WISCONSIN: The "Big Ten"

This morning as I logged into my Yahoo homepage, I immediately noticed the headline, "The Ten Most Cash Strapped States." Without even clicking on the link, I knew Wisconsin had made the list. The "good" news I suppose is that we were at the very bottom of the list at #10! Ten out of fifty, I reminded myself, is not so good however. The really good news is that we will soon have a new Governor, and one can hope, a fiscally responsible Republican Governor!! According to the Pew Center findings, Wisconsin made the list because of its long history of budget shortfalls (currently 23.2%) and a pattern of borrowing to cover operating expenses, making the state poorly positioned to withstand the recent economic downturn. In addition, Wisconsin is heavily dependent on manufacturing. Yet various actions have been taken to actually make Wisconsin less business friendly. Wisconsin jobs and job creators have been exiting the state at an increasing rate. As the economy sputters, so does the manufacturing sector and with that, unemployment surges in the state. Also, Wisconsin's high taxes will make for a slow recovery. If you live in Wisconsin, I am sure none of this comes as a surprise to you. As the Republican Party of Wisconsin Chairman Reince Priebus states, “Wisconsin taxpayers aren’t shocked by this ranking because they’ve seen their taxes climb due to Doyle’s spending increases. Doyle has left our state with a fiscal disaster to clean up, but sadly the taxpayers will be the ones left on the hook for the reckless spending that got us into this mess.” Indeed. While other states were making cuts, lowering taxes, and balancing the budget, Governor Doyle increased state spending by 3.6%. Reince Priebus continued, adding, “Republicans know that to get Wisconsin out of this mess we’ve got to create good paying jobs that contribute to our state’s financial stability." Let's hope the rest of Wisconsinites know this too, and elect a Republican Governor in 2010 to get us headed in the right direction! http://tiny.cc/dailyfinance10 http://tiny.cc/yahooterrible10 http://tinyurl.com/WIGOP10