WISCONSIN'S STRUCTURAL DEFICIT

6 things the media won’t tell you about the structural deficit

http://legis.wisconsin.gov/assembly/kooyenga/news/Pages/6%20Things%20the%20Media%20Won%27t%20Tell%20You%20About%20the%20Structural%20Deficit.aspx

Wisconsin State Assembly – Rep. Dale Kooyenga – 9/9/2014

1.) This budget which extends through June 30, 2015 is still projected to end with a healthy cash balance.  The rainy day fund is at an all time high.  The "structural deficit" is a state government concept and some states do not even calculate, or calculate using different methods.  In this state, LFB assume there are no growths in revenues or expenditures all the way through June 30, 2017.

Revenues tend to grow, and Walker's team has proven they can manage the expense side of the budget.  Many folks (and even legislators) do not understand that we do not tell the Governor (executive branch) what they have to spend - we tell them the maximum they can spend.  This means the Governor's team can find cost savings, and simply spend less than the maximum amounts the legislature stipulated. There are substantial areas expenses can be cut with a $30 Billion plus annual budget.  If you look at the audited state financial statements - the general fund had less spending in 2012 than 2011, and the 2013 general funding spending was lower than 2012 and 2011 even though the legislative budget was an increase in GPR spending.  

2.)  The structural deficit is projecting revenue all the way to June 30, 2017 - a lot will happen between now and then - including the passage of a new budget.  No company would forecast a budget 3 years out and not assume any changes in revenues or expenses. 

3.)  Some of the confusion, and forward projections, are affected by the fact we are returning a portion of the surplus to the taxpayers who put it there in the first place.  In the private sector, we would call this a return of equity - not an expense or lost revenue!  For example, if GE is predicting a year with zero net income, but still pays out $1 billion in dividends because they have excessive cash, their net income does not become a net loss of $1 billion, their income remains flat.  In Madison, the stakeholders do not view it that way, and they call a return of taxpayer dividends an expense.   This is an important distinction in the private sector, but not understood in government because it is not in their best interest.

4.)  Wisconsin's businesses and families budgets are what really matters.  Since we cut taxes, and the Governor adjusted the withholding tables, budgeting has become less burdensome for families and business.  Republicans made a conscious decision to make budgeting easier at the dinner table and main street - that is what really matters.  We all know the left, assisted by the media, wants to argue against tax cuts because they want to make it easier to keep your cash in Madison so they can spend it on growing government.

5.) The revenue projections going forward are not Wisconsin specific, they are instead based on national economic trends.  There is no doubt that lack of leadership in the White House has created domestic and international concerns which have national economic impacts.  

6.)  Media bias and ignorance is driving the confusion.  I have never seen a Wisconsin paper headline the federal deficit despite Sen. Ron Johnson's best efforts.  Those deficits are real.  Wisconsin is in good shape.  54% of voters think Wisconsin is headed in the right direction, compared to 25% of national voters who think the US is headed in the right direction.

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

WISCONSIN VOTER ID NOW LEGAL

Appeals court reinstates Wisconsin’s voter ID law

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/appeals-court-decide-wisconsin-voter-id-law-25450077http:/abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/appeals-court-decide-wisconsin-voter-id-law-25450077

ABC News – Todd Richmond and Michael Tarm – 9/12/2014

In a stunningly fast decision, a federal appeals court in Chicago reinstated Wisconsin's voter photo identification law on Friday — just hours after three Republican-appointed judges heard arguments on reactivating the hotly debated law in time for the November election.

In a brief order, a three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago said, "The State of Wisconsin may, if it wishes ... enforce the photo ID requirement in this November's elections."

Wisconsin officials wasted no time in saying they would do just that.

"We are taking every step to fully implement the voter photo ID law for the November general election," said Kevin Kennedy, the state's top election official. "We are now focused on communicating with local election officials and voters, and will have more information about the details next week."

