The college education is an exploration of the amazing achievements of the human race as well as enabling students to discover their own talent and passion within a galaxy of opportunity.  It is an expensive endeavor; borrowing from the student loan program is an essential part of the strategy to maximize the value of the educational asset.   This is the first of two essays on student loans for the Grassroots North Shore.  It focuses on ways to make high-valued use of student borrowing.    The second essay will present a two-part plan to improve the market for student loans to reduce the burden of repayment. 

         A college education is a costly service and must be paid for somehow.  Students do not pay full cost; in addition to the student share of cost, the remainder is split between state and federal support of higher education,  as well as fund-raising and yield on endowment.   While the total cost of an education has gone up at about the rate of inflation, the state share of the cost has gone down, requiring the share of cost paid by the students to rise faster than inflation.

         45.5 million college students and graduates have built up $1.75 trillion in student loan debt.   It is not uncommon for individual graduates to have ten or twenty thousand dollars of indebtedness,  in some cases much more. Hefty monthly payment obligations begin soon after graduation.  Proposals to ease this burden include making tuition "free" and canceling some or all of the debt already accumulated. 

          Free tuition and student loan cancellation would constitute a  transfer of costs from the student share to taxpayers.  Taxpayers are already under strain, saddled with the cost of public health, prisons, pensions, and the trillions of dollars of debt inherent in neglected infrastructure. Students are under strain, too,  which makes the student loan issue one of the more nettlesome of the prominent issues facing the nation and its voters.

Does Borrowing Make a Borrower Worse Off?

            The math boils down to this:  if  borrowed money is invested in an asset with a rate of return greater than the rate of interest on the borrowed money, the borrower becomes better off financially; if the rate of return is less than the rate of interest on the borrowed money, the borrower becomes worse off.[1]   

         Put more simply: if the borrowed money is invested in a way that enhances ability to repay, the borrower's financial position improves over time.     If a student borrows money to buy the time needed to build an educational asset that will not only be personally rewarding but will also enable a net economic gain after loan repayment.[2]  However,  students who borrow money for college and then earn low grades will not add much to ability to repay. 

Should Low-income Students  Borrow Less or More than Middle-income Students?

          Borrowing does not make poor students poor; they are already poor. Poverty is the problem to be solved; for many poor students, a rigorous college education is a way to solve that problem. A well-regulated student loan program enables the poor students to earn the same degree as the higher income student who doesn't have to borrow from the student loan program.   

 Strategies for Growing the Net Benefits of College 

         Targeted high school preparation can reduce college costs and grow the benefits.   First up:  computer skills.   College is high-tech these days in virtually all disciplines across campus,  from science and engineering to social science, humanities, and fine arts.      Textbooks come with ancillaries such as websites,  electronic problem sets,  video clips, and tutorials.  Similarly, modern technology enhances communication with professors, teaching assistance, and other students.   The high school years are a good time to enhance computer skills.  

         Second: English and math are the languages central to the study of the wide range of knowledge available for guided study in college. The non-routine projects required during a rigorous college education require skill in writing,  revising, and editing essays as well as the intricate strategies for math problem-solving.   High school elective courses that require expository writing and word problems in math help prepare. 

The Danger of Borrowing Too Little

          Working at low-paying jobs that consume a lot of time and energy could be counterproductive.  Often the time would be better spent in pursuing high grades in a rigorous education, even though that path might require additional borrowing.    When prepared and mature enough,  students should borrow to buy the time needed to earn high grades.   

The Double Major Option

         As Payscale.com reports, some college majors have a higher lifetime financial pay-off than others.      Students whose passions are enlivened by a major with little likelihood of financial payoff might combine that interest with a more financially promising second major. For example, one of the high-paying engineering majors, or business finance or economics could combine with social science or humanities major. Such combined study can fulfill both intellectual interest and financial security, including the ability to repay student loans.  

         Education is a lifetime asset of greater value than any other. Borrowing enables students to enhance that value.  The next essay in this series includes suggestions for improving the loan repayment formulas to reduce the repayment burden so that students can more fully enjoy the benefits of their asset.     

William L. Holahan is Emeritus Professor and former Chair of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

[1] Private sector banking industry requires borrowers to pledge guarantees to the bank, called "collateral," of assets that the bank can take possession of should the borrower default on repayments. Federal student loan guarantees substitute for that collateral, and direct federal loans do not require collateral.

[2] See Payscale.com for data on the returns to college by type of degree and major course of study.

We are living through very dark days. As I'm sure you're aware, a draft opinion on the Dobbs v Jackson case at the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) leaked and was published by Politico last week. You can read the draft opinion yourself. If it stands as written or even if the opinion is modified a bit but the heart of it stands, Roe v Wade and Casey v Planned Parenthood will both be overturned in their entirety. For Wisconsin, that means abortion will be illegal once again, as it was before Roe v Wade made reproductive healthcare a universal right under a right to privacy seven Justices wrote that the Constitution implied.

While the opinion drafted by Justice Alito goes out of its way to try to distinguish between abortion cases and all the other rights that have relied on the same legal reasoning about privacy that forms the basis of the Roe v Wade decision, the truth is all sorts of other decisions — access to contraception, same sex marriage, and interracial marriage, to name just a few — are likely to be challenged on the same grounds. Alito holds that because there is no mention of abortion in the Constitution, and there is also no explicit right to privacy, Roe and Casey were "wrongly decided."

Our current Attorney General, Josh Kaul, has announced that his office will not prosecute cases of abortion. Milwaukee's District Attorney, John Chisholm, was a bit more circumspect but both note that such cases would deflect resources from more urgent matters. On the other hand, Republicans running for Attorney General support prosecuting abortions should the 1849 Wisconsin law that banned abortions once again be in force.

It's easy to fall into despair over this turn of events. After all, there does not seem to be a clear avenue to protect reproductive health rights at the federal level. And our state legislature, dominated as it is by radical Republicans, will certainly not repeal the draconian anti-abortion laws already on the books here. (See this account of Wisconsin's abortion laws in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.) But we must not. Our recourse is simple: on Mother's Day thousands of people took to the streets in protest. Public pressure of that sort, though, won't reach the stony hearts of the five Justices who have already signaled that SCOTUS will overturn Roe v Wade and Casey v Planned Parenthood. The important thing to do now: VOTE FOR PEOPLE WHO SUPPORT OUR RIGHT TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE! What stands between us and a rash of new legislation attacking all sorts of other rights to privacy is the veto pen Governor Evers wields and the determination of Josh Kaul. Re-electing them in November is our ONLY WAY to protect our personal privacy in Wisconsin.

And in other startling, but perhaps not shocking, news, Russia's infiltration of the GOP goes back at least to the McCain campaign in 2008. So says Steve Schmidt, who, as campaign advisor for the 2nd half of the campaign, ought to know. Politico has the Twitter thread and the story. Plus Mark Esper, former Secretary of Defense under the former guy, reveals more of *Rump's viciousness and stupidity in an interview with Norah O'Donnell. So our president wanted to shoot missiles into Mexico and try to pretend we didn't; to shoot Black Lives Matter protesters; and to remove all US troops from South Korea. And he called his VP and other officials "f'ing losers." Nice, right? And we might be seeing this dangerous clown act return in 2025! Again, we must vote like our country depends on it. Because it does.

So here's a little help sorting out who should be the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor. Three declared candidates visited virtually with the steering and advisory committees. We're sharing the video on our YouTube channel. It's about 50 minutes long, but take the time to watch it. All three candidates — Peng Her, Sara Rodriquez, and David Bowen — are impressive. Mr. Her, founder and CEO of the Hmong Institute, declares on his campaign website that he is running because he is "a strong advocate for building strong and safe communities, helping small business succeed, and increasing access to quality health care." Sara Rodriguez, currently a member of the Wisconsin Assembly representing Waukesha County, is a nurse and public health professional, according to her campaign website. David Bowen is also a current State Assembly representative. You can find out more about him on his campaign Facebook page. You can help get one of them on the primary ballot by downloading and circulating their nomination papers from their websites. But remember you can nominate ONLY ONE.

We will be interviewing and meeting the top candidates for the Democratic nomination for US Senate in June. It's a two-part event. On June 5, Kathleen Dunn, former NPR host, will speak with the candidates on Zoom. You can sign up to watch. We will also make the video available if you can't attend the event. And on June 12, we will hold a safe outdoor event at Virmond Park in Ozaukee County. You can meet and talk to the Senate candidates in person. The candidates for Lt. Governor will also be available for you to meet. Sign up for part two here.

By now you have undoubtedly heard the news, either from watching cable news channels last night or from Journal Sentinel, the Washington Post, the New York Times, or indeed any national news outlet. A draft majority opinion is poised to overturn Roe v Wade. Once the ruling is final, Wisconsin's 19th century state law banning doctors from performing most abortions will be immediately enforceable again, as it was before the 1973 landmark Roe v Wade decision. In much of the country, women will not be able to access abortions. And that's not all. Many other rights depend on the right to privacy that the Roe decision relied on but that the current court seems to believe does not have constitutional protection. Contraception may in fact be the next target of the theocrats who want to turn back the clock on women's rights.

In case you had previously doubted the meaning and importance of elections, this pending decision should settle the matter. It also MUST GALVANIZE YOU TO VOTE AND TO WORK to elect candidates who will support a national law protecting a woman's right to choose. The primary election, in which we will determine which Democrat will run against — and DEFEAT — Senator Ron Johnson, will take place on August 9. Absentee voting will begin in early July. So get yourself informed and ready to vote by attending a special two-part event Grassroots North Shore is hosting on June 5 and June 12. On June 5, Kathleen Dunn, a former NPR host, will interview the top four senate candidates: Mandela Barnes, Sarah Godlewski, Alex Lasry, and Tom Nelson. (By then, we should have information about these candidates and many others on our Elections 2022 pages.) Register for that Zoom event here. On June 12, we will hold an outdoor, in-person meet-and-greet with the four top candidates at Virmond Park in Ozaukee County. Here's the sign-up. Candidates vying to be the Lieutenant Governor nominee — David Bowen, Peng Her, and Sara Rodriguez — will also be there.

If you have not already done so, please request an absentee ballot. You can take care of that task at MyVote.Wi.gov. You can also check your registration, track your ballot so that you know your request has been received, when your ballot is mailed to you, and when the municipal clerk's office has received it. Absentee voting is safe and secure. It is also the best way to make sure you are available to help run elections, either as a poll worker (aka election inspector) or as an election observer. If you live in Milwaukee County, you can work at the polls in the city. Apply here. Or you can contact your municipal clerk to ask whether poll workers are needed in your municipality.

