Information Technology Solutions

A VOICE FOR THE MIDDLE OF THE STATE

Middle Wisconsin News

www.MiddleWisconsin.com March 2013

IN THIS ISSUE:

The Winter of Our Discontent

By John Spiegelhoff Merrill Can you hear the train barely audible but distinct? Is it coming? How long will it take to get here? Are there many passengers? Should I buy a ticket? For many years, ordinary citizens had little voice to counteract the right wing worldview. The conversation was dominated by a media beholden to money. We knew in our hearts that this propaganda was not how we treated each other in our communities. We found it hard to express our discontent with the direction that our country was headed in. But a train is a comin, and we can hear that whistle. It calls us to action. It gives us courage to stand up for what is just and fair. To have an honest public conversation over what we value: progressive ideals. As Progressives, we believe that:

Winter of Our Discontent...........1 The Fight of Our Lives...............2 Endorse Fallone ........................3 Socialist Capitalism ...................4 Mining History............................5 Progressive Taxes? ..................6 Justice for All .............................7 Retirement for All.......................8 A Whole Which Is Greater ........9 Voucher School Scam ............10 Working Wisconsin .................11 Challenging the Myth ..............12

Middle Wisconsin News welcomes letters, articles, and essays on relevant topics. We ask that you limit submissions to 600 words and provide sources when appropriate. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity, and taste. Emailed submissions should be sent in plain text or Microsoft Word attachments to: [email protected]

People should be valued over profits and communities valued over corporations. Smaller government means corporate governance and the dismantling of our nation. No one makes it on his or her own. The private is successful because of roads, clean water, and infrastructure created and paid for by the public. American democracy is built upon the ethics of citizens caring about other citizens. Its moral mission is to protect and empower everyone equally. Privatized education with public tax dollars only benefits the elite and corporations. Nothing is free for the taking in our environment. Corporations have a moral obligation to our environment and our communities. When corporations have enjoyed the public resources that made them wealthy, and then they ship jobs overseas, it is immoral and should be characterized as theft. You are not free without health insurance or when health insurance denies needed care. Taxes are revenue that allows our children to be educated, roads to be fixed, and the general welfare to be supported. Conservative fiscal policies create revenue neglect and under-taxing of the wealthiest. Wealth disparity means power disparity.

This edition of Middle Wisconsin News focuses on some of the relevant national and state issues that confront our communities: voucher schools, mining, the role of government, wealth inequality, and unresponsive legislators who represent moneyed interests. This is the Winter of Our Discontent, but we are NOT content to simply wait for the next train. We are changing the conversation in our communities. Can you hear the train? All aboard!

2013 Middle W is c ons in

Middle Wisconsin News

The Fight of Our Lives
By Virginia Kirsch Wausau

March 2013 Page 2

We are in the fight of our lives, Mike McCabe of Wisconsin Democracy Campaign told us at the Wisconsin Grassroots Network Festival in Mazomanie on February 16, 2013. Several hundred progressives from around the state gathered for a day of workshops and inspiration. McCabe spoke of the excess money in state and national politics, but concluded, There is no cause for despair. We have faced this before and defeated these conditions before. With that challenge before us, we proceeded to three sessions of workshops. We learned so much and were inspired by our progressive colleagues. Here are some highlights: Mark Denning, of the Oneida Nation and a teacher at UWMilwaukee, told us how the Iroquois Confederacy influenced our Constitution and system of government. Did you know that George Washingtons childhood friend was Shenandoah? In the bitter days of Valley Forge, when General Washington sought help for his beleaguered troops, it was Oneidas who brought food and clothing. The Iroquois Confederacy was an umbrella for five diverse tribes. The Confederacy featured a division of powers. Decisions were made by consensus. Representation was based on population. The Native American influence on our democracy was not written, but you can see it. Government was for serving the people! Solidarity Singers performed during lunch. They also auctioned off delicious baked goods (made by the Singers) to pay their fines for singing at the State Capitol. They continue to sing each weekday while their fines keep adding up. Mark Denning Oneida Nation Move-to-Amend (Fighting Money in Politics) has made great progress this past year. The workshop was well-attended. Five panelists took us through the excellent Guidebook which is available online: There is an abundance of material at www.movetoamend.org as well as South Central Wisconsin Move to Amend, www.scwmta.org. Wisconsin Grassroots Network presented a panel on the 72-County Strategy to build progressive values in all 72 Wisconsin counties. This panel was most helpful, speaking from experiences and sharing ideas that worked for them. In Richland County, the unions, grassroots groups, and the Democratic Party work together and build continuously. It is important to find common ground in the community and work together (progressives, conservatives and others). The rural folks have been ignored too long. Talk, talk, talk with people of all persuasions. Solidarity Singers

