Letter: Republicans riding Obama’s coattails

I read, with interest, Sheila Harsdorf’s recent letter in which she reports that the Wisconsin business climate has climbed some 17 states in the rankings of Chief Executive magazine.

As a scientist, of sorts, I found a jump of that magnitude uncommon, so I Googled ChiefExecutive.net.

The featured article on the homepage is “Tax credits and incentives: Are you missing the boat?”

Another feature gives advice on “how to wow a loan officer.”

I checked out the story Harsdorf referred to, ranking Wisconsin much closer to Louisiana, Georgia and Texas. Texas is number one five years running.

The Chief Executive states that Texas has achieved its lofty status by keeping corporate taxes low, regulations weak, and its greatest strength in this ranking is something called “high labor market flexibility.”

Texas also has one of the lowest standards of living and highest rates of poverty in the country, but these were not factored in to the Chief Executive equation.

As I read through the magazine online, it occurred to me that if I were a CEO of a big corporation I would probably read it more often.

As a matter of fact, one article pointed out that 68% of CEOs foresee an improving U.S. economy over the next year. Business is especially good for the largest corporations.

It occurs to me that while Sheila Harsdorf brags how Scott Walker’s policies create jobs by trying to make Wisconsin more like Texas, what she and her governor are really doing is riding President Obama’s economic recovery coattails!

One really has to wonder whether the extreme measures Harsdorf and Walker are proposing, which have divided the people of this state like never before, are taking us in a direction that we really want to go.

Tags: town of river falls, opinion, letters, politics