There are a few upcoming events of note that are not yet on the list because they're farther in the future than the list usually covers. But I want to bring them to your attention now so you can put them on your calendar. So, for those of us who live in Ozaukee County, you should know that the 6th CD Convention will take place on Sunday, May 23rd, at the La Sure Supper Club in Oshkosh. A continental breakfast and lunch will be served. Cost: $30 general fee, $25 for students, $40 at the door. The Oz Dems can send 35 delegates. This is a gateway to the state Dem convention. If you want to be considered, contact the Oz Dems to get information: (262) 423-7578.

On Thursday, May 19, the Wisconsin Justice Initiative will feature Mark Joseph Stern, staff writer at Slate, discussing the court's justices decisions, and trends and the dangerous paths the Court may be taking. Stern covers the Supreme Court and the law. Given the Court's blow to a woman's right to choose, this program is especially timely. You can register now.

The events list is modest again this week and is likely to continue to be until the primary heats up in early June. So in the meantime, you might want to send postcards to support Senator Warnock in Georgia. Activate America, with whom Grassroots North Shore worked in the 2020 election, is organizing the effort. Sign up with them. You will have to supply your own postcards and stamps so you'll need to get right on it. The primary in Georgia is on May 24. Grassroots North Shore will begin its own postcard campaign in June. Watch for it and sign up when it's time!

August 9 may be months away but the time to register and educate voters about the new districts, rules for absentee voting and like is NOW. Supermarket Legends legend Linea Sundstrom is holding on online voter registration training on Sunday, May 1, at 7pm. To attend, send an email to her at [email protected]. The Zoom link will arrive in your email on Saturday, April 30. Grassroots North Shore is organizing efforts to register eligible high school students at Nicolet, Brown Deer, and Whitefish Bay schools. And we could use a lot of help. So more about this volunteer opportunity as plans firm up. Also keep in mind that we will be sending postcards and organizing some phoning ahead of the August election. More information coming soon.

If you have not already done so, request an absentee ballot at MyVote.WI.gov. Voting absentee is still the safest method and it also allows those who can work the polls as election inspectors or election observers to do so on Election Day. To be an election inspector, you can contact your municipal clerk to find out what's needed. You'll find phone numbers for many North Shore municipalities on our page for early in-person voting. If you live in Milwaukee County, you can also apply to be an election inspector for the city. Here's a link to the Milwaukee City Election Commission information about election inspectors. You'll find a link to the online application and other helpful bits at the bottom of the page. To help with voter protection, both before and during the elections, volunteer with the Voter Protection Team.

The matter of drop boxes and also the question of assisting voters with disabilities to return absentee ballots were argued at the Wisconsin Supreme Court on April 13. NPR has extensive coverage of the hearing and the issues. No decision has yet been rendered but one could be issued in the next few weeks.

Also, be sure to mark your calendars now for the Grassroots North Shore US Senate candidate forum. We're going to have two parts to this event: first, an online virtual forum moderated by Kathleen Dunn on Sunday, June 5, and second, a meet-and-greet outdoor gathering at Virmond Park on Sunday, June 12. I can't tell you how vital voting in this primary will be. Choosing a candidate for the general election in November is always important but this year we have an excellent chance to give Senator Baldwin a partner instead of an opponent. A lot of really interesting candidates are vying for the nomination. This event will give you a chance to meet and talk to them in person.

And while I'm forecasting the future, here are two other events you might want to pencil in. On Thursday, May 12, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin and also the county chapters in Dane, Milwaukee and Ozaukee counties are presenting a talk by Reggie Jackson on "How We Got Here: The Hidden History of Diversity in America." You can sign up here. And on Sunday, May 19, a Wisconsin Justice Initiative featuring Mark Joseph Stern (staff writer at Slate) will tackle the question "Can Democracy Survive This Supreme Court?" Stern will discuss the court's justices, decisions, and trends and the dangerous paths the Court may be taking and will entertain questions from attendees at the event, which will be held from 5:30 - 7:30 pm at The Cooperage. Get more information and sign up.

There's a lot of shrugging about the virus going on, but you should know that, according to the New York Times Tracker, cases of COVID-19 in the Milwaukee Metro area have increased by 50% in the last two weeks. While the seven-day average stands at 303 daily cases, that's an 18% increase over Monday's seven-day average. In other words, cases are beginning to increase at a fast clip. You should definitely order home test kits from the federal government. You might also want to consider masking in indoor public spaces and observing social distancing for the next few weeks as this wave waxes (and then, we hope, wanes).

A new Marquette University Law School poll will be released on Wednesday, April 27, at 12:15pm CDT. The survey looks at preferences for the Republican and Democratic primaries being held in August as wall as a host of salient issues. Poll director Charles Franklin will talk with Alan Borsuk, senior fellow in law and public policy, about the findings. You can watch the video beginning at 12:15. Just click on the "WATCH NOW" button. The full poll will also be posted after 1pm.

As you're probably aware, richest-man-in-the-world Elon Musk is apparently going to buy Twitter and take it private, assuming that the deal passes regulatory muster. What that will mean for the social media behemoth remains to be seen. But there's plenty of speculation. He says he's a "free speech absolutist" who believes that anything that's legal should not be removed from the site. So no content moderation. However, there's what he says he'll do and then there are the downstream effects. As NPR points out, "[e]xperts who study social networks fret about Musk's push to loosen the rules of engagement on Twitter. They say that could give license to harassers, trolls and others who abuse the platform to target people. They also worry relaxing the rules on Twitter will empower those looking to exploit the platform by spreading misinformation, or flat-out lies, about political events, government officials and matters related to public health and safety." In short, the prospects are like dark clouds: threatening stormy weather.

The saga of our post-2020 census redistricting maps has been resolved for now, and not in a good way. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has now selected the maps the legislature submitted in light of the US Supreme Court's shadow docket ruling on the previous maps from Governor Evers the WI Supreme Court originally approved. The new maps pretty much ensure Republican control of the legislature for the next decade. And they also reduce the number of majority-minority Assembly districts from the current six to only five. The issues surrounding majority-minority districts are likely to be further litigated, questioning the maps' compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act. The US Supreme Court, though, looks increasingly hostile to the VRA in general. So the outcome of such litigation both in Wisconsin and elsewhere could be frightening. And the legal battles will almost certainly have to wait until the November 2022 elections are over. The result is we cannot miss turning out a single one of our supporters. And we need EVERYONE to step up.

Nomination papers for everyone running for office in August and November can circulate now. Many candidates are sending nomination papers to supporters. Others are posting them online for you to download, fill out, and mail back to the campaign. If you are contacted by a candidate you support, you should fill out the nomination for that candidate if you can. For those of you in the 4th Congressional District, here is a link to papers for Representative Gwen Moore. You can sign both as a nominator and as a circulator on the same form. What you cannot do is nominate more than one candidate for the same office. So sign only one nomination form for, say, a candidate in the 4th or 6th congressional district. Or for Governor. Or Attorney General. You get the idea.

In other election news, as you may already know, former Governor "Tommy Thompson won't launch a fifth campaign for Wisconsin governor," according to an article published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Monday afternoon. The article doesn't really explain Thompson's reasoning, but reading between the lines it seems that maybe his chances of winning the Republican primary weren't good enough. At least that's how I interpreted this sentence from the article: "[...] a conservative group created by a former Thompson administration official conducted a poll about Thompson's chances" before he made the decision. Presumably he's not sufficiently trumpy.

COVID-19 infections are on the rise again in many parts of the country. Here in Milwaukee and Ozaukee counties, the rise is so far very small. But another surge may well be starting. I find the tracker in the New York Times to be a useful way of keeping up with the pandemic in our area since the Journal Sentinel is no longer publishing articles about it very frequently. You can find and customize the NYT tracker here. And if you have not yet ordered at-home test kits from the federal government, you can do so at covidtests.gov. Every address can request two sets of four tests. It's handy to have them around in time for the next wave. And since it can take a couple of weeks to receive yours, don't delay.

Earth Day — on Friday, April 22 — is right around the corner. This year's theme is Invest in Our Planet. The Milwaukee Riverkeeper is hosting an annual river cleanup on that Friday with a celebration at the Harley Davidson Museum afterwards. You'll find the event in the list below, but you can also sign up to participate right now! There will also be a rally and march sponsored by the Milwaukee Earth Day Coalition at city hall at noon. No sign-up needed: just show up. Or you can call 414-269-9525 for more information.

Finally, here's a way to help support Ukrainians: donate what you can to an organization called Ukraine TrustChain. It's a grassroots group that provides direct aid like meals and evacuations under extremely dangerous conditions. Ukraine TrustChain was founded a little over two months ago by Daniil Cherkasskiy of Evanston, IL, along with other Ukrainians in the Chicago area and around the US to respond to the Russian attack on their former country. The organization has a network of volunteer teams in Ukraine who communicate with each other and document their harrowing achievements. As of Sunday, April 17, they have evacuated 26,019 people (more than half children), and have provided over 50,000 daily meals. It costs approximately $6-$8. to evacuate each person. To date the group has raised $432,340. You can learn more about this incredible local effort to fund these courageous teams and their accomplishments by reading the Ukraine TrustChain Newsletter. For more information, email or call Norma Gilson (414-588-1241).

       Ordinarily, the contribution of sanitation workers, store-shelf stockers, bus drivers, delivery people, emergency medical technicians, childcare providers, and many others, are routine, unnoticed, and taken for granted. During the covid pandemic, however, the general public became acutely aware of their dependence on these essential workers. But if their value is so high, why is their pay so low?

 The Diamond-Water Paradox

The quandary of value versus market-determined price has a long history in economics.    250 years ago Adam Smith, founder of modern economics, examined the logic of the problem when he posed the Diamond-Water Paradox: Why does water, essential for life itself, sell for a low price, while gem diamonds, mere adornments, sell for a  high price? Smith never solved the riddle; it was not until 1816 that David Ricardo observed that this is not a paradox at all; price and value are very different economic concepts.   He explained that the value of water in its use —  especially the life-sustaining uses —  is greater than its price in market exchange. In fact, the two measures can move in opposite directions:  the greater the abundance of water the greater its value in use but the lower its market price.

  Applying Ricardo’s logic to labor: wages paid do not measure the total value of what workers produce any more than the price of water measures the value of water in its many uses. Just as the market price of water lies far below the total value of water, the wages of essential workers under-represent the value of their work. 

The Market Distributes Surplus Value Upward

       When goods and services are bought and sold in the market system, those exchanges generate surpluses, defined as the excess of value over price.  The surplus value resides in the work product, not the wage.  Those with more disposable income can purchase more goods and services, and, in turn, acquire more of the associated surpluses; those who are paid less are constrained to buy less and so acquire less of the surplus.   Therefore, because the surpluses are enjoyed by those who own the work product and are not included in the market wages paid to the workers, the market forces will redistribute the surpluses to the higher-income people who can afford to buy more of that work product.  