Mike McCabe Wisconsin Democracy Campaign

2013 Middle W is c ons in

Middle Wisconsin News

Endorse Fallone for Supreme Court
By Christine Bremer Muggli
People often ask me, What has happened to the Wisconsin Supreme Court? Good question. The dysfunction that has been evident in our Court over the last several years has been difficult to explain. We now are at a point where we are facing an election that will either allow Justice Patience Roggensack to return to the Court, or enter a new era for our Court and end the dysfunction. Justice Roggensack should not be retained. Professor Ed Fallone is a highly qualified candidate for our Court and deserves your vote. Ed Fallone has been a professor at Marquette University Law School for two decades. He teaches constitutional law, immigration law, securities regulation, and corporate law. He also practices law with a law firm in Milwaukee that specializes in complex litigation, including corporate and contractual issues. Professor Fallone is an extremely intelligent man. In fact, his knowledge of the law has been described as formidable. He is an excellent speaker and is well-loved by his students. He is truly interested in what the law says and is not political. He believes that Wisconsin deserves a justice who will be honest and open with the people of Wisconsin. Unfortunately, Justice Roggensacks record is quite the contrary. Justice Roggensack has actually worked to close the doors of the Court to the public. Justice Roggensack drafted a rule that the public be excluded from the Courts administrative hearings. On her motion, which passed on a 4 3 vote, with the conservative bloc following her lead, it was decided that important administrative business of the Court is now to be conducted behind closed doors. She has been chastised by editorial boards across the state for her proposal. Ed Fallone has indicated that he will be the justice who respects the importance of an independent judiciary, of being impartial and fair. He has vowed to give a fair hearing to all sides of the many important and contentious issues that make their way to the Court. Ed Fallone believes that everyone in Wisconsin deserves equal access to justice. He believes that the role of the Supreme Court is to be an independent check and balance on political branches when they overreach their authority under the Wisconsin Constitution. He has stated, when justices seek votes based on their partisan affiliation, the public will no longer view their decisions as fair or independent. Ed Fallone is not beholden to any political party, faction on the Court, or any special interest group. Not so with Justice Roggensack.

March 2013 Page 3

Ed Fallone

In 2011, the Wisconsin Civil Justice Council, which represents large corporate and business interests, put forward a study that demonstrated that Justice Roggensack voted in lock step with Justices Prosser, Ziegler and Gableman, in favor of corporate and business interests 100% of the time. In 2013, the study was completed once again. This time the Wisconsin Civil Justice Council rated Justice Roggensack as the Justice who most often supports the interests of corporations and businesses in her decisions. Is it any wonder that these corporate interests are lining up to provide millions to see Justice Roggensack reelected? Ed Fallone is not only a fine lawyer and scholar, he is also committed to his community. He is the founding President of Centro Legal, which helps families get access to legal counsel they could not otherwise afford. He is the Past-President of the Latino Community Center, which helps keep children in school, off the streets, and out of gangs. Ed and his wife have founded Wisconsin Stem Cell Now, an advocacy and education group dedicated to the promotion of life-saving medical research. We have all seen Justice Bradley's disturbing rendition of the facts surrounding Justice PrThe conservative Super PAC Club for Growth, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the Walton (Wal-Mart) and DeVos families, and others invested in voucher schools are supporting Patience Roggensacks bid for re-election to Wisconsins Supreme Court. They represent corporate interests who want to ensure her re-election.

My mother always told me, Youll be judged by the company you keep.
The conservative Super PAC Club for Growth, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the Walton (Wal-Mart) and DeVos families, and others invested in voucher schools are supporting Patience Roggensacks bid for reelection to Wisconsins Supreme Court. They represent corporate interests who want to ensure her re-election.

