Walker's Rose-Colored Glasses Just Popped Their Lenses

A couple of weeks ago, Scott Walker was taking credit for the tides that lift all boats, in claiming that the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia showed that Wisconsin was on an upward trend for the first time since his budget took effect. Of course, in order to fully celebrate the joyous news, one would have to ignore that the state is still far behind the rest of the nation in growth.

But what they heck, that's why Walker's supporters wear their rose-colored glasses, right? It helps block the truth from their eyes.

But things aren't as rosy in Wisconsin as he would have us believe.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia provides many statistics to give a comprehensive view of how each state is doing.  One of them is the Coincident Index, which is, per their website:

The coincident indexes combine four state-level indicators to summarize current economic conditions in a single statistic. The four state-level variables in each coincident index are nonfarm payroll employment, average hours worked in manufacturing, the unemployment rate, and wage and salary disbursements deflated by the consumer price index (U.S. city average). The trend for each state’s index is set to the trend of its gross domestic product (GDP), so long-term growth in the state’s index matches long-term growth in its GDP.

You can see how Wisconsin is doing at their webpage, but thanks to a friend of  Cog Dis, I can present you this chart which highlights Walker's economic "success:":

I'm sure Walker will be coming out with a statement regarding this, which will probably be to the effect of "Hey, at least we're not Alaska!"

Then he can pick up the shards of those rose-colored lenses that just popped out of his glasses.  He just might be qualified to do that much, but he has proven without a shadow of a doubt that he is not qualified to be governor.