Broadband heading down the wrong path?

I understand that not everyone agrees on the role of government. However, why is that the government in this Country owns and operates most of our transportation infrastructure but not our broadband infrastructure? The government has built and operates the highways in this Country, but they do not own or operate the vehicles that transport freight and passengers on the interstate highway system. The government owns and operates the infrastructure of the airways, but they do not own or operate the freight and passenger planes that use the airports and air space. The government has built many ports and locks and dam systems throughout the nation for the transportation of goods, and for recreation on our public waterways. The government pays for the operation and maintenance of these waterways but not for the operation of the private vessels that use the waterways.

What would the highway system look like if we had required Swift, JB Hunt, Werner Enterprises, and Schneider National to all build their own proprietary road systems to accommodate their trucks? What would the highway system look like if we had planned highways without a map? And yet, this is almost exactly how we are approaching the build out of broadband across this country.

Each broadband provider in this country is building their own proprietary broadband networks (wired and wireless), and touting their services based on the “superiority” of their networks. Nobody has a map showing where these duplicative networks lie. Few of the providers are willing to share those maps so that the government can serve those left behind by the private sector.

If the privatized model of broadband was catapulting the U.S. ahead of the rest of the world, one could make an argument for the model we have. However, we are falling behind the rest of the world when it comes to broadband connectivity.

What would broadband in the U.S. look like if the government owned and operated the entire fiber backbone network or operated it jointly through a public/private partnership, and allowed the private sector to compete over that network based on the superiority of their products and services? Talk amongst yourselves.

Myth Busters Continued....

If Wisconsin is the "tax hell" that many argue it is, people would be running for the borders. That doesn't appear to be the case. Could it be that Wisconsin invests its tax resources better than other states? The following map illustrates High out-migration counties. A county was classified as high out-migration if it had 10 percent or higher population loss from net migration, July 1988-July 2008. Wisconsin did have one county (Lafayette) that was classified as a high out-migration county.


Is it too much to ask of our legislators to actually focus on solving the budget crisis with real data and facts? See: http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/ruralatlas/atlas.htm#map

Retirement Flood Gate to Open Soon

I have heard a lot of people talk about the fact that public employees have it made by getting less in salary and more in deferred compensation in the form of retirement. I have observed something interesting. I have a lot of colleagues who could have retired but have remained as public employees because they enjoy making a difference. Many of these colleagues could in fact make as much, or more in retirement but they choose to work.

I just learned that there is a two month wait to see a benefits specialist about retirement. Do people have any idea on how much talent is going to be lost when people run for the retirement door? Why would anyone who is eligible to retire stick around if their compensation is going to drop 8%. And where do you suppose that retirement income is going to be spent? As the map below illustrates, over the past ten years, Dane County and the surrounding area hasn't been very popular. So not only will the business community feel the loss of 8% in discretionary income from public workers, they will also feel the complete loss of retiree's who flee the state.
See: http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/ruralatlas/atlas.htm#map

Don't Confuse Me With the Facts

Take a look at the following map. Without knowing the indicator that it is measuring, how is Wisconsin doing? It appears to me that Wisconsin has less of whatever is being measured.

It comes from the on-line USDA rural and small town atlas, and illustrates data from the U.S. Census American Community Survey. See: http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/ruralatlas/atlas.htm#map

This might surprise you.

The map illustrates the percentage of employment which is government employment (2005-2009)

How could that be. Governor Walker has declared that the entire map of Wisconsin should be dark purple (greater than 13.5%). Why isn't Dane County dark purple? Aren't we trying to "stick it to Madison". Equally important, many of those government workers in counties like Dane, don't live in Dane County. See: http://www.socialexplorer.com/pub/blog/?p=789

I know what Scott Walker is thinking. "Please don't confuse me with the facts, my head is going to explode, this can't be right". Government employment is spiraling out of control.

Not exactly:

As Mark Twain used to say, "It's not what you don't know that get's you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just 'aint so"

Divide and Conquer

Does anyone care that the budget repair bill would give the administration sweeping new powers to revamp and even gut Medicaid programs?
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/health_med_fit/vital_signs/article_979fd798-385c-11e0-b233-001cc4c03286.html

All this while the majority of businesses pay no taxes? Yes, I understand that the owners of these companies pay personal income taxes, but this just isn't right. Especially in light of the fact that this governor also has no interest in raising the taxes on the wealthiest segment of the population. Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton figured this out:
http://tinyurl.com/69q9pn2

People only seem to care when actions impact them. It's time to spread this pain across the board. This problem is too big to be placed on the backs of public servants and those that need medicaid programs.

