What students think of the brain drain issue

Congressman Mark Green has been searching for an issue to distinguish himself from Governor Doyle and he has recently settled on one – brain drain. Brain drain is the term used to describe college graduates leaving our state for jobs in other states. It's an odd issue to put as many resources into as Congressman Green has done in this election, but with a close election maybe every issue can sway some voters.

Funny thing is, not even the students are buying this. The Daily Cardinal, one of the papers available on the UW-Madison campus, had this to say about Congressman Green’s attempt to use the brain drain issue.

But while discussing taxes in Wisconsin, the debate shifted to the "brain drain," the exodus of those Wisconsin university students out of state, often to Chicago or Twin Cities, after graduation.

Green thinks that Wisconsin's taxes are driving the young people from our state.

While we concede that a brain drain does exist, we don't think it has much to do with Wisconsin's tax burden.

Green specifically blamed property taxes, but property taxes are not on the mind of the youth fleeing to these major metropolitan areas. Most of them will rent apartments. How many 23-year-olds with student loans can really afford the down payment for a house?

Young people are not fleeing to Chicago and the Twin Cities because our taxes are too high, they are fleeing to these cities because they want to live in a vibrant urban environment teeming with jobs for the highly educated.

Seriously, how long has Congressman Green been out of college? Does he even remember what it was like to be 23 and looking at all the possibilities stretched out before you?

When I left Wisconsin after I graduated from the UW-Madison, taxes never even crossed my mind. I moved to Philly and then to Washington, D.C. because I wanted to go someplace new and exciting. The state of Wisconsin could have offered me a tax-free life here and I wouldn't have stayed. I wanted to meet new people and enjoy the freedom of being able to throw everything I own in a truck and go wherever I wanted before I had real responsibilities to tie me down.

I eventually moved back because I missed my family and I missed my home state. The big cities are great to live in for a while, but they are also exhausting because the people really just aren't as nice as the folks here. Every trip to the grocery store gets annoying because the clerks aren't helpful and don't have to be nice to you. There are 7 million potential customers in the metro area so being nice to you is simply not necessary.

The bottom line is Congressman Green is using students to talk about taxes rather than actually address the issue facing that generation.

If Congressman Green wants to make sure young Wisconsin graduates come back or never leave in the first place, he will offer a plan to invest heavily in the new economy. A recently released study showing the economic impact of the University Research Park points to the direction our state needs to go. The average employee working there makes $62,000 a year, which is much higher than the county average.

Salaries like that will bring many graduates home when they are looking for a place to live after they have experienced the big cities.