Dan Mulder is staying away from the marching and chanting around the Capitol steps in Madison and staying put in his office and warehouse. But itās not because he doesnāt have an opinion. Far from it.
Mulder is the general manager and chief executive officer of a local business employing 25 people. Heās seen costs skyrocket and health care insurance premiums continue to rise.
He describes himself as an independent ā he did not vote for the recently inaugurated Gov. Scott Walker. These days, however, he says Walkerās plan on fixing the budget deficit, which includes removing public sector employeesā collective bargaining rights, is right on the mark.
[cnn-videoĀ url="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2011/02/20/wisconsin.biz.avoids.chaos.cnn"%5DāI just think [Walker] deserves an Oscar for standing up,ā Mulder said. āHeās got the resilience and the constitution to stand up and take on this issue.
āHe fully realizes and understands that you canāt pay with what you donāt have, so heās trying to live within his means. And thatās something that is completely foreign as a concept to most government sectors because if they need more money, they just raise taxes. The people who are paying those taxes are saying, āWe canāt pay any moreā.ā
Mulder is a proponent of a civil and rational dialogue and exchange of ideas. He says the protests and chaos happening at the Capitol is not the way to go about getting things done.
āHe who is loudest, he who is most vocal, he who creates the most mayhem prevails in the day,ā Mulder said, shaking his head. āThat should never be what this process is about."
āItās really tragic because this is somewhat akin to the Civil War. Not that weāre at that level and hopefully we wonāt be. But youāve got brother against brother, neighbor against neighborāthatās how driven this argument is.ā
As far as the Democratic legislators fleeing the state toĀ prevent a vote on the controversial bill, Mulder says they were elected to do a job - and not just when they feel like it.
āThe last time I woke up, we were in a democratic society,ā Mulder said, adding that the November elections ā which put both a Republican governor and Republican legislature in placeāwere a clear mandate that itās their turn to try some solutions.
āThat Republican administration has been put in place by public mandate. And now that theyāre exercising that mandate there's a minority of the population that doesnāt want to conform to that. Then itās not a democracy anymore.ā
He concluded by saying if people arenāt careful, the situation could eventually turn into anarchy.
āItās tragic.ā
A company with roots in India is planning to nearly double its presence in Michigan.
Tata Technologies - part of the Mumbai-based Tata Group -Ā is looking to fill 400 job openings primarily for its North American headquarters in Michigan. The company organized a job fair in Southfield, Michigan, just outside Detroit, to attract potentialĀ auto engineers, designers and product lifecycle managers.
Tata routinely works with theĀ UnitesĀ States'Ā largest auto manufacturers; one of its biggest partnerships is with Chrysler. Ā The employees they are looking to hire will end up putting a lot of their skills to work within some of Tata's customers - which also include Ford and General Motors.
Coastal Seafood in Minneapolis distributes seafood from all over the world.
Thereās very little for sale on the ice-lined shelves of Minneapolisā Coastal Seafood that comes from the Gulf of Mexico.
But that doesnāt mean the Gulf oil disaster isnāt having a small ripple effect on the seafood industry in the Twin Cities.
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