There's one voice of reason in the legislature. Senator Dale Schultz want's a sunset clause placed on collective bargaining. See: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/opinion/editorial/article_2071f6c4-3c99-11e0-bc47-001cc4c03286.html
I'm not a union employee so this does nothing for me. I do wonder if there would be any reason to trust this administration in two years? However, the governor has said he is unwilling to bargain, because he has no money to bargain with. What happens when this budget crisis is solved? Is this about busting unions or solving the deficit?

This isn't about me. It isn't about the unions. It's about addressing a significant deficit fairly. That will take time. That will take leadership. Who's going to provide the leadership? Where are the moderate republicans when we need them? Are there any left? I thought this was about being "bold"?

Let me vent one more time regarding the WSJ

I should have mentioned this incident with the Wisconsin State Journal. About a month ago I sent in an editorial on my time, on my personal e-mail account and computer to the Wisconsin State Journal. I sent it as a citizen of Wisconsin. I included the information they requested and only did that because their editorial policy said that they would only publish my name and city. The other information, I was told was to verify who I said I was. Many weeks later, I was telling my wife, "just once I would like to pick up the paper and not find a typo. Better yet, just once I would like to see an article or two that truly met the definition of investigative reporting." Instead the paper gets thinner and thinner with less substance. It's a sign of the times in reporting. But I digress.

I was horrified to find my letter finally published in the paper the next day. It included my name and city. However, it also included my title and employer. What? Of all the editorials, including another one from one of my neighbors, I was the only one to have this information included. I went back and read the policy that was written on-line and in the paper. I fired off an e-mail that morning asking WTF? I got a call back from the paper apologizing for their actions. The explanation I got was this: "On occasion, we include information about employment when we believe it adds credibility to the editorial". My response? If that is your practice, than you need to change the wording of your policy. Furthermore, how insulting is that? Shouldn't everyone's opinions be valued in the same way in the letter to the editor section of the paper? The last time I checked, the wording of the policy on the on-line version of the WSJ has not changed.

Needless to say, my administrators were none to happy because they know that we are living in a time when people are vindictive. Yea, I know. Who needs tenure? I didn't mind that people knew who I was. I was sharing my opinion as a resident of the state, not as an employee of the University. For me, it was just another indication of what has happened to the quality of reporting. I'm going to get my reporting from other sources for a while.

What does the Wisconsin State Journal Really Think?

When I was growing up in Madison, we had a liberal paper and a conservative paper. My parents subscribed to both along with numerous subscriptions to at least 2-4 other national newspapers. Well, we all know what has happened to the "newspaper" industry and the state of news reporting here in Wisconsin. However, as painful as it has become, I still enjoy sitting down and reading a paper newspaper. We really have one traditional newspaper left in Madison in the form of the Wisconsin State Journal. It urks me that the paper that now complains about sending back $800 million for rail, or the speed in which Walker is moving the budget repair bill through the legislature, is the same paper that endorsed Scott Walker. Did they simply hope that he was going to be a liar? Many businesses in this state are unwilling to pay any taxes, and others like the state journal fail to see how cuts in compensation in the range of 8-10% will impact their business. I decided its time to send them a message. On 2-13-2011, I sent the following note to the circulation desk at the Wisconsin State Journal:

As a public employee, my total compensation will be going down about 8.5% as early as May 1. Since the WSJ endorsed Scott Walker and his policies, I would kindly ask you to reduce the rate of my subscription by 8.5% effective May 1, 2011. If you are unable to provide that discount, please cancel my subscription effective May 1, 2011. Thank you for your consideration, xxxxxx,xxxxxx

On 2-17 I received the following response from Wisconsin State Journal editor John Smiley:

Very sorry to learn of your decision to cancel the paper. I find it puzzling that someone who cares so passionately about this issue -- as you obviously do -- would choose to remove himself from the primary source of coverage and information about the topic. Nobody can come close to covering this issue the way we can, and we truly see the work as part of our public service.

I'm not in charge of discounts for the paper but I can certainly ask for one on your behalf. I'll check with the circulation director on your request. I'm wondering, though, if you're going to ask for a refund from the Middleton school district, since your teachers there walked out on the job today. Shouldn't you, as a taxpayer, get a refund for that? Or maybe from Senate Democrats, who fled their jobs and went to Illinois today to avoid voting on the bill? Using your logic, shouldn't you get some sort of a tax refund from them, too?

