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A VOICE FOR THE MIDDLE OF THE STATE

Middle Wisconsin News

www.MiddleWisconsin.com January 2013

IN THIS ISSUE:

The Will of the People Is The Law of the Land

By John Spiegelhoff Merrill

The Will of the People............... 1 Mandy Wright ....................... 2 Broken Hearts ...................... 4 Earned Benefits ................... 5 Economic Lies ..................... 6 Bay View Massacre.............. 7 Cows & Climate ................... 8 Social Movement.................. 9 Challenging the Myth ......... 10 Images & Ideas .................. 12

January in Wisconsin. Bitter cold. We hunker down and hibernate, knowing that we could have chosen to live in a warmer climate, but still we dont leave. This is the state that we grew up inthe state that we love. We are steadfast and sturdy people. We have been taught Wisconsin values of fairness, respect, and a concern for others. With the political turmoil over the last two years, we wonder if our friends, neighbors, and our communities have subscribed to another set of values. At the State Capitol in Madison, there is a saying in those hallowed halls that reads: The will of the people is the law of the land. How many of our legislators dont even bother to look up at that saying and consider whether it gives them pause? We ponder the plethora of harmful laws passed in the last few years and the harmful laws we anticipate will be passed in 2013. We wonder if our neighbors and friends agree with these harmful laws and whether our values are really that different. We wonder if we have anything in common anymore. After much deliberation, the answer is a resounding YES! Most Wisconsinites believe that: The wealthiest among us should pay their fair share and contribute to our communities.

Middle Wisconsin News welcomes letters, articles, and essays on relevant topics. We ask that you limit submissions to 800 words and provide sources when appropriate. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity, and taste. Emailed submissions should be sent in plain text or Microsoft Word attachments to: dave@middlewisconsin.org

Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid must be preserved. Wall Street should be regulated so that it is a market for all and not a market for the 1%. Banks should be held accountable for behavior that endangers our democracy and our freedoms. Voting is a right that all Wisconsinites should have, and that voting should be easier rather than harder. Our natural resources should be protected from those who desire to exploit our public lands for profit, giving very little in return and leaving us to clean up their mess.

The fact of the matter is that Wisconsin values are not being respected by those in elected offices. The will of the people is being ignored by ideologues beholden to corporate interests, who have forgotten what is written on the Capitol walls: The will of the people is the law of the land. Our legislators in Madison need only look up every once in a while to be reminded of this.

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MANDY WRIGHT State Representative - 85th
Building the Common Good From the Inside Out
Upcoming events JOIN US!
By Virginia Kirsch Wausau

January 2013 Page 2

How did it happen that a sixth-grade teacher is now our representative from the 85th District to the Wisconsin Assembly? Mandy Wright (wife to Josh and mother to Ruby, Sylvia, and Lucy) says that Wisconsin politics in 2010 really caught her attention. But, actually, it started long before that. Her grandfather, Donald Roberts (a French Canadian), grew up in Superior. He was one of 13 children in a very poor family. At age 12, he left school to find work to help support his family. He ended up working for the Superior Grain Elevators, in extremely poor working conditions. He duct-taped his pants legs to keep out the rats. He tied a handkerchief over his mouth to filter the air. He noticed an inordinate amount of his co-workers suffering from respiratory ailmentssome of them dying. Strong chemicals were used to protect the grains from rodents, fungus, and bacteria. Mandys grandfather, as a member of his union, pushed for health and safety standards. Eventually, through his union connections, Donald Roberts, working with Congressman Dave Obey, passed national legislation for safer working conditions in the grain elevators, banning specific chemicals that were harmful to workers and to consumers. Mandy learned about working conditions and consumer protection advocacy from the example her grandfather set. He died of lung cancer before she was able to talk to him about his work. She learned that unions could channel an uneducated but concerned citizen to get the attention of legislators and to pass safety regulations that benefitted everyone. Its a powerful lesson that contrasts with the current public perception of government. As a student at Wausau East High School, Mandy was interested enough in politics to hang around with the debaters and other politically minded people. She was part of the IB (International Baccalaureate) program, whose stated mission is to help develop the intellectual, personal, emotional, and social skills to live, learn, and work in a rapidly globalizing world. During her time at St. Olaf College, she was involved in many activities, mostly athletic. But an eye-opening experience for her occurred in Indonesia, where she spent 8 months as part of her college studies. She observed the elections there (the first democratic elections in Indonesia in 32 years) and noticed if and how the local people were listened to. She also lived in Norway for a time, where she saw the environment as a priority, open access to higher education, and people taking care of each other through universal healthcare. People were free to live their lives and not be consumed by worrying about the next medical bill, and generally they lived very healthy, productive lives. Continued on p. 3