If you are not impressed by Pats company, vote for Ed Fallone on April 2.
Tom Ivey, Wausau

Middle Wisconsin News

March 2013 Page 4

Walkers Slightly Socialist Capitalism

By Greg Wright Plover While the recent decision to grant the single-vendor contract to Infinite Campus has both consequences for the regional economy and the capacity to reveal a potentially corrupt vendor-evaluation system, we shouldnt overlook its illustration of Governor Scott Walkers ideologies. Walker is a self-proclaimed small-government, free-market capitalist that has been outspoken about his disapproval of federal healthcare takeovers. He is a vocal part of Republican governors refusing to set up ObamaCare provisions in their states. But this decision to legislate a government-controlled monopoly runs counter to the theory of government that Scott Walker promotes. I should clarify. I believe socialism can be a helpful tool in a responsible government. Consequently, I approve of a unified student management system. As a former teacher, I can attest to its value. Students dont stay in one district, and our most at-risk kids tend to move most frequently. It is challenging for districts to serve students without adequate information. Having one system that equips accurate information to travel with students is beneficial for educators, but that sort of thinking isnt the brainchild of a free-market capitalist. This eliminates choice and forces a monopoly onto school districts. If a Democrat had suggested such a shift, we would have rightfully heard the S-word thrown around. Moreover, Walkers selection process itself ignores the basics of supply and demand. Capitalism preaches that consumers will reproduce a version of economic Darwinism through their spending to determine the product of greatest value. A true capitalist wouldnt send this decision to committee. He would look at the selections made by the districts in the state and trust the highest demand to designate the most favorable product. With over 50% of the districts choosing Skyward, the markets clearly chose it as the best product. Still, the Walker government felt the need to correct its consumers by imposing a nonmarket-based metric. This is bad socialism, though, too. The purpose of a state government is to serve the people within that state. If this were a federal decision, it would be reasonable to assume that Wisconsin companies wouldnt receive preferential treatment over those in Minnesota, but we would prefer the federal government to choose domestic companies over foreign ones. A decision of this stature shouldnt simply take into account the cost of the product. It should take into account the benefits of having such a business in-house. We should value supporting local companies. If possible, our standardized test should be written and scored using local companies. Our school lunch programs should support farmers by serving locally grown agriculture. BadgerCare should work with Wisconsin-based insurance companies. We should be installing windmills and solar panels made with Wisconsin manufacturing to build a Wisconsin-based power grid. Thats smart state government investing our tax dollars in markets that will continue to cycle those dollars here. Whether you believe that capitalism or socialism should drive governments influence on the Wisconsin economy, choosing Infinite Campus was a poor choice. If Gov. Walkers decision honors neither of those ideologies, maybe we should be asking what did motivate this decision.

And that is where we are right now, faced with the challenge of creating a new way of life. What do we want our Wisconsin to be? Who will determine its future? I know that I would rather pose those questions to the people in the streets, chanting politely to be let into their statehouse, passing food over their heads to the people inside, than to the Kochs and other corporate billionaires who simply do not see, or even care to see, the Wisconsin that I see and cherish.
Margaret Swedish From her essay Whats Really Going on in Wisconsin in the book A Whole Which Is Greater

2013 Middle W is c ons in

Middle Wisconsin News

Penokee Mining History
By Susan Sommer Phelps
In 2003, U.S. Steel was ready and willing to sell the conservation rights on 16,000 acres of land along the Penokee Range through negotiation with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) including their mineral rights. This is the same land Gogebic Taconite (GTAC) wants to mine... the same land for which GTAC has secured an option to obtain the mineral rights from current owners RGGS Land and Minerals (Texas) and La Point Mining Company (Minnesota) the same land that drove the Mining for Jobs bill, SB1 and AB1. In 2003, TNC applied for Forest Legacy Program funds to help purchase the conservation easement from U.S. Steel. Land and Water Conservation Funds were to be used to help the Forest Service buy another 6,000 acres. The resulting easements would have maintained the recreational uses and timber production on a total of 22,000 acres along the Penokee Range. Mining would not have been allowed.

