Digging into the decline of marriage, fire department staffing, overused TIFs and driverless transit
I wasn’t personally surprised by Paul Ryan’s decision, but I know why so many others were.
The House speaker did two things many Americans consider lunacy. He gave up a government job, and he made a public commitment to his family.
Two of our stories in this issue of Diggings chronicle just how ardently many Wisconsinites avoid doing either nowadays.
Marie Rohde and Michael Jahr look at the disintegration of marriage — and even the language that we use to talk about it.
Dave Daley takes a look at the misnomer that is still known as the local “Fire Department.” You’ll be stunned at just how few fires that firefighters actually fight nowadays compared to decades past — although most firefighters remain on the government payroll doing other things.
Two other stories in this issue demonstrate how, once set in motion, government programs and laws and spending almost invariably expand in size and scope over time.
Ken Wysocky chronicles the changes in how tax incremental financing districts are used — or abused — 43 years after they were first created by Wisconsin statute to help alleviate urban blight by giving developers financial assistance.
And Baruch Feigenbaum looks at why the thing that’s all the rage among some progressives in Milwaukee this spring — a new downtown streetcar — is actually an incredibly shortsighted investment that will appear hopelessly outdated in no time at all. Milwaukee, he points out, has had streetcars before. They were torn out years ago. They’re back at the same time that the really chic cities are starting to ponder driverless transit.
All, though, is not lost. Emily Jashinsky’s piece on what it’s like to be young and female and conservative will restore your faith. And Betsy Thatcher’s profile of Badger Mining Corp. tells a tale of ingenuity and determination and smarts that illustrates what’s still possible in the heartland of America.
Paul Ryan is not the only one we should admire.
Read the entire issue of Diggings Spring 2018 here.