Representative-Elect Mandy Wrights IN-DISTRICT INAUGURATION Friday, Jan. 11 4 p.m. Marathon County Public Library 300 1st St., Wausau (2nd floor) *** IN-DISTRICT RECEPTION Friday, Jan. 11 5-7 p.m. Limerick's Public House 121 Scott St., Wausau

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Mandy Wright Continued

In the winter of 2011, as Mandy witnessed the turmoil and upheaval in our state legislature and citizenship, she invited friends to her home for a session of brainstorming: How could they deal with the political issues of the day? People began talking and volunteering and, before they knew it, Middle Wisconsin was born. Facebook happened. Everyone volunteered to help with something! Mandy never envisioned this would become an organization, but it did. Thought, word, and deed is how Mandy talks about Middle Wisconsin. First, they had the idea. Then they put it into words. Then they developed an action plan. They had begun a community organization, which continues to grow.

Women are often interested in getting something done, rather than taking the credit, so they'll do what it takes to make sure the right pieces and players are in the room. This is why Emerge's work is so important. If we are ever going to move past the gridlock in Washington, we need more women ready to lead.
Jennifer Granholm Former Governor of Michigan
http://www.michigan.gov/ granholm/0,4587,7-168-57920--,00.html

Representative-elect Mandy Wright & former U.S. Representative Dave Obey

In the fall of 2011, Mandy was encouraged to enroll in Emerge, a training program for Democratic women campaigning for political office. Her response was, Why would I want to do that? Im plenty busy already! But she did complete the six-month program, learning a lot about organizing and running a campaign. She attended weekend seminars once a month in Milwaukee and Madison. The next big step was becoming a candidate. She had in mind running for State Assembly, but perhaps in four or more years. However, an opportunity appeared in 2012, and Mandy announced her candidacy for State Assembly for the 85th District. She continued to draw on many resources in the community. Mandy and her friends were new to politics, though, which resulted in creative approaches for the primary. She received strategic help from Wisconsin Progress and Emerge, and her connections through Middle Wisconsin were invaluable for messaging and volunteers. In addition, the Marathon County Democratic Party, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, and the Wausau Education Association (in which she served as an elected member-at-large) were integral to her success. Mandy continued to learn. She reached out to the community and found common ground. She listened to people and respected their ideas. She knocked on many doors and walked many miles. Just as she had learned from her grandfather, she continued to organize people to work for the common good. And as she heads down to Madison to represent her district, thats her continued goal.

Mandys Advice:
We each have a civic responsibility to be involved. Dont be afraid. Actively seek outlets. Take ownership, and be thankful for your community. Give something back. Trust your own instincts. Be yourself. Dont be intimidated.

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Broken Hearts
By Joyce Luedke Hayward
Our hearts are broken read the headlines. Twenty little

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bodies lie overnight where they fell in two of the first-grade classrooms in Sandy Hook Elementary School. It is a crime scene and the parents somehow endure the long night unable to enter the building to hold their beautiful fallen children. Six adults also lie where they fell, shielding their young students. The headlines continue:

The gunshots went on and on and on. The screams and cries of the children fell silent, but the gunfire continued. Kids, staff hide as killer chose his victims. (St. Paul Pioneer Press) Candlelight vigils are held. Homemade signs read:

How many more children will we as a nation sacrifice on the alter of the NRA? Stop gun violence. Guns kill people. Hug a teacher today.