       Although market-determined wages do not measure the contribution of labor to national wealth, markets do perform a very important “allocative” function in the labor market: they equate “supply and demand.”  That is, the market wages are determined at the level where the quantity of labor that employers want to employ equals the quantity of labor that workers want to offer.  

Sharing the Surpluses.

A society that recognizes the mismatch between wages and value of work-product commonly wishes to supplement the low incomes of essential workers, either in kind or with money payments.  One way is to use progressive income tax revenue to provide public goods of benefit to those workers, such as education, health insurance, transportation, and enabling them to vote in minutes rather than hours. Most Americans, certainly most of the essential workers, rely on these public resources for their health, safety, education of their children, and other social investments and risk-sharing insurances.  Such a redistribution requires a political role in mediating market forces through a democratically-elected representative government.

A second way is to use general taxes to finance wage supplements. Such staunch adherents of market economics as Milton Friedman and Ronald Reagan advocated using the tax system to supplement low-wage work. During the Reagan administration, this redistribution was implemented through the “Earned Income Tax Credit,” which reversed the flow of taxes for low-income workers: instead of paying into the tax system, these workers would receive wage-supplement payments from the tax system. These wage supplements could take the form of bonus payments paid to emergency health workers as “hazardous duty pay,” or even universal basic income, core support for low-income citizens.

Such redistribution uses market forces to offset some of the upward distribution of surpluses inherent in labor-market transactions.  Markets are great producers of wealth through the coordination of incentives, but political intervention is needed to distribute the wealth more in line with individual contributions to the total. 

William L. Holahan is Emeritus Professor and former Chair of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Although we cannot know for sure, our effort to inform and to turn out voters seems to have been successful. Of the candidates we endorsed, only Judge Lori Kornblum lost her race. The Appeals Court she was running for encompasses 16 suburban and rural counties and excludes Milwaukee County. So it's pretty Republican. And our communications only reached into the southern half of Ozaukee County. In her letter thanking her supporters, Kornblum notes that even "in this deeply red district, we won three counties -- Kenosha, Winnebago, and Green Lake -- and came within a handful of votes in several others. We won in many municipalities including the Cities of Sheboygan, Racine, and Mequon." Wow: both Mequon and Sheboygan! These are traditionally Republican territories. But maybe the tide is turning.

Liz Sumner won her reelection for county supervisor in District 1 quite handily. And Judge Hannah Dugan (Milwaukee Circuit Court Branch 35) also won.

Our next election is the partisan primary on August 9. We will be electing nominees for

• Governor
• Attorney General
• Secretary of State
• State Treasurer
• US Senator
• Representative in Congress District 4 and 6
• Representatives for Assembly and state Senate Districts
• Milwaukee County Sheriff
• Milwaukee County Clerk of Circuit Court

There will be additional offices in Ozaukee County that are not yet listed here. But rest assured we will do our best to provide information for all races in our area.

Of course the Assembly and state Senate races cannot be determined until we have new electoral maps. And that has not yet happened. We are still awaiting word from the Wisconsin Supreme Court. And even then, parties could still appeal to the US Supreme Court. It's a mess!

As part of its election information, the Village of Whitefish Bay has posted the following: "in the interest of public safety and welfare, the Village of Whitefish Bay is urging ALL voters to vote by mail for the 2022 elections. Voting by mail is easy and secure." It's seriously sound advice since we do not know what the virus environment will look like in August. You should request absentee ballots for both the August 9 primary and the November 8 general election right now. There are a couple of ways to make the request:

• Online at myvote.wi.gov;
• By an emailed or mailed request to the clerk of your municipality (you can find the contact information for your election officer at myvote.wi.gov).

Wisconsin's political struggles continue to make national news. The ruling that voters could not use unattended drop boxes to return absentee ballots and that every voter would have to mail or hand his/her/their ballot to the election officer for that municipality created a huge challenge for disabled voters. Here's the story in Grid News and coverage on MSNBC.

And in the continuing coup saga, Wisconsin is playing a key part. It seems that John Eastman, *rump lawyer and likely criminal co-conspirator, visited with GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos just a few weeks ago. According to reporting in Daily Kos, "While there, Eastman pushed the official to overturn the 2020 election results by 'reclaiming' those electoral votes that went to President Joe Biden."

Finally, in case you missed the local news, Governor Evers vetoed nine election bills last week. The Republicans who passed the bills naturally claimed they were only exercising common sense, but the Governor was having none of it. This glimpse into the election battles in Madison makes a strong case for ensuring that Governor Evers is reelected in November. Grassroots North Shore will be counting on you to help!

The Administration Team has been discussing how, when and if to return to our office at 5600 W. Brown Deer Road.  Please fill out this questionnaire at your earliest convenience to give us your opinion about office use.  Once we receive everyone’s input (no later than April 18) we will convene a meeting to discuss the results and determine a plan of action.

It's ELECTION DAY! If you have not already voted by absentee ballot or by in-person early voting, you have until 8pm this evening to cast yours. As recent events both in United States and in Ukraine have demonstrated, exercising your right to vote is not just something good to do. It's your way of saying that you care deeply about representative governance. Voting is foundational to our country, and to our way of life. We now know that it is more than possible to lose any meaningful representation. If you need to find out where your polling place is, consult MyVote.WI.gov. If you need information about candidates for school boards, municipal offices, Milwaukee County judges, Milwaukee County Supervisor District 1 candidates, or Appeals Court District 2 candidates, check our Elections 2022 pages.

In other local political action, the Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition is joining with the Wisconsin Voter Empowerment Project to thank our election workers and let them know how grateful the FMC is that they count every vote and protect our freedom to vote. Join the FMC on April 12 to Thank Election Heroes! Register here to participate.

Fair Courts Series
Join the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin at noon on Wednesday, April 13, for a conversation about how money and weak recusal rules are undermining our courts. This second webinar of the League's Fair Courts series will feature Prof. Edward Fallone, Lisa Graves and Jay Heck. The panel conversation will be moderated by Joy Cardin, a retired Wisconsin Public Radio talk show host. For those who cannot attend, the recorded event will be posted on the League's website and YouTube page. Watch the first webinar. Register for this second one here.

There's still no word from the Wisconsin Supreme Court about the legislative maps the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) remanded for further analysis of the impact of the Voting Rights Act on the establishment of an additional majority-minority Assembly District. To bring yourself up to speed on what's at issue, you can read the SCOTUS decision, the responses to that SCOTUS decision (warning: it's a long list), and/or watch a recording of the Fair Maps Coalition briefing.

Also, in case you missed this development, Gillian Battino, who had been running for the Dem nomination for US Senate, has switched to running for Wisconsin Treasurer. Here's her website. The Journal Sentinel published an article about her and her switch to the Treasurer race in February just as the news about the war in Ukraine pushed nearly everything else off the front pages.

Grassroots North Shore will be bringing election information to you as soon as candidates have qualified for the August 9 primary. Mark your calendar now and MAKE A PLAN TO VOTE in the August election. Many contenders for the Democratic nomination for US Senate will be on that ballot! Grassroots North Shore will be holding a forum with those senate candidates in June. In addition, there are contested races for Lt. Governor, and Treasurer. There may also be contested races for Assembly and Wisconsin Senate (assuming we ever get new electoral maps for those offices!)

In important national news, three Republican Senators have announced that they will vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination to the US Supreme Court. Senators Collins, Murkowski, and Romney have all publicly declared their support. So she will have at least 53 aye votes. (See the account in the Washington Post.) The vote is likely to take place on Friday. We can assume she will be sworn in and take her historic seat on the court this summer when Justice Breyer formally resigns.

Rick Hasan's Election Law blog reports that the non-partisan elections taking place in Green Bay today will have uniformed police on duty when ballot counting begins. Quoting Politico, the story recounts "tension building for over a year." Both a Democratic super PAC and a Republican super PAC have become involved, running ads questioning the legitimacy of the city's elections (on the GOP side) and urging voters to participate (from the Dem side.) And this is only one of the stories circulating about our elections in national media. A few days ago, the Washington Post ran a story about Robin Vos being held in contempt of court for his failure to turn over documents from the Gableman fiasco. If he and the legislature fail to comply within 14 days after the ruling, they will be fined $1000 per day until they do. Plus they will have to pay the legal costs of the organization that brought the suit. But of course, taxpayers will ultimately foot the bill.

Finally, in welcome news that will probably never reach national media distribution, a bipartisan group of county clerks in Colorado are calling on Big Lie proponents to back up their claims with real evidence. Apparently even clerks in GOP strongholds have joined with their Democratic colleagues to demand the proof! Daily Kos has the story. Perhaps election commissions in our state can do the same!

I'll finish up with a time-sensitive ACTION ITEM: Even if you don't live in Ozaukee County, please sign this petition to ensure that Cedar Gorge Clay Bluffs is designated a nature preserve in perpetuity and to keep it as an amendment Lion's Den Gorge. The alternative is selling it to an undisclosed special interest that wants to purchase the Cedar Gorge Clay Bluffs and break it up into a little over 35 plots to sell for real estate development. This loss will effect the thousands of folks who visit Lion's Den Gorge in the future and reduce habitat for migrating birds and wildlife. The Ozaukee County Board is voting Wednesday to put $1 million behind the effort. We all value the beautiful lakeshore and the nature preserves that so enhance our lives. Signing the petition will show the Board how much we value and want to protect our environment. Take a few minutes and do it NOW.

          In this campaign year, much of the time will be occupied by discussions of the huge cost of President Biden's infrastructure packages. It will be called fiscally irresponsible; some will call it "socialism."       Now is a good time to bring up two points. The first is the impact of infrastructure on both productivity and cost within market activities.  That is, the synergy of infrastructure and the functioning of the market system.     

         Second, the charge of socialism will be a reliable Republican campaign smear tactic. When applied to infrastructure spending, the accusation reveals a special case of economic ignorance because capitalism requires a well-functioning public sector.   It is also laughably ignorant since it violates not just economic logic but fundamental logic as well.  

The Market System Requires Public Sector Infrastructure.

         There are certain things that provide benefits to society and enhance the market system that the market system does not have the financial incentives to provide for itself. Among these are hard infrastructure assets; i.e., streets, roads, bridges, sewer systems, water systems, broadband, etc. These are assets that can be invested in during one period of time in order to produce public (and private sector) benefits in many future periods of time. All of these assets add to labor productivity in the marketplace.[1]

         The cost of market activity tends to rise and fall inversely related to the rise and fall of productivity. This has two major impacts. First, when productivity rises and costs fall, the cost of doing business within the state of Wisconsin falls. As a result, the competitiveness of Wisconsin to attract more business increases. 

         Secondly, increasing productivity is one component of the never-ending battle with price inflation. When productivity grows, it is reflected in slower-growing producer prices.  In turn, lower producer prices will -- after a time lag of a few months --  be reflected in slower-growing consumer prices.

