Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Cry Squirrel And Release The Walker Job Numbers!

Whenever there is bad news on the horizon, Scott Walker will take something and hype the hell out of it before the bad news hits.  It's his way of controlling the message.  When the bad news hits, Walker will stick to his hyped up talking point until people forget about it or until the next disaster strikes.

He does it so often, we should have seen it coming this week.

Just days ago, Walker came out hard with his jobs numbers.  There was no way to verify them and even if there was, they were meaningless until the national numbers and the other states' numbers were brought out.

Well, those numbers are out and, yup, they are bad:
Days after state officials cheered a revision to the federal jobs estimates, those same numbers are showing Wisconsin still near the bottom in its slow recovery from the recession — and heading in the wrong direction.

The Badger State ranks 44th nationally in job growth over the past two years and behind all neighboring states, according to updated figures released Monday from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The new numbers, based on the most accurate current measures available, show Wisconsin with an estimated 2,790,000 non-farm positions as of January 2013 — up 44,600 jobs or 1.6 percent since January 2011 when Gov. Scott Walker took office.

By comparison, Indiana ranked No. 9 with a 3.8 percent job growth rate over the past two years; Minnesota was No. 10 with 3.7 percent growth; Michigan was No. 12 at 3.6 percent; Iowa was No. 24 at 2.9 percent and Illinois No. 30 at 2.3 percent job growth.

[...]

he latest BLS figures show Wisconsin is actually losing ground compared to other states since the recession began in December 2007. Going back four years, the state actually ranks a more respectable 30th in job growth since then. Those numbers also suggest Wisconsin didn’t lose jobs as quickly as other states during the recession but is now adding them more slowly.
As Chris Walker (no relation) points out, Scott Walker is running out of excuses.

He can't blame the recalls, the presidential elections, sunspots, elbow straws or anyone or anything else.

This is all on him and his failed agenda of attacking the working class in favor of the corporations and the wealthy.

There is no uncertainty.

There is only the certainty that Walker is an abysmal failure. If anyone says otherwise, they are either a liar or a damned fool.

Well, there are two uncertainties.

There is the uncertainty of whether the state will survive whatever time he remains in office and whether it can recover from the damage he has already caused.

2 comments:

  1. Scott Walker hates good environmental policy, including the jobs that green energy creates. Scott Walker works hard to stop green energy jobs because they threaten fossil fuel companies. After all, he is beholden to his masters at Koch Industries.

    Remember his disdain for high speed rail that would have created alternative transportation in the congested Milwaukee-Madison corridor. Plus the trains were going to be manufactured in Milwaukee. Walker’s prejudices and donors killed common sense, and thus Walker rejected the high speed rail jobs.

    Check out http://www.wiwindworks.com/ “a collaborative initiative of New North, Inc. a regional non-profit economic development organization, dedicated to building powerful supply chain partnerships to encourage business development in wind energy.” There are 300 Wisconsin suppliers and manufacturers in this alliance.

    Instead of boosting the business of our Wisconsin wind energy suppliers, Walker and his Republican legislators killed new wind farm development in this state – and the job growth that comes with that.

    Walker decided to go with “divide and conquer” backing mining legislation that removes smart environmental policy. The massive open pit mine in the Penokee Mountains maybe might create jobs many years down the road.

    The cost of Walker’s anti-environmental decisions is anemic state job growth.

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  2. Let’s not forget that Walker and the Republicans reject the validity of Keynesian economics that demonstrates government spending stimulates economic growth.

    Act 10 took one billion dollars out of Wisconsin’s economy. That move took out a lot of jobs in Wisconsin.

    Among the blowback from Act 10 is that when Scott Walker runs for President, he will not be able to claim he knows how to create jobs. That’s too bad. Walker would make a great Republican standard-bearer.

    Walker could challenge Congressman Austerity, Paul Ryan, as the leader at stifling economic growth.

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