We see the scenes that will forever be part of our collective memory: Lines of children with their eyes closed, being led out of the school by their teacher-protectorsdutiful and bravely each child has a hand on the shoulder of the child ahead. Some are crying, others visually screaming, some with heads down. Two childrena boy with his hands covering his mouth, camouflaged by trees and branches, huddles next to a girl, head down, with her arms wrapped around herself.

Stunned people, once again, gather in places of worship hugging, weeping, listeningeyes lifted to heaven. People rally in front of the White House.

Meanwhile, in the cold hours of the early morning in a home in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, this grandmother lights candles in memory of the children and adults and all who Two women, a child between them, with an officer beside will forever be affected by incomprehensible violence. She them flee from the building that holds the untold story of touches the faces, in the photographs taped on the fridge, the terror within. of her daughter and son. A son who is a high school teacher. A sister of one of the teachers screams into her cell phone. This wise and caring sonIs he prepared to protect his students if the unthinkable would happen? Are these young A President, somber and older, wipes away the tears as he parents strong enough to face what lies ahead of them for pauses to find the words to address a nation once again their own childrenthe son with three sons, the daughter numbed by grief. The unthinkable, unimaginable has hapwith a son and daughter? This grandmother touches the pened once again. His words: Our hearts are broken. He speaks of the overwhelming grief and the beautiful little beautiful faces of each of her five grandchildren and whispers a prayer to her Lord to please keep them safe. As she kids. He says, They are our children and We have been does, the tears once again flow thinking of the beautiful through this too many times. This president has said his most important job is to keep the people safe. Is he thinking children and their families in New Haven, CT. he has failed to protect these children and the adults who Writing seems to somehow soothe this grandmothers soul. are given the awesome responsibility to teach and protect And so, in the wee hours of the morning, I turn on my comour children? puter and turn my attention to finding words that would hold meaning to the violence that is part of the fabric of Once again countries around the world try to console a nation overcome by grief. But the grief of too many times this nation. is almost impossible to comprehend and to carry. Its not enough. But its something...

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January 2013 Page 5

Protect Your Earned Benefits

By Phillip Anderson Maple

Progressives scare the rich and powerful because they actually want to return power and influence to the people just as Bob Lafollette did in the early years of the 20th century.
Russ Feingold Former U.S. Senator & Founder of Progressives United
http:// www.progressivesunited.o rg/about/russ-feingold

The November elections are over, but our responsibilities as citizens did not end. We still must be informed and active to keep our elected officials working for us. You can be sure the corporate lobbyists are keeping active! The recent debate over the fiscal cliff and the federal budget is an example of this. If we do not forcefully speak out to protect Social Security and Medicare, their compromise promises to compromise our future. The idea that were on the edge of an economic Armageddon simply is not true. The fiscal cliff was a manufactured crisis. Congress created this phony deadline, and they could have ended it at any time. The conservative position that entitlements (e.g., Social Security and Medicare) must be cut is also bogus. Social Security DID NOT cause the federal budget deficit. The deficit was caused by:

Two unfunded wars The 2008 Bush recession The Bush tax cuts for the upper 2% Exploding healthcare costs

Benefit cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid will not solve these problems. It will only hurt people and further depress the economy by decreasing overall spending. We all must tell our elected officials that any fiscal agreement must meet these two criteria: 1. The Bush tax cuts for the top 2% must expire, as scheduled, on December 31. 2. There can be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits. Call, email, or write your representatives today. It is easy and only takes a few minutes. We cant match the money of the corporate lobbyists, but we canand must overpower them with numbers.

