“The State of Working Wisconsin” Battleground Wisconsin Podcast

We welcome Laura Dresser from the High Road Strategy Center, a think-and-do tank, based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Laura is the lead author of the 2025 State of Working Wisconsin report which presents the Wisconsin workers’ perspective on the economy including, what’s going on with work and jobs, who is winning in this economy, and who is being left behind. We discuss the report’s key findings, including the role a $20/hour minimum wage in Wisconsin could play in improving the lives of Wisconsin working families.

We debrief Labor Day 2025, and take a deep dive into Wisconsin’s brewing AI Data Center Scandal that could threaten the Great Lakes water supply and accelerate the state’s carbon emissions at a time they must be dramatically slashed to head off runaway climate change. In addition to the environmental impact, they are a terrible economic development investment on a par with the Foxconn boondoggle.

We also review the scandalous last couple weeks at Ascension Wisconsin which wants to charges such high prices that even United Healthcare is threatening to cut them off. The ongoing implosion of Ascension continues to highlight the need for the Hospital Accountability Act we are developing with state Senator Jeff Smith.