GE CEO Jeff Immelt is a member of President Trump's manufacturing advisory council. Workers at the Waukesha plant, many of whom voted for Trump, are baffled that the president gave Immelt such a prominent role.Huh? Here's the CNN Money feature story:
Bret Mattice is particularly surprised. He voted for the first time ever in 2016, casting his ballot for Trump because he felt Trump wasn't like the establishment Republicans and CEOs at all. "Trump's values were different than all of them," says Mattice, another long-time worker at the plant. He believes Trump cares about the "average person."
Mattice gives Trump a B+ grade so far.
GE first made the announcement that it was moving the factory to Canada on September 28, 2015. GE blames the job losses on Congress. In the summer of 2015, Congress shut down the Export-Import Bank. It's a government organization that provides money to help boost American exports."If Ex-Im had been reauthorized during that time, the decision to close Waukesha would not have been made," a GE spokesperson told CNNMoney.
At the end of 2015, Congress re-authorized the bank. But it hasn't been able to do any major deals above $10 million because the U.S. Senate hasn't confirmed enough people to serve on the bank's board. Trump used to favor shutting the bank down, but he recently did a U-turn.
Ryan says the bank had nothing to do with GE's choice to go to Canada. "GE's decision to upend the livelihoods of hundreds of Wisconsinites was deeply disappointing," Speaker Ryan's spokeswoman AshLee Strong, told CNNMoney. "The bank was reauthorized in (late) 2015, yet the plant is still closing."
Powerful nations that the U.S. competes against, including China and Germany, have something similar to the Ex-Im Bank. But many Republicans, including Ryan, slammed the bank as "corporate welfare." "Congress has failed to take action," a GE spokesperson told CNNMoney. "We are the only major economy on the planet without a fully functioning export credit agency."
Dane County, which includes Madison and its technology spin-off industries, reported the state’s lowest jobless rate in April at 2.1%. Unemployment was worst across northern Wisconsin.Liberal Democratic Successes: Democrats could have mismanaged the UW Madison's contributions to our economies bottom line and low unemployment numbers like the Republicans, but they haven't.
Madison Mayor Paul Soglin said Democrats were losing because they had become afraid to run campaigns on liberal, progressive values. "I think the point is that people are ready for someone in elected office who is focused on really delivering to the people who are electing them. It's real simple," said Soglin.Scott Walker must not know that Mayor Soglin's been around our fair city for some time now, the same city that hosts the Capitol, which makes his comment even more absurd. From WKOW:
Governor Walker grinned when asked about the possibility Monday. "It'd make for a lively race. I mean, he's an unabashed throwback to the 1960s radical liberal out there. The idea that he thinks Bernie Sanders is a good model for him, I think makes for a great contrast. It probably does him well in Madison, I doubt it does well across the rest of the state. I don't think most people in the state believe that Madison is the way they want to be.”Yea, lowest jobless rate and a mix of new businesses. Of course believing in Trump's agenda makes so much more sense?
But Soglin believes the rest of the state could benefit greatly from the way things are done here. "Yeah, we've got a philosophy about how to administer government to address these challenges. And they work. Why would anybody be embarrassed by that? 2.1 percent unemployment. I think every part of the state would like to be like that."
“Paul Soglin is as radical a left-wing Madison liberal as you can get, even unbelievably giving the key to the City of Madison to brutal communist dictator Fidel Castro (1975),” said Alec Zimmerman, spokesman for the Republican Party of Wisconsin. “Instead of standing up for Wisconsin taxpayers, Madison liberal Paul Soglin would cling to the failed polices of yesterday, take Wisconsin backward to the days when special interests controlled state government - and leave Wisconsin taxpayers footing the bill.”
The Manufacturers and Agricultural Production Tax Credit will reduce corporate tax liability for manufacturers to 0.4 percent from 7.9 percent by 2017.Failed!!! So what did the manufacturers tax cut give back to Wisconsin?
Walker's laser like focus on manufacturing, encouraged by the lobbyist at Wisconsin Manufacturing and Commerce, owns this collapsing job market. In the report below by WKOW's Greg Neumann, Walker offered up this distraction:Wisconsin added just 11,590 private sector jobs in 2016, good for a growth rate of 0.5 percent. Those numbers mark the slowest job growth of any year since Gov. Scott Walker took office.
Contributing to the slower growth in 2016 was a decline in manufacturing jobs. Wisconsin suffered a loss of 3,776 jobs in the state's second-largest industry.