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Economic Lies
By Jeanne Larson Phillips

Our great industrial organizations are in control of politics, government and natural resources. They manage conventions, make platforms, dictate legislation. They rule through the very men elected to represent them. The battle is just on. It is young yet. It will be the longest and hardest ever fought for democracy. In other lands, the people have lost. Here we shall win. Bob La Follette (18551925) U.S. Representative U.S. Senator Governor State of Wisconsin
http:// www.wisconsinhistory.org/ turningpoints/tp-035/

In his video The Seven Biggest Economic Lies, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich rebuts the biggest whoppers being told by those wanting to take America backward. The following are all lies: Lie #1: Tax cuts for the rich trickle down to everyone elseAfter Presidents Reagan and George W. Bush cut taxes for the rich, median hourly wages (adjusted for inflation) stagnated and dropped. Lie #2: High taxes on the rich hurt the economyFrom WWII to 1981, richest Americans paid a top marginal tax rate of 70% or more, yet the economy grew faster during those years than it has since. Small business owners, who create most U.S. jobs, wouldnt be deterred by higher taxes; fewer than 2% of small business owners are in the highest tax bracket. Lie #3: Shrinking government generates more jobsIt means fewer teachers, fire fighters, police officers, and social workers, as well as fewer workers building and maintaining roads, bridges, transit systems, and schools. Lie #4: Cutting the budget deficit now is more important than boosting the economy with additional spendingThe long-term goal is to reduce debt as a percent of the economy. Budget cuts now will shrink the economy, increase unemployment, and reduce tax revenues. The first priority is getting jobs and growth back, and only then should we turn to cutting the deficit. Lie #5: Medicare and Medicaid are killing the budgetRapidly rising healthcare costs are the problem. The best ways to slow these costs: a. Use governments bargaining power to control drug, medical supplies, and hospital service costs. b. Move from a fee-for-service system to a fee-for-healthy outcomes system. c. Because Medicare has far lower administrative costs than private insurance, make it available to everyone. Lie #6: Social Security is a Ponzi schemeSocial Security is solid for another 26 years and could be solvent for the next century by simply raising the ceiling on income subject to Social Security payroll taxes (now $106,800). Lie #7: It is unfair that lower-income Americans pay no income taxesWhats unfair is lower-income Americans pay a much larger share of their paychecks in payroll taxes, sales taxes, user fees, and tolls than everyone else. Demagogues throughout history have known that big lies, repeated often enough, start being believedunless theyre rebutted. Make sure you know the truth. Then pass it on!

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Source: http://robertreich.org/post/11329289033

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Working Wisconsin Labor News & Views

January 2013 Page 7

The Bay View Massacre

Wisconsin Labor History
In the course of every attempt to establish or develop free government, a struggle between special privilege and equal rights is inevitable.
Bob La Follette (18551925) U.S. Representative U.S. Senator Governor State of Wisconsin
By John Spiegelhoff Merrill The Bay View Massacre (sometimes referred to as the Bay View Tragedy) was the culmination of events that began on Saturday, May 1, 1886, when 7,000 building-trades workers joined with 5,000 Polish laborers who had organized at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to strike against their employers, demanding an 8-hour workday. By Monday, these numbers had increased to over 14,000 workers that gathered at the Milwaukee Iron Company rolling mill in Bay View, WI. They were met by 250 National Guardsmen under order from Republican Governor Jeremiah M. Rusk to shoot to kill any strikers who attempted to enter. Workers camped in the nearby fields and the Kosciuszko Militia arrived by May 4. Early the next day, the crowd, which by this time contained children, approached the mill and were fired upon. Seven people died as a result, including a 13-yearold boy. Several more were injured during the protest. Eight-hour days. Time away from work to be with and care for their families. That is all these workers were asking for. But the industrial robber barons demanded that they work for low wages and 12-hour days. Then they used deadly force against the workers when they demanded better working conditions. But that was then and this is now. Things are different. That couldnt happen anymore. There are laws against that. Unions are no longer needed, right? Wrong. Many people take for granted what unions have done for the workplace: 8-hour workdays, the 40-hour work week, weekends, sick days, vacation days, paid leave, maternity leave, workplace safety regulations and health standards, social security, the minimum wage, pensions, worker insurance plans and benefits, child labor laws, the retirement age, unemployment insurance, disability pay, overtime pay, and laws regarding discrimination and harassment in the workplace. Bay View Rolling Mill Memorial Milwaukee Dont forget your history and the struggle your forefathers engaged in for working conditions and benefits we now take for granted. There are some who wish that you would. Thank a union member TODAY for making your lives better.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Bay_View_Massacre