Wisconsin’s Hard Infrastructure Report Card

          The American Society of Civil Engineers provides a report card for each of the states, and Wisconsin is not doing well. Some of the state's more prominent public assets are getting terrible grades. For instance, bridges are assigned a grade of C+, which means terrible road surfaces, time-wasting lane closures as well as occasional closures of entire bridges.  Because bridges are usually built in places where there are no nearby alternative routes, these lane and bridge closures impose gigantic time costs on commuters and freight haulers.

         Drinking water earns a C- grade -- and that's an average:  in some municipalities, the residents have to use boiled or bottled water. Ports earned a C+; how is Wisconsin supposed to move heavy manufactured goods to the world through Great Lakes Ports that are not in good working order? 

         Roads in Wisconsin earn a D+.  Prominent economist Lawrence Summers has estimated that roads in such poor condition cost car owners more in repair bills than it would cost to fix the roads; such is the idiocy of long-term neglect!

The Charge of Socialism

         There is an election coming up in November and the opposition ads have already begun to label government expenditures on infrastructure as "socialism." Advocates of spending on these productivity-enhancing assets should get ready for this onslaught.  It is an absolutely ridiculous charge because capitalism requires a well-functioning public sector that includes roads and bridges.

         Case in point: Interstate 43 from the City of Milwaukee to Green Bay is in terrible shape. North of the city, and well into the next county,  this is a commuter route,  congested at every rush hour and often in between. This 10-mile stretch is in a D+ condition and an additional lane has been called for the past 20 years.   All of this is underway right now. Time costs will fall and smooth surfaces will increasingly greet electric cars and electric buses and vans for commuters as internal combustion vehicles are replaced. Those buses and vans will enable city residents to take jobs north of the city, where there are many advanced manufacturing and other state-of-the-art employers providing jobs with the promise of upward mobility.  This is a win-win for our employers, our citizens, and Wisconsin.

 The Socialism Smear Violates Logic 101

             The logic is simply stated:  socialists advocate government ownership of the means of production, therefore advocates of government ownership of means of production are socialists.  It's as if repairing a road or a sewer system is a mile down the road to serfdom where gulags await those who complain.

          This logical fallacy is known as "affirming the converse."  Students are warned to avoid this fallacy in formal logic courses, and students in good geometry classes encounter it in high school.  Affirming the Converse is so absurd that the fallacy is often explained with derisive examples,  such as Green Bay Packers are all strong men;  therefore all strong men are Green Bay Packers.  Or: all dogs are mammals; therefore, all mammals are dogs.  Still, the rhetorical ploy is used all the time by faux conservatives, basically because they know they can get away with it unchallenged by their opposition and by journalists.  

         This charge of socialism is an exercise in economic ignorance that would be comical if it were not so damaging to the nation, the localities where the infrastructure would be built,  and the wages and working conditions of the people who would do the building. The infrastructure is a public responsibility because only the public can earn a cost-beneficial return on investment in these public goods.  Hard-working and skilled workers are ready to bring the infrastructure report card up to straight A's, and earn family-supporting incomes while doing it.    

William L. Holahan is Emeritus Professor and former Chair of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

[1] Topics for future essays in this series:  investments in people, such as the child tax credit, subsidized college tuition, nutrition programs, etc, which, like infrastructure,  also raise productivity.  

This week's newsletter is much longer than usual. My apologies for that. Feel free to quit reading any time! I just came across so much juicy and important news this week that I simply could not resist highlighting the stories.

I want to begin with a reminder that the spring, nonpartisan election is happening NOW in your municipal clerk's office (or at several libraries throughout the City of Milwaukee for city residents' convenience) until the close of business at 5pm on Friday, April 1. Grassroots North Shore has put up a fairly comprehensive page for the 2022 Elections. The pages include

• school board races,
• municipal races,
• judges in Milwaukee County,
• judges running for the Appeals Court District 2,
• Milwaukee County Supervisor District 1,
• and early in-person voting information.

On the pages for races, we have separated contested races from uncontested ones. We also produced and posted responses to a questionnaire that was sent to candidates in contested races. For each candidate, you will find links to their websites, Facebook pages, and/or Twitter accounts. While we cannot endorse in every race — we often do not have enough information or a request from a candidate's campaign — we have endorsed three: Liz Sumner for Milwaukee County Supervisor, Judge Lori Kornblum for Appeals Court District 2 (for Ozaukee County voters), and Judge Hannah Dugan for Milwaukee Circuit Court Branch 31.

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin has put together a great set of resources for voters, including everything you need to know about how to get registered, how to fill out and return your absentee ballot, or what you’ll need to bring with you to vote early in person or on election day. The party also provides a Voter Assistance Hotline at (608) 336-3232. This information is especially helpful for first time voters. Please pass it along to anyone who could use the information.

Now for some bad news. Complicating the start of the partisan elections, the US Supreme Court has sent the legislative district maps approved by the Wisconsin Supreme Court back to the state court for more analysis to determine whether the Voting Rights Act requires the creation of a seventh majority-minority district in Milwaukee. What will happen next is unclear. Prospective candidates supposedly can begin circulating nomination papers on April 15, less than three weeks from now. But for those contemplating running for Assembly and state Senate Districts, at least in the Milwaukee area but possibly in a wider area of the state, it won't be possible to do until district lines are drawn and approved. You can view the opinion of the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the order from the Supreme Court of the United States.

The case has garnered substantial media commentary in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and Daily Kos for three excellent examples. Perhaps the best analysis comes from Professor Rick Hasan on his Election Law Blog: "[T]he way this case was handled is quite bizarre and is another signal of a conservative supermajority of the Supreme Court showing increasing hostility to section 2 of the Voting Rights Act." He ends his initial take this way:

And the good, better and best news? Although the war in Ukraine has dominated the news of late, some important domestic news has broken through. Chief among them, the revelation that Ginni Thomas — wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — "wanted President Trump to take extreme measures to stay in office in the days following the 2020 election" (Vox, March 25, 2022). The newly released text messages between Ginni Thomas and then Chief of Staff Mark Meadows date from just after the 2020 election and insist that the election results be overturned.

The publication of these message has stirred up a hornet's nest of backlash, even among conservative scholars, with some even calling for an impeachment proceeding to expose Justice Thomas' bias or, as some suggest, his corruption. The texts reveal Ginni Thomas as an avid conspiracy monger with a deep, Christian nationalist point of view. If you have not heard much about this matter, let me recommend a piece at Politico published just a few days after the story originally broke. Especially interesting is the section titled "Legal experts say Thomas’ texts present a real problem for the Supreme Court." Even if you're up-to-date on the whole story, this piece is worth a read. Also worth a read, Jane Mayer's piece in the New Yorker: "Legal Scholars Are Shocked By Ginni Thomas’s 'Stop the Steal' Texts."

In an interesting — possibly hilarious — turn of events, the previous guy (that's DJT in case you forgot) has filed a lawsuit against Hilary Clinton and others alleging that SHE conspired to rig the 2016 election. Reuters had the initial story, including this tasty paragraph:

Philip Bump at the Washington Post has followed up with an in-depth analysis showing how "Trump accidentally proves that the Clinton campaign wasn’t the driving force of the Russia probe." The key is this paragraph:

I saved the most intriguing news for last. A federal district court judge ruled that the former President Trump probably broke the law when he "likely attempted to obstruct the joint session of Congress" on January 6, 2021. The ruling does not convict Trump of a crime, of course. It comes as the culmination of a suit filed by lawyer John Eastman — the architect of a "legal theory" that Vice President Pence could in effect overturn the certified results of the 2020 election. The judge's conclusion undergirds his ruling in Eastman's effort to conceal his emails from the Jan. 6 committee on the grounds of lawyer-client privilege. The government has argued that the privilege is not valid if the communication furthered a crime. Hence, the ruling that Trump and Eastman were engaged in criminal activity. Here's the opening of the story as NBC News first reported it Monday.

Eastman's lawyer said that he intends to comply with the order. Although the ruling is part of a civil case in which the government did not need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that crimes were committed, the judge nevertheless wrote that "both Trump and Eastman likely knew what they were doing was wrongful." The government had argued that Trump and Eastman had "engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States." Judge Carter seems to have agreed.tten. More information and registration.

Today is the first day of early in-person voting. Our election coverage includes information about the hours of early voting for communities on the North Shore and the southern half of Ozaukee County. In general early in-person voting takes place in the clerk's office of your municipality. It's often a good idea to call first. You'll find a phone number on the Early Voting Info page as well. You will need to take an approved photo ID. And if you need to register before you vote, you will need proof of residence as well. Check a page from MyVote for information about what kinds of proof of residency are needed. For questions about voting issues, you can contact Common Cause Wisconsin's Election Protection at 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683). For Spanish, use this number: 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA (1-888-839-8682). Please pass this information along, especially to young people or first-time voters!

Voting rights continue to be a litigated both here and in other states. The Wisconsin Supreme Court's approved maps have been appealed to the United States Supreme Court on the grounds that the Assembly map creates an additional — and according the the appeal unconstitutional — majority-minority district. The argument is aimed at the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and claims that the electoral maps are primarily based on racial criteria. Of course the VRA actually stipulates that creating majority-minority districts protects the voting rights of minorities by enabling them to elect candidates of their choice. So far no word on whether the court will consider the appeal. Meanwhile, time is running out to change the maps because potential candidates have to know district lines before they can begin circulating nomination papers. And the date for the start of that process is April 1, a mere nine days away.

In other news about redistricting, The Columbus Dispatch reports that Ohio “House Republicans are discussing whether to impeach Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor after the Ohio Supreme Court rejected a third set of legislative maps and effectively ended all hope of a full May 3rd primary." In rejecting the maps, the court wrote that "The commission should retain an independent map drawer – who answers to all commission members, not only to the Republican legislative leaders – to draft a plan through a transparent process." (Sounds right, and familiar.) In New Hampshire, Republican Governor Chris Sununu "said ... he will veto the congressional redistricting map approved by his fellow Republicans in the New Hampshire Legislature." NH has two congressional seats so the GOP decided to ensure that one seat was safely Republican and the other safely Democratic. Sununu opined that the effort didn't "pass the smell test." Election Law Blog has the story.

The news out of Ukraine becomes more dismal every day. But the Ukrainian military and the country's citizens continue to hold their own. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the "Russian military has lost more than 10% of the combat force that President Vladimir Putin sent to invade Ukraine, a senior Pentagon official said Tuesday." In addition, "Russia continues to have problems supplying its troops in Ukraine with food, fuel and weaponry, the official said. Some soldiers have suffered frostbite because they don’t have proper cold-weather gear. There are signs that they are having trouble keeping ships fueled at sea, the official said." In the last few days, Ukraine has even pushed the Russian military back a bit, according to the live updates on the war in both the New York Times and the Washington Post.

