The Search for Employment in America

There is a constant theme in America today: We need more jobs, find us more jobs, the stimulus was supposed to create jobs, JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!

Well, here's an observation from my little corner of the world: People don't want to work!

I know of a company that pays reasonably well for its area, has a great local reputation and the job is relatively prestigious for a service industry position. The number of viable candidates for this position: 0! That's right, zero. Most of the applicants have terrible work histories, no experience or a very unreliable background.

What people really want is to continue to collect their unemployment checks until their old job in their old field comes back. Newsflash: That ain't gonna happen! Buggy whip makers had to find something else to do and so should you.

A lot is made of the fact that America has lost thousands of manufacturing jobs overseas. So what! First it was the Japanese, then the robots and computers, now it's the Chinese and the Indians. Let 'em have the manufacturing jobs. Go back to school, learn computer design or entrepreneurship or alternative energy science or anything with a future.

I hear you saying it: But this is what my daddy did and his daddy before him. This is what I want to do?

Really? And what about his daddy or his daddy... chances are somewhere along the line one of your ancestors decided to stop scraping a bare existence out of someone else's soil and went and found a new skill.

America has the opportunity to be the world leader... not by going backward to the industries that made the 20th Century- "the American Century,"  but forward into  the 21st Century. We don't need to do the building, other people will do it for us. What we need to do is tell them what to build. No one in the world is better than Americans at innovation and invention.

What are the keys to a Great American Future?

1) Education. If we can get back to educating our students, we will be better able to dominate world business. This includes making college more affordable and more worthwhile. (See my blog posting on philosophy in school.)

2) Reasonable, Restricted Accountability in Business: Government in the US should make sure that the businesses that are perceived by the world to be American companies are leading the world in human rights, environmental responsibility and fiscal transparency.

3) Industry Oversight Organizations: Groups assembled by different industries to oversee the conduct of companies in their industry. A little bit of self-control would be wonderful.

4) Taxation with a Purpose: The endless cry that taxes are too high misses the point. Americans are willing to pay for what they get, but governments (local, state & federal) need to show people in a clear and simple way, where their money is going. Justify what you take and we will care less that you take it.

5) Predictable Policies Toward Business: Every time a new party takes over they begin to dismantle the stuff that the previous governments put in, regardless of whether they are working or not. Kill the things that don't work and try new things. Stagnation is worse than confusion, but not much.

These are just the beginning of ideas to move America into the 21st century.

Repost: Wispolitics.com - Budget Blog

Paycheck mailed to Erpenbach

With the paychecks for Senate Democrats cut off until they return from their boycott, Sen. Jon Erpenbach got creative.

Erpenbach, D-Waunakee, appointed two of his staff members his power of attorney, which would allow them to collect his pay.

On Feb. 22, GOP leaders voted to require members pick up their paychecks in person on the Senate floor.

Erpenbach, who like his 13 Dem colleagues fled the state to stall a vote on the budget repair bill, is in Chicago.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald put the check in the mail instead of turning it over to the staffers.

"We confirmed with our attorneys and with the chief clerk that was proper," said Fitzgerald spokesman Andrew Welhouse.

-- By Greg Bump

Thanks to Wispolitics.com for this article

Open Letter to My Republican Legislator

Dear Mr. Lasee,

I am writing to ask you to remain independent during this time of extremely partisan battling.

In Governor Walker's Budget Repair Bill was a provision to sell Wisconsin's energy assets, not to the highest bidder, but to whomever the Governor and/or his appointees decide. That is not a Conservative value nor a Wisconsin way of doing business.

The Senators who have left the state have left using the closest thing to a filibuster we have in Wisconsin. They should be acknowledged for their tenacity and for standing up for what they believe is right.

The budget proposal is over-reaching and, Mr. Lasee, I know that you know that. The budget cuts to local governments makes sense, but the state should not then restrict local governments from doing what they feel is necessary to keep services available. If the federal government were to do the same thing, they would protests throughout Madison and the state.

We are in the fiscal mess we are in because too many people pandered to the loudest donor. They literally sold our state for the easy road. There is, however, difference between correcting course and running aground on your principles.

Mr. Lasee, please consider what is truly right for the people of Wisconsin, not just what is politically expedient for the moment. I am asking that you review this new budget objectively and honestly. That is a conservative ethic and the Wisconsin Way.

Thank you and God bless the great state of Wisconsin.

Bob Peryea

How Does It Really Compare?: Local Gov't. Wages v. Service Industry

In reading through the Governor's budget, I began to think: What percentage do other similar businesses pay for labor?

The business that came to mind was a hospital. They have a large labor force, don't actually make anything and provide a service with minimal materials.

Here's how they stack up:

From page 38 of the Governor's budget:

From "Trends in the Use of Contract Labor in Hospital" by American Hospital Directory, Inc:

The winner is LOCAL GOVERNMENT! Local government pays 43%, hospitals pay 52.4%! Apparently we are getting a deal! And, oh yeah, hospitals are mostly profitable.