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Cows & Climate Change
By Valerie Kozlovsky & Phillip Anderson Maple

January 2013 Page 8

When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: if you look at the science about what is happening on earth and arent pessimistic, you dont understand the data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you arent optimistic, you havent got a pulse. Martin Keogh Author

To understand climate change, one must understand the difference between current and fossil sources of greenhouse gases. This is an important scientific concept that is not discussed in the media and is probably not understood by the general public. Yet it is critical to understanding global climate change and our role in creating this problem. Global climate change is caused by increasing levels of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide and methane. These gases in the atmosphere reflect heat back to earth and increase surface temperatures. Climate scientists have shown that these gases are increasing in the atmosphere and that they are increasing because of human activities, primarily the burning and mining of petroleum, natural gas, and coal. Climate change deniers claim that there are many natural sources of greenhouse gases. For example, they point out that the activities of currently living organisms, such as cow flatulence, produce greenhouse gases. They use this to say that humans are not the cause of increasing greenhouse gases. While it is true that there are natural sources of greenhouse gases, this argument does not take into account the difference between current and fossil sources. And it does not take into consideration the operation of natural cycles. Physical components of ecosystems (e.g., water, carbon, and nitrogen) cycle constantly. These chemicals cycle between organisms and the non-living environment, one component of which is the atmosphere. These cycles tend toward a natural balance, excluding human interference. Materials buried deep in the ground are not part of these current chemical cycles. Earths carbon cycle is balanced when the carbon in carbon dioxide entering the cycle results from the activity of organisms alive today. Wood or corn ethanol burning, humans exhaling, or logs rotting do not disrupt this cycle. Releasing fossil carbon as carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels (e.g., petroleum, natural gas, and coal) does disrupt it, in direct proportion to the rate of release by the activities of 7 billion humans. Similarly, methane is produced by the activities of existing organisms, mostly bacteria, resulting in digestive system flatulence and gases from wetlands. This methane is a normal part of biological activity on Earth. Mining fossil fuels and melting permafrost release fossil methane, and it is this methane that is abnormal and contributes to global climate change. The increase of atmospheric greenhouse gases comes primarily from fossil sources as the result of human activities, not gases from the biological activity of nonhuman organisms now living. We have been releasing greenhouse gases in increasing amounts since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. We need to seriously reduce these fossil sources, learn energy conservation, and develop energy from renewable sources (such as solar, wind, and tidal action).

Hope Beneath Our Feet: Restoring Our Place in the Natural World

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We cannot hide behind cow flatulence to avoid our responsibility for climate change!

