The company Wisconsin keeps when it comes to the minimum wage

Orange states are at the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour.  Darker red states do not have a minimum wage.

Source:  Consolidated Minimum Wage Table

U.S. Department of Labor

Nineteen States Raised their Minimum Wages this Week. Wisconsin Wasn’t One of Them.  (Wisconsin Budget Project Blog, 1/2/2010)

Wisconsin workers will get none of those benefits, because Wisconsin wasn’t among the states that increased their minimum wages. Wisconsin’s minimum wage is still stuck at $7.25, far below the $10 to $12 that some states now set as the minimum. Wisconsin’s minimum wage was last raised in 2009 and has lost about 17% of its purchasing power since then. 

Workers should earn enough to support their families. But Wisconsin’s low minimum wage means that a full-time, full-year worker in Wisconsin can earn as little $14,500 per year. For a single parent, working at the Wisconsin minimum wage puts them below the poverty line and unable to meet their family’s basic needs.

Related posts:
2018
Wisconsin, of course, is not one of 18 states raising the minimum wage this year.  (1/7/2018)

2017
Raising the minimum wage is a bipartisan issue.  (3/10/2017)

2015
Former U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson isn't singing with the current Republican chorus.  (11/9/2015)
Scott Walker sez the minimum wage is 'lame' because the Koch Brothers bible tells him so.  (7/14/2015)

2014
And many of us feel that Scott Walker serves no purpose.  (10/15/2014)
Forbes bangs on the drum all day, all week, all month, all year....... (8/22/2014)
Reporting the economic news like there's still an abundance of good-paying union jobs out there.  (8/14/2014)
Seattle's minimum wage:  It's complicated.  (6/29/2014)
What happened the last time a minimum wage bill was introduced in the Wisconsin state legislature.  (6/27/2014)
 UW-Milwaukee survey:  76% of respondents support raising the minimum wage.  (6/25/2014)
Wisconsin's $7.25 minimum wage: "Minimum comfort" indeed! (6/24/2014)
U.S. minimum wage since 1960.  (6/24/2014)
Support for minimum wage hike grows.  (6/21/2014)
More evidence that Scott Walker and the Republican state legislature is increasingly out of touch with the people they serve.  (5/28/2014)
Earning minimum wage and looking for a place to live? Check the "Dumps" listings! (4/25/2014
Scraping by on $83.65 an hour.  (3/17/2014)
Minnesota legislature looks to boost minimum wage from $6.15 to $9.50 per hour.  (3/4/2014)
The minimum wage:  It's not the same all over.  (2/18/2014)
A border debate on the minimum wage.  (2/16/2014)
The MacIver Institute's Pavlovian response to an increase in the minimum wage. (1/10/2014)

2013
The view from the other side of the counter.  (11/29/2013)
The minimum wage and the poverty guideline.  (11/20/2013)
Most of us don't buy into U.S. Chamber of Commerce handwringing over minimum wage.  (11/1/2013)
A look at the minimum wage.  (9/28/2013)

GET ME REWRITE: NRA can't buy a third term for Scott Walker

Source:  Wisconsin Democracy Campaign

Hijacking Campaign 2018 - Information on NRA Political Victory Fund - Federal PAC.  (Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, 11/7/2018)

In mid-October the group first reported spending over $800,000 on television advertising to oppose Tony Evers, the Democratic challenger to two-term Republican incumbent Gov. Scott Walker. The ad called Evers "dangerous" because he supports backgrounds checks for gun buyers. In late October NRA first reported mailings to support Walker and incumbent Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel.

Related reading:
NRA spending tops $1 million in 2018 Wisconsin races.  (Madison.com,, 1/3/2019)

Disappearing U.S. city of the day: Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland.com, 6/19/2014

As population flees Cleveland and the inner-ring suburbs, Whitehead argued that fixed expenses remain – without the resources to pay for them. 

“What this means for our core asset, our central city, is that you’ve got all these fixed expenses and the demand has gone away,” explained Whitehead. “If you lose population, those fixed costs don’t just disappear.”

Cleveland's population peaked in 1950 at 914,808.  Its 2017 estimated population is 385,525 -- a drop of 527,870, or 57.9%.

Source:  Wikipedia

African-Americans comprised 15.5% of Cleveland's population in 1950.

Related reading: 
Beyond ‘White Flight’: What The History of One Cleveland Neighborhood Can Teach Us About Race and Housing Inequality.  (Belt Magazine, 5/31/2017)

Lee-Harvard is a ‘suburb in the city’ – one of several outlying neighborhoods fitting that description that lie within Cleveland’s municipal boundaries. Most of Talford Avenue’s initial residents were Czechs, Italians, Hungarians, Poles, and Jews who moved from closer in, identifiably ethnic neighborhoods – like Mount Pleasant, Corlett, and Glenville – chasing a more affordable version of the suburban lifestyle to be had in Shaker Heights, Maple Heights, and Garfield Heights. Many were young families striving after this newly-available version of middle-class respectability. Some of the men were veterans of World War II who now worked as skilled tradesmen or small proprietors. 

In July 1953, Wendell and Genevieve Stewart, an African American couple, purchased the house at 15508 Talford, touching off a furor that challenged Cleveland’s reputation for relatively placid race relations.

No city is an island.  The current estimated population of the Cleveland metropolitan area is 2,058,844, which is down 0.9% from 2010.  The metro area population peaked in 1970.


The disappearing cities:
Baltimore, Maryland.  (12/31/2018)
Detroit, Michigan.  (1/1/2019)
St. Louis, Missouri.  (1/2/2018)