Tim Smeeding, an economist at UW-Madison who noted 2016's flat job growth in the Wisconsin Poverty Report released earlier this week, said, "Manufacturing employment has been dropping in this country for 40 years. Other jobs in other industries - there aren't enough startups - there's not enough going on."
"Our biggest challenge isn't creating jobs, it's finding people to fill them," wrote Tom Evenson in a statement. "Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is 3.2%, the best it’s been since 2000 ... We’ve seen a strong ramp up in private sector job growth so far in 2017."As anyone knows, since time began, there has always be a lot of jobs that go unfilled. So to focus on the impossible task of filling those jobs, instead of creating new jobs in emerging industries, you get the lowest job growth numbers in Walker's six years, .05!!!
A gig economy is an environment in which temporary positions are common and organizations contract with independent workers for short-term engagements.Republican Opposition to rebuilding U.S. Infrastructure is Destroying Manufacturing: Ironically, Republican policies are making Walker look like an even bigger fool.
A study by Intuit predicted that by 2020, 40 percent of American workers would be independent contractors ... this digital age, the workforce is increasingly mobile and work can increasingly be done from anywhere, so that job and location are decoupled. That means that freelancers can select among temporary jobs and projects around the world, while employers can select the best individuals for specific projects from a larger pool than that available in any given area ... financial pressures on businesses leading to further staff reductions and the entrance of the Milennial generation into the workforce ... businesses save resources in terms of benefits, office space and training. They also have the ability to contract with experts for specific projects who might be too high-priced to maintain on staff.
Taken together, steps to eliminate trade deficits (by ending currency manipulation and unfair trade) and rebuild U.S. infrastructure could easily generate sufficient demand for manufactured products to return most or all of the 5 million manufacturing jobs lost between 2000 and 2014. Growing trade deficits and the shortfall in demand caused by the Great Recession, and not productivity growth, are the major causes of manufacturing job loss in this period.Manufacturing and Coal Renaissance??? It almost seems like Walker is longing for the days of big manufacturing plants pumping out billowing clouds of pollution from their towering smoke stacks. Take Walker lap dog AG Brad Schimel's editorial defending the dying coal industry as a way to save manufacturing...well, it pretty much says it all:
As one of the top manufacturing states in the country, Wisconsin has much to lose if the Obama administration succeeds in its plan to destroy the viability of clean-coal electric generation. Manufacturing jobs in our state depends on affordable and reliable electric power.If coal is so cheap...?
Electricity rates paid by businesses and residents of Wisconsin now rank highest among eight Midwest states.
"In 2010, a mere 10 percent of employers said our state was headed in the right direction; in 2014, 96 percent said Wisconsin is headed in the right direction. Creating jobs is about more than just a campaign promise." (hey it was a promise, not just a goal!)
Gov. Scott Walker is brushing off a Milwaukee newspaper article claiming Wisconsin is about 60,000 jobs short of his 2010 promise to create 250,000 private-sector jobs in four years. He's adjusted that pledge...
"I qualify that now saying ... I got more people employed than ever before ... it's not how many jobs are created, it's how many people are there to fill them. And so, I've shifted from that, and said my number one issue is workforce. I need to find those people."
Economists quoted in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article on Sunday said Wisconsin suffers a "brain drain" of college graduates to other states, and that Wisconsin needs to focus on improving the pay of current jobs.
Walker committed to Manufacturing Renaissance! Would I kid you? It was always painfully obvious that U.S. manufacturing was not coming back. But Walker wasn't having it, no matter how many experts and Democrats said otherwise:Wisconsin's ranking was unchanged from a revised rank of 33rd for job creation, last in the nation for the second year in a row in terms of start-up business activity.After 6 years, Walker is now reacting as if he'd discovered something new, acting like we were all just as backward as his administration, thinking tax cuts, out of state recruitment, tax free manufacturing...etc. would make Wisconsin a manufacturing mecca again:
Retired executive and business climate analyst John Torinus, who advised Walker on the original jobs pledge, said: "We know now that recruiting from out of state doesn't work. We know that manufacturing is automating and leaning so rapidly that it will not be an engine for job growth, even though its exports help the state's wealth creation greatly. Ditto for agri-business, the other major platform for the Wisconsin economy."
Most new job and economic growth will come from start-ups, Torinus said, adding that "we are doing better on that score" in part due to state tax credits.And while Walker continues to blame former governor Jim Doyle for the Great Recession, Doyle's recovery efforts would have resulted in higher monthly job growth than our duped business friendly Walker. Check out Political Heat for the complete analysis:
The MacIver Institute: Matt Mitchell, a Senior Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, looked to see if government incentives were all they cracked up to be. He discovered that states with more incentives per capita actually have slower real economic growth."If local subsidies worked as advertised, we'd expect to see greater economic growth in those states that give away more subsidies. But simple analysis of [Louise] Story's data suggests that, if anything, there is a negative relationship between per capita subsidies and economic growth. Experts argue that offering these massive incentives are actually an admission of failure. A state with a great business climate should be able to attract business without the need for extra incentives."