Middle Wisconsin News

Every Great Social Movement
By David Korten Yes Magazine
Every great social movement begins with a set of ideas validated, internalized, and then shared and amplified through media, grassroots organizations, and thousands, even millions, of conversations. A truth strikes a resonant chord, we hear it acknowledged by others, and we begin to discuss it with friends and associates. The new story spreads out in multiple ever-widening circles that begin to connect and intermingle. A story of unrealized possibility gradually replaces the falsified story that affirmed the status quo. The prevailing culture begins to shift, and the collective behavior of the society shifts with it. For the civil rights and womens movements, the old story said: Women and people of color have no soul. Less than human, they have no natural rights. They can find fulfillment only through faithful service to their white male masters. A profound cultural shift occurred between 1950 and 1980 as the consequence of a growing rejection of these stories in favor of a new story that recognized and affirmed the full humanity and rights of all people. It began with the civil rights movement, inspired in part by the words and writing of W. E. B. DuBois, founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). His ideas were carried forward by others such as the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Communicated through books, periodicals, and speeches, these ideas inspired and shaped countless conversations, particularly in black churches, about race and the possibilities of integration based on a full recognition of the inherent humanity of people all races. Thinkers, writers, and activists who embraced the idea of integration engaged in verbal combat with those who defended the status quo as legitimated by the old story. As the story of possibility gained currency, proponents engaged in nonviolent civil disobedience in the form of sit-ins in segregated facilities, which began to create a new reality and set the stage for political demands to replace laws that institutionalized the old story with laws that institutionalized the new. In 1963, as the civil rights movement was gaining traction, Betty Friedan published The Feminist Mystique, calling attention to a vague dissatisfaction plaguing housewives. It touched a deep chord and became the focus of thousands of living room conversations in which women who had been raised on the story that the key to a womans happiness was to find the right man, marry him, and devote her life to his service gathered to share their own stories. Conditioned to believe that failure to find happiness in service to their husbands revealed a character flaw they must strive to correct, those for whom this wasnt working found they were not alone. The flaw lay not with them, but with the false story. Those whom these discussions initially liberated lent their voices to a

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growing chorus that spread a story of womens rights and abilities. As millions of women joined in the conversation, a new gender story came to the fore and unleashed the feminine as a powerful force for global transformation. The environmental movement emerged as a challenge to two old stories, one biblical and one secular: God gave nature to man to do with as he pleases. Nature has no value beyond its market price and is properly used for whatever purpose generates the greater financial return. Many trace the origin of the modern environmental movement to Rachel Carsons Silent Spring, published in 1962. It stimulated countless conversations about the human relationship to nature. The resulting challenge to the old stories spread through media and academic programs. A new political consensus on the human imperative and responsibility to protect and conserve nature began to emerge. These transforming experiences have combined with the growth in global intercultural exchange that came with the expansion of international air travel to awaken a consciousness of culture as a perceptual lens and a human construct with powerful consequences. With that awakening came recognition of the need to accept responsibility for our shared stories and their consequences. Together, the great social movements of the 20th century and the expansion of international communication has unleashed global scale liberation of the human mind that transcends the barriers of race, class, and religion and has enabled hundreds of millions of people see themselves and the larger world in a new light. The awakened consciousness is relatively immune to manipulation by corporate media, advertising, and political demagogues. For those who share this experience, the stories that affirm and encourage racism, sexism, homophobia, and consumerism are more easily seen for what they area justification for imperial domination, exploitation, and violence against life. The global awakening creates the opportunity for the first time in 5,000 years to consign the dominator structures of Empire to the dustbin of history, bring forth a New Economy, and complete the human transition to full-fledged democracy and Earth Community.
David Korten (livingeconomiesforum.org) is the author of Agenda for a New Economy, The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, and the international best seller When Corporations Rule the World. He is board chair of YES! Magazine and co-chair of the New Economy Working Group. This Agenda for a New Economy blog series is co-distributed by CSRwire.com and yesmagazine.org based on excerpts from Agenda for a New Economy, 2nd edition. http:// www.yesmagazine.org/blogs/david-korten/every-great-social-movement

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CHALLENGING THE MYTH...

