The Walker Wisconsin Comeback Mirrors Kansas, not Minnesota's Success!!!

A report comparing Democratically run Minnesota and swirling Republican pit of Wisconsin is getting a lot of attention. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) compared actual economic numbers based on policy pushed by both Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and Wisconsin's Scott Walker.

Note: Walker continues to use the GOP's Great Recession against the Democrats like it was their fault, and oddly brags about an Obama economy Republicans criticized as "too slow." See if you can see a moment where Walker's trend line below did not mirror the national trend.

The irony, Walker posted the proof himself:

Minnesota Jobs Beat Wisconsin's: It's clear supply side/big corporate servitude does not serve the public or raise their incomes-provide health care-produce green energy and create jobs. Before we take a quick look at the differences, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the "gold standard" of job metrics, reported...WPR:

Minnesota Passes Wisconsin In Total Jobs ... 2017 Was The First Year In Recent History That Wisconsin Fell Behind Its Midwest Neighbor ... Minnesota nudged ahead of Wisconsin by 3,096 total jobs. Wisconsin still has almost 219,000 more residents than Minnesota, and just a decade ago, it had nearly 98,000 more jobs.

University of Michigan Labor Economist Donald Grimes said what stuck out to him was that Minnesota had added more jobs than Wisconsin every year since 2010. "The fact that it's every year is somewhat remarkable," Grimes said.

Minnesota smokes Walker's Participation Rate: Oh, and what about Walker's biggest bragging point, and a preoccupation of the far-right, the labor participation rate?

Minnesota's labor force participation rate — the percentage of the overall population that is part of the workforce — is 70.5 percent, which is slightly higher than Wisconsin's 68.9 percent.

Walker's war with Milwaukee Killing Jobs: You'd think the former executive of Milwaukee County would show a little more kindness. Also, you would have thought Milwaukee's close proximity to Chicago, creating a possible economic hub, would give it an advantage over lonely Minneapolis-St. Paul:

In addition, job growth in Minnesota's largest city far surpassed job growth in Wisconsin's. Hennepin County, Minnesota, home to Minneapolis-St. Paul, added 110,520 jobs from 2011 through 2017. By contrast, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin added just 17,680 over that same period.

"You need to focus on why Milwaukee is doing so much worse than Minneapolis-St. Paul and how you can be more like Minneapolis-St. Paul," Grimes said.

EPI's Minnesota vs Wisconsin report started this way...

Governor Walker and the Wisconsin state legislature have pursued a highly conservative agenda centered on cutting taxes, shrinking government, and weakening unions. In contrast, Minnesota under Governor Dayton has enacted a slate of progressive priorities: raising the minimum wage, strengthening safety net programs and labor standards, and boosting public investments in infrastructure and education, financed through higher taxes (largely on the wealthy) ... a compelling case study for assessing which agenda leads to better outcomes for working people and their families ... By virtually every available measure, Minnesota’s recovery has outperformed Wisconsin’s.

Urban Milwaukee summarized:

On every economic measure, Cooper found that Minnesota outperformed Wisconsin:

• Job growth was markedly stronger in Minnesota than Wisconsin.11.0 percent growth in total nonfarm employment, compared with only 7.9 percent.

• Wages grew faster in Minnesota than in Wisconsin at every decile in the wage distribution ... rising by 8.6 percent and 9.7 percent, respectively, in Minnesota vs. 6.3 percent and 6.4 percent in Wisconsin.

• Gender wage gaps shrank more in Minnesota than in Wisconsin ... women’s median wage as a share of men’s median wage rose by 3.0 percentage points in Minnesota, and by 1.5 percentage points in Wisconsin.

• Median household and family income grew more in Minnesota than in Wisconsin. Minnesota grew by 7.2 percent from 2010 to 2016. In Wisconsin, it grew by 5.1 percent.

• Minnesota made greater progress than Wisconsin in reducing overall poverty, child poverty, and poverty as measured under the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure. Wisconsin, at 11.8 percent was still roughly as high as the poverty rate in Minnesota at its peak in the wake of the Great Recession (11.9 percent, in 2011).

• Minnesota residents were more likely to have health insurance than their counterparts in Wisconsin.

• Minnesota has had stronger overall economic growth, stronger growth per worker, and stronger population growth than Wisconsin (12.8 percent vs. 10.1 percent), stronger growth per worker (3.4 percent vs. 2.7 percent), and stronger population growth (5.1 percent vs. 1.9 percent) than Wisconsin. In fact, over the whole period—as well as in the most recent year—more people have been moving out of Wisconsin to other states than have been moving in from elsewhere in the U.S. The same is not true of Minnesota.

 Now, tell me why Democrats are still having a hard time shaping a common easy to understand message? 

Scott Walker's Job Killer: Sinks National Marine Sanctuary between Kewaunee and Port Washington!!!

After combing through The Wheeler report this morning, a few job-killing GOP sponsored ideas stood out. The irony? Since deep-pocketed business interests now control state government, they've decided to use their power to protect themselves and their bottom lines, by killing off other rising business opportunities and development. I did not see this one coming.

