× Expand David Michael Miller

If you were looking to build an economic future for Wisconsin, the obvious place to start would be Dane County. As Marc Eisen recently reported for Isthmus, between 2007 and 2015, nearly 75 percent of the almost 45,000 jobs added to the state economy came from Dane County. Madison ranks first in the country in the growth (50 percent!) of tech workers over five years, second in the density of software publishing jobs and fourth highest in pay for software engineers.

Yet Gov. Scott Walker largely ignores the city, when he isn’t denigrating it. “The last thing we need is more Madison in our lives,” was his recent attack.

Even as he ignores the state’s new economy, he is doing everything he can to prop up the old economy of manufacturing. Under Walker, it’s almost as though the private sector can no longer function without government handouts. The state handed out subsidies to 59 companies in 2017 alone.

Then there is Foxconn. No government in America has ever spent this much money to subsidize a foreign business. And no governor in state history has spent anywhere near this much in taxpayer dollars to subsidize one business, with the total handout now at nearly $4.1 billion. The $315,000 per job spent on Foxconn’s promised 13,000 jobs is 12 times higher than Democrat Gov. Jim. Doyle spent per job (about $25,000) for Mercury Marine and 217 times higher than Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson spent ($8.25 million for 5,700 jobs) to subsidize General Motors in Janesville in 1988.

All this money for what is basically an advanced manufacturing plant whose success has been driven by its low wages and high government subsidies. Many workers in the new plant will be doing assembly jobs. The deal gives Foxconn a subsidy if a job pays at least $30,000 — about 130 percent of the poverty line for a family of four.

Doyle, Thompson and past governors spent strategically, when nothing else would assure a company would remain in the state. Walker hands out subsidies like candy. The latest example is Kimberly-Clark, which will be offered the same obscene amount per job as Foxconn by Walker, and which is now the new standard for future corporate handouts.

Yet there is no evidence all this largesse is improving the state’s economy. Nationally, the post-2010 economic recovery has resulted in tremendous growth in jobs, but Wisconsin has consistently trailed most states.

Walker’s entire approach of massive subsidies has yet to prove it has had any impact. The huge $457 million tax break given to manufacturing companies that started with tax year 2013 has resulted in little increase in employment, according to an analysis by the Wisconsin Budget Project.

As widespread as his subsidies have been, they have concentrated on manufacturing, which represents only 16 percent of non-farm jobs. Walker has also targeted mining for special attention, an industry that provides one-tenth of one percent of all non-farm jobs in Wisconsin.

Meanwhile, he has ignored the low-hanging fruit of alternative energy, Wisconsin’s wind and solar companies. Walker hasn’t uttered one word about their value and potential growth, even as the state spends more than $12 billion annually to bring in coal and gas, importing pollution to this state and exporting potential jobs to coal and gas producers.

The reality is that small companies create most new jobs, not mega-firms like Foxconn. Imagine if just one-fourth of the money spent on Foxconn — $1 billion — was used to create a fund to help back the most promising startup companies in bio-tech, alternative energy and other growing industries. It would be a far cheaper and more effective way to build a new economy.

Wisconsin also needs more workers, specifically college educated workers. As UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank recently noted, 22 percent of its non-resident students are still here a year after graduation, and their brains can help continue the economic transformation of Madison. Thompson was a big supporter of UW-Madison. Walker, a college dropout, has cut university funding and attempted to eliminate the Wisconsin Idea, which calls for the university to improve the quality of life in the state.

Walker’s style of governing hasn’t made Wisconsin “open for business” but open for business giveaways — the recipients of these giveaways in turn give Walker campaign donations. Nearly 60 percent of companies getting state subsidies in Walker’s first term donated to him. And Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, which pushed for the manufacturing tax cut, has given huge donations to Walker and Republicans. Mining company Gogebic Taconite, which successfully pushed for a pro-mining law signed by Walker, secretly donated $700,000 to support his reelection.

Walker has still not delivered the 250,000 new jobs he promised, nearly four years after this was supposed to have been achieved. It would be difficult to explain his approach to business based on any economic theory, but is easily explained through political science. Walker is a career politician who has been in office since age 25 and knows companies are more likely to donate to him if they get subsidies.

Bruce Murphy is the editor of UrbanMilwaukee.