Agreeing with the Political Right

A reoccurring criticism of the political left by the political right has been the left’s inability to put forth a plan to bring Wisconsin’s economy back to health. It seems all the left is doing is criticizing the right without offering alternatives. In that, I have to agree with the political right.

As a liberal, progressive and social democrat; I am distressed that the political left is not setting a clear and positive agenda for Wisconsin’s economic recovery. I made some suggestions recently in a comment on a thread and was confronted with what is the left’s vision and plan.

I don’t think anyone would argue the point that Wisconsin’s economy is in an anemic state, with no apparent plan for a positive recovery. The political right is attempting to revitalize the state’s economy by doing what it always does; cut taxes, deregulate, and basically give established business whatever they want. Currently the political right supports the notion of “trickle down” economics and that has proven to be a failed path to universal prosperity. It has been good for the wealthy, but has proven to be disastrous to the lower and middle classes. The bottom line; the political right hasn’t provided a pathway to prosperity, just more of the same old failed policies.

What has always worked is entrepreneurism, finding a need and filling it and looking to the future and not the past. That is all fine sounding rhetoric, but how can that be put into action?

To begin with, we have to stop giving away the store to established businesses. A successful business has become successful by adapting to the changes and challenges to the business environment. If an established business isn’t innovating, then they are undeserving of public support. The state should not be involved with business subsidies for long established firms. This is actually interference in free market economics. If a business is unable to adapt and survive, then it should pass out of existence to be replaced with something else.

The types of businesses that the state should be supporting are startups and helping promising small businesses to grow. I don’t want to see one dime of taxpayer money to go as venture capital, but I would agree that the state should take on the role of guarantor of limited investment. Instead of guaranteeing the entire amount, the state would guarantee up to 75% of the investment. It would be up to the venture capital provider to assume 25% of the risk. I think this would be enough skin in the game to prevent too many risky ventures. The state would set up a set aside insurance fund to cover any losses. I think this would be enough incentive to please both sides of the political isle.

What I would like to see the left propose would be programs and policy that would have practical applications and help move the state into new economies. The following is what I think are worth considering:

Business –

·         Wisconsin and UW-Milwaukee are developing technologies that will benefit society for decades to come in managing fresh water resources. This is an opportunity to be the next “silicon valley”, but it wouldn’t be information technology; it will be water technology.

·         It is time to use to full advantage our agricultural capabilities. A golden opportunity exists in growing hemp for industrial use. Hemp is a quick growing, hardy cash crop that has numerous industrial potential. First, the state would have to legalize its growth for use in industrial applications. Hemp is an excellent source of cellulous fiber that can replace wood pulp in the manufacture of paper, the base product for the production of ethanol, the base fiber to be used for the production of cloth, just to name a few. By using hemp, it would reduce resource cost to producers and grow the existing businesses profit margins. It is also a crop that can be grown on marginal lands, making it a crop that produces more per acre than almost anything else.

·         With the large livestock operations in the state; Wisconsin is the perfect place to build an industry around bio-digesters and decentralized electric energy production. There should not be any one livestock operation that is still on the electrical power grid. Every operation could be producing methane gas to power their electric generators and steam boilers. Any excess produced could be sold back into the grid. This action alone would provide enough energy savings that the state wouldn’t have to have any additional large scale power plants for decades to come.  

·         This is just a sampling of opportunities that are available.

Education –

·         We need to stop this war over public schools verses private schools and put out energies into reshaping the public schools. They are no longer providing the necessary education for the future. Not everyone is suited or has the desire to go on to post secondary education. We need to recognize this and adjust the schools to reflect the new reality.

·         The state must reintroduce vocational and industrial arts into the secondary education system. Changing the required curriculum to include vocational tracks only makes sense. There should be courses that teach the medical arts; including pre-nursing, medical assistants, home health care and medical business administration. Courses in manufacturing, maintenance and repair in areas such as robotics, automation, etc should be taught in preparation in needed careers.

·         Basic business courses should be reintroduced into the curriculum. Emphasis on areas such as accounting, human resources, etc could provide trained personnel into the job force upon high school graduation.

·         Public-Private intern partnerships should be utilized to integrate students in secondary schools into viable industries. Siemens in South Carolina has been doing this for better than a decade in their electric motor plant. It has proven to be quite successful and could be used as a model for replication.

I have just skimmed the surface. We need people to step forward and look to solutions that doable and cost effective.  Just because something might come from the right or the left, it shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand.

The left has the intellectual horsepower to engage in solutions. It is time to stop playing the politics of power and begin to come up with our own set of solutions; competing in the market place of ideas and offering alternatives to the citizens of our state.