Lake Michigans Tourism Jobs Tanked thanks to Trump wannabee Scott Walker: Putting our historically significant offshore shipwrecks and state shoreline on the map as a destination for history buffs and underwater enthusiasts got torpedoed by Scott Walker, the guy who once pushed hard to get the designation. Why? Trump said so, that's why:

Leaders of cities along Lake Michigan said Thursday they were in “disbelief” after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker pulled his nomination for a national marine sanctuary proposal ... would have blanketed dozens of offshore shipwrecks with federal protections ... “Residents, educators, business leaders, tourism executives, environmental groups, and elected officials from the cities of Port Washington, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, and Two Rivers have reacted with disbelief and disappointment to Governor Walker’s action rescinding his 2014 nomination of the area of Lake Michigan off their communities to be American’s newest National Marine Sanctuary,” the cities' leaders said.

Mr. Unintimidated Scott Walker too Afraid to confront Local Leaders: Another act of political cowardice:  

Greg Buckley, city manager for Two Rivers said he was “shocked” by the governor’s decision, which he said came “without consulting the duly elected community leaders in the lakeshore cities. 

Steps to implement the sanctuary (since 2014), which included multiple meetings to field public feedback, had pressed along steadily until last year, when President Donald Trump signed an executive order effectively preventing the naming of most new national marine sanctuaries.

Here's what the now rejected National Marine Sanctuary in Wisconsin would have looked like:

Here's what the only other National Marine Sanctuary on the Great Lakes, in Michigan, is doing and we're not:

*Scientific research facilities, including a dive operations center.

*Community boat-building center small watercraft workshop.

*Outdoor access to the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Trail and open-air picnic grounds.

*Maritime Heritage Center Gift Shop.

*Hosting approximately 60,000 visitors yearly, the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center is significantly increasing public awareness of maritime heritage resources in the Great Lakes.

One of the dimmest bulbs in our radically right-wing legislature is Sen. Duey Stroebel. Stroebel arrogantly assumes future politicians will never be able to solve their own unique problems so he'll do that for them now: 

Walker targets workers in Chicago and elsewhere, bypassing hard hit Milwaukee, Racine and rest of State.

Scott Walker has washed his hands of every out of work Wisconsinite, giving up on them (too much work I guess) while seeking an outside labor force from Illinois. Wow, what an idea; take the easy way out after trashing public education, without ever lifting a figure to train, retrain, or coordinate employers with schools to encourage apprenticeship programs statewide. Oh, and with low unemployment, we're going to need an Illinois Foxconn workforce that bypasses the struggling Milwaukee/Racine jobless. 

Gov. Scott Walker’s announcement of a $6.8 million marketing and advertising campaign aimed at Midwestern millennials, returning military veterans and alumni of the state’s public and private colleges … promote the state’s industry mix, recreation, education, arts, health care.

Walker has had only one agenda; push a manufacturing renaissance and not an “industry mix.” Just as bad, he's defunded state parks and deregulated hunting (“recreation”), cut “education” especially the “arts,” and opposes a right to “health care.”

Big Corporate Special Interest Panics Walker: Oops, it'll be interesting to see how Walker spins his concentrated jobs effort in southeastern Wisconsin to all those resentful "forgotten" rural Republican voters who appear to have drawn the short straw again:

"Walker says German candy-maker Haribo was concerned about its ability to find workers for its planned Wisconsin gummy bear factory that will employ 400 people in Pleasant Prairie after news broke that Foxconn Technology Group was building a massive facility nearby. Walker met with company officials to calm their fears. Foxconn plans to employ between 3,000 and 13,000 workers 13 miles away in Mount Pleasant."

"Cheesy Image of State Needs an Update?" In the paper edition of the Wisconsin State Journal, this brutally honest headline (changed and softened online) exposes the Republicans unabashedly elitist view that the states major nationally known industries are an embarrassment that we need to run from:

Remember, our corporate whiny elitist snobs want to change our state license plate logo from Americas Dairyland to something generic or perhaps Walker's latest tourist roadside attraction:

After changing the online headline from an insult to "Fighting misperceptions about Wisconsin in the hunt for workers," right-wing business columnist and "wordsmith" Tom Still failed miserably to frame the GOP's distaste for Wisconsin image of cheese and farmers. Sounding whiny, petty and outright elitist...:  

It’s no secret that Wisconsin is a secret when it comes to most things other than cheese, farms and the Green Bay Packers. That branding dilemma…Job diversity means choosing between careers in curds, Colby or Cheddar.

The combination of a looming worker deficit and the impending arrival of high-tech manufacturers such as Foxconn has created a moment in which Wisconsin must finally get serious about attracting more people and selling itself as a well-rounded place to live, work and play.

Wisconsinites Moving Out: Never mind that Republicans have trashed the liberal out-of-touch science tech jobs leader Dane County and those elitist tech researchers at the University of Wisconsin. With no increase in the minimum wage and right-to-make-less labor laws...

WSJ: Despite a new report showing Wisconsin has the fastest-shrinking middle class in the U.S., the Gov. Scott Walker administration says the state is headed in the right direction.

