Red Prairie Fire

Jay Bullock doesn't think much of Red Prairie CEO John Jazwiec and his view that Wisconsin's high taxes do not help attract, or keep, businesses here. Jay's post, following Xoff, seems to say that 1)Red prairie is obscure because Jay has never heard of them 2) Jazwiec is some kind of wing nut from California who thinks Wisconsin is socialist and 3) he and his bosses just want to poach a company (actually they bought it) that was built with Wisconsin smarts and Wisconsin labor - as if that means it must stay here forever.

Patrick McIlheran points out that, actually, Jazwiec is not much of a conservative.

The point is that taxes are not helpful in attracting business. It may be that there are other attributes of a place that outweigh taxes. Jazwiec points out, for example, that the concentration of good software companies in California makes it attractive even though its taxes - and cost of living - are high.

But Waukesha is not the Silicon Valley. We can't afford to be the sixth highest tax state in the country. The Badger Left likes to think that we have something of value for all we send to Madison, but the brutal truth is that we don't. Wisconsin has nothing that a slew of low tax states don't have. Save for really sweet pensions for government retirees.