January 2013 Page 10

And if all others accepted the lie which the party imposed if all records told the same tale then the lie passed into history and became the truth.
George Orwell 1984 (published in 1949)

The Myth The Outright Lie of Runaway Government Spending

By Dave Svetlik Mosinee Yes, I know charts are boring. I hate them, too. But this partial Table 1.2, taken from the White House Office of Management and Budget, points out the lie in the current government deficit-debt debate farce and has much to do with what the future will hold for us and for our children. A few definitions: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) = Total dollar value of all of the business that has taken place in America in a given year
Table 1.2SUMMARY OF RECEIPTS, OUTLAYS, AND SURPLUSES OR DEFICITS () AS PERCENTAGES OF GDP: 19802017 Total GDP (in billions of Year Surplus or Receipts Outlays dollars) Deficit ()
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 est. 2013 est. 2014 est. 2015 est. 2016 est. 2017 est. 2,724.2 3,057.0 3,223.7 3,440.7 3,844.4 4,146.3 4,403.9 4,651.4 5,008.5 5,399.5 5,734.5 5,930.5 6,242.0 6,587.3 6,976.6 7,341.1 7,718.3 8,211.7 8,663.0 9,208.4 9,821.0 10,225.3 10,543.9 10,980.2 11,676.0 12,428.6 13,206.5 13,861.4 14,334.4 13,937.5 14,359.7 14,958.6 15,601.5 16,335.0 17,155.6 18,177.8 19,261.1 20,368.6 19.0 19.6 19.2 17.5 17.3 17.7 17.5 18.4 18.2 18.4 18.0 17.8 17.5 17.5 18.0 18.4 18.8 19.2 19.9 19.8 20.6 19.5 17.6 16.2 16.1 17.3 18.2 18.5 17.6 15.1 15.1 15.4 15.8 17.8 18.7 19.0 19.1 19.2 21.7 22.2 23.1 23.5 22.2 22.8 22.5 21.6 21.3 21.2 21.9 22.3 22.1 21.4 21.0 20.6 20.2 19.5 19.1 18.5 18.2 18.2 19.1 19.7 19.6 19.9 20.1 19.7 20.8 25.2 24.1 24.1 24.3 23.3 22.6 22.3 22.5 22.2 -2.7 -2.6 -4.0 -6.0 -4.8 -5.1 -5.0 -3.2 -3.1 -2.8 -3.9 -4.5 -4.7 -3.9 -2.9 -2.2 -1.4 -0.3 0.8 1.4 2.4 1.3 -1.5 -3.4 -3.5 -2.6 -1.9 -1.2 -3.2 -10.1 -9.0 -8.7 -8.5 -5.5 -3.9 -3.4 -3.4 -3.0

Receipts = Total yearly revenue collected by U.S. government as a percent of GDP

Outlays = Total yearly government spending as a percent

of GDP Looking at the table, the most notable aspect is how remarkably stable government revenue (receipts) and spending (outlays) actually were from 1980 to 2008. Indeed, if one takes the time to look at the complete Table 1.2 on the Office of Management and Budget website, it is found that government spending remained between 17.2 and 23.5% of GDP from 1952 to 2008a period of 56 years. There has

never ever been runaway government spending!

Note the levels of spending and the size of the deficits during the Reagan (19801988), George H. W. Bush (19891993), Clinton (19942000), and George W. Bush (20012008) administrations. These numbers tell their own story. But of even greater importance are the subtle, calculated, insidious subversions that were planted in the Reagan years and then nurtured over the next three decades to the full poisonous blooms we are living with today. It began with the undermining of government. Government isnt the solution to the problemGovernment is the problem (Ronald Reagan). The seeds of government hatred were sewn. Continued on p. 11

Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals

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The Lie of Runaway Government Spending

January 2013 Page 11

And if all others accepted the lie which the party imposed if all records told the same tale then the lie passed into history and became the truth.

Continued

George Orwell 1984 (published in 1949) Then came the lie of Trickledown (Gush Up) Economics: Cut taxes on the rich and corporations, redistribute the wealth to the top, and through some mysterious alchemy, the people who the money was stolen from will be better off.