March 24, 2015: Wisconsin ranks worst among the 50 states in terms of a shrinking middle class, with real median household incomes here falling 14.7 percent since 2000, according to a new report. The Pew Charitable Trust report showed Wisconsin with the largest decline in the percentage of families considered "middle class."

A declining population, particularly when residents are moving out of state, often can be traced to a lack of job opportunities or a low quality of life. Between 2010 and 2015, 14,210 more people moved out of the state than moved in, equivalent to a net population loss of 0.2% over that time. Wisconsin is one of just 14 states with a net negative migration over the last five years.

Even more incredible, after Walker just appeared in a campaign ad supporting Ill. Gov. Rauner's reelection effort, our backstabbing governor is begging Chicagoans to move to Wisconsin. No really, this is nuts: 

Reach out to Millennials in Chicago and nearby on the theory that they’re reaching an age in which starting a family and leading a more balanced life is better than living in a tiny apartment and fighting rush-hour traffic. 

For example, multimedia ads would pose illustrated choices such as:

1. “An hour in traffic … or an hour with friends?”

2. “One-hour commute … or one-hour bike ride?” (MY GOD, Walker passed a "provision that prohibits local jurisdictions and the state DOT from condemning property to 'establish or extend' recreational trails, bicycle commuter paths, bike lanes or sidewalks.")

3. “Shoebox on the third floor … or loft in the Third Ward?”

Of course, Tom Still couldn't help but bash the state's reputation one more time, while ignoring Walker's admitted "divide and conquer" agenda where he once praised the statewide partisan anger pitting neighbor against neighbor as a healthy debate:

A point yet to be addressed is how to overcome a belief, which surfaced in the 2015 perception survey, that Wisconsin isn’t very tolerant. Part of persuading people to relocate is assuring them they won’t become strangers in a new land ... maybe this time the state will recognize it must cut a big block of cheese if it hopes to attract and retain tomorrow’s workers.

Walker's Wisconsin, dumping ground for cut rate companies?

Wages in Wisconsin have headed downward. Scott Walker's policies have taken it's toll on labor.

And yet, Walker would have you dream of better days ahead..."careers that pay more than the minimum wage:"

Scott Walker: "The left claims that they're for American workers and they've just got really lame ideas — things like the minimum wage. Instead of focusing on that, we need to talk about how we get people ... the careers that pay far more than the minimum wage."

Minimum wage? Don't be ridiculous.

And yet the state he's created and is selling to employers in other states is just the opposite of careers that pay more, or may someday offer more. Twin Cities:

Diversified Manufacturing Corp. will be leaving Newport for Wisconsin in June, taking about 120 jobs with it.

But why leave its Minnesota roots for Wisconsin?

The reason why may haunt Wisconsin for some time. We may become a magnet for cheap cut rate companies that aren't labor friendly:

Company owner Rishikesh “Ram” Motilall said he was drawn to Wisconsin because he finds the cost of business to be lower there. And he worries about the business impact should efforts in the Twin Cities to raise the minimum wage and increase sick time expand statewide.

We would hate to see higher minimum wages and expanded sick time. But Scott Walker believes in a dynamic "free market" wonderland businesses keeps demanding:

Diversified Manufacturing received about 15 acres of free land, tax increment financing, and assistance with setting up the site from the city, Prescott’s Mayor David Hovel said,

By the way, I ran across this minimum wage tidbit that sounded very very familiar. Republicans are using this Frank Luntz ploy to death:

The survey of 1,000 business executives across the country was conducted by LuntzGlobal, the firm run by Republican pollster Frank Luntz, and obtained by a liberal watchdog group called the Center for Media and Democracy. (The slide deck is here, and the full questionnaire is here.) Among the most interesting findings: 80 percent of respondents said they supported raising their state's minimum wage, while only eight percent opposed it. "That’s where it’s undeniable that they support the increase,” Luntz told state chamber executives in a webinar describing the results,

Walker used Frank Luntz's messaging scheme to its fullest, more familiar BS:

Luntz then provided some tips on how to defuse that support, such as suggesting other poverty-reduction methods like the Earned Income Tax Credit. “Where you might find some comfort if you are opposing it in your state is, 'how big of a priority is it against other priorities?'” he said. "Most folks think there are bigger priorities ... So when you put it up against other issues, you can find other alternatives and other things to focus on. But in isolation, and you ask about the minimum wage, it's definitely a winner.”

Republican Scheme: Outsource Jobs, Lower Wages in Manufacturing, Create a Slow Recovery to bash Democrats in Election.

Amazing, Scott Walker's approval rating actually went up in the latest Marquette Poll, even after the bad news about jobs came out in Wisconsin.  

Walker Outsources Work: He's not stopping the jobs from leaving, that's for sure. It looks like his CEO friend forgot to mention their plans to outsource: 

Citizen Action of Wisconsin: Data kept by the U.S. Department of Labor shows that at least 11,331 Wisconsin workers have had their jobs outsourced to other countries the last five years since Governor Walker’s scandal ridden jobs agency, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), was launched July 1, 2011. This is a very low end estimate … It does not account for outsourcing to other states, or downsizing where it is not possible to prove the jobs landed in a foreign country or were impacted by global trade deals.

