AYN RAND scott walker gutted unions, drove down wages, instituted austerity, and guess what:) walkers policies have pulled demand out of the state’s economy, undermining Wisconsin’s growth prospects. Beyond the paltry jobs progress...

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AYN RAND scott walker gutted unions, drove down wages, instituted
austerity, and guess what:) walkers policies have pulled demand out of
the state’s economy, undermining Wisconsin’s growth prospects. Beyond
the paltry jobs progress Walker is touting, U.S. Commerce Department
figures show the state ranked near the bottom in terms of personal
income growth over the 2011-12 period


http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/05/17/2032461/scott-walker-touts-job-growth-that-ranks-wisconsin-seventh-to-last-in-nation/

Scott Walker Touts Job Growth That Ranks Wisconsin Seventh-To-Last In
Nation
By Alan Pyke on May 17, 2013 at 5:21 pm
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) is pushing a report from his
administration’s Department of Workforce Development that puts the
state’s net private-sector job gains at 32,000 for 2012. Federally
tallied figures for all states won’t be available until June, as CBS
affiliate WSAW explains, which renders comparisons impossible:
Walker’s Department of Workforce Development released the new figures
on Thursday, but they can’t be compared to other states until next
month. Walker has been releasing the figures before they are published
officially by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Critics say the state’s performance can’t be adequately measured until
the numbers can be compared with other states. The most current
ranking, comparing jobs created between September 2011 and September
2012, showed Wisconsin was 44th in the nation.
Walker is claiming a two-year total gain of 62,000 private-sector
jobs, and a table on page 3 of the state’s report acknowledges the
public sector is employing about 8,500 fewer people than it did the
month before he took office. That puts the governor less than one
quarter of the way to his campaign pledge of 250,000 total jobs
created in four years.
If any independent organization would be likely to defend Walker’s
record, it would be the conservative U.S. Chamber of Commerce. But the
Chamber’s most recent annual scorecard of state economies has the
state near the bottom in job creation, as the Madison Capital Times
noted shortly after the report was released:
Its annual scorecard on state economies ranked Wisconsin 44th for
overall economic performance and 50th — as in dead last — for short-
term job growth as measured between September 2010 and November 2012.
It also has Wisconsin 39th in “business climate” — on par with the
state’s ranking under Gov. Jim Doyle.
Walker’s early-term agenda focused on busting public worker unions in
the state and slashing state spending. His successes in pursuing those
legislative goals amount to a localized version of the austerity
approach to economic growth which Republicans have pressed with less
success on the national level. Following the billions in budget cuts
he pushed upon taking office, Walker has proposed both further cuts to
school budgets and a tax cut that’s heavily slanted towards the
state’s wealthiest residents.
Those policies have pulled demand out of the state’s economy,
undermining Wisconsin’s growth prospects. Beyond the paltry jobs
progress Walker is touting, U.S. Commerce Department figures show the
state ranked near the bottom in terms of personal income growth over
the 2011-12 period.