In disturbing news, it appears that COVID-19 is not done with us. On March 18, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the presence of the virus in Milwaukee's wastewater is once again increasing. As the New York Times put it, "Another Covid Surge May Be Coming. Are We Ready for It?" But it looks as if there's no "maybe" about it: "Latest version of omicron accounts for most new infections in many parts of the U.S., genomics testing shows" according to the Washington Post. So if you are not yet boosted, now's the time. However, the FDA is in no hurry to issue an authorization for a 2nd booster shot. Here's what the New York Times had to say: "It’s hard to predict how soon — or if — the F.D.A. might authorize a second booster (or fourth dose) for all adults. The agency is expected to convene an advisory committee next month to discuss the issue. And while experts say it’s reasonable that the committee might move swiftly on Pfizer’s application for older adults, it is unclear if Moderna’s more sweeping request [for all adults] will get the green light."

Finally, there's an under-the-radar local story that is now getting some traction. The Ozaukee Washington Land Trust wants to preserve the Cedar Gorge Clay Bluffs for public use. Assemblywoman Deb Andraca emailed supporters about it last week. The Land Trust has raised a lot of public and private funds but needs a grant from the DNR's Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund. However, an anonymous objection from one member of the Joint Finance Committee has stalled the proposal. The committee has failed to hold a public hearing on the issue. Representative Andraca urges that "anyone who cares about preserving the most beautiful pieces of Wisconsin to contact members of the Joint Finance Committee and demand a public hearing on this issue." You can find which legislators are on that committee on this Wisconsin State Legislature page. Clicking on the name of each legislator will provide you with contact information. Consider this your ACTION ITEM of the week.

ALSO MAKE SURE YOU VOTE. And that goes for friends and family too. If you have received an absentee ballot, make sure you return it, either by taking it to your municipal clerk during regular business hours or by popping it in the mail by Tuesday, March 29! For this election, absentee ballots put into municipal drop boxes will not be counted. Also, you cannot help someone else by putting their ballot in the mail or taking it to the municipal clerk for them. This "rule" is especially difficult for eligible voters who are disabled and will undoubtedly disenfranchise many of them. See the Journal Sentinel story.

               Senator Ron Johnson recently told a group of donors that Social Security should be privatized because “it is a Ponzi scheme and the bonds in the Social Security Trust Fund are worthless.” In doing so, he demonstrates his misunderstanding of  Social Security and of Ponzi schemes. 

            A Ponzi scheme sets up a fund and attracts investors who buy shares of that fund on the promise of very high returns on their investment.  But there are no real resources backing up the fund, nor is there a reasonable-risk venture such as car production,  or a medical technology invention.  Instead, there is simply a sequence of investors in the fund, with early investors gaining a return via payments out of the fund financed by the payments into the fund by later investors.   As the high returns get paid, the news travels fast, and more and more investors gleefully invest. As long as each successive group of investors is sufficiently larger than the preceding group, the promised returns can continue to be paid, and, of course, the scheme organizers reap huge profits as well. Eventually, however, the laws of arithmetic catch up with the Ponzi scheme.  It becomes impossible for each succeeding investor group to be larger than the preceding group; the investor returns collapse, disappointed investors sue the scheme organizers, and, as in the cases of Bernie Madoff and Charles Ponzi, the organizers serve prison terms.

 By contrast, Social Security is remarkably solvent; the system is going strong after 80 years, never having missed a payment. It is an insurance program backed by real resources, i.e., the taxes paid by current workers as well as the bond fund to be explained shortly. Most workers are required to participate by paying a payroll tax as their contribution to insure against poverty in their old age. It is designed as a “pay-as-you-go” system: current workers pay for current retirees with the expectation that, when they reach the age of eligibility,  future workers will pay their Social Security benefits. This can be reasonably expected because over the decades each generation has added to and passed on the physical and knowledge capital of the nation. As a result worker productivity per hour has been increasing at a rate of roughly 1.5% annually. The immense value of this transfer of productivity from old to young enables younger workers to produce the national income out of which the old take their piece. There is no similar reciprocity in a Ponzi scheme.

            Such pay-as-you-go systems are stable if each succeeding generation has a bit higher total productivity than the preceding one.  Even though productivity per worker is rising, stability of an intergenerational financing of the Social Security system is hard to achieve when one generation is much smaller in number than the preceding one. Just such a problem was created when the baby boomers numbered 77 million and the subsequent generation numbered only 47 million. In 1985, when President Reagan foresaw the problem Social Security would face by 2012 when the boomers would begin to retire, he augmented the original pay-as-you-go design by increasing the payroll tax rate.  This forced the boomers to add savings of their own to the payroll taxes they were already paying.    

            To understand the Reagan plan, we must follow both cash and bonds. Beginning in 1985, the increase in the payroll tax rate drove receipts above payments of retiree benefits, the difference generating a surplus. These surplus dollars were invested in a "Trust Fund," a reserve of special-issue US Treasury bonds that can only be traded between the US Treasury and the Social Security Administration. During the years that Social Security holds these bonds, Treasury has the corresponding cash, a chance to boost national economic growth by investing in assets like roads, bridges, broadband, and port facilities.  Whenever payroll tax revenue is insufficient to pay scheduled retirement benefits, either due to the large number of retirees or setbacks such as the Great Recession of 2008-09 or the COVID-19 crisis of 2020, the bonds can be cashed in to add to the payroll tax.  Contrary to Senator Johnson's misunderstanding, the bonds are definitely not worthless; they represent money loaned to the general public by boomers during their work years to be repaid later during the boomers’ retirement years.  If the bonds were worthless, then the Reagan plan would have been massive theft. Fortunately, Ronald Reagan was no Charles Ponzi!

            In the original 1985 plan, the payroll tax rate was calibrated so that the bonds would run out around 2060 after all but the most persistent boomers will have passed on. However, the combination of slower-than-projected economic growth plus the blessing of longer life will exhaust the bond fund around 2034. At that point, the payroll tax revenue will be about 79 percent of what is required for scheduled benefits. Consequently, just like a private insurance plan adjusts to changing demographics and returns on endowment, adjustments will be required to Social Security.  Phasing in small changes, such as an increase in the eligibility age and raising the top end of the taxable income range, will make up for the shortfall.  

  Social Security is not a one-way transfer of funds from workers to retirees. Rather, it is a program that recognizes the reciprocity between generations. In a market system, with well-functioning capital markets, each generation’s productivity is enhanced by the efforts of preceding generations, and each generation pays a part of that increased productivity in the form of retirement benefits for the generation that made it possible.  The young pay the old out of enhanced productivity made possible by the old when they were young. 

The debt of the United States is currently $29.6 trillion and is rising fast: the 2020 federal deficit (i.e., the one-year addition to the debt) was $2.8 trillion; and in 2021 was $2.14 trillion.    Numbers this large tend to boggle the mind. Such numbers lower our nation's sense of financial security, increase anxiety and, for younger/future taxpayers especially, foster insecurity. 

But, why? What if that level of borrowing did not occur?  The United States borrowed more in 2020 than ever before in order to save businesses and household solvency during the pandemic, now they are bouncing back.  In earlier years, more common lower levels of borrowing financed national defense, repaired the nation's infrastructure,  improved math and science education, and fought recession and joblessness. Should anxiety over America's debt prevent us from modernizing the country? It is essential to think about these numbers in a rational way. 

As a second example of misleading reporting, recent spikes in the price of gasoline "at the pump" have caused a great deal of angst because newscasters and politicos have stated that the gas price has never been higher in history! This is simply not true: this misleading notion comes from the failure to adjust for inflation, one of the simplest arithmetic calculations in all of economics. As President Joe Biden might say: "C'mon man. Do the MATH!"

 INFRASTRUCTURE BILLS

To help voters understand the debt capacity of their government, just as for a corporation or an individual, they should be shown the relative earning power from which that debt will be repaid.  This logic can be applied to the infrastructure bill passed last November, whose projected spending is  $1 trillion over 10 years,  and to the soft infrastructure bill often dubbed “Build Back Better”, whose projected cost over 10 years is $3.5 trillion.  To determine the true affordability of these investments, simple arithmetic is required.  First, in each case, the spending is to take place over 10 years.  So, to compare the actual size and proportion of the expenditure to the nation’s ability to pay, the huge figure must be divided by the number of spending years to calculate the annual cost. This result must be further divided by the annual national income to determine its relative percentage. 

HARD INFRASTRUCTURE BILL  (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of November 2021)

       Total new  Cost Estimated = $1 Trillion

       Projected Spending Period = 10 Years

       Cost per year = $100 Billion

       Percent of Annual National Income = 0.44% (less than ½ of 1%!)

SOFT INFRASTRUCTURE BILL  (Ten Year Budget Framework aka  "Build Back Better.")

       Total new Cost Estimate = $3.5 Trillion

       Projected Spending Period  = 10 Years

       Cost per year = $350 Billion

       Percent of Annual National Income = 1.54%

This arithmetic, which is obviously not ideological but simply factual, shows that when huge numbers are compared in proportion to the ability to pay they provide a much more rational way of deciding whether the nation should make such expenditures.  Failure to make these two adjustments to the relative costs and benefits of public investments is not only misleading, but it prevents rational decision-making. 

GASOLINE PRICE ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION

A second example of how arithmetic must be applied to avoid misleading the public is in comparing economic data from different time periods. Recently it was announced that the spike in gasoline prices had driven the average "price at the pump" above the previous all-time high. This was reported in major newspapers, on television, and screamed on Fox News in an attempt to make the Biden Administration look bad. Apart from the fact that no president has much impact on the price of any individual commodity, it is a common but serious error to compare prices from different years without adjusting for inflation. Fortunately, the correction is simple.

First, the data.  In the table below are listed two important years, 2008 which had very high gasoline prices, and the current year, 2022.  Also shown are the dollar prices from those two years.   Without adjusting for inflation, the 2022 price is higher. 

The table also shows the consumer price index for the two years.  Using this index, we can adjust for inflation in two ways. First, the 2022 price of $4.33 can be expressed in 2008 dollars, by multiplying it by the CPI from 2008 divided by the CPI  from 2022:

THE 2022 "PRICE AT THE PUMP" IN 2008 DOLLARS:

     $4.33 x 212/284  =   $3.23

Result: contrary to news reports, this means that in a direct comparison with the 2008 price today's price is only 79% of the 2008 price.

The second way to adjust for inflation is to convert the 2008 price to today's dollars by taking the 2008 price and multiplying it by the ratio of the consumer price indices for those two years:

THE 2008 PRICE IN 2022 DOLLARS:

     $4.10 x  284/212  =  $5.49

In this scenario, the 2008 price adjusted for inflation is $5.49, actually 26% higher than today’s price.