Walker is hoping for a Renaissance of Manufacturing with ACT 10 and right-to-work supply of Low Wage Workers: No, Democrats weren't just making this stuff up. In fact, here's Trump from 2011 on lowering wages with RTW:

Wisconsin Manufacturing Wages Declining: Citizen Action of Wisconsin looked at thelatest federal data, and found a startling decline in manufacturing wages in every Wisconsin metro area. 

Real wages (adjusted for inflation) are going down for manufacturing workers in every Wisconsin metro area. On average, annual wages declined $1,430 between 2010 and 2015 - Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Robert Kraig, Executive Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin: “Declining wages damage small business because workers have less to spend at the local grocery store, supper club, coffee shop, and dry cleaner. The result is less employment, and a further drag on local economies.” 

This data also directly challenges Governor Walker’s constant assertion that a co-called “skills gap” is the cause of Wisconsin’s economic woes. If manufacturers were really having problems finding skilled manufacturing workers, they would be raising wages, not lowering them.

The state also lead the way in the largest drop in the middle class of all states. 

Walker Blames Obama for Slow National Economic Recovery? But can't because sabotaging the recovery was the Republican plan all along. Now voters are mad, shouting for Trump. As you can see, past presidents spent a lot more and experienced big recoveries:

A little-noticed report from the Economic Policy Institute earlier this month should have been national news … The recovery since 2009 has been historically slow, and the disappointing pace can be explained entirely by the fiscal austerity imposed by Republicans in Congress.

“Had government spending during Obama’s tenure behaved the same way it did during Reagan’s, government spending would currently be roughly one trillion dollars higher than it is,” The Week‘s Jeff Spross explained.

Since the Stimulus ended, the kind of good jobs that come from construction or public investment and are readily available to Americans who don’t have college degrees have dried up — purposely. They’ve done it to increase economic anxiety, which they know will increase resentment of all sorts, including the racial resentment that has driven much of the resistance to Obama.

Sky ain't Blue, Walker ain't Bad....blames Democrats for Great Recession...again!!!!

Like Scott Walker says, it's the Wisconsin Comeback...moving Wisconsin forward...

State continues to lag behind nation in job creation: Wisconsinlast year again lagged behind most states, and the country as a whole, in job creation.

During 2015, Wisconsin ranked 36th among the states in the percentage of new jobs, comprehensive data released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show. Wisconsin added 31,670 jobs from December 2014 through December 2015, a gain of 1.3%. Jobs nationwide, meanwhile, increased by 2.1%.

It wasn't hard for Walker to set the bar as low as possible and convince his bumbling drones that only one number matters; unemployment. So after making it harder to get unemployment with bureaucratic regulation that disadvantages former employees, "stand with Walker" dupes know the drill:

At what price? Let me see, we sold everything off, defunded parks, roads and most of the UW system. And many in the state haven't seen a drop in taxes, because they were responsible enough to pass school referendums to educate the next generation.

WALKER ACTUALLY BELIEVES THE GREAT RECESSION WAS GOV. DOYLE'S AND THE DEMOCRATS FAULT!!!!!!! PROOF.....I actually thought Walker used the Great Recession's job losses as a deceitful way to trick his willing dupes into thinking he had a plan. I no longer believe that's true. In the clip below, Walker is visibly shaken and pissed the Democrats would be asking for an emergency session to deal with job creation. WKOW's Greg Neumann:

Walker: "The people who oversaw the loss of 133,000 jobs, the people who raised taxes, who raised tuition by 118 percent the decade before our freeze are the audacity of hypocrisy." 

Walker was called out on this lie on Upfront with Mike Gousha, but gave his standard word salad to weasel his way out of a direct answer:

Walker's Wisconsin takes Private Sector Jobs Hit.

You'd think after Act 10, right-to-work, zero taxes for agriculture and manufacturing, and about $50 in average middle class tax cuts, businesses would be rushing into Wisconsin on the say-so of Chief Executive magazine’s annual “Best State for Business” survey of CEOs. Guess not...

Wisconsin's three-month run of job growth was halted in April by the largest one-month loss in jobs in nearly seven years. The state lost 11,500 private-sector jobs in April, 0.5 percent of the workforce, according to preliminary, seasonally adjusted estimates by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

If the figures stand up to revisions, it will be the state's biggest monthly jobs drop since July 2009, during the Great Recession. In April, Wisconsin lost 4,200 manufacturing jobs, 0.9 percent of the total for the state's largest job sector, to return to a flat level of growth since last October.

Scott Walker, like all the other GOP governors, don't mind being willing dupes of big business CEO's who keep making promises they don't intend to keep. And they're laughing all the way to the bank. Every year Chief Executive magazine praises Walker's Wisconsin, and every year nothing happens.

And it's crazy too, because Walker continues to focus on manufacturing, instead of diversifying the state economic options.

Note: Economist John Koskinen just gave us a little insight into one of Walker's biggest bragging points, that the labor participation rate is higher here than it is for the rest of the country. Hint: labor is leaving the state... 

