$1.8 billion structural deficit? Republicans excuses abound....

You would have thought the sky was falling the way Republicans have been complaining about the slow jobs and business recovery under the Obama administration. Add to that the non-participatory unemployed and you've got what Republicans call a failed policy.

But now that we have slower jobs and business growth in Wisconsin under Republican Scott Walker, including a growing deficit (unlike the declining U.S. deficit under Obama), we’re being told by the GOP that we’re moving forward and Democrats are whiners.

Here’s the reaction by Republicans over the news of a possible $1.8 billion structural deficit due to Scott Walker's election year tax cuts:

Senator Paul Farrow: “Contrary to what we will hear from Legislative Democrats, the sky is not falling. These projections by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau are not perfect calculations and should be treated as a learning opportunity."

Deficits are learning opportunities? Projections aren't perfect? Please. Republicans like Farrow continue to downplay their party’s Great Recession and the impact it had on state economy. Even worse, Farrow is wondering why the Democrats don’t help solve the state’s problems, even though they've been shut out of the process by our authoritarian winner-take-all Republican government:

“I find it disingenuous for the same Democrats who drove our state into a truly staggering $3.6 billion deficit … We are a long way from experiencing a full economic recovery; it would be nice to get some help from the other side instead of having them work against Wisconsin’s successes. I will continue to work with Governor Walker to pursue a balanced budget and will always stand-up for Wisconsin’s taxpayers while rooting for a Wisconsin recovery, never against one.”

See that, pointing out the problem is “rooting” against our state’s economy, a talking point you'll hear a lot of as the bad news trickles out. How many decades did we hear Republicans telling us how bad Wisconsin was for business? Guess that was a self fulfilling prophesy. Resistance is futile folks. There's more:

Senator Alberta Darling and Representative John Nygren: "Wisconsin does not have a deficit. Once again, Democrats continue to root against Wisconsin's success story. Democrats are using political math to deflect from the poor budgeting decisions they made in the past. Under Democratic leadership Wisconsin had a $3.6 billion deficit, 9.2% unemployment, while more than 133,000 jobs and 27,000 businesses left the state.”

Again, Republicans continue to blame the Great Recession on Democrats, especially Gov. Doyle and Mary Burke, without paying the political consequences for such an outrageous fiction.