Correcting Mis- and Dis-information

In national budget discussions, projecting large, scary expenditures such as the $29.6 trillion debt figure should not be introduced without explaining them in relation to the economy's projected ability to cover their cost,, or National Income. Omitting this second factor introduces false and possibly misleading information, and presents a deceptive picture.

  Because most of the general public has only a limited understanding of such large numbers,  reporters, politicians, pundits, editors, and professors should follow these basic rules of arithmetic.

Rule No. 1: Never use large debt numbers without stating the time period over which they are to be incurred and their corresponding percentage relative to the ability to pay, or National Income.

Rule No. 2: Never compare dollar figures from different years without adjusting to a common year using the consumer price index, readily available online at FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Database:  fred.stlouisfed.org).

Rule No. 3:  When a violation of Rule No. 1 or Rule No. 2 leads to a false conclusion, a correction should be published or broadcast with the same degree of audience reach as the original misleading statement, including a complete reference to the original misinformation. 

William L. Holahan is Emeritus Professor and former Chair of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The April 5 election is just three weeks from today. Early in-person voting (generally in your municipal clerk's office) begins a week from today. And Grassroots North Shore needs your help RIGHT NOW. We're helping to turn out the vote in contested elections with two races in particular: the Appeals Court District 2, in Ozaukee County, and the school board for Fox Point-Bayside. We're calling strong Democrats who sometimes miss a midterm or local election. Please help us out. Email Norma Gilson to volunteer. She has a script and the call lists. You can work from home on your own time and leave messages!

I know everyone hates calling and being called! But I wouldn't ask if it weren't important to make sure the right candidates win. I've come to appreciate how critical our court system is. Ditto school boards. Recent history shows that we cannot afford to shrug about local elections. Our state is in crisis and we must do everything we can to help bring it back to the forward-leaning place it once was — and can be again. So sign up and let Norma know whether you want to reach Dems in Ozaukee or in Fox Point and Bayside.

If you just can't face phoning, here's another way you can help with the election on April 5. The Wisconsin Democratic Party's Voter Protection Team is in its final week of recruiting poll observers. "Poll observers choose part-day or full-day shifts ..., and they communicate with our team about any problems voters may face in casting their ballot. Poll observers are crucial to ensuring everything goes smoothly on Election Day."

The situation in Ukraine seems dire, but reformed neocon Francis Fukuyama thinks Russia will lose the war. And then "Putin will not survive the defeat of his army. He gets support because he is perceived to be a strongman; what does he have to offer once he demonstrates incompetence and is stripped of his coercive power?" You can help Ukrainians with a small donation to one of the charities helping both inside the country and with the millions of refugees streaming out of it. Daily Kos is sponsoring the page on Act Blue that let's you choose to split a donation to six charities: World Central Kitchen, International Rescue Committee, Razom for Ukraine, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Americares Foundation, and Save the Children's Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund. Or you can give to the individual charities. The page provides a brief explanation of what each group does.

In an interesting bit of news about the insurrectionists, the Washington Post is reporting that “Fearing political violence in 2024, judges sentence Jan. 6 defendants to probation through the next election.” The first paragraph basically says it all: "U.S. judges including those appointed by Republican presidents are increasingly sentencing defendants who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the Capitol to three-year terms of court supervision, fearing they could be misled into committing political violence in the 2024 presidential election."

In lighter news, Randy Rainbow fans will be thrilled with his new offering: "You're a Karen" tearing into Marjory Taylor Greene and Lauren Bobart. Have some fun on this Ides of March Day! You'll find more delightful Randy Rainbow performances on YouTube.

And now on to the events. It's fuller than last week's. So there's sure to be something you can attend.

There's a lot of Wisconsin news from the last week. So let's begin with the so-called Gableman report. You can read about it, in all its ridiculousness, in the Journal Sentinel's take. Or a shortened version of the same story at Election Law Blog. The Washington Post's Editorial Board offers the justified ridicule: The Wisconsin GOP’s investigation into the 2020 election is a farce. It’s time to abandon it. The opinion piece is definitely worth a read.

The latest Marquette poll of WI candidates and issues shows that we have a lot of work to do to re-elect Governor Evers, Attorney General Josh Kaul, and a progressive Lieutenant Governor, Treasurer, and Secretary of State. You can read a discussion of the poll results and/or look at the released data yourself. Apparently half of the Republicans surveyed have not yet decided who will get their vote for the gubernatorial nomination in August. Similarly, half of the Democrats are undecided about their August vote in the crowded race for the US Senate nomination. If you read far enough in the data release, you'll find that "Gov. Tony Evers’ job approval stands at 50%, while 41% disapprove. When last measured in October 2021, 45% approved and 46% disapproved." Above water and heading in the right direction but not safe!

According to WHERE WILL YOUNG VOTERS IMPACT THE 2022 ELECTIONS?, a study by Tufts U Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, Wisconsin is one of the key states, ranking second out of ten states for the importance of the youth vote in the Senate race and fourth in the gubernatorial race.

You've undoubtedly heard that the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the map submitted by Governor Evers was the best of the "least changes" maps submitted to them. You can read the 4-3 decision, with Justice Hagedorn voting with the three most liberal justices and writing for the majority. (With the front matter and the dissents, the whole thing runs to more than 160 pages.) The maps now include seven majority-minority districts in the Milwaukee area and represent a less bad option than the maps drawn by the Republican majority in the current legislature. The remaining conservative justices each wrote extensive dissenting opinions and each signed on with the others' dissents. The majority's opinion, however, runs to about 25 pages, excluding front matter. Justice Anne Walsh Bradley's concurring opinion, only four pages long, takes issue only with the court's original decision in November 2021 to use a "least changes" approach as the chief criterion for deciding which maps to adopt. The rest of the approximately 160 pages includes the three dissenting opinions. The conservatives on the court seem mighty unhappy with the decision.

The Republicans have, of course, appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) on the grounds that "[t]he petition by the Legislature and WILL argues the map Evers drew violates the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause because it drew the seven [Wisconsin Assembly] districts based solely on race without proving a need under the law" (Journal Sentinel Online, March 7, 2022). In other words, the appeal focuses on the state legislative maps, not the Congressional one, which pretty much divides the state into 3 districts Democrats are likely to win and five districts Republicans are likely to win. Pretty much the same as the situation with the previous maps. Given what SCOTUS has been doing to the Voting Rights Act lately, the appeal might just have some legs. But time is not on their side. Candidates will begin circulating nomination papers on April 1. And the Court has already refused appeals that are too close to the beginning of the partisan primary cycle.

In other gerrymandered map litigation from North Carolina and Pennsylvania, the Court has denied the emergency appeals, citing the proximity of primary elections in those states. Those appeals were based on the theory that only state legislatures can prescribe the "Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives" as specified in the US Constitution's Elections Clause. As NPR notes, "Under this theory, any state court decision requiring the redrawing of state legislative maps is unconstitutional under the federal constitution. That is a dramatically different understanding than has ever been adopted by the Supreme Court." However, three justices — Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas — "dissented from the court's decision on Monday not to entertain the North Carolina case and in their written dissent all but embraced the independent state legislature theory." Apparently Justice Kavanaugh has also signaled "strong interest in the independent state legislature theory." There's likely to be trouble ahead.

A final note on gerrymandering: An organization called "Issue One" — describing itself as "the leading crosspartisan political reform group in Washington, D.C." — has provided a discussion of 12 examples of how state legislators have drawn unfair maps for partisan gain over the next decade in an article online called "Extreme Gerrymandering." Wisconsin is on the list which includes seven Republican-controlled states and five in the hands of Democrats.

I can't finish up this newsletter without taking note of the trucker convoy now cruising the Washington Beltway, a stretch of superhighway that encircles D.C. Dana Milbank, in Monday's Washington Post, has the best skewering I have seen. Here's the most amusing bit:

The events list is kind of sparse, but please find SOMETHING you can do, either to support Ukraine and its refugees — Daily Kos has put together a donation page, the proceeds of which will be distributed to various charities providing aid — or support a candidate for the April 5 and August 9 elections. You can find candidate information and links for the April election on our 2022 Elections pages.

There's a lot of Wisconsin news from the last week. So let's begin with the so-called Gableman report. You can read about it, in all its ridiculousness, in the Journal Sentinel's take. Or a shortened version of the same story at Election Law Blog. The Washington Post's Editorial Board offers the justified ridicule: The Wisconsin GOP’s investigation into the 2020 election is a farce. It’s time to abandon it. The opinion piece is definitely worth a read.

The latest Marquette poll of WI candidates and issues shows that we have a lot of work to do to re-elect Governor Evers, Attorney General Josh Kaul, and a progressive Lieutenant Governor, Treasurer, and Secretary of State. You can read a discussion of the poll results and/or look at the released data yourself. Apparently half of the Republicans surveyed have not yet decided who will get their vote for the gubernatorial nomination in August. Similarly, half of the Democrats are undecided about their August vote in the crowded race for the US Senate nomination. If you read far enough in the data release, you'll find that "Gov. Tony Evers’ job approval stands at 50%, while 41% disapprove. When last measured in October 2021, 45% approved and 46% disapproved." Above water and heading in the right direction but not safe!

According to WHERE WILL YOUNG VOTERS IMPACT THE 2022 ELECTIONS?, a study by Tufts U Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, Wisconsin is one of the key states, ranking second out of ten states for the importance of the youth vote in the Senate race and fourth in the gubernatorial race.

You've undoubtedly heard that the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the map submitted by Governor Evers was the best of the "least changes" maps submitted to them. You can read the 4-3 decision, with Justice Hagedorn voting with the three most liberal justices and writing for the majority. (With the front matter and the dissents, the whole thing runs to more than 160 pages.) The maps now include seven majority-minority districts in the Milwaukee area and represent a less bad option than the maps drawn by the Republican majority in the current legislature. The remaining conservative justices each wrote extensive dissenting opinions and each signed on with the others' dissents. The majority's opinion, however, runs to about 25 pages, excluding front matter. Justice Anne Walsh Bradley's concurring opinion, only four pages long, takes issue only with the court's original decision in November 2021 to use a "least changes" approach as the chief criterion for deciding which maps to adopt. The rest of the approximately 160 pages includes the three dissenting opinions. The conservatives on the court seem mighty unhappy with the decision.

The Republicans have, of course, appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) on the grounds that "[t]he petition by the Legislature and WILL argues the map Evers drew violates the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause because it drew the seven [Wisconsin Assembly] districts based solely on race without proving a need under the law" (Journal Sentinel Online, March 7, 2022). In other words, the appeal focuses on the state legislative maps, not the Congressional one, which pretty much divides the state into 3 districts Democrats are likely to win and five districts Republicans are likely to win. Pretty much the same as the situation with the previous maps. Given what SCOTUS has been doing to the Voting Rights Act lately, the appeal might just have some legs. But time is not on their side. Candidates will begin circulating nomination papers on April 1. And the Court has already refused appeals that are too close to the beginning of the partisan primary cycle.