One of the things that contributes to this increase is that Wisconsin has a fairly low population growth which gives us stronger per capita GDP growth than the rest of the country, “Since 2010, that’s what’s been happening,” Koskinen said.

Walker's Wisconsin 37th in Private Sector Job Growth. June to June Slowest since Great Recession ended.

Ask a “Stand with Walker” supporter about how well the governor is doing, and you’ll get rave reviews. Sadly, the reason has less to do with Walker’s jobs and business success than it has to do with their satisfaction level of just being in power.

The latest bad news about job growth will again get the Walker treatment; distract supporters by talking about the low unemployment rate, which by itself, is another manipulated area of failure; Walker made it more difficult to get and/or stay on unemployment, and the exodus of labor leaving the state for higher wage jobs elsewhere.

And yet the consequences of simply keeping Republican politicians in power, no matter how bad it gets, continues to mount; slow job growth, increased utility rates, a eventual dramatic hike in tuition, declining wages, and local referendums to increase taxes for schools and road funding. 

Many of us knew we were in trouble when conservative voters we’re high-fiving Walker’s $1 cut in property taxes. Pathetic?

Wisconsin is slipping nationally again…but so what right:

WPR: The latest "gold standard" job numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that Wisconsin ranked 37th in the nation in private-sector job growth from June 2014 to June 2015.

Wisconsin also ranked eighth out of 10 Midwest states. Among states that share a border with Wisconsin, only Iowa added jobs at a slower rate.

And while Walker bashes Obama for the nations higher unemployed non-participation rate, it’s just another distraction: 

Overall, Wisconsin added 30,759 private-sector jobs, a growth rate of nearly 1.3 percent. By comparison, the national economy added jobs at a rate of 2.3 percent.

This June-to-June period was one of the slowest for Wisconsin since the Great Recession ended.

Here are the numbers from a June report:

During the four years of Walker's first term, Wisconsin ranked last among its peer states in the Midwest, a region that shares a common economy of factory cities and farm towns. Wisconsin's 35th job-creation ranking trailed Michigan (10th), Indiana (18th), Minnesota (23rd), Ohio (25th), Iowa (31st) and Illinois (33rd).

It should also be noted how big money from big business, especially during Walker's presidential fund raising, had the attention of Republican politicians, when they should have been focusing in on smaller business startups:

Research Finds Wisconsin Is Home To Fewest Startups In The Nation: Ask WMC Leader Jim Morgan why Wisconsin comes in dead last in the race to attract new entrepreneurs, and he'll tell you it all comes down to perception.

The Walker war on Milwaukee has had an especially negative impact on startup businesses, the real source of job creation:

Wisconsin looks like a lagging state in technology entrepreneurship, said Greg Meier, managing director of WERCBench Labs, an accelerator for Milwaukee-area tech start-ups. The issue is particularly acute in and around Milwaukee, which is in a "deficit situation" in terms of technology innovators, Meier said. "The rest of the world isn't waiting for us to catch up," Meier said.

Start-ups create more jobs than established entities, he said. "We reap the seeds we sow at the end of the day," Meier said, "but we sow very few seeds in terms of entrepreneurship."

Despite Walker's Jobs Plunge, Right Wing Trolls kiss the feet of their big bold leader.

Stand with Walker trolls are so in the tank for their authoritarian leader, that every misstep, job loss or draconian policy, is never as bad as the facts marking his failure. Or as they like to point out, not as bad as the misspelled words in my blog posts.

Scott Walker trolls suffer from a serious case of denial. It's a defensive mechanism really, since their own identities are so closely invested in their "leader." Without Walker's infallibility, their world view crumbles.

Case in point; my blog post:

Wisconsin Layoffs for first 9 months of 2015 8,600!!! Moving Wisconsin Forward?

Walker trolls weren't dismayed by the news, or troubled by so many Wisconsinites losing their jobs, they were instead pissed someone dared to challenge the reality of Walker's jobs failure.

So they took to Twitter trying desperately to defend Walker's jobs losses, once again reaching 5 years back to blame Gov. Doyle. You're also not supposed to remember the Great Recession, the grand failure of free market deregulation: 

As you can see, I liked the graph so much that I asked for attribution. In conservative world, that's considered an attack so I could trash the source, when in fact, it was anything but...

Gotcha! I guess I walked right into my own meme. This happens daily and it's kind of amusing. I get the same reaction from my conservative friend in Milwaukee. 

The graph not only disproves Tom O'C's and I make unions cry's point, but also shows us how much better Democratic Governor Jim Doyle's time in office was; He served as governor from 2003 to the end of 2010. Notice the jobs losses before Doyle took office. Troll tricksters (encouraged by Walker) want to blame the Republican/Bush Great Recession's job losses on Doyle, a ridiculous way to discredit the Democratic governor.   