March 2013 Page 5

Program, Program Narrative, 424 Application, Fiscal Year 2003, Bad River tract.) There must be an appraisal of the mineral value in the land GTAC claims it wants to mine. Clearly all the parties in 2003 knew the value of the mineral deposits. Certainly todays proponents of a taconite mine on the Penokee Range must also know. In 2003, one of the largest steel-producing companies in the world was willing to sell a conservation easement for its 16,000 acres on the Penokee Range, knowing that mining would be prohibited. Yet, in 2013, our legislators insist there is profit and jobs to be had in those same hills. Facts suggest otherwise. We have been duped. To what end?

Forest Legacy easements commit land to a forest management plan that recognizes and encourages management of the forest for public recreation, scenic beauty, timber production, and conserva- The following are possibilities: tion benefits. The easements are permanent and binding on future landowners. Wisconsin is a laboratory for a political agenda and an ideology driven by ALEC and other like-minded groups. Changing The 2003 Forest Legacy Project was named Bad River Headwaour State's mining laws and our environmental protections ters. Wisconsin DNR records indicate that the Federal Governunder the pretense of job creation would be a huge coup. ment awarded $3,428,000 toward the purchase of the conservation easements. The State of Wisconsin match funds totaled This is a scam on those of us who are desperate for work. $1,143,000. The total value of the land interests was $10 million. Without a provable orebody, there will be no jobs. The only folks who will get something out of this are the politicians, The records state that although negotiations had been going well the lobbyists, and the possible mining companies. between TNC and the landowners, one of the larger landowners decided to sell their holdings to another party. The new owner By redefining the term sulfide ore body in SB1/AB1, the was not interested in selling a conservation easement to the State. way is paved to rescind our states sulfide mining moratoA State of Wisconsin Final Report dated June 12, 2006, explains: rium. There are many other orebodies in Wisconsin, and [t]he new owners have indicated that they may mine the properthey are sulfide-producing. ty in the future. The larger landowner was U.S. Steel. The purchaser was RGGS Minerals. The speculation game drives investments. Whether or not a profitable orebody exists is irrelevant to companies who If there is a profitable orebody on the Penokee Range, why was sell options on mineral rights or start exploring and then U.S. Steel willing to sell a conservation easement on that land? abandon the stated goal of mining. Theyve made their The easement would have banned mining in perpetuity. Certainly money and moved on. Never mind the impact on local comU.S. Steel knew the implications of a conservation easement. Most munities who built and prepared for jobs that never came. certainly, U.S. Steel knew the value of its mineral rights on the Range. The other parties to this transaction also must have known To divide us. the value of the mineral rights. In fact, the State of Wisconsin was required to obtain an appraisal in order to determine the fair mar- Before changing our states mining law, our legislators should have ket value of the land interests. (State of Wisconsin Forest Legacy demanded first, Show us the orebody. To the people in the know, we must seem like absolute fools.