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

GLOBAL WARMING NOT SO WARM; NO TRUE CONSENSUS

Estimates of the social cost of carbon-driven “consensus” global warming

http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/09/estimates-social-cost-carbon-driven-consensus-global-warming/

Freedom Outpost – Ileana Johnson 9/12/2014

At the end of the day, consumers are going to pay more taxes and higher prices for all goods and services because of "consensus" global warming and its social costs as determined by omnipotent governments, academicians, and the United Nation's IPCC. The science is not settled but the fix on our pockets is.

http://cdn.freedomoutpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/665016.pdf

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

WISCONSIN WANTS SCHOOL CHOICE FOR ALL CHILDREN

Poll finds strong support for school choice in WI swing districts

http://watchdog.org/170158/school-choice-poll-wisconsin/?roi=echo3-22302545641-22339112-9c295636638ec303508c7e273795c928

Wisconsin Reporter – M. D. Kittle – 9/12/2014

The poll of 500 likely voters, conducted by NMB on Aug. 20-21, found 63 percent of respondents favor allowing education tax dollars to be used for choice programs in private schools. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.38 percent.

 

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

COLLECTIVISM AND SOCIALISTIC CONTROL

Control is the key focus of collectivism

http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/09/control-key-focus-collectivism/

Freedom Outpost – Dale Pflug – 9/5/2014

Americans have been in a 100+ year war to resist the transformation of our republic into a democracy, then to socialism. The American shift to socialism has reached an alarming stage with the move to a powerful centralized federal government. States' rights have been surrendered. During the past 50 years, we have watched socialism increase with the federalization of education, environment control and adoption of national health care with the addition to ObamaCare. (A more appropriate name might be DemocracyCare!)

Individualists, particularly freedom loving Americans, learned the importance of a republic from their Founding Fathers who insisted on maximum freedom and limiting government to its most basic functions. Today, the state has become more powerful while allowing a large role of big corporations with central planning and crony capitalism. Coercion plays an increasing role in ensuring individuals is control by, and serve the will of the state. Nationalization of health care, for example, has forced people to buy health insurance. Big government has invaded every aspect of our lives.

Federal control of the educational system has provided the necessary dumbing down of the citizen that has increased surrender of individual freedoms. Individualism is best characterized by freedom of the individual while control is the key focus of collectivism. Many people wonder if the fate of America is destined to collapse as every collectivist societies that have gone before it. The risks associated with this change are huge. A massive effort to stop this collapse would be costly and take decades to achieve if even possible. Each citizen should study the contrast between individualism and collectivism. There is extensive information available about collectivism on the Internet. A good starting point is: www.freedomkeys.com/collectivism.htm.

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

MILWAUKEE TEACHERS RECEIVE HIGH PAY; STUDENTS NEED HELP

How much are teachers really paid?

http://www.maciverinstitute.com/research/2014/09/report-how-much-are-teachers-really-paid/

MacIver Institute – Nick Novak – 9/3/2014

Elementary school teachers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin are the highest paid amongst the nation's large cities, according to this study from the John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy and the National Center for Policy Analysis.

The joint report looks at median elementary school teacher pay, not including fringe benefits, in 60 selected metropolitan areas. Cities were selected on the basis of availability of data, their population and for geographic balance.

Comparing nominal teachers' salaries provides a basic look into educator pay in the United States, but for a true comparison, salaries must be adjusted for the cost of living in each metro area. When adjusted for cost of living, Los Angeles drops from second highest ($74,280 - nominal) to 17th highest ($56,963 - adjusted). New York City drops even further, from third highest ($73,000) to 59th out of 60 ($33,152).

Teachers in Milwaukee do not move from the top spot, however. When adjusted for cost of living, teacher pay drops slightly from $74,540 to $73,078.

While this study looks at median teacher pay, it also questions how well students perform in these cities. Do the metro areas with the highest adjusted teacher pay have students performing at the highest level? The answer is a resounding no.

In fact, of the 19 metro areas that have data available for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) - also known as the Nation's Report Card - the four cities with the worst test scores are the four cities with the highest paid teachers (Detroit, MI; Cleveland, OH; Fresno, CA and Milwaukee, WI).