Here's the graph...sorry, the meme I stepped into:

Here's what the research is telling us (see below). Note: Republicans have done everything they can to attack Milwaukee; removing residency requirements and killing rail connectivity that would have revitalized regional business development in and around Milwaukee, extending to Chicago. All starting with Reagan:

The most recent data on layoffs in Wisconsin (through October, 2010) show clear clustering in the southeast corner of the state. Manufacturing has been historically concentrated in this area. The link between manufacturing and layoffs is consistent with deindustrialization that has accompanied national economic restructuring in favor of the service sector. Research has shown that deindustrialization has had a pronounced effect on the manufacturing industry since the 1980s. Racial minorities’ connection to the manufacturing industry increases their likelihood of being directly or indirectly affected by layoffs relative to non-Hispanic whites ... layoffs are not the only source of poverty. Additional structural factors emphasized throughout this series, including unemployment and underemployment, should be considered in combination with the results presented here.

As County Executive, Walker blamed Gov. Doyle for high black unemployment; as Governor, Walker is now blaming high unemployment on poor policies in the city of Milwaukee.

First, a note to Chuck Todd; Scott Walker was Milwaukee County Executive and nearly bankrupt the county.

That would have made Todd's question even more relevant: 

Todd pointed to stark statistics for African-Americans in Wisconsin — the nation's highest incarceration rate for black males, a ranking of 50th in opportunities for African-American children, the black unemployment rate being double the national average — and asked why that was the case.

As usual, Walker blamed someone else for the problems in Milwaukee:

Walker pointed toward what he called "poor policies" in Milwaukee, saying it's why he has pushed for expansion of school choice.

Hold on there, a little Back History: In 2009, when Walker decided to run for governor, he claimed the problems in Milwaukee were caused by "poor policies" from...guess who, Democratic Governor Jim Doyle. But now as governor, it can't be Walker's fault? Check out this video from Upfront with Mike Gousha, that also includes his push for "shrinking" wages. You read that right:

Walker: (On doing away with more state jobs) "Yes...we're going to have to look at shrinking the size of government, we're going to have to look at shrinking more importantly, the size of wages and benefits..."

Remember, this all happened under Walker's watch back in May, 2009. Even then nothing was ever his fault:

Mike Gousha: "There are going to be people who say look, Milwaukee county has the highest poverty rate in the state, we're losing jobs in the city of Milwaukee, your largest municipality at a rate almost unmatched by any other big city. Do you share any responsibility for that?"

Walker: "Everybody does, but the state of Wisconsin has done specific things, policy wise, that have effected jobs here...if you look at the tax increases of $1.2 billion of new taxes..."

Mike Gousha: "Do you think you bare any of the responsibility for the numbers I just mentioned for the poverty rate, for the lack of employment right now in this community?"

Walker: "No, for us that's been an issue for years...politicians don't create jobs or eliminate jobs...!"

Walker never made the situation better in Milwaukee as governor, a fact pointed out by Todd. Walker as county executive actually agreed to dissolve the county, admitting that it was essentially bankrupt. From the Journal Sentinel's Dan Bice:

jsonline: Milwaukee County government is in such dire financial shape that state lawmakers should push through legislation that would allow it and other local governments to file for bankruptcy … the powerful Greater Milwaukee Committee is looking to recommend doing away with the elected county executive's post, slicing county worker benefits and spinning off the zoo, the bus system, the parks and much else under separate commissions.

(The Greater Milwaukee Committee tried to hide their report, saying) "We don't want this to become some sort of political football during the fall election campaigns ... If these dramatic steps - or something like them - aren't taken county government will collapse," the draft report suggests.

With Walker in charge....

The report also puts it this way: "If we don't make changes today … Parks will close, bus routes will end and families in distress will not get the help they need. Our Milwaukee will grow smaller and smaller as people and companies leave."

He made things worse, blowing a hole in economic development by rejecting the high speed rail project, which in turn killed train manufacturing in the city and related business development along the train route. Here's more of Walker's trade mark word salad:

"We've done all sorts of things," Walker said in response to a question about putting the blame on Milwaukee. "In fact, we put hundreds of millions of dollars in to try to help rebuild the economy out there, but again you've got to have leaders that are willing to use the tools that we've given them. Those are things that we're committed to, and as president I'm going to try to empower cities, towns, villages of all different sizes around this country to have more freedom and more liberties to do things without the restrictions from Washington and without some of the restrictions that you see … Our reforms have opened the door, and school districts like Milwaukee not only in my state but others across the country hopefully can use those reforms to do a better job of providing a quality education."

Walker/Republicans are their own worst enemy in Manufacturing Decline, and it'll only get worse.

The nation could learn a lot from the way Scott Walker is managing Wisconsin, and none of its good.

Wisconsin was once a manufacturing powerhouse. But since we heard that giant sucking sound, where jobs and manufacturing left the U.S. via our disastrous free trade agreements, those days aren't coming back anytime soon.

But you can't tell that to Scott Walker, and voters should find that unsettling. Walker is stuck in the past, working on a manufacturing renaissance in Wisconsin. In fact, Walker is attacking, vilifying and stopping emerging industries he feels aren't part of the Republican Party platform, like wind, solar and mass transit. And that doesn't bode well for a Walker led U.S..

