This Just In ...

"If the business climate does not improve, I will not expand this (WI) facility"

Posted by Kevin Fischer on July 11, 2010

I never miss John Torinus’ Sunday column in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s business section. Today’s piece was exceptional, one that should be read and heeded by every Wisconsin politician and political candidate.

Torinus quotes Jerry Ryder, president of InSinkErator from a WisconsinEye interview:

"If the business climate does not improve, I will not expand this facility.”

The author makes this critical observation:

“Most CEOs are reluctant to speak out about their disgust with government policy, but several have let it be known in business circles that they have no intention of expanding their operations in this state.”

Many business leaders have spoken out. The problem is, no one in power in Madison or Washington is listening.

Torinus also writes:

“Several CEOs are downright sulfurous in their private assessments about doing business in Wisconsin. Their objections include personal and corporate tax increases, recent court rulings and legislative proposals to raise liabilities for corporations. The list also includes proposed expansions of regulation through bills like the one on climate change, new pro-union laws, the fiscal disarray in Madison and the proclivity of the state to be an outlier when it comes to conformity with federal taxes and regulations.

Call them crybabies if you like. But these are the guys making the decisions about where jobs are retained, reduced or added.

And, not so incidentally, they are human beings. They want to be liked and appreciated. They look for signals, and if they don't like what they see and hear, they go elsewhere.”

Among the states, Wisconsin’s business climate is one of the ten worst in the nation. Our fiscal future depends on how soon we answer the very loud and clear wake-up call.