Next came the College Republicans of the 1980s. Radical extremistsGrover Norquist, Karl Rove, Jack Abramhoff and the likegrew the hatred for government. Drown it in a bathtub (Grover Norquist). Develop the Tax Pledge. Legislate the temporary Bush tax cuts. Deregulate Wall Street and the big banks (under President Clinton). Cut revenues. Drive government into debt. Grow the debtalways grow the debtIt is the way. Todays economic warfare is not the kind waged a century ago between labor and its industrial employers. Finance has moved to capture the economy at large, industry and mining, public infrastructure (via privatization) and now even the educational system. (At over $1 trillion, U.S. student loan debt came to exceed creditcard debt in 2012.) The weapon in this financial warfare is no larger military force. The tactic is to load economies (governments, companies, and families) with debt, siphon off their income as debt service, and then foreclose when debtors lack the means to pay. Indebting government gives creditors a lever to pry away land, public infrastructure, and other property in the public domain. Indebting companies enables creditors to seize employee pension savings. And indebting labor means that it no longer is necessary to hire strikebreakers to attack union organizers and strikers. Michael Hudson, Naked Capitalism Read more at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/12/michael-hudson-americas-deceptive-2012-fiscalcliff-part-ii-the-financial-war-against-the-economy-at-large.html#h6t9OagYYwvjfLmp.99 It is true that government spending rose substantially in 2009 when President Obama took office (although at 25% of GDP, it is low compared to the World War II driven 43.6% of GDP in 1944, whose stimulus effect led us to unprecedented levels of human prosperity from the 1950s through the 1970s). We all know the spending hike in 2009 was the result of bank bailouts, auto bailouts, stimulus funds, and perhaps most importantly, the huge loss of revenue resulting from the massive unemployment caused by a deregulated, criminal Wall Street. But facing the truth is to be avoided. There is no desire on the part of either political party to actually reduce government debt. Both parties are beholden to big money, and for big money, the debt is a tool. It is a tool for gutting, looting, and raping Americaa tool for destroying the social safety net. It took several decades to nurture and grow this destructive tool. The wealthy are not about to let it go. We know how to solve the debt crises: Return progressive and estate taxes to Reagan-era levels. Raise the payroll tax cap for Social Security. Allow government bargaining on pharmaceuticals. Create a universal, single-payer healthcare system. Create a financial transaction tax. Reregulate Wall Street and the banks. Break up the big banks. Create state-owned banks, like North Dakota did. Overrule Citizens United. Put an end to all offshore tax havens like Mitt Romneys Cayman Island accounts. Stop subsidizing big coal and oil. Reduce the military-industrial complex. Invest massive public funds (like we did when we bailed out the banks) into job creation to increase revenues. Care about America and her people. I would rarely quote anyone as self-centeredly destructive and sick as the author Ayn Rand, but she got this right: It only stands to reason that where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there's service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master. Ayn Rand Think about this the next time some billionaire CEO or multimillionaire politician says, We all have to sacrifice.

Middle Wisconsin News

Images & Ideas
By Charles Uphoff Oregon, WI

January 2013 Page 12

So the question has to be asked: How did we get into this mess? Frankly, both parties have contributed to the mess were in. But it is clear, historically, that despite their rhetoric about small government and controlling spending over the last 30 years, Republicans have made the most contributions to deficits, our national debt, and increases in federal spending. As the chart to the left illustrates, nearly half of our public debt is attributable to tax cuts and two wars that werent paid for.
For more information and supporting data, contact: Charles Uphoff cuphoff@hotmail.com
http://www.cbpp.org/

This debt explosion has resulted not from big spending by the Democrats, but instead the Republican Partys embrace, about three decades ago, of the insidious doctrine that deficits dont matter if they result from tax cuts.
David Stockman Former director of the Office of Management & Budget for Ronald Reagan
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/opinion/01stockman.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0