In other gerrymandered map litigation from North Carolina and Pennsylvania, the Court has denied the emergency appeals, citing the proximity of primary elections in those states. Those appeals were based on the theory that only state legislatures can prescribe the "Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives" as specified in the US Constitution's Elections Clause. As NPR notes, "Under this theory, any state court decision requiring the redrawing of state legislative maps is unconstitutional under the federal constitution. That is a dramatically different understanding than has ever been adopted by the Supreme Court." However, three justices — Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas — "dissented from the court's decision on Monday not to entertain the North Carolina case and in their written dissent all but embraced the independent state legislature theory." Apparently Justice Kavanaugh has also signaled "strong interest in the independent state legislature theory." There's likely to be trouble ahead.

A final note on gerrymandering: An organization called "Issue One" — describing itself as "the leading crosspartisan political reform group in Washington, D.C." — has provided a discussion of 12 examples of how state legislators have drawn unfair maps for partisan gain over the next decade in an article online called "Extreme Gerrymandering." Wisconsin is on the list which includes seven Republican-controlled states and five in the hands of Democrats.

I can't finish up this newsletter without taking note of the trucker convoy now cruising the Washington Beltway, a stretch of superhighway that encircles D.C. Dana Milbank, in Monday's Washington Post, has the best skewering I have seen. Here's the most amusing bit:

The events list is kind of sparse, but please find SOMETHING you can do, either to support Ukraine and its refugees — Daily Kos has put together a donation page, the proceeds of which will be distributed to various charities providing aid — or support a candidate for the April 5 and August 9 elections. You can find candidate information and links for the April election on our 2022 Elections pages.

Let's begin with some good news: the Covid-19 Omicron wave is rapidly dissipating in Wisconsin. This morning's Journal Sentinel reports that the number of ICU patients with Covid-19 and the numbers hospitalized with the disease are both at lows last seen in summer 2021. At least until the next variant hits us, we seem to be in a reasonable place. Responsible people might want to continue to mask up in crowded, indoor spaces. And those of us who are especially vulnerable should remain cautious. But overall, it's welcome news. The rapid development of effective vaccines has had a lot to do with weathering the storm. Read "Why Covid-19 vaccines are a freaking miracle" to find out more about how we got these shots so quickly.

Unfortunately, the rest of the news remains pretty awful. Besides the horrendous events in Ukraine, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) heard oral arguments yesterday in a case that involves the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to regulate greenhouse gasses. And it did not go well for those of us hoping that the country and the world can at least mitigate catastrophic climate change. Amy Howe at scotusblog.com has the full story. But as she reports, "The oral argument occurred on the same morning that a panel of scientists convened by the United Nations issued a major new report that warns of dire effects from climate change and concludes that nations are not doing nearly enough to cope with a warming planet." As the Washington Post notes in an analysis before the oral arguments on February 28, "With the court’s conservative justices increasingly suspicious that agencies are overstepping their powers, the case’s outcome could not only reshape U.S. environmental policy but also call into question the authority of regulators to tackle the nation’s most pressing problems." We'll know more when the decision is rendered this summer but it's looking like bad news from the Court. Again.

So let's do what we can to improve life here at home. The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin is looking for volunteers to be election observers for the April 5 nonpartisan election. Here's their appeal: "Volunteer election observers help ensure we have a fair election by watching for signs of voter disenfranchisement and intimidation and by monitoring the way Wisconsin’s election laws and procedures are being applied. Even if you only have a couple of hours on Election Day, you can still make a difference. Sign up to be an election observer today! Learn more and sign up to volunteer." Russian aggression in Ukraine reminds us that democracy is both precious and under attack. Do your part to shore it up, please.

Two of our Grassroots North Shore communities have candidate forums for school board memberships and for municipal offices this week. For Whitefish Bay, the event is on Zoom at 7 pm, Thursday, March 3. Bay Bridge is hosting and the League of Women Voters is moderating. Here's the link to the event. It becomes available when the event starts Thursday evening. In Shorewood, the forum will be live-streamed on Facebook on Sunday, March 6, at 12:30 pm. Sponsored by the Shorewood Women's Club (SWC) and moderated by League of Women Voters Milwaukee County (LWVMC), the candidates for school board and for Village Trustee will be participating in person, but the audience will connect via the SWC Facebook page. You do not need a Facebook account to tune in to the live feed. If you get wind of any others, pass on the details to me at [email protected].

Tonight, President Biden will give the first State of the Union address of his presidency. (Last year's speech to a joint session of Congress doesn't count as a SOTU speech because ... reasons!) He's scheduled to begin his address at 9 pm EST or 8 pm CST. You can watch on TV or streaming online. The Milwaukee County Democratic party and the 4th CD are hosting an online "watch party" beginning at 7:15 with discussion both before and after the speech. You can register here.. His approval ratings need a boost. So tune in.

Finally, anyone who is concerned about the highly gerrymandered maps in Wisconsin, where our state is said to be the worst in the nation on this issue, is invited to create a #MadAboutMaps video to be posted to social media on March 15 — designated as Mad About Maps Day. The Fair Maps Coalition has extensive online help about when and how to participate. The link above will point you in the right direction. Read the call for participation and then signal that you plan to take part.

Last week, the League of Progressive Seniors held a webinar on the disenfranchisement of people with mobility issues. Mark Thompsen, a member of the Wisconsin Election Commission, spoke eloquently about the ruling from the Wisconsin Supreme Court that enjoined the use of drop boxes and prohibited anyone other than the voters from taking absentee ballots either to their municipal clerk's office or to their mailbox. The limitations will significantly impact the disabled. You can watch the program (1 hour) on YouTube.

Unfortunately, it's not easy to figure out how many voters are likely to be affected for the upcoming April 5 election — or for the August 9 primary and the November 8 general elections should the Supreme Court rule on the matter for those elections too. But Wisconsin is a closely divided state both in presidential elections and in gubernatorial ones. After all, Governor Evers won office in 2018 by only 1.1% of the votes and President Biden won here by a slim 20,608 votes. Some data, however, suggest the effects could be substantial.

About 17.5% of Wisconsin's population is over 65 years old. Not all elderly are disabled nor do all disabled people have trouble voting, of course, but in a population estimated to be approximately 5,895,908, the group most heavily affected are likely to be the elderly. In Wisconsin, the over-65 population is about 1,031,784 people. According to Wisconsin Election Commission, there are 959,199 registered voters over 65 — the largest age group on the rolls. But the figure may be an undercount because people who registered to vote before 2005 do not have a birth date on file with the voter registration system. According to the Journal Sentinel," Rutgers University's Fact Sheet on Disability and Voter Turnout in the 2018 Elections found a 10.4% gap in Wisconsin voter turnout between citizens with and without disabilities." (The data for the 2020 election are also available.)

In an article titled "The Era of Easier Voting for Disabled People Is Over," The Atlantic reported on the nationwide participation of disabled voters:

So the problem of disallowing anyone other than the voter from returning an absentee ballot and disallowing drop boxes, which can be accessible from a vehicle and are available outside of regular business hours, seriously impacts the ability of the disabled and the elderly to vote. According to Mark Thompsen, the only recourse we have right now is to petition the individual members of the court. Here's what you should do.

Finally, I'll just mention that the fringy right has turned its attention to undermining public education, both in Wisconsin and in the nation. At least 16 efforts at school board recall elections have been mounted here! I'm happy to report that all of them failed. But it's important to be informed about the issues and to urge your family and friends to know who is running in your area and to turn out to vote for sensible people. You can find out more about the issues by watching the video of our last event: "School Boards Under Attack." And you can find out who is running in your school district on our page for 2022 School Board Elections. That page also provides links to candidates' information so that you can discover at least some of their positions.

Economics for Voters is a new feature of the Grassroots  North Shore website, a series of essays by Emeritus Professor and former Chair of Economics at UWM,  Bill Holahan.   These will be about your money, your economy, and your country. The essays will appear about once per week, the newest on top. Scroll down and enjoy.

Oct 28, 2024, WHY ARE IMPORT TARIFFS PAID BY US CONSUMERS?  This article shows that import tariffs are a cost of doing business and passed on to the final consumer as part of the purchase prices of imported goods. 

Oct 27, 2024, Trump Cannot Defend Stolen Election Claim on Joe Rogan's Podcast  This brief article summarizes Trump’s failed attempt on Joe Rogan’s podcast to defend his claim that the Wisconsin vote was stolen in 2020.  

August 21, 2024, SCHOOL LUNCH: A SOCIALIST PLOT OR COMMON SENSE? As Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, Vice President nominee on the Democratic Party ticket, instituted free school breakfast and lunch for school children, regardless of family income. This essay argues that this policy falls within sensible use of pro-market principles, hardly “socialist.”

May 7, 2024, CULT BELIEF VERSUS ECONOMIC FACT    Many prominent Republican party members have  made  vicious statements about how unfit -- even dangerous -- Trump would be if re-elected. Then they flip to say they will vote for him!   This post provides an explanation. 

April 8, 2024, PAYING FOR THE BRIDGE  The decision to borrow to pay for the 3 billion dollar costs of replacing the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge over Baltimore Harbor and the lost business caused by its collapse should depend on the incremental -- i.e., additional --  costs and benefits, not accumulated past debts.   The bridge and port are assets to be enjoyed for years to come, and passed on to future generations, with value  many multiples of the costs to restore them after this accident.   

January 25, 2024, FAIR LEGISLATIVE MAPS: CONTIGUITY AND PARTISAN PRIVILEGE In the Wisconsin gerrymandering case, Rebecca Clarke v. Wisconsin Election Commission,    six remedial maps have been submitted by parties to the lawsuit. This essay examines recent statistical analysis of these maps and the likelihood of choosing the wrong map.

November 21, 2023, NOTES ON FAIR MAPS    Some of the complexities in constructing fair political district maps.  

October 5, 2023, SCOTT WALKER JOINS THE REPUBLICAN WAR ON STUDENT VOTING Are college students being duped by their professors? This essay points out that issues like guns, reproductive rights, and voting rights might be stronger motivators shaping student voting patterns.

August 24, 2023, Which Markets Should Be "Free?" Some basic economic concepts should help determine when government should be involved in the production and distribution of certain goods and services, versus when private markets be relied upon. 

August 12, 2023, BIDENOMICS IS PRO-MARKET  Joe Biden is finally touting his accomplishments;  voters are finally being alerted to how Bidenomics is benefiting them personally.  This essay provides examples. 

August 7, 2023, INVEST IN UW; INVEST IN WISCONSIN'S FUTURE  The gerrymandered legislature has underinvested in the UW System. Two examples stand out: failure to fund the proposed engineering building at UW-Madison, and failure to properly fund UWM. 