Middle Wisconsin News

Progressive Tax Rates?
By Jeanne Larson Phillips

March 2013 Page 6

Authors Sam Pizzigati and Chuck Collins of the Institute for Policy Studies discuss the link between the decline of the progressive income tax and the rise of wealth inequality in The Great Regression, in The Nation magazine (February 25, 2013). Wisconsin lost an estimated $814 million due to offshore tax dodging in 2012. This is in addition to $150 billion worth of federal tax revenue lost every year. In Wisconsin, $814 million in additional revenue would be enough to: Double the size of Governor Scott Walkers proposed income tax cut for individuals, with money left over to increase our budget surplus, or Pay in-state tuition for over 100,000 Wisconsin university students, or Hire over 12,000 additional teachers for Wisconsins public schools Source: http:// wispirgfoundation.org/ news/wif/offshore-taxdodging-blows-814million-hole-wi-budget The 16th Amendment, giving Congress the power to impose a federal income tax, is 100 years old. The first tax schedule enacted set the top rate at 7%. Preparedness for World War in 1916 pushed the rate to 15%. By the wars end, the top rate was 77%. Tax rates hit a low of 25% in the 1920s. During the Great Depression, conservatives lost attempts to raise revenues via regressive national sales taxes. Tax rates topped off at 94% during WWII and held around 90% for the next 20 years. Republican President Dwight Eisenhower viewed high taxes on high incomes as the antidote to the opulence that inescapably leads a nation to depravity and ultimate destruction. In 1955, income over $400,000 faced a 90% federal rate, but with loopholes, the IRS effective tax rate was 51.2% on Americas top 400 incomes. In 2007, Americas top 400 had an effective tax rate of just 16.6%, with incomes averaging $345 million, more than 25 times after adjusting for inflation the $13 million that the top 400 reported in 1955. Dismantling of tax progressivity began under Democratic President John Kennedy, who assured America that a rising tide lifts all the boats. With his economists insisting steep tax rates were a heavy drag on growth, Kennedy contended the fastest way to cause the tide to rise was tax cuts for everybody, including the wealthy. In 1964, Congress approved a 70% top rate. Conservatives then extended the rationale: If tax cuts could create the miraculous outcomes JFK promised, why stop there? In the 1980s, under Republican President Ronald Reagan, top tax rates were cut to 50, then 28%, clearing the way for Americas plutocratic restoration. Pizzigati and Collins point out that bottom wage earners need an incentive to defend progressive income tax rates. They propose setting the entry threshold for a maximum tax rate as a multiple of the $7.25 minimum wage, say 25 times. That was the ratio between CEO and typical worker pay until recent decades, when CEO pay jumped to over 300 times worker pay. A married couple working at minimum-wage jobs earns about $30,000 annually. If we pegged entry into the top tax bracket at 25 times that, taxpayers making over $750,000 would face the maximum tax rate. If the minimum wage rose to $10 an hour, the top bracket wouldnt kick in until $1 million. Pizzigati has recently published a book entitled The Rich Dont Always Win: The Forgotten Triumph Over Plutocracy that Created the American Middle Class, 19001970. Collins is the author of 99 to 1: How Wealth Inequality Is Wrecking the World and What We Can Do About It. They also edit Inequality.Org.
2013 Middle W is c ons in

Middle Wisconsin News

March 2013 Page 7

Justice for All

By Jeanne Larson Phillips

Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the world?
--Abraham Lincoln First Inaugural Address, 1861

Marquette Law Professor Ed Fallone is challenging incumbent Justice Pat Roggensack for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. If elected, Mr. Fallone pledges to overturn the Roggensack Rule, which allows parties with cases pending before the court to make campaign contributions to Justices, a practice many call legalized bribery. Fallone believes overturning this rule is key to restoring integrity to the court. He wants to ensure the court is not biased toward special interests. He wants to change court rules to make administrative meetings open and transparent. Fallone says he will be the kind of Justice that has the courage to be independent in the face of political pressure and who will rule according to the law. Mr. Fallone has been an attorney for almost 30 years, practicing business and corporate law for more than 25 years. He is an expert in white -collar crime, securities law, constitutional law, and administrative law. As a law professor, he has taught practical skills and the ethics to the next generation of lawyers. He helped draft the Wisconsin Uniform Securities Act and gives expert testimony in cases where shareholders have a dispute with corporations. In the community, Mr. Fallone organized a service that helps families get access to legal counsel they could not otherwise

afford; worked in a program to keep kids in school, off the streets, and out of gangs; and, with his wife Heidi, founded Wisconsin Stem Cell Now, an advocacy and education group dedicated to the promotion of lifesaving medical research. During a joint interview of the two candidates on Wisconsin Public Televisions Here and Now on Friday, March 8, 2013, Fallone said Justice Roggensacks actions in the aftermath of a physical altercation in which Justice David Prosser put his hands on the neck of Justice Ann Walsh Bradley specifically Roggensacks recusal of herself in Justice Prossers judicial ethics disciplinary process has exacerbated problems in the court. Watch the full interview at WPT. Mr. Fallone has not had the advantage of running TV ads in this campaign to achieve name recognition with the public. In contrast, an outside group, the conservative Club for Growth, spent an estimated $300,000 in the primary in support of Roggensack. At his web site, falloneforjustice.com, you can view an hour-long interview that Mr. Fallone held with the Milwaukee JournalSentinel. The more you learn, the more you will want to vote for Ed Fallone for Supreme Court Justice on April 2.