The job loss figure comes from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, which economists regard as the most accurate job metric.
1. Wisconsin lost more than 4,000 manufacturing jobs in the 12 months leading up to last September, marking the worst such period for the state since the end of the Great Recession."It mostly shows the limited power of politicians and efforts by state government to change economic forces," said Don Grimes, a labor economist at the University of Michigan. Grimes said that’s largely because manufacturers have improved their productivity to the point that they can make more goods with fewer people.
2. The drop came at a time when Wisconsin was spending nearly $300 million a year to cut manufacturers’ income and corporate taxes in an effort to grow the state’s manufacturing economy.
3. A total of 27 states lost manufacturing jobs over the same span, and so did the national economy.
4. The same employment report showed Wisconsin added 25,562 private sector jobs from September 2015 to September 2016, which ranked 32nd in the nation in overall private sector job growth.
Gov. Scott Walker said fewer manufacturing jobs might not be such a bad thing for Wisconsin, as long as wages are increasing.
"It's not just how many jobs — it's are those jobs paying at a significant level. If we see wages go up in manufacturing, to me, that's my ultimate goal. Overall, it’s just a different type of manufacturing – you’re going to see more and more automation. You can have successful manufacturing companies that don’t necessarily match all those (previous) numbers."Walker said Wednesday some jobs that have left Wisconsin may be coming back in smaller numbers, but they offer workers higher wages. Walker said higher-paying jobs will require more skilled workers in the state.
Will we be able to survive 3 more years of this Bizarro World approach to managing the state?Walker: "One of my top priorities has shifted from job creation to filling jobs, which really in turn becomes a form of economic development going forward because for a lot of employers in this state if they don’t have confidence they can fill vacant positions now, that becomes a barrier to adding more jobs in the future."
Wisconsin ranks among top states people are leaving: A newly released study says more people are moving out of Wisconsin than most other states ... In 2015, Wisconsin ranked seventh among states that lost the most residents to another state according to a study by Atlas Van Lines moving company that looked at where people were moving.
“The Midwestern states experienced a major shift to outbound moves, with Wisconsin .. going from balanced to outbound in 2015,” the study says. In 2015, according to the study, 1,138 people left Wisconsin, while 801 people moved in, resulting in a net loss of 337 people. In other words, 58.6 percent of moves were outbound.
In previous years, the numbers had been more balanced with roughly the same number of people moving to the state as leaving.
States that had the highest percentage of outbound moves, according to Atlas Van Lines:Hawaii (62%)New York (61.8%)Illinois (61.7%)South Dakota (60%)Wyoming (59.5%)Indiana (59.3%)Wisconsin (58.6%)
"If people look at the facts, again there's more people working now than there have been at any point in the last 20 years and we want that trend to continue, to see more people working," said Gov. Walker. "Right now, that's a sign the economy is doing well, people are working. The challenge is just finding more people to get off the sidelines and get into the jobs," said Gov. Walker.Here are the numbers:
WKOW: Wisconsin employers notified the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) of 10,104 planned layoffs in 2015, a new high for Gov. Scott Walker's administration and the most in the state since 2010. 37 percent of the 2015 layoff notices came out of the Milwaukee area, Working class people were hit the hardest by the layoffs, with 38 percent losing their jobs in the manufacturing sector.
The 2015 total of 10,104 does not include numbers from two of the more high profile state layoffs announced publicly in November 2015.
Kraft Heinz will close its Oscar Mayer plant in 2016, eliminating 1,000 jobs. Just a few weeks later, Tyson Foods announced it will shut down its Jefferson facility by October 2016, resulting in the loss of 400 positions there ... putting the 1,400 or so jobs on the books for 2016.
Here's WKOW's coverage:The Tyson Foods plant in Jefferson will be shutting down next year. roughly 400 workers all expected to be laid off by October 2016 ... the plant in Jefferson has been in operation for roughly 100 years
The Wisconsin National Guard will be shutting down units in Chippewa Falls and Hayward by 2017 as part of a national reduction … calls for eliminating 36 full-time positions and 274 traditional Guard positions in the state by 2017, trimming the state’s Guard by about 3.6 percent.
