SHARE

By

As an independent, I am long past being disgusted with our two political parties bashing one another or taking credit for positive results that they had little if anything to do with. The fact that over 100,000 jobs were lost under Gov. Jim Doyle is meaningless as to who was to blame, as it would have happened to Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans if they had been in office then, simply due to the massive nationwide economic collapse.

The fact that over 100,000 jobs have been created since Walker took office and the unemployment rate is the lowest in five years is just as meaningless. Unemployment still hasn't come close to the pre-recession years. Walker and the Republicans had little to do with that, as most of those jobs have come as a result of the overall economy improving the past several years.

Democrats bash Walker's inability to create the 250,000 jobs he promised during his campaign. The fact is that would have required job growth at levels never seen in the past 50 years, although he obviously was starting at a point where it could only go up.

Here's a thought to create more jobs: Hire qualified out-of-work financial people as auditors for many of our government programs. They would easily pay for themselves by reducing fraud, tax evasion, etc., which cost us tens of millions annually.

Democrats persecute Walker for Act 10. The fact is a portion of this law was long past due. In 1988, the Greendale School Board won a landmark case requiring teachers to pay a share (15%) of their health care premiums. It took 25 years after that for Madison to enact Act 10, requiring a level of sharing (12%). The changes to health care and pension sharing for public employees were long overdue.

However, much of the rest of Act 10 was done for no other purpose than to destroy public unions since they typically support Democrats. The annual requirement to obtain votes from at least 51% of all eligible members to certify a union was simply vindictive, meant to destroy the unions. The fact is Walker only obtained around 28% of the eligible vote and thus could never have been elected under the same rules he applies to public unions.

The extreme polarity in this state is solely due to Walker and Republicans overreaching with portions of Act 10. He could have been a positive political hero to the vast majority of the state if changes had simply been made to have public employees' share in health and pension costs, provided school boards with more authority to get rid of poor teachers, eliminating seniority from the equation and making it easier for school districts to go outside the Wisconsin Education Association Council for insurance.

And now the Republicans want to take credit for an anticipated surplus and give it back to taxpayers. What a joke! The economy created much of this anticipated surplus, with another large part coming from cuts in education spending. In reality, Walker and Republicans are simply trying to buy votes in the next election. The surplus should be used to pay down our debt, which Walker and Republicans added to as well as the Democrats.

Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch's recent commentary claims our minuscule rainy day fund is seven times larger than in the past, so there's no need to add to it. Seven times a small number is useless. When it approaches 10% to 20% of our annual budget, then someone can begin to try to make claims that it is large enough. In actuality, it should be much larger than that.

The last place the surplus should go is to reduce property taxes. The largest single tax collected from non-Wisconsin residents is the property tax. So a large portion of any so-called property tax relief is going to out-of-state property owners and the wealthy. Renters likely will see none of this.

If one wants to stimulate the economy, the group that needs more spending money is the low and middle class. Of course Act 10 took almost $1 billion from a portion of the middle class, so it is no wonder Wisconsin lags Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan in job growth and ranks in the bottom quartile nationwide.

A better way to return funds to Wisconsin residents, if that is deemed reasonable, is to provide an income tax credit that would be limited to those earning (income and investment earnings) under some determined level, to avoid further enriching the wealthy. But debt reduction should be the first priority.

And what about redistricting? This time it is the Republicans; last time it was the Democrats. No one should be able to pick their voters. Under the latest redistricting, we have almost no competitive districts. Take politics out of redistricting.

We also badly need an overhaul of our tax system, including a curtailment of many of the exemptions that primarily benefit the wealthy. Never in history have we seen such a disparity between the haves and have-nots. We need federal and state budgets that work on paying down our debt.

Finally, we need an overhaul of Social Security and Medicare. These programs were not designed for a society with our ever-lengthening life spans. The programs need to be modified, over time, to push back retirement benefits from 65 to 70 or beyond and to scale back benefits so the programs remain fiscally viable.

I'd like to see a strong independent party that can force Democrats and Republicans to the table to make meaningful reform. Most other countries have multiparty political systems that require cooperation and compromise. Our two-party system has outlived its ability to function. The problem is money wins elections, and independents can't compete. If we want a functioning government, we need to vote out the extremists and replace them with lawmakers willing to do what needs to be done to fix this country and our state.

James Germain of Waukesha is a CPA and past president and member of the Greendale School Board.