Downtown Waukesha is open for business

There will be a record eight ribbon-cutting ceremonies downtown this Saturday. The mayor is really going to have to burn rubber on his Crocs to keep this schedule:

•11:00 a.m Beyond Studio and Publishing, 131 W. Broadway;
Specializes in fine art reproduction

•11:30 a.m Poppin on Broadway, 260 W. Broadway;
Gourmet popcorn shop

•12:00 p.m. Guitar 4 Life, 266 W. Broadway;
Specializes in guitar lessons for all ages

•12:30 p.m. Bling N Things, 271 W. Main Street;
Clothing and jewelry store

•1:00 p.m. Three Sisters Spirit, 308 W. Broadway
Retail Store & Woman Spirited, Heart Centered Wellness Sanctuary

•1:30 p.m. Taylor’s People Park, 337 W. Main Street;
Upscale restaurant and bar

•2:00 p.m. Clinton Street Gallery, 801 Clinton Street;
Collective mix of artful gifts

•2:30 p.m. Ray’s on South, 225 South Street.
Restaurant and Bar

I don't see a hot dog stand on the list, yet. Mayor Nelson also passes along news about the Super Wal-Mart:

...last Friday Walmart closed on what will be the first Super Walmart in the City of Waukesha at the West Ave. And bypass location. It will be one of the first in the country with the new logo (no hyphen and sunburst) and design features making it one of the greenest buildings in the area with over 100 skylights and lannon type stone as a nod to Waukesha's history. Groundbreaking will be in the spring with an opening in spring of 2010.

Jay Bullock, global warming criminal

How did you spend your weekend? Local liberal blogger Jay Bullock apent his holiday weekend charring animal flesh over an environmentally-damaging natural-gas-wasting device. Worse still, he bought it from politically incorrect Menards, the company whose new warehose was such an issue in the last election for governor.

Next we'll hear from the center square Bullock is buying his meat from a Wal-Mart Superstore.

Educating the Idiot Politician of the Week

Time for another installment of Idiot Politician of the Week. I didn’t want to, but I felt I owed it to them somehow.

Welcome to Cudahy where the mating call is, “I’m so drunk.” Yes, the punch line of Milwaukee County is too good for Wal-Mart. Casting the deciding vote was Mayor Ryan McCue. You may remember him from such documentaries as “Screw the Taxpayers” and “Your Milwaukee County Board: Good Work If You Can Get It.” According to McCue, well…, nothing. He’s refused to say why he’s opposed to Wal-Mart. He prefers to remain silent and be thought an idiot rather than open his mouth and remove all doubt.

Removing all doubt this week was former Vice President Al Gore, who took advantage of a cyclone that perhaps killed 100,000 people in Myanmar to suggest that it was the result of global warming. Perhaps if they had the Internet in Myanmar, they would understand that tornados have never happened before the introduction of the internal combustion engine, and really all those deaths have nothing to do with living in an especially impoverished third-world brutal kleptocracy.

Dropping into Milwaukee to remind us all why she was President Ronald Reagan’s biggest mistake, former US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor told her audience that electing judges is wrong, and that Arizona has a better way. Of course, the Arizona method made her a judge, and her tenure on the US Supreme Court is strong evidence that an unaccountable judiciary is not a good thing.

Then there’s Senator Barack Obama who announced in Oregon he has traveled to “57 states” and has “only one left.” He must’ve figured it out using the same math that shows a windfall profits tax will lower gas prices. I’m not even going to comment on the apparent sad state of education in Illinois.

But speaking of the sad state of education, this week’s “Idiot Politician of the Week” is conspiracy theorist and Muslim convert Kevin Barrett who has decided to take on Congressman Ron Kind (D) as a Libertarian. Barrett once proved idiots are in control of UW-Madison when he was allowed to teach despite publicly supporting a theory that the events of September 11, 2001 were somehow planned and carried out by the US government.

Details of Barrett’s candidacy can be found in the online conspiracy theory newsletter Capital Times where associate editor John Nichols called Barrett, “the 9/11 skeptic” and “the media-savvy activist.” Nichols’ next interview will be with a spokesman for conspiracy theorists that don’t believe man walked on the moon. Unfortunately for Nichols, the Weekly World News is no longer publishing.

Barrett will fit in well with the misfits of the Wisconsin Libertarian Party. But aside from the wacko conspiracy theory, did he really feel the need to tell Nichols he plans to run an, “all-out no-holds-barred truth jihad”?

I’m sure local Muslims are wishing he would convert to something else. “Really, no problem, no death threats. Just go.” After all, other than the Libertarians, who would want to be associated with the Idiot Politician of the Week?

Help me understand

Wal-Mart and other corporations exploiting "loopholes" and technicalities to avoid paying excessive taxes are bad.