June 5, 2023, THE THREAT OF DEFAULT AS POLITICAL STRATEGY: THE POLITICAL BUSINESS CYCLE    The debt ceiling issue has been resolved until January 2025. This article considers the negative impact of the debt ceiling law on rational economic policy. Perhaps a clearer understanding of the law would help us get rid of it.  

January 22, 2023, Fiscal Insurrection.  (The Freedom Caucus insists that the US must stop borrowing money it doesn't have and that President Biden has increased the federal budget deficit. Both assertions are false.)

November 30, 2022, INSTANT RUN-OFF VOTING IN PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES: A PATH TO MAJORITY RULE AND INOCULATION AGAINST TRUMP (An essay showing why the current plurality-voting rules used in Presidential primaries can lead to nomination of fringe candidates,  a result cured by Instant-runoff Voting, aka Rank-Choice Voting) 

November 2, 2022, DOES SUCCESS IN BUSINESS PROMISE SUCCESS IN PUBLIC OFFICE?  (This essay uses economic analysis to show why success in business does not connote a transferable skill to manage or even understand the public sector.)

November 1, 2022,  WE NEED A CLOSER LOOK AT SOCIAL SECURITY.  (This essay explains why the greatest threat to Social Security is misunderstanding how it works.)  

October 11, 2022, GERRYMANDERING, DONOR-DRIVEN ELECTIONS, AND SOCIALISM FOR THE RICH  (An essay explaining why the same economic distortions that Republicans warn will accompany “socialism” will also, and for the same reason, accompany donor-driven non-representative government. Foxconn is a case in point.)

September 28, 2022, ENGLISH AND MATH PREP CAN CUT COLLEGE COSTS  (Required expository writing and word-problem solving appear across the college curriculum. Rigorous preparation in these two disciplines during the high school years enhances success in college and reduces its financial burden.) 

September 2, 2022, Is Joe Biden's Student Loan "Forgiveness" Inflationary? (This essay summarizes Joe Stiglitz' explanation that the annual cost of the loan forgiveness is too small to be inflationary and in any case is offset by the resumption of student loan repayments in January, 2023.)

August 22, 2022, JOE BIDEN ENDORSES LARGE TUTORING PROGRAM (On the importance of math in closing the occupational income and wealth gap, and the importance of math tutoring in President Biden's plan to support student achievement.)

August 13, 2022, SENATOR JOHNSON STEPS ON THE POLITICAL "THIRD RAIL" (An explanation of the formulas currently used to calculate the Social Security payroll tax and retirement benefits.)

August 5, 2022, CHIPS ARE DOWN FOR ROJO  (With a bi-partisan vote of 64-33, the "Chips and Science" bill passed the Senate to support domestic research and production of semi-conductors.  This essay discusses Senator Johnson's NO vote.)  

July 25, 2022, If You Have a Business, Who Built What?  (An essay describing President Obama's full statement when he said, during a speech on infrastructure,  "If You Have a Business, You Didn't Build That.")  

July 22, 2022,  THE FREE MARKET MODEL, "A SYSTEM OF NATURAL LIBERTY" (Contemporary conservatives espouse  "free markets." This essay presents the elementary logic of the free market concept.)  

July 3, 2022, Will Social Security "Go Broke" in 2035? No. (The Social Security Administration trustees estimate that the system trust fund will run out of bonds in 2035. This essay shows that scheduled retirement benefits can continue with no increase in rates of taxes or borrowing.)

May 23, 2022, URGENT: MAKE A CARBON TAX PART OF CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY NOW (An brief explanation of how a carbon tax could be part of a broader policy to limit climate change.)

May 20, 2022, Roe v. Wade Repeal: Predicted  Economic Impact on Women and Families (A short review of an Amicus Brief by 154 prominent economists who summarized for the Supreme Court numerous peer-reviewed forecasts of the economic impact of overturning Roe v. Wade.)

May 14, 2022, A FIRST LOOK AT MARKETS AND POLICY  (This is the first of several essays on how markets work, and the role markets play in public policy.)

May 11, 2022,  THE ROLE OF STUDENT BORROWING IN COLLEGE FINANCE   (An essay that points out that education is a lifelong valuable asset and suggests ways to enhance the value of that asset net of  borrowing to pay for it.)

May 10, 2022, EASING THE BURDEN OF STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT (An essay showing that the burden of student loan repayment could be reduced by extending the term of the loan to 30 or 40 years and capping the annual repayment to a small  percentage of annual earnings.)

April 19, 2022, HITTING BACK WHEN CHARGED  WITH “SOCIALISM”  (This essay suggests ways to use economic reasoning to strike back when public investments are labeled "socialist.")

April 18, 2022, ESSENTIAL WORKER PARADOX  (An essay showing why some workers -- caregivers, sanitation workers, food delivery workers -- produce great value but receive low pay, and suggests a few remedies.)

April 6, 2022: CAPITALISM REQUIRES A WELL-FUNCTIONING PUBLIC SECTOR (An essay showing that infrastructure enhances productivity and reduces cost in the market system, but is a public responsibility.  Therefore, to label such investment "socialism"  reveals acute ignorance of economics.)

March 30, 2022: EFFICIENT GOVERNMENT IS OFTEN COUNTER-INTUITIVE  (An essay introducing the counter-intuitive role of government in modern economics, with a special look at the often-heard claim that the government should be run like a business.)

March 22, 2022: NO SENATOR JOHNSON: SOCIAL SECURITY IS NOT A PONZI SCHEME. (An essay in response to Senator Johnson's  false notions that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme and that Social Security bonds are worthless.)

March 20, 2022: PLEA TO THE JOURNALISTS, PUNDITS, AND POLITICOS:  DO THE MATH.  (An essay showing how essential, and easy, it is to express economic data in a rational form, and a plea to the journalists, pundits, politicians, and politicos to perform the simple math when they discuss the economy.)

March 18, 2022: SENATOR JOHNSON STILL WANTS TO REPEAL THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT   (An essay responding to Senator Johnson's remark that Republicans should repeal the Affordable Care Act if they retake Congress in 2022 or 2024)

March 6, 2022: BRING BACK DROP BOXES  (An essay in response to the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that the use of ballot drop boxes is contrary to a clearly written statute. Because recent elections show that drop boxes add significantly to voter participation and do not detract from ballot integrity, change the law.)

February 28, 2022: INSTANT RUN-OFF VOTING: A PATH TO MAJORITY RULE  (An essay that explains why current rules nullify majority rule in a primary season with a large number of candidates, and why Instant Run-off Voting (aka Ranked Choice Voting) cures the problem.)

February 22, 2022: FEDERAL CONTRACTS BRING HIGHER-PAYING JOBS (An essay in response to Senator Johnson's public acceptance of sending truck production jobs to South Carolina because Wisconsin has a shortage of workers.)

February 17, 2022: CRITICAL RACE THEORY AND THE SUBURBAN VOTE ( An essay which addresses the chief concern of parents: kids are slipping behind and  need  organized tutoring, especially in math and English.)

February 10, 2022: INFLATION AS A REPUBLICAN GOLD MINE  (An essay in response to Senator Scott (R-FL) who claims that inflation will provide the basis for a Republican landslide in 2022.)

February 10, 2022: IT TAKES PARENTS AND A VILLAGE  (An essay in response to Senator Johnson's comment about taking care of "other people's children."

 FEDERAL CONTRACTS BRING HIGHER-PAYING  JOBS

         When Oshkosh Corp. landed a contract to produce delivery trucks for the United States Post Office, the company decided to split the tasks: 100 design jobs would be located in Oshkosh Wisconsin and 1000 production jobs would go to  South Carolina. Wisconsin Senator Johnson spoke approvingly of this division of labor, stating that Wisconsin has plenty of jobs already: "It's not like we don't have enough jobs here in Wisconsin. The biggest problem we have in Wisconsin right now is employers not being able to find enough workers."

         That is a rather odd thing for a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin to say, seeming to defy  market process.  Although this is a long-term contract, the labor shortage Johnson refers to is a temporary market adjustment to the hot national economy. In addition, the labor market has been further complicated by Covid and the concern for workplace safety, a complication lessened by the success of the vaccine and its distribution.   This USPS contract can contribute to the long-term process of capital accumulation essential for stable demand for well-paid workers.   

         In his statement, Senator Johnson ignores two additional, broader economic concerns.  First,  climate implications:  the federal government is anxious to modify the contract to build a truck fleet that is more climate-friendly. Wisconsin can become a major player in the burgeoning market for electric vehicles.

        Second, the construction contracts would put more federal dollars into circulation in Wisconsin,  stimulating economic development well beyond the initial contract. 

 Climate Implications

          The Biden Administration has set a national goal of net-zero carbon emissions by the year 2050; meeting that goal will require the replacement of fossil fuel-powered vehicles with electric vehicles. The  Environmental Protection Agency has asked for a review of the contract, as it stands only 10% of the Oshkosh contract is for battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs). 

            The country has built its transportation infrastructure around the interstate highway system and the local and state highway grids.    The recently-passed bi-partisan infrastructure bill is a further commitment to that network.    The electrification of vehicles is imperative, especially large vehicles like buses and freight and local delivery trucks.  This will entail a multi-decade conversion; Wisconsin companies can gain a competitive position in a high-demand industry, rather than cede this high ground to other states and to China.  Large government truck-fleet contracts give the private market a jumpstart. A contract that provides both quantity and price per unit greatly reduces the risk of capital accumulation first to fulfill the contract for several thousand Postal Service trucks and later to compete in the market for other private-sector vehicles like delivery trucks sought by FedEx, Amazon, UPS, etc.          

Economic Development Multiplier

         Federal money to build or convert postal delivery trucks will have multipliers far beyond that particular contract.   Like all of the 50 states, Wisconsin is in an economic federation.  When money enters the state from the federal government, it is initially spent on the initial purpose, in this case, payment in exchange for a manufactured good. But then that money gets paid out in salary and wages to the many individuals -- from CEO to line worker to janitor --who took part in the fulfillment of that agreement --  i.e., the design, capital installation,  manufacture, and delivery.  The money gets spent again in accordance with the preferences of all those people. They spend the money on rent, food, gasoline, pet supplies, for myriad other goods and services, supporting jobs and wages in those markets.  The people who supply the apartments, food, gasoline, etc. receive payments as income and re-spend the money according to their preferences.   The money is spent multiple times,  in each round stimulating more economic activity.

         Wisconsin has invested in its comparative skill advantage for fulfilling complicated long-term contracts: its experienced and educated workers,  graduates from the UW and private university engineering schools, as well as graduates from the vocational-tech schools and trade apprenticeship programs.     Steering federal contracts to state firms would boost not only the accumulation of capital in the private sector and the growth of labor demand but also the return on the taxpayer investment in the educational and skill development enterprise while contributing to the national goal of net-zero carbon emissions. 

William L. Holahan is an Emeritus Professor and former Chair of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.