It is clear that Milwaukee has more work to do when it comes to educational performance. According to the latest statewide standardized testing, only 24.1 percent of fourth-grade students are proficient in math and only 16.8 percent of fourth-grade students are proficient in reading. Both are about half of the statewide average.

While teacher pay varies greatly across the country, Milwaukee makes it clear that higher pay does not always translate into higher test scores. Moving forward, policy makers may need to look to other educational reforms if they intend on better preparing students for success.

Full report – 13-page PDF

http://static.maciverinstitute.com/2014%20Teacher%20Pay%20Report%20-%20NCPA%20MacIver.pdf

 

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

UNION LEADERSHIP ARE IN THE TOP 1% OF INCOME EARNERS

UNION LEADERSHIP ARE IN THE TOP 1% OF INCOME EARNERS

Meet the Bosses:  Big Labor’s Top Ten

http://watchdog.org/168323/meet-bosses-big-labors-top-100/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=watchdognewsletter_36

Watchdog.org – Jason Hart – 9/3/2014

Open the link to see the list of 100 top union-dues paid leaders

Union officials lived even higher on the hog in fiscal 2013 than the year before, when 428 union officers and employees were paid more than $250,000 and the top 100 received compensation totaling $52.1 million.

The latest list of the 100 highest-paid union bosses is led by employees of the MLB, NBA, and NFL players’ unions — unsurprising, given the prevalence of seven-figure contracts among the professional athletes they represent.

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten was paid $543,150 last year.

However, dozens of union officers and employees — whose paychecks come from teachers, government workers and blue-collar laborers — are also paid $350,000 or more.


Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

MEXICANS, MUSLIMS, MARXISTS

An open letter to the leadership

http://eaglerising.com/8434/open-letter-gop-leadership/

Eagle Rising – Thomas Paine – 9/5/2014

Those are the three M’s... MEXICO, MUSLIMS, MARXISM....all seemingly working together to derail America as founded on Christian/Judeo principles of the Enlightenment. As the only country where the PEOPLE made the rules, the founding USA was a miraculous breakthrough that is now under attack.

For decades US politicians turned a blind eye, or worse, colluded, in Mexico's decades of organized racketeering exporting illegal drugs, guns and poor people into the United States for the purpose of psychological warfare, subversion and profit.

The impact of 20-30 million criminals/illegals (not the fictional “11 million”) has degraded cities, schools, education, medical care and all other areas of American civic life.

Criminals/illegals already reap billions from Left/Dems party so it is unlikely they will ever vote GOP...to think so smacks of delusion...it is reading the tea leaves incorrectly to assign "conservative values" to them. In fact, their culture is incompatible with democratic Western values of self-reliance & fairness.

They are steeped in 400 years of Spanish Colonial policies of racism and elitism generating disrespect for authority and honesty.

Americans have no moral, legal, ethical obligation to support the poor which have been sent by racketeering Mexico...Mexican, Carlos Slim, the richest man in the world, could fund education/medical for all Mexican poor...but this is never mentioned...Americans are forced to do this.

There should be no "door prize" of citizenship for successfully breaking into the country to take what citizens created...essentially burglarizing the homeland to steal property bought and paid for by citizens/taxpayers.

It goes without saying the growing numbers and aggressive demands of MUSLIMS in Europe and the US will become a greater infringement in the future. There has been no attempt to be secretive on the intentions of the Islamists...it is world domination.

The MARXISTS in government and education have usurped the American model of patriotism and fairness. Decades of 1960s-style aggression against government and middle-class values has produced too many who have no understanding of the foundation of American and what it stands for. They have been successfully brainwashed to believe unworthy propositions forwarded by the Left, such as "You didn't build that."

Now is the time to speak up for the Rule of Law and America.