Judges exploiting "loopholes" and technicalities to let killers and rapists on the street are good.

Bargain legislation

State Representatives Bill Kramer and Leah Vukmir are proposing a repeal of the minimum mark up law. Their press release:
Legislators propose repeal of Depression-era Unfair Sales Act

Competitive Marketplace Act will reinvigorate marketplace, enhance competition
Madison – Today, Representative Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa) and Representative Bill Kramer (R-Waukesha) unveiled legislation that will repeal Wisconsin’s archaic Unfair Sales Act and put into place a legislative framework that fosters competition, puts consumer welfare paramount, and reflects a vibrant 21st century marketplace.

The Competitive Marketplace Act will replace the Unfair Sales Act, also known as the Minimum Markup Law, which dictates that sellers of goods are forbidden from selling at prices below cost, and further requires that prices for gasoline, tobacco, and alcohol reflect a minimum percentage increase. Reps. Kramer and Vukmir believe the law perpetuates inefficiencies in the marketplace and is ultimately harmful to consumers.

Conversely, the Competitive Marketplace Act will create a dynamic marketplace – for all goods sold in Wisconsin – that puts the interests of the consumer first. As noted by Representative Vukmir, “The current structure of Wisconsin’s below cost sales law favors competitors over consumers. As we examined the statutes and legal arguments, it became clear that our laws inhibit vigorous competition to the detriment of consumers.”

The Unfair Sales Act, a law that Governor Doyle referred to as, “a relic of the 1930's” in calling for the repeal of the minimum markup provisions in the law, runs counter to predominant economic and legal theory. As a recent U.S. government report to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development states, “To the extent that firms adjust their pricing to conform with state [below cost sales] laws, these laws are likely to have an adverse effect on consumer welfare by discouraging firms from competing as vigorously on price than they otherwise would and by protecting high-cost firms from competition from more efficient rivals.”

Representative Kramer said, “To consumers and economic and legal experts, our current marketplace appears to be a function of government-sanctioned price collusion. The prices of goods – from prescription drugs to cigarettes – should reflect market forces, not the machinations of arbitrary legislative intentions. The Competitive Marketplace Act will bring Wisconsin’s laws in line with federal doctrine and standards set forth by the United States Supreme Court.”

Highlights of the Competitive Marketplace Act:

Will redefine legislative policy to be congruent with our free market economic structures. The policy will state, “Competition is the best method of allocating resources in a free market. A competitive marketplace fosters quality, service, safety, durability and the opportunity for consumers to select from alternative goods, services and providers. It is the intent of this legislature to protect and promote a competitive free market that serves the interest of the consumers. The proper functioning of a free market necessarily requires competitive rivalries where each competitor leverages strategic pricing and innovative practices intended to obtain a larger share of the market from other competitors. Such practices, while potentially injurious to less efficient competitors are beneficial to consumers and serve the public interest of fostering a robust free market.”

It will replace the 1939 law with a legislative framework that more accurately reflects 21st Century retail and wholesale practices and longstanding, predominant economic and legal theory.

The statutes will reflect United States and Wisconsin Supreme Court standards for determining anticompetitive behavior. Recent decisions by the courts have clearly stated that competition, not competitors, should be the overriding interest in the marketplace. As Daniel Crane of the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law points out, “punishing excessively low prices is paradoxical because the very objective of […] antitrust laws is to secure low prices for consumers.”

The Act will reduce incentives for competitors to bring civil actions against one another by providing strict guidelines under which a determination of predatory pricing has occurred. However, it does provide an enforcement mechanism under the law if an appropriate authority can prove that predatory pricing has occurred.

The Competitive Marketplace Act will be circulated for co-sponsorship next week. We need only look at Wal-Mart's different prices given which side of the Wisconsin-Illinois border you shop to see the minimum mark up law for what it really is, a hidden tax on consumers, and often the consumers at the lower socio-economic strata. Even recent Wal-Mart converts like Mike and Anne Mathias would benefit from the repeal of the minimum mark up law, and its continued existence only serves to push business across the border.

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Christmas in October

Christmas is in the air. Wal-Mart has already started selling Christmas lawn decorations. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Joanne Weintraub is already wishing former staff members a "Merry Christmas!" The indispensible Tom McMahon is already putting up his Irish Santa Claus. Invincible Armor has advice on avoiding the Christmas rush. Lawyers are advising about suing over Christmas lights.

Of course, you can start your Christmas shopping now by buying a license plate frame, "Chicks dig the car, not light rail" or other fun gifts.

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In your neighborhood

Darryl Enriquez lets us know that not only are we losing the Jewel Osco on the corner of 164 and Greenfield (Arcadian), but it's likely the Wal-Mart will close with the opening of a new Wal-Mart Supercenter at West & 164. (By the way, milk at the current Wal-Mart is $2.03/gallon.)


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