citizens, and while it means we have low levels of poverty, it also means that other states have been able to slide by with low insured rates (I'm looking at you, Confederacy)and make all of us pay for their laziness in proving security to its citizens. This is unsustainable, and it's about time the feds cover all of its states, instead of disproportionately helping the slackers. It may also allow our state to maintain its commitments to public education, roads, and other necessities, which are the things that make this place so great. Of course if we had national health care, this state burden on health assistance would largely go away. Hmmmm...
The spill continues in the Gulf, and Obama is heading dangerously to "Bush in Katrina" type paralysis. He isn't there, especially since this was a private-sector screw-up that had no forewarning (Katrina was neither), but in trusting a corporation to "fix it and do the right thing", oil keeps washing up onshore and the disaster continues with no major action from the White House. This is an unacceptable result, and since it goes beyond a simple loss of oil revenues for BP (with many other economic sectors being affected), it is well past time for the feds to jump in, tell BP "You fucked up, we're fixing it," and put all resources into it. You cannot trust corporations to do anything out of altruism, and between the TARP, health care reform, and this, Obama has not been willing to punish those who have hurt this nation. It's not like they're going to help him back, so these crooks need to be told to fuck off, NOW.
Oh, and Obama may also want to get rid of the Bush appointees who, instead of doing their jobs regulating oil operations in the Gulf, were watching porn, doing meth, and backscratching their way into lucrative oil-company jobs. The damage from that administration contuinues, and I worry that it might keep this recovery from being stronger in 2010 than it should. More than I ever, I believe that November 2, 2004 was a much bigger tragedy to this country than 9/11, 2001, because it allowed THOSE PEOPLE to make the appointments. The meltdowns that have happened in the years since are no accident, especially when you hire cronies, porn addicts and meth heads for big-time, serious jobs. Republican "governance" at its finest.
And the state wisely responded to an originally misleading headline in the Journal-Sentinel that indicted health care reform would raise state costs between 2014 and 2018. As the state wisely followed up, this reform will mean the feds will take much of the state's coverage, and save hundreds of millions of dollars compared to how it would have worked under the status quo (and comparing to the status quo should always be the first test when you make a decision, the failure of the status quo is why health care needed and still needs to be changed). This is an extremely helpful development, as total expenses for the state's Department of Health Services had to be increased by $2.3 billion in this most recent budget, and is now responsible for more general funds than the UW System . And even with those increases, the state still had to cut $600 million from Medicaid, with more reductions possible.
Wisconsin has been almost punished by being responsible to tis citizens, and while it means we have low levels of poverty, it also means that other states have been able to slide by with low insured rates (I'm looking at you, Confederacy)and make all of us pay for their laziness in proving security to its citizens. This is unsustainable, and it's about time the feds cover all of its states, instead of disproportionately helping the slackers. It may also allow our state to maintain its commitments to public education, roads, and other necessities, which are the things that make this place so great. Of course if we had national health care, this state burden on health assistance would largely go away. Hmmmm...
The spill continues in the Gulf, and Obama is heading dangerously to "Bush in Katrina" type paralysis. He isn't there, especially since this was a private-sector screw-up that had no forewarning (Katrina was neither), but in trusting a corporation to "fix it and do the right thing", oil keeps washing up onshore and the disaster continues with no major action from the White House. This is an unacceptable result, and since it goes beyond a simple loss of oil revenues for BP (with many other economic sectors being affected), it is well past time for the feds to jump in, tell BP "You fucked up, we're fixing it," and put all resources into it. You cannot trust corporations to do anything out of altruism, and between the TARP, health care reform, and this, Obama has not been willing to punish those who have hurt this nation. It's not like they're going to help him back, so these crooks need to be told to fuck off, NOW.
Oh, and Obama may also want to get rid of the Bush appointees who, instead of doing their jobs regulating oil operations in the Gulf, were watching porn, doing meth, and backscratching their way into lucrative oil-company jobs. The damage from that administration contuinues, and I worry that it might keep this recovery from being stronger in 2010 than it should. More than I ever, I believe that November 2, 2004 was a much bigger tragedy to this country than 9/11, 2001, because it allowed THOSE PEOPLE to make the appointments. The meltdowns that have happened in the years since are no accident, especially when you hire cronies, porn addicts and meth heads for big-time, serious jobs. Republican "governance" at its finest.
