by Tim Nerenz, Ph.D.
We used to make things here in Wisconsin.
We made machine tools in Milwaukee, cars in Kenosha and ships in
Sheboygan. We mined iron in the north and lead in the south. We made
cheese, we made brats, we made beer, and we even made napkins to
clean up what we spilled. And we made money.
The original war
on poverty was a private, mercenary affair. Men like Harnishfeger,
Allis, Chalmers, Kohler, Kearney, Trecker, Modine, Case, Mead, Falk,
Allen, Bradley, Cutler, Hammer, Bucyrus, Harley, Davidson, Pabst, and
Miller lifted millions up from subsistence living to middle class
comfort. They did it - not “Fighting Bob” La Follette or any of the
politicians who came along later to take the credit and rake a piece of
the action through the steepest progressive scheme in the nation.
Those old geezers with the beards cured poverty by putting people to
work. Generations of Wisconsinites learned trades and mastered them in
the factories, breweries, mills, foundries, and shipyards those
capitalists built with their hands. Thousands of small businesses
supplied these industrial giants, and tens of thousands of proprietors
and professionals provided all of the services that all those other
families needed to live well. The wealth got spread around
plenty.
The profits generated by our great
industrialists funded charities, the arts, education, libraries,
museums, parks, and community development associations. Taxes on
their profits, property, and payrolls built our schools, roads,
bridges, and the safety net that Wisconsin’s progressives are still
taking credit for, as if the money came from their council meetings.
The offering plates in churches of every denomination were filled with
money left over from company paychecks that were made possible
because a few bold young men risked it all and got rich. Don’t thank
God for them; thank them that you learned about God.
Their
wealth pales in comparison to the wealth they created for millions and
millions of other Wisconsin families. Those with an appreciation for
the immeasurable contributions of Wisconsin’s industrial icons of
1910 will find the list of Wisconsin’s top ten employers of 2010
appalling: Walmart, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Milwaukee Public
Schools,
U.S. Postal Service, Wisconsin Department of Corrections,
Menards, Marshfield Clinic, Aurora Health Care, City of Milwaukee, and
Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs.
This is what a
century of progressivism will get you. Wisconsin is the birthplace of
the progressive movement, the home of the Socialist Party, the first
state to allow public sector unions, the cradle of environmental
activism, a liberal fortress walled off against common sense for
decades. Their motto, Forward Wisconsin, should be changed to
Downward Wisconsin if truth in advertising applies to slogans.
There is no shortage of activists, advocates, and agitators in this
state. If government were the answer to our problems, we would have no
problems. The very same people – or people just like them – who
picketed, struck, sued, taxed, and regulated our great companies out of
this state are now complaining about the unemployment and poverty that
they have brought upon themselves. They got rid of those old rich
white guys and replaced them with…nothing.
Wisconsin ranks
47th in the rate of new business formation. We are one of the worst
states for native college graduate exodus; our brightest and most
ambitious graduates leave to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Why
shouldn’t they? Our tax rates are among the worst in the nation and
our business climate, perpetually in the bottom of the rankings, has
only recently moved up thanks to a Governor who now faces a recall for
his trouble.
In 1970, the new environmental movement joined
unions and socialists in a coordinated effort to demonize industry.
When I was in college, the ranting against “polluting profiteers” was
like white noise – always there. They won, and here is the price of
their victory: in 1970, manufacturers paid 18.2% of Wisconsin’s
property taxes – the major source of school funding - and in 2010 those
who remained paid 3.7%.
So who is it that caused the
funding crisis in our schools and the skyrocketing tax rates on our
homes? It is the same ignoramuses who are sitting on bridges, pooping
on things, and passing around recall petitions. The unemployed
26-year old in the hemp hat looking for sympathy might look instead
for some inspiration from Jerome I. Case, who started his agricultural
equipment business at the age of 21, miraculously without an iPhone
4s.
Mr. Case got rich by asking people what they want and
making it for them. He did not get rich by telling people what he
wanted and waiting for them to do something about it. If you want to
declare war on your own poverty, memorize that.
In
the last decade alone we have lost 150,000 manufacturing jobs in this
state – over 25%. And it’s not just jobs that have been lost; the
companies that provided them are gone. Those jobs are not coming back,
no matter how long we extend unemployment benefits pretending they
are. The 450,000 people who still work in manufacturing in Wisconsin
are damn good it at, but we are now outnumbered by people who work for
government. A significant number of the latter are tasked with
taxing, regulating, and generally harassing the former. While it is
true that many manufacturers chased low-wage opportunities on their
own, many more were driven out of the state by the increasing cost of
doing business here.
It is a myth that unions improve
wages. If you consider only the 1,000 jobs in a closed shop, you
might think an average union wage is, say, $30/hr. But if you add in
the zero wages of the 10,000 jobs lost in companies chased out by
union harassment, the average of all 11,000 union workers is reduced
to $2.72/hr. Do you know the average wage of union iron miners in
this state? Zero. And the left is fighting hard to keep it that way
in Northern Wisconsin - looking out for the working man, they call
it.
It is also a myth that free trade causes job
losses. Over the past three years, U.S. manufacturers sold $70
billion more goods to our Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners than we
bought from them. Conversely, we suffered a $1.3 trillion trade
deficit with countries where no FTA’s exist. I doubt that kids are
going to learn that in our government-union monopoly schools – it
doesn’t fit the narrative.
No one wants to see another person
suffer in poverty, and liberty is the best economic policy there is.
The great industrialists of Wisconsin took less than a generation to
lift millions up to a life of dignity, pride, prosperity and good will.
When enterprise was free and government was limited, we all
prospered.
Those great men of industry were not anointed
at birth to be rich; they rose from nothing to great wealth through
their own hard work and the value they added to their employees and
their customers through choice, competition, and voluntary exchange.
That is the only sure path to real prosperity; the debt economy is a
temporary illusion.
Look again at the list of our famous
industrialists and the list of our current employers. Who would you
wish your child or grandchild to grow up to be? Who do you think will
do more good on this earth – Jerome I Case and his tractors, or the
Coordinator of Supplier Diversity at Milwaukee Public Schools?
If you chose MPS, then apply now – that job is open, and it pays up to
$72,000 plus benefits and early retirement. Go in peace and save the
world. Me, I'm going with the tractor guy.
“Moment Of Clarity” is a weekly commentary by Libertarian writer and
speaker Tim Nerenz, Ph.D. Visit Tim’s website www.timnerenz.com to find
your moment.
