Thursday, November 14, 2013

The Walker Agenda Is Still Working! Part CCII

As we keep pointing out, when Scott Walker dropped his Act 10 bomb on the state, he took out hundreds of millions of dollars out circulation.  Instead of having workers with cash to spend on things like eating out, going to movies or going shopping for niceties, people had to cut back to the very basics just to make ends meet.  This in turn caused tens of thousands of people in the private sector to lose their jobs as the demand lessened.

Two and half years later, the repercussions are still being felt, the most recent example coming out of Sheboygan:
Bon-Ton Stores Inc. today announced it will close its Boston Store Harbor Center location in Sheboygan.

The company will terminate its lease as of Jan. 31, 2014. The closing will impact approximately 80 employees.

The Bon-Ton acquired the leasehold interests in the Boston Store Harbor Center store as part of the Northern Department Store Group acquisition in 2006.

Brendan Hoffman, president and chief executive officer of Bon-Ton Stores, which operates headquarters in Milwaukee and York, Pa., said, "The company continually reviews the performance of its assets; as a result of these reviews, we made the decision to close our Harbor Center location. We invite our Sheboygan customers to shop with us at our remaining Boston Store and Younkers stores in the area as we will continue to provide great service and an outstanding merchandise assortment. We are very appreciative of the devoted Boston Store Harbor Center store associates and are committed to providing assistance to these associates."
What they are saying is that they weren't making enough money to justify keeping the store open. And the reason they weren't making enough money is because the people don't have it to spend. Now another 80 people will lose their jobs.

Not only do we need a new governor, we need one that will change the way things are going.  Sadly, I haven't seen that person step up yet.

3 comments:

  1. It's simply beyond belief that Walker and Republicans at all levels continue to believe that you create jobs by taking money away from the working class and giving it as tax breaks to the employer class. Why would an employer expand and add more jobs unless there is an increased demand for his product? Walker demeaned and destroyed teaching in this state while at the same time destroyed the economy with his drastic cuts to public employee take home pay. It's not rocket science: DEMAND VERSUS SUPPLY CREATES JOBS!!!!!! Besides the loss of take home pay...the increased dollars that went to pension and insurance payments were now taken out of circulation at the local and state level and further dampened any chance for economic growth. People need income that allows for discretionary spending, spending beyond food, shelter and clothing. Walker's actions with public unions is now spreading to the private sector as any job creation that is now occurring involves low wage no benefit jobs, Good luck with that formula.

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  2. You quaint notion of "supply an demand", anon, is simply a lie -- in our economy, there is no real competition and that is also undermining the ability of smaller business to compete.

    An economy based on multinatinal cororations is not sustainable -- they don't need us as workers or consumers -- they can position their business models to cherry-pick high-margin businesses and the rest of us will struggle buying the cheap garbage from big-box retailers that we need to stay alive.

    But the second falacy in your comment and capper's analysis is that walker -- actually the multinational corporations he represents -- gives a damn about the Wisconsin economy. They don't and they are merely lootin' while the gettin' is good.

    We cannot grow our economy until we acknowledge the lies and propaganda that got us here.

    The same mythical "supply an demand" forces that created our "divide and conquer" governor are not going to fix Wisconsin's economy -- the folks behind walker know this.

    Real change will demand taking back our media and putting some local controls back into the economy.

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  3. Actually, Scott Walker rode into office largely based on something he copped from Orwell via Machiavelli--ideas that one of his advisers read to him and explained the big words and e-z message. Basically, it's the two-minutes hate. Remember how he used to talk about civil servants being "fat cats" and "haves" and in thrall to "union thugs"? This gambit succeeded beyond his wildest expectations, and soon Wisconsinites from Superior to Kenosha were howling for the blood of that state employee next door.

    Never mind that, before Walker, everyone knew the score: Public-sector workers made up in benefits and job security what they lacked in wages. It was a trade-off, and every Wisconsinite could decide which side of that deal they wanted to take. And everyone was happy.

    So no one should be surprised now that Scotty and his minions have reaped the whirlwind; do you really expect such mental cripples to understand that if you take money out of the pockets of thousands of people who are middle class (not COMFORTABLE, mind you), you are going to make your state's economy take a nosedive?

    When the dust has cleared from the two-minutes hate, perhaps the deluded army that followed Walker over the cliff will see that most civil servants didn't have six-figure incomes after all.

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