Middle Wisconsin News

Retirement for All
By Phillip Anderson Maple

March 2013 Page 8

The financial industry and political groups, devoted to making government smaller, promote the replacement of employer pensions and Social Security accounts with individual accounts while ignoring what public policy has accomplished for retirement security. Their vision of a reformed U.S. retirement income system moves away from what good reform should do that is, make the system more fair, enhance productivity, and be more efficient. No pension system should waste people's money.
Teresa Ghilarducci Author When Im Sixty-Four

2013 Middle W is c ons in

Do you dream of retiring with dignity and financial independence? For many people, a secure retirement is slipping out of reach. The Internet is full of grim statistics. Only 42% of private sector workers age 25 to 64 have any pension coverage in their current job. Only half of American workers have access to a 401(k) plan, and only about 30% take advantage of that plan. 75% of 401(k) have an average balance of $60,000. The median account balance is less than $20,000. One-third of households end up entirely dependent on Social Security and for low earners, that portion is 75%. Only 21% of private employers offer a defined benefit, guaranteed retirement income pension. Why is this happening? Since the 1980s, traditional company defined benefit (DB) pensions have largely been replaced by defined contribution (DC) or 401(k) retirement savings plans. This has shifted the responsibility for adequate retirement income from employers to employees. This is good for employers because they have lower, predictable costs and no responsibility or risk. But it is increasingly clear that for many employees, this change is not working out well. Too many people are getting to retirement age without adequate financial resources to retire. Why is this not working? Workers simply dont save enough in voluntary retirement plans. They dont manage their accounts well. Market volatility, investment risk, and administrative fees eat up savings. Individual 401(k) accounts do not share risk, take advantage of economies of scale, or provide guaranteed incomes. Individuals who save on their own using DC plans have dramatically less at retirement, pay higher management fees, and get lower investment returns than DB retirement plans. What is a solution? When Im Sixty-Four: The Plot Against Pensions and the Plan to Save Them by Professor Teresa Ghilarducci makes a proposal: Workers would contribute 5% of their income. These contributions would be invested in the markets, and the workers would receive a guaranteed rate of return. The Social Security Administration (which operates at a 2% overhead) would manage the program. Professor Ghilarducci estimates that this program would provide workers with a guaranteed program that combined with Social Security, would replace 70% of pre-retirement income. She says the program is affordable and would not stress the economy. How would it work? The Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) could be a model for a Wisconsin Guaranteed Retirement Account program. The WRS is the highly successful public employee pension program operated by the Department of Employee Trust Funds and the State of Wisconsin Investment Board. The WRS was recently rated as one of the best public pension systems in the country and the ONLY one to be fully funded. The WRS has a long history of providing stable, secure pensions at a very low cost to the public employers and taxpayers. Many people believe WRS could do the same for the private sector. By using the strength and management expertise of the WRS, a private sector trust fund could be built, over time, that would provide good pensions for all workers. The question is, Do we have the political will, foresight, and sense of community to do what is good for everyone?

Middle Wisconsin News

A Whole Which Is Greater
Why the Wisconsin Uprising Failed
A Book Review by Dave Svetlik Mosinee

March 2013 Page 9

The rise of modern participatory government was no less attended by the willingness of common people to take risks in pursuit of their own interests. The products of the modern history profession have provided us with copious examples of the difficulties faced by most of our fellow human beings and all of our ancestors to create what is perhaps the most important of all human accomplishments: government for the people, by the people. Jeff Leigh From his essay Seeing Our Struggle from Distant Shores in the book A Whole Which Is Greater