Here are two charts Walker will never look at, to the detriment of everyone else looking for some leadership:

Add to that the GOP push for tax cuts and user fees, as an answer to the complaint, "I don't want to pay for someone else's trip to the state parks; someone else's public college education; someone else's health insurance; someone else's community entertainment facilities; and someone else's freeway improvements.

It's a national movement too. Republicans refuse to pay for a massive job creation no-brainer rebuilding the nations infrastructure. They are also big on new free trade agreements that gave us the horrific looking charts above, all the while resisting a higher minimum wage that will increase demand.

As the Economic Policy Institute's Robert Scott advises:

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.

Walker's record makes him the "False to Mostly False" presidential candidate.

One of the biggest remaining Scott Walker campaign talking points (his now climbing unemployment numbers may become a real problem), has been the rising income levels in Wisconsin. That's a lie based on more deception, which we're finding out now is a useful tool used to buildup the GOP voter roles.

PolitiFact reveals what the news media failed to research themselves:

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 opposite

We rate statements that contain some element of truth but ignore critical facts that would give a different impression as Mostly False.

It's another tool for our "some element of truth" presidential wannabe Scott Walker. See Walker's current "False" and "Mostly False" ratings pictured here.

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. 

I wonder how that convoluted and intentional muddying of the facts works for states like Minnesota or Illinois? There's a reason why Walker is focusing in on Michigan. PolitiFact might want to check before they get too much mileage out of it.  

Walker to do for country what he's done for Wisconsin...

...like unemployment. The only thing Scott Walker has been hanging his hat on, minus the non-participation rate, is the low unemployment number. Well, that might be changing, and not in a good way:

Unemployment rates increased in most Wisconsin cities and counties in June. Unemployment rates increased in 27 out of 32 of the state's largest cities. Racine had the highest unemployment rate at 7.6 percent, up from 7.4 percent in May. Milwaukee was the second highest at 7.4 percent, up from 6.9 percent the month before. Unemployment rates went up in 51 of 72 counties.

In the anti-business liberal hell hole of the state, Madison and Dane County, just what you'd expect: 

Madison and Dane County had the lowest unemployment rates for both a city and county at 3.5 percent.

Scott Walker working class Hero?

Making the rounds in conservative circles is a story filled with a mishmash of statistics that turns reality on its head; Scott Walker is a working class hero?

See for yourself in the short unintentionally humorous excerpt below from the NY Post:

How workers are winning in Scott Walker’s Wisconsin: Hillary Rodham Clinton shed her usual sunny demeanor on Monday and snarled, “Republican governors like Scott Walker have made their names stomping on workers’ rights … AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka snapped, “Scott Walker is a national disgrace.”

Liberals like Clinton and Trumka have it all wrong.

In all seriousness, reporter Deroy Murdock wrote this:

If there’s one thing workers value, it’s work.

But my whole reason for posting this exercise in tortured logic was the following worker “win” for...wait for it; women! Thank you Scott Walker:

In terms of “workers’ rights,” Wisconsinites now enjoy the right to work. 

This new law recognizes a woman’s right to choose whether or not to join a union. (This statute applies to men, too.) Wisconsinites no longer may be compelled to join unions as a condition of employment. Clinton and Trumka are anti-choice on union membership.

The truth is no one has to join a union. 

But even more basic than that is the argument we’re always getting from crazy Republicans, who can’t seem to see the connection; If you don’t like unions, don’t look for a job at a union shop. Look elsewhere, right? Choice, freedom and liberty! It's the same reason Republicans give when a worker doesn’t like the pay, benefits or working conditions provided by their employer. Look elsewhere...you can leave anytime...no ones forcing you to work there.

They should take their own advice.

Walker's 1900 era labor standards next....

Scott Walker's budget ushered in a 7 day work week, doing away with required "one day of rest." 

Oddly, Republicans continue to pretend employers would never threaten current employees with the loss of their job if they didn't "volunteer;" they could always bringing someone who will, right?:

Seven-day workweeks would be allowed and provisions for a "living wage" would be struck from state statutes, nullifying a lawsuit filed by Wisconsin workers aimed at pressuring Gov. Scott Walker to raise the minimum wage, under last-minute additions to the state budget ... allow factory and retail employees to work seven days without a day off, as long as they said in writing that they were doing so voluntarily.

Radio host and author Thom Hartmann doesn't appear to be aware of the 7 day work week law, or he would have added that to the story below about Scott Walker's speech announcing his run for president. Walker referenced a way of thinking that goes all the way back to the early 1900's. No surprise there:

If you want to catch a glimpse of what America would look like under President Scott Walker, you need to turn back the clock to one of the darkest periods in 20th century American history – the Lochner Era.

A bakery owner named Joseph Lochner sued the state of New York over its Bakeshop Act, which limited the number of hours bakery employees could work to 10 hours a day and 60 hours a week. Lochner … took it to the Supreme Court in 1905, he got the result he wanted. In a close 5 to 4 decision, the justices struck down the Bakeshop Act, citing Lochner’s right under the 14th Amendment to run his business without “state interference.” Apparently, the Bakeshop Act violated that most fundamental of liberties -- the right of employers to work their employees to death.