I'm sorry to know that you don't see enough value in the newspaper to continue your subscription. But if it's a discount that you need to keep reading, I'll work on that for you.

Best wishes,

John Smalley

Editor

Wisconsin State Journal

"By my logic"? Are you kidding me? By my logic, Scooter Walker owes me a refund for the $800 million he sent back to Washington for the train. Or the $23 million in ARRA BTOP funds for broadband that was returned this week. By my logic, the teachers and fleeing democrats are attempting to delay the process and apply some critical thinking. The teachers don't owe me anything. They have to teach 180 days and it doesn't matter to me if that is today or at some other time. The Dems are doing the only thing they can do that does what the State Journal has asked for.....slow the process down. The point is they, and other businesses supported this man who chooses to use authority rather then show leadership. It's further damaging my buying power that forces me to make decisions about what I want and what I can afford. I can no longer afford paying for a service that simply adds to my aggravation. I think it is the WSJ that owes me a refund, because I am cancelling my subscription effective Monday. Consider writing your "Dear John" letter today.

What is happening to my State?

We live in a time when nobody cares. Everyone recognizes we have a state budget problem in Wisconsin. However, everyone wants someone else to bare the pain. And on this issue, nobody wants to take the time to learn the facts and make an informed decision. People don't want to have their opinions clouded by the facts.

We can debate whether or not a budget repair bill is needed but the debt is somewhere around $3.6 billion. What bothers me is that Governor Walker and his business cronies, right out of the gate, are focusing on an issue that is neither fair nor significant in terms of the budget. And they are acting in a manner that is going to impact the state for decades. This problem wasn't created overnight and it's not going to be solved overnight. Don't forget that our leadership, in the form of the Fitzgerald brothers were around when Tommy Thompson, Scott McCallum, and Jim Doyle were building this debt. I know, that's not what people want to hear.

Let me be clear, I am not a union member. For the 27 years that I have worked for the University, I have never been permitted to join a union. We haven't had a pay plan increase in several years. When the legislature was taking a 6.3% (I believe that's right) pay increase in 2009, I was being asked to take about a 3% cut in the form of furlough days. Some of my fellow public employees working for Counties, Villages, and Cities experienced the same thing. Many did not. While we had furloughs, the municipalities that were receiving state aids from the State were not required to feel the same pain. The legislature didn't apply furloughs to themselves nor did they give back their pay increase. Those that were not impacted, did not care. It's my understanding that the governor and legislature will have to absorb the same share of costs that they are asking public employees to pay. Well the 6.3% pay increase they got in 2009 will pay for that. Why don't they give that back as well so they feel the same pain?

I realize everyone thinks I'm under-worked. Representative Steve Nass casts that wide net every time he talks about University faculty. The University is a large institution. We have some loafers. We have some crooks. But the people that I have worked for in the last 27 years work harder than any legislator I know. It's a fact. Come job shadow me for a week some time. Legislators that have served and left say it should be a part-time job. We are the smallest state with a full-time legislature and they rank 8'th in compensation. I know, don't confuse people with the facts. And by the way, on a percentage basis over the past 5-10 years, we have far fewer convicted criminals than our state legislature.

I realize that everyone thinks that I am over-paid. We are now talking about a merit based pay system for K-12 teachers. The University has had a merit based pay system for some time. When it was actually followed and there was money for merit adjustments I have done well. After performing at a high level for 27 years, I have done o.k. But even if I was over-paid the averages don't lie. The public can pick out examples of individuals who are over-paid in both the private sector and the public sector. How about the CEO at M&I bank who took obscene bonuses and then drove the business into the ground? When comparing the public sector to the private sector, if one compares "apples to apples" and takes into consideration the qualifications for the position, studies have shown that public sector workers make less than their counterparts in the private sector. I know, don't confuse people with the facts.

The current budget repair bill does little to solve the bigger picture. It's all about busting the unions and building a national platform for Scott Walker.

Before I am asked to accept an additional compensation cut exceeding 8%, I want to see the plan that solves the budget deficit and shares the pain equally. I want to be assured that our leadership is accepting the same or more pain than I am. Go back to being a part-time legislature and focus on the issues that are important. The majority of our wealthiest businesses pay no taxes in this state. That isn't fair to the businesses that do pay taxes or to us that are being asked to pick up the slack. I want to see a budget that has a reasonable timeline. This mess wasn't created overnight. Go ahead and ask new employees to pay for half of their retirement costs, phase in shared cost for employee contributions combined with modest pay plans. But let me see the plan. And let me make a suggestion on how we share this pain with the business community in my next post.