One of my first economics courses was with Professor Mark Schug of the UW-Milwaukee. He is a senior fellow with the National Council on Economic Education and was appointed to the Governor's Council on Financial Literacy in 2005. He also serves as a consultant to the Political Economy Research Center, Wisconsin Council on Economic Education and the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.
His thematic lesson: “A strong economy needs a transparent government.”
Once hooked on economics, I read anything I could get my hands by Thomas Friedman. Friedman has written several well-recognized economics books like, The World is Flat and The Lexus and the Olive Tree.
One of his main ideas throughout: “A strong economy needs a transparent government.
Yesterday, I learned of Governor Walker’s further seizure of power. Without approval from the state legislature, Governor Walker will be able to name appointees to civil service positions that handle open records requests. It’s a power that would allow Walker to hire and fire employees in those positions at will.
The question becomes, if people in these positions are to answer only to Walker, will documents regarding Walker continue to be truly open to the public?
The public perception of openness and transparency is critical to economic success.
In response to this article, “Walker gives himself more power to fill high state jobs”, 605 comments have been made. The vast majority of these comments question the openness and transparency by which Walker will execute these newly, self-appointed powers.
For the economic welfare of all of us in the state, I so hope that Schug and Friedman are wrong.
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