Gov. Walker's Blame Game
Has Gov. Scott Walker, whose central campaign promise was to create 250,000 jobs, accepted some responsibility for the state’s sluggish economy and dismal jobs record?
Nah. But he sure does a lot of finger pointing, though--- as James Rowen points out in his Political Environment blog post Walker Says Jobs Record, Weak Economy Are Someone Else’s Fault.
Click here to read it.
The Capital Times February 6 editorial Did Scott Walker’s budget cuts hurt economy? Some economists think so, reminds us:
“ Across the country, the economy is slowly but steadily improving. More companies are hiring, consumers are spending again, the stock market is tickling record highs and many Americans say they are feeling more optimistic about the future. But Wisconsin stands somewhat apart from this trend, consistently and stubbornly lagging in job creation and finding itself near the bottom of many measures of economic health.”
“…despite new highway signs touting Wisconsin as “Open for Business” the state has continued to sputter. It ranked 42nd in overall job creation for the one-year period ending June 2012, according to the federal Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), a statistically accurate survey of 96 percent of state employers.”
The editorial also conveys:
“Steven Deller, an economist with the University of Wisconsin Extension, had warned in 2011 that the cuts in the Walker budget would have a major negative impact on the state economy, reducing consumer spending by nearly $2 billion at a time when the private sector was just starting to regain its footing. ‘ My fear is that the Republicans put their plan into place, it’s not working, and now they don’t know what to do,’ Deller said in an interview last week.”
“Wisconsin did absolutely the wrong thing at the wrong time,” says Kenneth Thomas, a political scientist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and author of the popular Middle Class Political Economist blog. 'You want to practice austerity when things are going well, not the other way around.'
Click here to read the rest of the Cap Times editorial.