Friday, May 21, 2010
May I have Summer?
Taking a relaxing Friday night with a smashing Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold and getting ready to watch the Brewers get back on the losing track in the Twin Cities. A few thoughts.
1. It's quite sad to see the media try to present this case that the Democrats are in big danger of getting swept out in November. Last Tuesday was the most recent example, when I saw Howard Fineman and Mrs. Alan Greenspan try to say that somehow the Dems winning another special election was a sign of voter discontent with their policies. I understand that close elections drive up ratings, but what the primaries this week showed again is that people are tired of inside baseball types from Washington, and DEMAND RESULTS. Does anyone seriously think that the Republicans are the ones that'll solve these problems, especially when they seem to lack any solution other than "cut and whine." The real lesson the be learned from recent weeks is that if you're straight with the public, have solutions that have some base in reality, and don't sell out to insiders and corporations, you will have better chances of success in November.
2. And people have been given plenty of reason to vote against corporates. The most recent of this is BP's cover-up and minimization of this disaster in the Gulf. It is a criminal act of willing negligence, and Uncle Sam needs to step in and say "You obviously don't want to do what it takes, so we will." Trusting corporations to do the right thing leads to a lot of disappointment, and Obama and co. need to demand more, or finish the job themselves (even if they didn't cause it, and aren't on the inside of it). The only way you change corporate acts is to change the incentives- like higher fines, tougher enforcement of regs, and higher cap. gains. Take away the bonuses from hoarding, cheating and gambling, and the bad behavior magically will go away.
3. Noticed that one of Scott Walker's staffers quit after being caught posting blogger comments on the taxpayer dime . Not that any of this should surprise people, since the Walker campaign and his "grassroots support" is clearly nothing more than AstroTurf from WMC and Sykes and co. But the sloppiness of the move is stunning. You can have the computer you're posting from tracked anywhere, and especially by a public agency. I respect my employer enough not to post on this from my work, as they don't deserve to get lumped in with my rantings. I understand that Winkie was able to pull a nice paycheck for doing nothing but spreading propaganda, but at least have a modicom of common sense when you do such a sleazy job.
4. Great Taste of the Midwest tix are in hand, and less than 3 months away. Gotta get to work on my previews....maybe with the 85-90 degree weather we got coming in the next week.
1. It's quite sad to see the media try to present this case that the Democrats are in big danger of getting swept out in November. Last Tuesday was the most recent example, when I saw Howard Fineman and Mrs. Alan Greenspan try to say that somehow the Dems winning another special election was a sign of voter discontent with their policies. I understand that close elections drive up ratings, but what the primaries this week showed again is that people are tired of inside baseball types from Washington, and DEMAND RESULTS. Does anyone seriously think that the Republicans are the ones that'll solve these problems, especially when they seem to lack any solution other than "cut and whine." The real lesson the be learned from recent weeks is that if you're straight with the public, have solutions that have some base in reality, and don't sell out to insiders and corporations, you will have better chances of success in November.
2. And people have been given plenty of reason to vote against corporates. The most recent of this is BP's cover-up and minimization of this disaster in the Gulf. It is a criminal act of willing negligence, and Uncle Sam needs to step in and say "You obviously don't want to do what it takes, so we will." Trusting corporations to do the right thing leads to a lot of disappointment, and Obama and co. need to demand more, or finish the job themselves (even if they didn't cause it, and aren't on the inside of it). The only way you change corporate acts is to change the incentives- like higher fines, tougher enforcement of regs, and higher cap. gains. Take away the bonuses from hoarding, cheating and gambling, and the bad behavior magically will go away.
3. Noticed that one of Scott Walker's staffers quit after being caught posting blogger comments on the taxpayer dime . Not that any of this should surprise people, since the Walker campaign and his "grassroots support" is clearly nothing more than AstroTurf from WMC and Sykes and co. But the sloppiness of the move is stunning. You can have the computer you're posting from tracked anywhere, and especially by a public agency. I respect my employer enough not to post on this from my work, as they don't deserve to get lumped in with my rantings. I understand that Winkie was able to pull a nice paycheck for doing nothing but spreading propaganda, but at least have a modicom of common sense when you do such a sleazy job.
4. Great Taste of the Midwest tix are in hand, and less than 3 months away. Gotta get to work on my previews....maybe with the 85-90 degree weather we got coming in the next week.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Who to boycott?
