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If there’s one blessing in the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, it’s that it has highlighted one of the worst festering social problems of the country: the slow decline of the working class (not just white), buffeted by the combined social forces of globalization, technology, and social liberalism.

Working-class incomes have stagnated for too long, and low-skill unemployment and underemployment are highly problematic. If conservatives are serious, as we claim to be, about upward mobility, this is a problem we can no longer afford to ignore.

Underemployment and low wages in working-class communities have led not just to the loss of the dignity of work, but to a host of ensuing societal diseases that should have conservatives horrified: family breakdown and illegitimacy, drug addiction, crime.

A solution that has been kicking around for years solves a big part of the problem of stagnating working-class wages while, unlike a minimum wage, allowing the market to clear. It is called wage subsidies.

The idea is just what it sounds like: Employers pay low-wage workers the prevailing market wage, and the government supplements that wage. Everyone wins: The labor market remains efficient, and low-wage workers get real wages for real work. What’s more, in an era of ever-increasing global competition, it would make the American workforce much more competitive.

Before you get agitated about the idea of government subsidies, let’s remember that such a policy is actually in the best conservative tradition. A wage subsidy would be an extension and a reform of one of the most successful poverty-reduction programs in history, and a major conservative policy win: the Reagan-era Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The EITC is exactly what it sounds like: a tax credit for low-wage work. It’s the proverbial “hand up, not hand out” on the ladder of opportunity. But while the EITC has done a phenomenal amount of good, it also needs reform. The program is overly complicated, and many eligible families don’t sign up for it. What’s more, it no longer is the 1980s, and the issue of competitiveness has grown ever sharper over the intervening decades.

It’s time for conservatives to go even further than the Gipper and revamp and expand the EITC by turning it into a larger wage-subsidy program. Senators Marco Rubio and Mike Lee have already proposed plans to this effect. It would be a policy and political winner, by increasing the competitiveness of American workers — bringing more industrial employment — and increasing the wages of working-class families, two things that the government desperately needs to do, both to reward the core of the GOP coalition and for the common good more generally. As the issue of tax reform in Congress slowly rises into view, this is an issue conservatives need to rally around.

Bankruptcy filings in Wisconsin fell to their lowest level in nine years last year as an improving economy and jobs climate helped more consumers keep up with their debts.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court data show there were more than 16,800 bankruptcy petitions of all types filed in Wisconsin in 2016. That was down almost 9 percent from 2015 and was the fewest since 2007, when there were just more than 15,600.

Milwaukee bankruptcy attorney James Miller said the slowdown seems to track with a reduction in mortgage foreclosures.

Bankruptcy filings peaked in Wisconsin at nearly 30,000 in 2010 and have been declining ever since, as the economy slowly has healed from the Great Recession and the unemployment rate has dropped, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Preliminary data show the unemployment rate in Wisconsin in December was 4 percent, the lowest since January 2001. Wisconsin’s worst unemployment rate was at the end of 2009, at 9.2 percent.

The 9 percent reduction in bankruptcy filings in Wisconsin last year was better than the overall national average reduction of 6 percent, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute.

About two-thirds of bankruptcy petitions in the state were Chapter 7 filings, which are intended to give people a fresh start by wiping out debt such as overwhelming credit card balances and medical or utility bills.

But bankruptcy attorneys say they’ve found that as employment has increased, fewer people want to file Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcies. They instead opt for a Chapter 13 filing, which allows consumers with regular income to develop a plan to repay all or some of their debts over three to five years.

“A lot of people are saying, `Look, I created these debts. I can’t pay them all back right now but I want to pay as much as I can afford to pay,”‘ said attorney Todd Esser, of EsserLaw LLC in Milwaukee. “And so those repayment plans are working out well.”

Facing impending deadlines that will force municipal water utilities and Wisconsin job creators to spend billions of dollars on costly filtration upgrades, Sen. Robert Cowles (R-Green Bay) and Rep. Amy Loudenbeck (R-Clinton) today lauded the final approval of the State of Wisconsin’s Phosphorus Multi-Discharger Variance (MDV).

