Posted on 07/04/2006 8:22:38 AM PDT by Tiny
Last year, there were 55 announcements of new manufacturing plants in Illinois; there were 72 in Michigan, 35 in Minnesota, and 34 in Iowa.
In Wisconsin, there was a grand total of five.
According to a report for Competitive Wisconsin released last month, Wisconsin lagged behind the rest of the Midwest across the board.
In 2005, there were 75 announcements by companies that they were expanding their mannufacturing operations in Illinois; 180 expansions announced in Michigan, 36 in Minnesota, and 64 in Iowa.
In Wisconsin? Six.
It actually gets worse. When announcements of other business investments and expansions are also included, Illinois saw 510 announcements of business expansion; Michigan 505; Minnesota 176, Iowa 135, and Wisconsin…a mere 15.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Start with high taxes. Add in a heavy-handed regulatory climate, a lawsuit-happy legal climate, a lack of skilled workers, failed urban school systems, Milwaukee’s high crime rate, a welfare state mentality, and a dysfunctional political system and you have all the ingredients of economic decline.
The news that one of the state’s largest software companies, RedPrairie, was thinking of moving out of state should have served as a wakeup call last week. Instead, local officials did what they do best these days: they reached for the snooze alarm.
(Excerpt) Read more at 620wtmj.com ...
Well, Wisconsin isn't all that liberal. It's just that Milwaukee and Madison pretty much dictates policy for the state.
It was on purpose.
For years, the MSM used blue for the Republican states on election eve, and red for the Democrats. Then, in 1992 (I think), they were pulling out all the stops for Clinton, and some consultant told them that red was a more threatening color, associated subconsciously with danger by the lumpenproletariat, and therefore gave a slight advantage to the mean bad Republicans.
All three networks immediately, and as one, reversed their color scheme. Now "red" was Republican and "blue" was Democrat.
I could be wrong about 1992. The switch may have happened in '96, or even in 2000.
The Dems have an interesting economic philosophy. They don't want companies that create marginal jobs. They want only companies that pay high taxes, and are extremely profitable--profitable enough to pay high wages, high health benefits, etc. The other, less productive companies can move to Florida, as far as they are concerned, so they jack up taxes and regulation, and the only companies that remain are those that are willing and able to pay.
The unfortunate thing for the Democrats, though, is that aren't really any companies who want to stay in Wisonsin on those terms.
Nothing like a "Blue" state. The mainstream media got the colors mixed up. Liberal run states should be the "Red" states. I don't know if that was deliberate on the MSM's part, maybe it was just a mistake.Of course it was deliberate, but not so much on the idea of "red ink" as that of commie-pinko-traitor. The MSM was quite sure it didn't want the commie-pinko-traitor party to be colored red. Using the agitprop method of meaning inversion, they applied the color red to the anti-communists.
Not only that, but two very important groups are fleeing Wisconsin in droves. It is because of the abject failures of Jim Doyle, the Democrats and the RINOS who run the state GOP that young people (high school and college grads) and the elderly.
Elderly people are being driven out of state by ridiculously high taxes, user fees, and out-of-control utility bills. By staying in Wisconsin (where many of them have lived their entire lives and worked for the better of the state), they will eventually and often inevitably reach a point where they can no longer afford to stay in their homes.
The economic impact is not as large compared to younger generations, rather, the effect is more symbolic than anything else.
More importantly though are the young adults (particularly high school and college grads). Right or wrong, we are the political and economic future of this state. Drive us away and the legacy will no longer see Wisconsin as a prestigious place to live and work, but a veritable hellhole inhabited only by those who put up or even thrive on economic and political sadism.
While it's true that many high school grads go out of state to college--the economic and political climates of Wisconsin are currently extremely discouraging for college grads to live and work in Wisconsin.
Being a UW system student, I'm quite certain a significant portion of us in the state's colleges are watching the economic and political climate of the state like a hawk. If things really don't change, many of us will simply look for opportunities (be they post-grad or career work) in states with a more hospitable business and political climate.
IMO, if I'm going to be taxed highly and fund political corruption--all while most decent jobs move to other states or overseas, why in the world would I want to stay in the state?
When that happens, how will the state rebuild its prestige? The truth is that it can't.
Sounds like New Jersey in the Midwest. Do they have draconian gun control, too?
The state government knows how to "grow" businesses... the stupid, greedy businessmen just want to make money....
duh!!
Such is similar in most liberal states.
Excellent post showing the results of high taxes. In the northeast, people are leaving in droves because manufacturing has left, to come down to the sunbelt.
The communists have learned to hide their true colors. They are also known to hijack and destroy words, for example the word liberal originally meant anti-big government.
From Wikipedia on Blue:
Blue has the connotation of conservatism, tradition, and stability, in contrast with red which seems more radical, which is probably why blue is used more by conservative parties. Paradoxically, the more liberal U.S. Democratic Party uses blue as its color, whereas red is associated with the conservative Republican Party. This shift occurred in the 2000 Presidential election in which states which leaned toward Al Gore were colored blue and those that leaned towards George W. Bush were colored red. Why the United States runs contrary to the rest of the world on this matter is unknown, but it is frequently attributed by liberals to the Republican Party's desire to appear to be the party of "red-blooded Americans", leaving the other "American" color, blue, to the Democrats. Alternatively, some claim that liberals desired to dissociate themselves from a color still seen by many Americans as a symbol of communism.
This is what happens when the takings coalition runs anything long enough. We lived in Denver from 2000 to 2003 and the long-time residents biggest gripe was the Californians moving in. Seems they screwed up California so bad they were moving to Colorado; only to start voting for the same policies that messed up California.
Yeah, sure, that's it. During the 2000 election, the Republicans who run the main-stream media decided "hey, we're the Red-Blooded Americans around here, why should Al Gore be associated with our favorite color?" And from that day on, boys and girls, the Republicans have been Red on our national political maps.
Wikipedia is fun, but it's reliably run by left-wingers, who are the only people who have time for such things (the right-wingers who have spare time spend all of it here).
(steely)
When economic idiots trash America.....this is what you get.
This city has high taxes and regulations the city looses about 1100 people a month ( the people that work and create jobs). I have to wait about a year and half to move and I just hope my house holds it's value. The people here are pro union and the city is the third largest union town per cap. They elect the same Democrats for the last 25 years with the occasional RINO or even a Dem to the left of the normal Dem's. I can't wait to be an RN so I can get out of here.
It's the first time I've heard the left's lame explanation for hijacking our color. What the left is really thinking is they are America's blue blood, the lords over the common people. Their superior blue blood is the basis for their takeover of blue.
Based on their cut and run attitude on Iraq they should have hijacked yellow instead.
Businesses all over the Wausau area (Marathon Co.) are looking for workers.
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