Seems like there have been quite a few candidates for me to try to avoid, given how poorly a lot of corporate and political citizens have been acting. Here's a short list.
1. Johnsonville Brats- "But Jake, Johnsonville's as Wisconsin as they come, and you do like to grill brats." Both true, but Johnsonville had their CEOs serve on the Board of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce when WMC went out of their way to promote incompetent corporatist shills Michael Gableman and Annette Ziegler to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. They chose their profits over decency, so I'll choose a Wisconsin brat company that understands why this state is such a great place. (although it does seem that Johnsonville is no longer on WMC's inner circle , so I may have to consider hanging out with them again.)
2. Harley-Davidson- Not that I'd ever get a motorcycle, but they're just the latest example of a company choosing shareholder value over manufacturing a quality product with appropriately-compensated workers. And you can now add Rockwell Automotion to that list, as apparently killer profits just aren't good enough for them.
Of course, it's no shock that other companies are trying to follow the cue of Mercury Marine, and bilk the state and local communities out of millions of dollars of giveaways just so they can keep their business around for a few more years (and who cares if they break their promises to governments and unions as long as the check clears, eh Mercury?) . The extra taxes that have to be made up by residents (you know, many of whom WORK AT YOUR PLANT)? Meh, as long as the stockholders are happy, right? These folks need to have their bluffs called, and tariffs raised, to lessen the leverage that these companies try to pull. Free trade doesn't give gains to the countries with stronger work standards and higher standard of living, it only works between countries that operate on relatively equal terms (i.e. U.S. and Canada or Europe). Terms of trade has been poorly neglected, and is still something that needs major reforming in this country
3.Wal-Mart- If they choose to pay their employees minimum wage and pass the health-care costs onto the general taxpayer, while driving out American manufacturing in the name of savings a couple of dollars, I choose to shop somewhere else. Sure, that means Shopko or Target, which isn't exactly small-time, but keeping the money in a Midwestern corporation beats Arkansas.
4. Arizona- And I was thinking of heading back there at some point to see my college buddy Scott. But not if you allow those people to pass that law. Jeez, even John McCain has turned into a race-baiting bunch of senility. Here's a deal, I'll come back down there when you choose to join the 21st Century...or even reach the 1990s.
5. Leinenkugel's- And I enjoy my beers from Wisconsin. I just waited 2 1/2 hours to pull tickets to Great Taste of the Midwest yesterday morning (fuck yeah I did! 4 years in a row for me now). But as this Facebook group notes, it's nothing personal, just business, Dicky. Or, you could come to your senses and abandon this fruitless endeavor, since Feingold is gonna stomp whoever runs against him by 8-10 points.
There are a couple of other ones on the firing line. I could screw over a Bank of America, Chase, or Citi, since I hold credit card accounts with all of them, but I figure it's better to hold a balance, switch cards at a moment's notice, and make them waste plenty of time and resources dealing with my piddly account. Another nice protest move (albeit a small one) I've pulled is to hold off on my end-of-the-quarter payments into the first week of the next month, since it won't show up as revenue till the next quarter. I figure if a few thousand had the same idea as me, it could do enough to make a notice in their next earnings announcement (since that's all that matters to those banks anyway).
Another move I've started to take up is to have larger-than-needed numbers of checks written on my home bank (another former WMC groupie). A low balance + many transactions + no loans = more cost than revenue for the bank to service me. Gotta get them before they get me.
Lastly, BP could go on the list, given their sloppiness and deception about the oil spill. But I scam 10-20 cents a gallon off of them due to my Roundy's card, and get free Brewer tickets with enough fill-ups, so again, it costs them more to deal with me and put on that Brewer promotion than for me to not use them at all.
Any other suggestions for which man to stick it to?
1. Johnsonville Brats- "But Jake, Johnsonville's as Wisconsin as they come, and you do like to grill brats." Both true, but Johnsonville had their CEOs serve on the Board of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce when WMC went out of their way to promote incompetent corporatist shills Michael Gableman and Annette Ziegler to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. They chose their profits over decency, so I'll choose a Wisconsin brat company that understands why this state is such a great place. (although it does seem that Johnsonville is no longer on WMC's inner circle , so I may have to consider hanging out with them again.)
