Epic jobs fail, Scott Walker. You promised to "create" 250,000 jobs. Instead we're heading straight for the bottom. You had one job to do and you've not only failed, but you've made things substantially worse in the process.
Join me below the cheese doodle....
Dramatic demostration of the job losses under Scott Walker
The chart says it all and it's now
big news herein FitzWalkerStan.
The data, which covers the 12 months from September 2011 to September 2012, shows that Wisconsin's position deteriorated progressively from a rank of 42 out of 50 in the previous 12-month period through June 2012; and from a rank of 37 in the 12 months through March 2012.
The gap between private-sector job growth in Wisconsin and growth nationally has increased substantially since 2010.
For example, Wisconsin ranked 11 among the 50 states in 2010 in private-sector job growth. But it dropped to 38 in 2011. The accompanying table shows the long-term trend and is based on the quarterly census data.
So, we were #11 in 2011 when Democrat Jim Doyle was Governor and as soon as Scott Walker took office we dropped to #38. And it's been downhill from there.
Naturally, like most Republicans, he's got plenty of excuses for his failure to even begin to deliver on his ONLY campaign promise: creating 250,000 jobs by the end of his first term as Governor.
First, he blamed the protests which made business fear creating jobs in a state that had tens of thousands of protestors surrounding the Capitol. Then it was the recalls and "uncertainty" about who would be leading the state. Then, he blamed the Bureau of Labor Statistics and started "creating" his own much better looking jobs numbers.
And now all his excuses have faded into the sunset and we have silence. He just doesn't want to talk about it. At all. Crickets. Zip. Zero. Nada. (Update: Update 2, below, contains the latest excuses. Surprise! They're the old excuses. Combined!)
Perhaps he thinks we forgot about his one and only campaign promise. We haven't.
"Creating jobs" was the only thing he talked about during his campaign. Jobs, jobs, jobs promised by the smiling, nice looking man wearing the Republican costume of casual pants with the non-white, long sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up to mid forearm. Yup. Ready to get to work creating 250,000 jobs in 4 years.
He delivered everything but jobs:
Large corporate tax givaways paid for by ....
To the bone budget cuts that harmed farmers, the poor, our school system and universities, public services, health care, police and fire protection and then prohibited communities making up the difference by raising property taxes
"Dropped the Bomb" on public employee unions and imposed an 18% peel back of take home pay to "reimburse the state, city, town, or county" for the pension and insurance benefits that public employees had given up wage increases for decades to keep intact - wages so low that it's hard to attract qualified applicants for vacancies
And on to continuing to amass and keep power by ...
Gerrymandered the state to ensure massive Republican majorities in the State Legislature and Congress for all eternity
Installed voter suppression laws that affect the poor, elderly, and rural voters along with severe limits on early voting (and they're still working at shortening early voting today)
And making sure that his enemies were punished by ....
Stripped public employees of their collective bargaining rights and unions (oh, yeah, that was AFTER promising to negotiate with those same unions and even after the unions agreed to all the wage stripping to "pay for" their benefits)
Ending transparancy in government, legislative committees, elsewhere. Secretly redistricting off state property with no access or input by anyone other than secret pledge signing Republicans to avoid whatever remains of our transparency laws.
Refusing to spend much time with state media despite their fawning affection and support of Scott Walker, but providing local and state RW radio hosts and Foxadanda with plenty of his time for interviews and appearances.
Unilaterally changing the rules, without input of even the Legislature, to prohibit protests, signs, message T Shirts, hats, gatherings of 4 or more people without a permit, cameras, recording devices, etc. in or around any state facility. So much for Free Speech and Assembly around here (The Solidarity Singers absolutely rock!)
Yes, rewards for his donors (tax breaks, open pit mining, etc.), but misery for everyone else. And it shows.
Epic fail.
Solidarity.
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UPDATE: Unemployment is still rising in Wisconsin according to the latest figures. Of course, as jobs drain out of the state, unemployment is going to rise.
Wisconsin's unemployment rate rose sharply for the second consecutive month to 7.2% in February from 7.0% in January and 6.7% in December, according to preliminary estimates released Thursday by the state Department of Workforce Development.
The agency also reported that Wisconsin lost an estimated 2,300 private-sector jobs in February from January.
... both reports showed deterioration in Wisconsin's labor market. They also coincide with a trade union announcement involving Caterpillar Inc., which is expected to lay off up to 300 employees at its South Milwaukee factory before June
The fail just keeps coming.
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UPDATE #2 Governor Dimbulb speaks and he's back the old excuses:
Asked Thursday about new numbers showing Wisconsin lagging in job growth, Gov. Scott Walker pointed to the uncertainty he said business owners felt because of the political tumult that rocked Wisconsin early in his term.
Meanwhile, his critics said the governor's policies had created a drag on growth.
"The first year we had a lot of protests in the state," Walker said, during an appearance in Milwaukee to promote business growth in the city. "We had two years, almost, worth of recalls. A lot of employers here I think can relate to the fact (that) uncertainty is one of the biggest challenges for employers big or small or anywhere in between. There was a lot of uncertainty. The good news is that's passed."
Yeah, lions and tigers and protesters and recalls, Oh My, with a side order of "uncertainty". Bull$hit! The recall elections were over almost a year ago now. He's not even trying anymore.
While Walker has cited circumstances ranging from the protests and recalls to broader historical factors, his critics blame the job numbers on his policies.
They note that Wisconsin has fallen well behind the national rate of job growth since the governor took office, and argue that spending cuts and reducing the take-home pay of a few hundred thousand public workers have dampened growth.
"We have adopted economic austerity politics at the state level and the chickens are coming home to roost in terms of personal income growth and job creation," said Mike Rosen, an economic professor at Milwaukee Area Technical College and president of the American Federation of Teachers Local 212.
"The only question is, 'Why are we doing so poorly?' " said Jack Norman, former research director of the left-leaning Institute for Wisconsin's Future. "The plunge in job growth, compared with other states, coincides exactly with Scott Walker's time in office. This is no mere coincidence . . . Act 10 led to large cuts in public workers' take-home pay, which was a blow to the state's economy."
State Democratic chair Mike Tate accused Walker in a statement Thursday of focusing more on presidential ambitions than the state's economy, saying, "The day Scott Walker took office, we were 11th in job creation. Now, we are 44th, and it is a direct result of both his inattention and his policies."
And there's
more smackdown from Mike Tate:
"Wisconsin is now suffering the consequences of a governor who cares more about his next job than about jobs right here in his own state. The day Scott Walker took office, we were 11th in job creation. Now, we are 44th, and it is a direct result of both his inattention and his policies. Those have included massive cuts to job-creating investments in education, health care, technology, infrastructure and vocational training.
"In the face of the kind of awful news we've seen today, Walker has sought to discredit nonpartisan government economists, move the goalposts and even dream up his own new metrics - but as our economy lags nationally and is last in the Midwest, the people of Wisconsin are seeing through Walker's self-serving gimmicks.”
Bingo!
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3:30 PM PT: I need to run for a few hours for my phone banking for next weeks Judicial elections. We need to get Bradley (Walker appointee to circuit court 4 months ago so she could run as an "incumbant) and Patience Roggensack (notorious RW Supreme Court Justice - first to recuse herself so David (The Choker) Prosser wouldn't have any accountability for trying to choke a female Justice) out of office and replaced with better judicial candidates. Wish me luck in getting out the vote.
8:25 PM PT: Well, I'm back after the phone bank and stopping for some dinner. Off to see your comments.