Ranging from religion to revenue, colonialism to progressive coalitions, A Whole Which Is Greater is a remarkable collection of essays which, taken altogether, provide a thoughtful look at recent and continuing social and economic developments in Wisconsin and America at large. Edited by Paul Gilk and David Kast, the book is at once, philosophy and fact, history and current events. The devolvement of Wisconsin from a bastion of progressive thought, with leaders the likes of Fighting Bob Lafollette, to the regressive ideology we now endure under Governor Scott Walker, didnt happen overnight, and didnt happen in a vacuum. The varied background of the 13 authors the 13 concerned citizens who have contributed their work to A Whole Which Is Greater provides the comprehensive perspective necessary to understanding all that has occurred. Combining the thoughts of attorneys, historians, sociologists, grassroots activists, spiritual activists, college deans, and economic consultants is probably the minimum foundation required for moving forward wisely. Following this line of reasoning, the opening essay, The Big Conversation, by James Botsford, seems the perfect introduction. In Botsfords words: There is an ever increasing and really quite irrefutable body of knowledge out there telling us to think and behave more holistically, more sustainably, to temper our short-term desires, to make progressive changes that begin to heal the damage we humans are causing to the natural world; to act, as my Native friends admonish us, thinking of the best interests of those who will come seven generations from now. This at its core is what A Whole Which Is Greater is about. How do we bring together the facts, the figures the heart, the soul, the emotion, and the intellect needed to guide our world toward a vision of life? How do we move toward a world that works for all? Hardly a new quest, indeed it is ancient, but it represents humanity at its best. Take time to read A Whole Which Is Greater. We are going through a difficult period in Wisconsin and in America. This is a work that provides the broad knowledge base needed for moving ahead wisely. It is a work that gives hope, but not naively so. A Whole Which Is Greater Wipf and Stock Publishers ISBN13: 978-1-62032-560-5

2013 Middle W is c ons in

Middle Wisconsin News

Voucher School Scam
By Joyce Luedke Hayward

March 2013 Page 10

Voucher schools are once again in the news after Governor Walker announced an unprecedented expansion of taxpayer -funded private/religious voucher schools in the 20132015 state budget. His proposals call for: Increasing state aid to voucher schools by 9.4% (or $7,050) per student for K8, and by 21.9% (or $7,856) per student for high schools. The increase would be $73 million for 25,000 to 29,000 students over 2 years. This increase is many times larger, percentagewise, than the proposed state increase to State Superintendent of Schools, Tony Evers, stated: This means an public schools. Funding for public schools, which serve up to $1,400 per-pupil increase per-pupil funding for the 25,000 870,000 students, would be $129.2 million. students in voucher schools, while freezing spending ($0 revenue limit growth) for our 870,000 students in public schools. Expanding the voucher school program to 4,000 more students in nine cities leaving open the real possibility to expand Some of many questions that must be addressed are: the voucher program in the future. Breaking a link in state law that currently binds the percent- age increase to voucher schools to the percentage increase in state general aid given to public schools. A state board that would create more independent charter schools that would be free of school district oversight. (Charter schools will be addressed in Middle Wisconsin News in a future issue.) How can this be constitutional? The Wisconsin Constitution requires the Legislature to provide by law for the establishment of district schools, which shall be as nearly uniform as practicable; and such schools shall be free and without chargeand no sectarian instruction shall be allowed therein (as cited by Patrick Elliott, January 31, 2013, in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). Why is taxpayer funding being diverted from public schools to taxpayer-funded private/religious schools that do not perform any better than the public schools? Test results for the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam in 2011 show choice/voucher schools performed about the same or worse than public schools in reading and math. Why are voucher schools allowed to operate by different rules than the public schools with no oversight from the state? Why doesnt the state hold the taxpayer-funded voucher schools accountable to the same standards as the public schools and put them under the umbrella of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction?

Senate President Mike Ellis (R-Neenah) states: This is phase one of a wide-open school voucher program for the state. The governor didnt respect the thoughts of about 8 or 10 Republican senators who didnt want it in the budget. Senator Dale Schultz (R-Ripon), who chairs the Senate Education Committee, states: This dramatic expansion of vouchers leaves me cold. We have a hard enough time to support one education system in this state, let alone two. Both Ellis and Schultz are also concerned that Governor Walkers plan would apply to all students in the district not just those attending troubled schools. Larry Miller, a Milwaukee Public School District School Board member stated: This is devastating. We lose the enrollment (to more charter and voucher schools) and we lose the funding because theres no increase to the revenue limit.