2. Harley-Davidson- Not that I'd ever get a motorcycle, but they're just the latest example of a company choosing shareholder value over manufacturing a quality product with appropriately-compensated workers. And you can now add Rockwell Automotion to that list, as apparently killer profits just aren't good enough for them.
Of course, it's no shock that other companies are trying to follow the cue of Mercury Marine, and bilk the state and local communities out of millions of dollars of giveaways just so they can keep their business around for a few more years (and who cares if they break their promises to governments and unions as long as the check clears, eh Mercury?) . The extra taxes that have to be made up by residents (you know, many of whom WORK AT YOUR PLANT)? Meh, as long as the stockholders are happy, right? These folks need to have their bluffs called, and tariffs raised, to lessen the leverage that these companies try to pull. Free trade doesn't give gains to the countries with stronger work standards and higher standard of living, it only works between countries that operate on relatively equal terms (i.e. U.S. and Canada or Europe). Terms of trade has been poorly neglected, and is still something that needs major reforming in this country
3.Wal-Mart- If they choose to pay their employees minimum wage and pass the health-care costs onto the general taxpayer, while driving out American manufacturing in the name of savings a couple of dollars, I choose to shop somewhere else. Sure, that means Shopko or Target, which isn't exactly small-time, but keeping the money in a Midwestern corporation beats Arkansas.
4. Arizona- And I was thinking of heading back there at some point to see my college buddy Scott. But not if you allow those people to pass that law. Jeez, even John McCain has turned into a race-baiting bunch of senility. Here's a deal, I'll come back down there when you choose to join the 21st Century...or even reach the 1990s.
5. Leinenkugel's- And I enjoy my beers from Wisconsin. I just waited 2 1/2 hours to pull tickets to Great Taste of the Midwest yesterday morning (fuck yeah I did! 4 years in a row for me now). But as this Facebook group notes, it's nothing personal, just business, Dicky. Or, you could come to your senses and abandon this fruitless endeavor, since Feingold is gonna stomp whoever runs against him by 8-10 points.
There are a couple of other ones on the firing line. I could screw over a Bank of America, Chase, or Citi, since I hold credit card accounts with all of them, but I figure it's better to hold a balance, switch cards at a moment's notice, and make them waste plenty of time and resources dealing with my piddly account. Another nice protest move (albeit a small one) I've pulled is to hold off on my end-of-the-quarter payments into the first week of the next month, since it won't show up as revenue till the next quarter. I figure if a few thousand had the same idea as me, it could do enough to make a notice in their next earnings announcement (since that's all that matters to those banks anyway).
Another move I've started to take up is to have larger-than-needed numbers of checks written on my home bank (another former WMC groupie). A low balance + many transactions + no loans = more cost than revenue for the bank to service me. Gotta get them before they get me.
Lastly, BP could go on the list, given their sloppiness and deception about the oil spill. But I scam 10-20 cents a gallon off of them due to my Roundy's card, and get free Brewer tickets with enough fill-ups, so again, it costs them more to deal with me and put on that Brewer promotion than for me to not use them at all.
Any other suggestions for which man to stick it to?
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Get well Ueck!
Great rundown of why I've been lucky to have this guy announcing my team's games for my whole life. Why Bob Uecker is better than your announcer , with credit to the Miller Park Drunk.
Won't be the same to be grilling out in the early part of Summer without hearing Ueck ask me to throw on a Usinger's with Silver Spring Chipotle mustard. Hope to hear him back by the 4th. As someone 35, I wouldn't know what Brewer games would be like without hearing Ueck. For most of those awful 90's and 2000s teams, he and the Sausage Race WERE the only Brewers worth latching onto.
In the meantime, do I dare to care about NBA hoops for the next week, with the Bucks back in their series with the Hawks? Guess I can try to suck it up, except it's easy to suck it up the way that this Bucks team shares the ball.
Won't be the same to be grilling out in the early part of Summer without hearing Ueck ask me to throw on a Usinger's with Silver Spring Chipotle mustard. Hope to hear him back by the 4th. As someone 35, I wouldn't know what Brewer games would be like without hearing Ueck. For most of those awful 90's and 2000s teams, he and the Sausage Race WERE the only Brewers worth latching onto.
In the meantime, do I dare to care about NBA hoops for the next week, with the Bucks back in their series with the Hawks? Guess I can try to suck it up, except it's easy to suck it up the way that this Bucks team shares the ball.
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