AP: Johnson Controls Inc. plans to cut 277 jobs when it consolidates an office in Glendale ... 114 workers will lose their jobs in late January. Another 163 will lose their jobs between February and the end of June ... The center is one of four the company operates around the world. The others will remain in operation and are located in China, Mexico and Slovakia.WKOW:
Gov. Scott Walker is the new Vice Chair of the Republican Governors Association (RGA). “The record Governor Scott Walker has established in Wisconsin is enormously impressive," outgoing RGA Chairman Gov. Bill Haslam said in a statement.
According to Citizen Action:The Oscar Mayer plant closure in Madison and the loss of over 1000 good jobs.
Nearly 500 Enbridge Energy workers in Canada and the United States were laid off, including employees in the Superior area. MetalTek International, in Waukesha cut 13% of its workforce last week ... 60 employees.
In October, Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson announced it would cut 250 salaried positions. In September, General Electric sliced 350 jobs in Waukesha. HyPro of Whitewater is laying off 62. In Janesville, Data Dimensions cut 120 workers and Grainger laid off 20.
Wisconsin will have lost more than 10,000 jobs in mass layoffs by the end of the year. There are no easy solutions to fix Wisconsin's economic woes. However, it is clear what we are doing is not working and we must change paths.
WEDC, Governor Walker’s discredited jobs agency, mistakenly assumes that giving aid to well-connected corporations will trickle down to workers. Wisconsin’s declining economic vitality is rooted in the failure of our political and business leaders to develop a serious strategy for expanding economic opportunity.
Yet when this recent story came out, Republicans yawned:Kraft Heinz Co. will eliminate more than 1,000 jobs in Madison when it closes its Oscar Mayer plant there and moves the brand's corporate functions from Madison to Chicago. The company is planning a new manufacturing facility near Davenport, Iowa, where production from the Madison plant is to be moved, according to the letter to employees. Oscar Mayer's history in Madison dates back to 1919.
Madison Mayor Paul Soglin said he was informed of the decision on Tuesday evening in a personal visit from Kraft Heinz corporate officials. "When you take the payroll, the production, the packaging materials, and then extend it to the dry cleaners, the retailers, the neighborhood grocers, the local dining spots, it is very significant," Soglin said. "How you make a good situation out of this is difficult. You can't."
"For the first 9 months of 2015, Wisconsin companies have notified state of more than 8600 layoffs. That's 2,000 more than the year end totals of the last 3 years."
"For the first 9 months of 2015, Wisconsin companies have notified state of more than 8600 layoffs. That's 2,000 more than the year end totals of the last 3 years."Welcome home Scott Walker. Why not make head out to Lake Mills, see how that big bold record of yours will go over.
Census Bureau officials say that while the Current Population Survey is fine for the national picture, a separate survey with a larger sample size -- the American Community Survey -- provides the best picture of what is happening at the state level. Walker and the New York Post article are both citing data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, He pointed to data from the Current Population Survey. But the data considered more accurate -- from the American Community Survey -- showed the oppositeIt's another tool for our "some element of truth" presidential wannabe Scott Walker. See Walker's current "False" and "Mostly False" ratings pictured here.
We rate statements that contain some element of truth but ignore critical facts that would give a different impression as Mostly False.
Speaking of tools, former news talking head Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch is also getting into the act, trying to muddy up Walker's disastrous jobs numbers. :Kleefisch said she takes issue with that reporting (on jobs) … (which) focused on Wisconsin ranking 35th nationally and 10th of 10 Midwestern states in private-sector job growth rate in ... Walker's first four-year term.
"It's based on the speed with which jobs are created in comparison to neighbors as opposed to the actual number of jobs created," she said. "So I think you're going to see the governor trying to explain that … in order for people to understand that a ranking and a rate are two separate things and help people to get why Wisconsin has fully recovered from the recession.
WKOW: At the halfway point of 2015, Wisconsin employers have already notified the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) of more planned layoffs than in all of 2014. As of June 30, state employers have notified DWD they will be laying off a total of 6,685 employees. That is higher than the total number for both 2012 (6,511) and 2014 (6,186).
At the current pace Wisconsin would see more than 13,000 planned layoffs announced in 2015, the highest of any year under Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin). The previous high during the Walker administration was just over 9,000 in 2011, his first year in office.
Secretary Newson said in response to such criticism, "Well, let me talk about the unemployment rate here in Wisconsin, which is at 4.6%, the lowest it's been since the fall of 2008." Newson points to that data and the fact that overall job growth is up. Wisconsin added 35,759 jobs in 2014. He did not offer any explanation for rapid spike in layoffs this year. "What I'm hearing from employers is they have job openings and opportunities," said Newson.