For additional information, see Jason Stein and Patrick Marleys article Scott Walker Proposes Expanding Voucher School Program, Raising Taxpayer Support in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Middle Wisconsin News

March 2013 Page 11

Working Wisconsin Labor News & Views Emergency 911 Someone Call a Union Member
By John Spiegelhoff Merrill

Heres what we are facing: a blind belief in the positive effects of providing wealth to corporations, not principally corporations which produce products in the United States, but rather those which outsource production to save on labor costs. And when the right-wing Republican and tea party folks cry out against labor unions which have historically protected workers rights, they act utterly against their own best interests. Only an ignorant populace mesmerized by misinformation in the media could be so irrational as to actively work against their own economic interests. - Author John I. Laun
From his essay Worldwide Neoliberal Development, in the recently published book A Whole Which is Greater

Song: Solidarity Forever Tune: Battle Hymn of the Republic When the unions inspiration through the workers blood shall run, There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun; Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one, But the union makes us strong (1st verse) Solidarity forever, Solidarity forever, Solidarity forever, For the union makes us strong (chorus) Ralph Chaplin began writing Solidarity Forever in 1914, while he was covering the Kanawa coal miners strike in Huntington, West Virginia. He completed the song on January 15, 1915, in Chicago, on the date of a hunger demonstration. Chaplin was a dedicated Wobbly, a writer at the time for Solidarity, the official IWW publication in the eastern United States, and a cartoonist for the organization. He shared the analysis of the IWW, embodied in its famed Preamble, printed inside the front cover of every Little Red Songbook.

Analogous to the turn of the century, workers are again under assault from corporate greed. It is no secret that workers wages have not by any means kept up with the rate of inflation. If this were so, the minimum wage would be around $21.00/hour. It is no secret that corporate CEOs compensation is 380 times the workers average pay. It is no secret that unions have been on the decline since the 1970s. Why do we (workers) appear apathetic in our response to this injustice? If our neighbor had an emergency, we would most certainly provide mutual aid and support in some form or fashion. Well, the house of labor is on fire. It is time to rise up and heed the call. We are all in this together. Union affiliated or not, we are all workers.

2013 Middle W is c ons in

Middle Wisconsin News

CHALLENGING THE MYTH...

March 2013 Page 12

And if all others accepted the lie which the party imposed if all records told the same tale then the lie passed into history and became the truth.
George Orwell 1984 (published in 1949)

The Myth of Balancing the Budget

By Dave Svetlik Mosinee

We are all aware of the latest abdication of responsibility by our federal legislators. It is called the Automatic Sequestration Cuts and, like the Fiscal Cliff a few months ago, it is presented as though ordained by God himself. No mere congressman or senator can do anything about it. It is the Almightys way of forcing America to reduce its debt. No matter that the cuts will result in an economic contraction that will cause a now shrinking deficit to once again begin to grow. The Lord works in mysterious ways, and we must never question His judgment by bringing up silly facts. This is governance in America, 2013. In the grossest of oversimplifications, the budget of the United States one of the largest economic forces on the planet; holder of the dollar, the exchange currency for the world is likened to a simple household budget. Money in must equal money out. After all, we all have to pay our bills. Simple. Done. And when we swallow this line of reasoning, hook, line, and sinker, we become the sucker at the end at the end of that line. We are watching the plundering of America the plundering of our communities, our schools, the commons all in the name of debt reduction. But there is no true desire to end government debt or deficit. Debt is the preferred weapon of plunder, and the oligarchy/plutocracy now in control of America has no intention of giving it up. Starve the beast and drown it in a bathtub are intended for our children. The words of economist James K. Galbraith in his book The Predator State, present a larger picture. We must become better students, better citizens We must teach ourselves...

In sum (and to put the matter bluntly), balancing the budget is a mission impossible and a fools errand. For practical purposes, the realized budget deficit no longer depends on federal budget policy decisions, but rather on international trade and the financial position of the private sector. So long as American foreign trade remains in a permanent state of deficit which it has to do... So long as a growing and unstable world economy requires dollar reserves, the federal budget deficit is basically permanent. Policymakers and pundits can say what they like about budget deficits. Nothing sustainable can or will or even should be done about them, except through a change in the worlds financial system. That may come eventually. It may, for that matter, be in its early stages at this writing. But whatever the future holds, it is in the global financial system, and not in the halls of Congress, that the future fiscal balance of the U.S. government and whether it really matters to the well-being of Americans will be decided. James K. Galbraith, The Predator State