As many of you know, I have announced my candidacy for the 51st State Assembly District, which includes Lafayette, Iowa, and southern Sauk counties. Over the summer and fall months, I have made it a priority to spend a substantial amount of my time talking with local residents at their homes and at community events. The number one issue I'm hearing is the need for action to create jobs and economic development in our area. One thing is clear: The recession is continuing to hit our area hard.
Nationwide, the "real" unemployment rate is currently 17.5 percent. That means that nearly 1 in 5 Americans are either without a job or underemployed. Those in our area that are unemployed are concerned with the lack of job opportunities locally. Many people's jobs have had their hours cut. Schools are concerned with declining enrollment as a result of a lack of jobs in the region.
Therefore, I was very surprised when I read State Rep. Steve Hilgenberg's most recent column explaining that the economy has turned around and things are looking up. I was even more shocked to read that full credit should be given to the actions taken by the federal and state governments.
While I am certain Mr. Hilgenberg earnestly wants to believe his conclusions are true, I disagree strongly with both the assertion that the economy has turned around for our area and that the state government has done a satisfactory job to improve it.
Most of the economic actions taken by the state government this year took place as part of Governor Doyle's 1,700-page state budget, which Rep. Hilgenberg supported. The budget included more than $2 billion in tax and fee increases, a $1.5 billion property tax hike, an expansion of our deficit by close to $3 billion - all to fund a spending increase of more than 6 percent. At the same time, with all of this deficit spending and tax increases, the budget slashed funding for our schools by $600 million.
This approach to budgeting and fiscal policy has done nothing to create jobs. In fact, it has made our business and job climate worse in Wisconsin.
Rather than only point out problems, I feel it is valuable to offer solutions and ideas to get Wisconsin back on the right track. First off, we need to move up the implementation date of the Jobs Tax Credit program. Currently, the program will not go into effect until 2012.
As a state we also need to give small businesses the tools they need to expand. The increased regulations and taxes in the state budget did not help. In fact, Forbes Magazine recently ranked Wisconsin as having the third worst business climate in the nation. In the coming months I plan to further articulate my vision to create jobs and grow the economy in our area.
I hope you will join me in demanding immediate action to help spur economic development in our area and throughout the state of Wisconsin. Instead of issuing statements patting themselves on the back for how "great" the economy is doing, the politicians in power should be listening to very real problems facing the residents of our area. I know I have been. We need to create more private sector jobs instead of growing the size of government. Over the past few months, I have spoken with many families and small businesses that agree with me that those in Madison are out of touch with the current hardships facing our families.
- Howard Marklein, a Republican from Spring Green, has declared his candidacy to run for the 51st District State Assembly seat in 2010.
Nationwide, the "real" unemployment rate is currently 17.5 percent. That means that nearly 1 in 5 Americans are either without a job or underemployed. Those in our area that are unemployed are concerned with the lack of job opportunities locally. Many people's jobs have had their hours cut. Schools are concerned with declining enrollment as a result of a lack of jobs in the region.
Therefore, I was very surprised when I read State Rep. Steve Hilgenberg's most recent column explaining that the economy has turned around and things are looking up. I was even more shocked to read that full credit should be given to the actions taken by the federal and state governments.
While I am certain Mr. Hilgenberg earnestly wants to believe his conclusions are true, I disagree strongly with both the assertion that the economy has turned around for our area and that the state government has done a satisfactory job to improve it.
Most of the economic actions taken by the state government this year took place as part of Governor Doyle's 1,700-page state budget, which Rep. Hilgenberg supported. The budget included more than $2 billion in tax and fee increases, a $1.5 billion property tax hike, an expansion of our deficit by close to $3 billion - all to fund a spending increase of more than 6 percent. At the same time, with all of this deficit spending and tax increases, the budget slashed funding for our schools by $600 million.
This approach to budgeting and fiscal policy has done nothing to create jobs. In fact, it has made our business and job climate worse in Wisconsin.
Rather than only point out problems, I feel it is valuable to offer solutions and ideas to get Wisconsin back on the right track. First off, we need to move up the implementation date of the Jobs Tax Credit program. Currently, the program will not go into effect until 2012.
As a state we also need to give small businesses the tools they need to expand. The increased regulations and taxes in the state budget did not help. In fact, Forbes Magazine recently ranked Wisconsin as having the third worst business climate in the nation. In the coming months I plan to further articulate my vision to create jobs and grow the economy in our area.
I hope you will join me in demanding immediate action to help spur economic development in our area and throughout the state of Wisconsin. Instead of issuing statements patting themselves on the back for how "great" the economy is doing, the politicians in power should be listening to very real problems facing the residents of our area. I know I have been. We need to create more private sector jobs instead of growing the size of government. Over the past few months, I have spoken with many families and small businesses that agree with me that those in Madison are out of touch with the current hardships facing our families.
- Howard Marklein, a Republican from Spring Green, has declared his candidacy to run for the 51st District State Assembly seat in 2010.