Until the mid-1930s, the Supreme Court would go on all-out rampage against workers’ rights … it struck down, among other things, child labor laws, minimum wage laws, and laws banning “yellow dog contracts” - contracts that forced workers to say that they wouldn’t join a union. 

The guiding principle in most or all of these decisions was the idea that the government’s power to protect workers was limited to protecting their “health and safety” … things like minimum wage laws were struck down because they went beyond protecting "health and safety..."
There is, by the way, no “right to contract” in the Constitution. The Supreme Court made it up, just like it made up corporate personhood and money as speech. Everyone serious thinks the Lochner case was a big mistake. Everyone that is, except for Scott Walker.

As Ian Milhiser has pointed out in a great piece for ThinkProgress, buried deep in Scott Walker’s speech announcing his run for president was a shout-out to the “health and safety” thinking of the Lochner era. He said, "As long as you don’t violate the health and safety of your neighbors – go out and start your own career, build your own business, live your own life.” Sounds harmless enough, right? 

It does, until you remember that this line of thinking was used to strike down child labor laws, minimum wage laws, and basically any kind of law that kept workers from becoming wage slaves.

Walker promises nation a declining middle class, lagging job growth and the highest minority unemployment.

Remember when someone in the Bush administration bragged that reality is what they said it was? It was a shocking but clarifying insight into conservative thinking. It expands on the concept of Humpty-Dumptyisms:

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.' -Through the Looking Glass

For example, if the middle class is said to be shrinking in Wisconsin, Scott Walker says that's a signal "we're headed in the right direction:"

WSJ: Despite a new report showing Wisconsin has the fastest-shrinking middle class in the U.S., the Gov. Scott Walker administration says the state is headed in the right direction. Walker spokeswoman Laurel Patrick noted Monday that the Pew report covers the period from 2000 through 2013 and includes only the first three years of the Republican’s first term.

This is all unsettling head-in-the-sand logic. Any report showing a decline in the middle class should warrant a deeper, more critical look. But Walker wants to brush it off as a distraction to more important presidential things. But a number of studies tell a different story, and back up the decline:

But UW-Madison economist Laura Dresser said income growth in the state for decades has been concentrated among the top 1 percent. She said that would explain the decline in the percentage of families considered “middle class” by federal standards, even if incomes have risen recently. Dresser’s report showed that in 2012, Wisconsin reached a milestone with a record share of income going to the top 1 percent.

The Pew Charitable Trusts report reflected those figures, showing that in 2000, 54.6 percent of Wisconsin families fell into the middle class category, but that has fallen to 48.9 percent in 2013. All other states showed some decline in middle class families but none as great as Wisconsin’s 5.7 percent decline since 2000.

That's not all. Walker is attempting to create a desperate minimum wage working class by taking away their ability to buy food unless they work for less. And forced labor disincentivizes employers from having to raise wages.

Wisconsin also continues to lag the nation in job growth, with the latest figures putting the state 40th on that key measure.

But we're heading in the right direction. Solutions to lagging job growth and a declining middle class are contained within the tax cuts for the wealthy. Another signal we're heading in the right direction?

Unemployment among African-Americans in Wisconsin last year was the highest of any of the 50 states, according to a study released Thursday by the center-left Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.

At 19.9% — or 1 in 5 working-age people — the black unemployment rate in Wisconsin is nearly three times higher than the highest state white unemployment rate (7% in Nevada) and significantly higher than the national black unemployment rate of 11%, the think tank found.

Technology startup businesses and jobs not on Scott Walker's radar either?

There’s no getting around it, Scott Walker is focusing his job creation around manufacturing.

For the last 3 years, as chairman of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, Walker did almost nothing to encourage tech and science startups.

Milken Institute’s State Tech and Science Index once ranked Wisconsin at #11 in 2010 for risk capital and entrepreneurial infrastructure, during the Doyle administration. Now under Walker, the state slipped to 36.

Now that’s he’s more desperate than ever, Walker relented. In the last year, angel and venture capital investments are starting to play a bigger role in business and job creation. But Walker was warned over and over Wisconsin wasn't doing enough.

So the state has slipped dramatically since Walker became governor, and our anti-science and technology Republican legislature steered clear of tech completely as a way to bring jobs to Wisconsin:

WSJ: Wisconsin draws an overall ranking of 25, the same as in 2012, with higher marks for its technology and science work force (No. 17) but lower for its risk capital and entrepreneurial infrastructure (No. 36).

Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, took issue with some of Milken’s scoring. For example, in 2010, Wisconsin was No. 11 for risk capital and entrepreneurial infrastructure but now ranks 36th. “Those more familiar with Wisconsin know that the number of angel and venture capital deals in the state continues to climb and that more venues, networks and opportunities are available today for people interested in starting and growing a company (here),” Still said … workforce development programs also have “dramatically expanded.”

Tech investment only came as a last resort, and mostly in the last year.

Does Milken have a bias against the Midwest? Still said the rankings “appear to lump the Midwest into the same basket, with only Minnesota breaking into the top quartile (12th).”

Uh oh, there’s Democratically run Minnesota again.