This newly approved reform measure will offer a vastly more cost-effective and resource protective means of reducing the phosphorus in our waters while lowering costs to water utility ratepayers and potentially saving thousands of Wisconsin manufacturing and food production jobs.

“I’m incredibly pleased that we were able to move this much-needed legislation. However, I am still disappointed by the amount of time it took the EPA to review and approve our creative approach to reduce phosphorus,” Cowles said.

This innovative Wisconsin provision will offer a new fee-based compliance option in order for water utilities and manufacturers to meet the strict phosphorus discharge standards. This leaves existing phosphorus standards intact and does not repeal or suspend the existing water quality standards.

“A point-source discharger, such as a municipal wastewater treatment plant or a papermaker, that is eligible for the MDV does not receive a free pass or a proverbial get-out-of-jail-free card,” said Loudenbeck. “Those point-sources,in exchange for reducing their phosphorus discharges over a longer compliance schedule, will pay $50 per pound to counties to complete water quality improvement projects within the watershed the source is located.”

“Wisconsin waterways are significant economic drivers and support our nearly $20 billion tourism industry. The MDV utilizes the flexibility provided to increase funding for nonpoint source pollution. This will result in a more direct approach on phosphorus pollution and increase the protection of our lakes and rivers,” stated Cowles.

The new option will allow water utilities, manufacturers and food processors to assist in reducing non-point phosphorus discharges, which constitute a majority of the phosphorus in our waters.

Tax-related identity theft is an established concern nationwide, as state and federal tax authorities have wrestled for years with a blight of criminals filing fraudulent tax returns using other people’s personally identifiable information. For a scammer, tax identity theft means quick cash. For a victim, it’s a delayed return, concern about who has their personal information, and the fear of what else the criminal might do with these personal details.

“Last year, tax identity theft was a factor in three of every four identity theft complaints that consumers filed with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection,” said Frank Frassetto, Division Administrator for Trade and Consumer Protection. “Federal and state tax authorities have recently put additional safeguards in place to protect the public from this threat during the tax filing process, but taxpayers are chiefly responsible for protecting their own information throughout the year.”

If you run into difficulties when you file, you may be a victim of tax identity theft. If someone misused your identity for a fraudulent return, the IRS or your tax preparer may warn you that multiple returns were filed under your Social Security number, that you owe additional taxes or are facing collection actions for a year you did not file a return, or that you received wages from an employer for whom you did not work.

If you face any of these issues, report the suspected fraud by phone to the IRS (1-800-829-0433) and the Wisconsin Department of Revenue (1-608-266-2486). Contact DATCP’s Consumer Protection Bureau (1-800-422-7128) to inquire about next steps for shoring up your identity. The IRS also advises taxpayers to continue paying their taxes and filing their returns, even if they suspect that they may be victims of identity theft.

“A consumer’s best protection against a criminal filing taxes in your name is to get a jump on the thieves by filing early. Also, if you file your return online, make sure to use up-to-date security software on your computer and set up strong passwords for your tax software login,” said Frassetto.

During the year, follow these simple tips to protect your personally identifiable information:

• Share your sensitive information as rarely as possible. Turn down any request for personal information from an unsolicited caller.
• Don’t carry cards containing sensitive details like your Social Security or Medicare numbers unless you specifically need them (for an appointment, for example).
• Remember that the IRS, United States Treasury and Wisconsin Department of Revenue will NEVER call and threaten you with arrest or legal action about back taxes. Any phone calls of this nature are scams.
• Use online security best practices. Learn how to recognize phishing emails and text messages. Never click on links or download attachments in emails from unknown senders or in emails that seem suspicious.

For additional information or to file a complaint, visit the Consumer Protection Bureau at datcp.wisconsin.gov, call the Consumer Protection Hotline at 1-800-422-7128 or send an e-mail to datcphotline@wisconsin.gov.