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

OBAMA’S DEBT SADDLES AMERICA’S CHILDREN FOR DECADES

During Obama’s Presidency, national debt has grown by $61K per household

http://dailysignal.com/2014/09/03/obamas-presidency-national-debt-grown-61k-per-household/

Daily Signal – Michael Sargent – 9/3/2014

Today, the country is saddled with more than $17.6 trillion of gross debt, an increase of more than $61,000 per American household during Obama’s presidency alone. Median household income in the U.S. is about $51,000. This means that during Obama’s presidency debt per household grew by more than the typical American family earns in a given year.

The debt increase seen over the past six years is massive enough to eclipse the entire annual production of other top economies around the world. The $7.06 trillion added during Obama’s tenure exceeds the combined 2013 output of Germany and France, the two largest economies in Europe.

In order to reverse this trend, the country needs to seriously address its spending problem, starting with an evaluation of its biggest culprit: swelling entitlement programs. Continuing to put off the problem will leave the next generation more indebted and economically weak than any before it—and that is not the American way.

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

SOCIAL JUSTICE MATH IS REALLY INDOCTRINATION

Is social justice math creeping into your child's math curriculum?
http://www.glennbeck.com/2014/08/28/is-social-justice-math-creeping-into-your-childs-curriculum/
Glenn Beck - 8/28/2014

If you think back to your elementary school years, your math equations probably centered around going to the store and making a purchase or having to make change in some way. Not anymore. Now, progressives are pushing to have themes like climate change and casualties of war worked into these problems. 

“A typical math problem would be you have 13 cents and a green pencil is 3 cents – you know, that sort of problem. They want to get rid of those sorts of problems,” Olson said. “Instead, they want to calculate war deaths, or they want to calculate the number of liquor stores within a particular radius of the school, or problems related to global warming – those sorts of things.”

Ultimately, there is a push to insert a political and ideological bias into areas of the curriculum that should be straightforward and fact-based. 

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

NORTHWOODS PATRIOTS SEPTEMBER MEETING

After a summer hiatus, The Northwoods Patriots will resume in September with less than two months prior to Congressional election on November 4.

New Location:   Home of Kim Simac

Plan to enjoy a summer evening outside as we discuss and brainstorm actions that can benefit Conservative Causes.  Discover and discuss your own SOI.

Remember:  Conservative = FREEDOM ~ LIBERTY ~ TRANSPARENCY

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country

MILLENNIALS NEED DEFINITIONS BEFORE THEY CAN VOTE WITH INTELLIGENCE

5 charts that explain millennial voters

http://dailysignal.com/2014/09/01/5-charts-explain-millennial-voters/

Daily Signal – Melissa Quinn – 9/1/2014

 The importance to communicators:

The Cold War ended long ago, and according to one survey, it’s time for politicians to leave Cold War-era terms such as “big government,” “socialism” and “capitalism” behind. The reason: Such words mean little to the millennial generation, who came of age during the Great Recession.

  

Polling firms, marketers and politicians continue to have put millennials under the microscope to determine their political leanings and what drives them to the polls.

A recent survey by Reason-Rupe found that many millennials don’t understand the words “big government,” “socialism” and “capitalism” — language that emerged after World War II and during the Cold War. Generation Y, Ekins says, simply doesn’t extract much meaning from such terms.

1. Millennials say “capitalism” is a better economic system than “socialism” by only a small margin. However, when asked if they believe a free market economy is better than a government-managed one, the margin widens substantially.

2. Millennials don’t quite know what “socialism” means.

3. Millennials say they prefer a “larger government” that provides more services. They don’t tend to think of “big government” leading to higher taxes and heavier regulation. Once the possibility of higher taxes to support a larger government is mentioned, though, millennials’ support shifts. 

4. Under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, the cost of health insurance increases for young people to subsidize the cost of health insurance for the elderly and less affluent. Millennials covered under their parents’ plans — they can remain so until 26 under Obamacare — support others helping pay to insure the uninsured. However, those paying for their own plans disagree.

5. Millennials are fiscal centrists and social liberals, Ekins says. On fiscal issues, millennials see themselves as closer to Republicans such as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie than to President Obama, and are centrists. However, millennials rate themselves closer to liberal Democrats such as Obama on social issues.

 

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country