I receive the Nygren Notes via e mail from "John Nygren
State Representative
89th Assembly District"
State Representative John Nygren
Topics of the week:
Jobs on the Mind
DNR Drops 16 Day Hunt
Jobs on the MindEarlier this month, Georgia Pacific announced it would be cutting 158 jobs at its plant in Green Bay. Around the same time, JT Packard of Verona announced it would be cutting 300 jobs. These job cuts will add to the over 130,000 continuing unemployment claims in Wisconsin.
There are over 232,300 people seeking employment in Wisconsin and thousands of jobs continue to be lost each month. Thus far in 2009, job loss claims are over 90 percent higher than in 2008 according to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.
Most of the recent and ongoing job losses are in construction and manufacturing. These are sectors that are heavily regulated, heavily taxed by both state and federal governments, and very sensitive to fluctuations in energy costs. We should not be surprised that these job sectors are being hit hard in the current economic downturn.
Earlier this year, the Democrat majority passed $5 billion in job killing tax and fee increases. They added numerous detrimental government regulations and made it much more difficult to start and operate a business in our state.
Actions like these did not help to retain companies like Briggs and Stratton who shut down a factory in Jefferson and is sending those jobs to Georgia and Alabama. These actions hurt Wisconsin's chances of keeping Thomas Industries. Thomas shut down a Sheboygan plant and is sending those jobs to Louisiana. Harley Davidson cut hundreds of jobs in part due to a new combined reporting tax passed by Democrats earlier this year.
Republicans warned Democrat leaders that if they raise taxes and increase government regulation they will kill jobs and force employers to seek more employer friendly states. Now, months after passage of budgets that do both, employers continue to flee our state and cut jobs.
In response to this, Democrats now claim to care about job creation and are touting new "business friendly" plans. These plans may be positive, but they are too limited and will have too small an impact on Wisconsin's job market.
As well, job plans that include government spending do create temporary jobs while the spending is in effect. However, when the spending concludes, the jobs will be less profitable to keep and more likely to be lost. To make matters worse, taxpayers will then be left with the debt which will have to be paid by future generations through increased taxation.
Private sector growth and investment is the type of growth which results in long term job creation and the revenue needed to pay for social services and government spending. This is the type of growth we need and can only occur when employers have a clear and fair tax structure. Employers also need to be free of a future full of tax increases that inevitably follow large amounts of government spending and debt.
To add to the problems with Wisconsin's job market, just this week Democrats introduced their version of a "Global Warming Bill." In it are numerous new regulations imposed on everyone from home builders and utilities to motorists and homeowners.
This type of legislation is estimated to kill over 43,000 jobs, raise gas prices, and increase energy costs for the average homeowner by thousands of dollars per year. This type of legislation is not a good idea in healthy economic times and borders on the reckless during our current economic downturn.
The problem with our state's economy now is not whether our banking system is going to collapse or whether stocks are going to continue to fall, but are jobs going to be created? So how do we as a legislature create an environment where jobs can and are again being created?
First, we need to do no harm. Don't add to the tax burden our employers have that is already among the top in the nation. Don't increase energy costs that will kill thousands of jobs and force employers to seek states with less costs and regulation.
If we want to encourage employers to hire more people, we need to reduce the costs of employing someone and make the potential benefits of being in business in Wisconsin more attractive.
How do we do this? Let's start by repealing things like the unneeded and costly automobile insurance mandates. These changes are not only increasing your family car insurance premiums, but employers with fleets of company vehicles as well. After all, these changes were only included in the budget because of the Trial Lawyer lobby who will benefit from larger court settlements and fund Democrat campaigns.
The legislature also needs to repeal the damaging combined reporting tax that has already cost Wisconsin hundreds if not thousands of jobs and deterred employers from locating in our state. There are many things that can be done, but I have no faith that our current Democrat leaders will do any of them.
I don't know if our current legislative leaders have the will or the courage to say no to their special interest allies and do what is in the best interests of Wisconsin workers and families. If they did and stopped listening to their campaign donors and started listening to the job creators of our state we would be much better off.
DNR Drops 16 Day HuntAs an update to my Nygren's Notes from last week, the DNR dropped their plans to extend the gun deer season and to create numerous other deer hunting seasons. This was a direct result of the lower than expected deer kill numbers reported throughout the state. Hunter outrage at the prospect of these extended hunts considering the low number of deer registered also had an effect.
I am encouraged that the DNR dropped their plans and hopefully they will now listen to hunters in order to ensure the deer population continues for future generations of hunters to enjoy.
Hunters need real answers and realistic plans from the DNR. They don't need proposals cooked up by bureaucrats in Madison with little input from the hunters that pay their salaries.
