"Stand with Walker" Trolls say Higher Taxes a Job Killer!!! Wrong Again.

Even Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn’t convince his party to eliminate the states massive deficit hole. That no tax pledge wasn't just a killer, it was a reason to cut the required spending that would lead to a Democratic economic recovery. And they couldn't let that happen.

My reason for bringing this up came from this ridiculous bubble world tweet from the usual list of “stand with Walker” trolls:

Okay, let's ask California. Just call me the troll killer. And yes, I've also asked these guys to provide proof, a link, anything to back up their fictions. Nothing.

They would be shocked, knowing the truth below:

California's budget surplus soars to new heights; schools to benefit: The state's revenue has climbed as much as $8 billion in the last four months.  The surplus was originally projected to be about $2 billion. California's financial outlook couldn't be more different now than it was just a few years ago in the depths of the state's fiscal crisis -- at one point the budget deficit hit $26.6 billion.

You can thank California Republicans for holding up tax increases that created that $26.6 billion deficit. Once they lost the ability to hold up their legislature, Democrats went back to work and made up for lost time, adjusting their progressive tax brackets and sales tax.

Did higher taxes make the wealthy give up trying? Did the wealthy flee the state? Of course not.

But getting back to the trolls preposterous tweet: Did high taxes kill job creation?

According to the numbers, job growth was concentrated in places that raised taxes, such as California … where voters in 2012 elected to increase both sales and income taxes beginning in 2013. Last year California ranked third in job growth at 2.9 percent, much better than the national average of 1.8 percent. Every 13th new job in America was created in just four California counties.

Here’s how Gov. Jerry Brown and the Democrats led California down the path to recovery:

This highly concentrated growth occurred after the California tax increases, Proposition 30, took effect for all Californians, but especially the top 3 percent. The new “millionaire’s rate” is a 29-percent increase in the marginal rate compared with 2012. In dollar terms, the cost is an additional $33,000 on each million dollars for those already making $1 million or more.

What made the "Stand with Walker" troll lie about California, and "job killing" higher taxes, were the following two charts in a Daily Kos post. Supply side economics is not easy to defend, now that we're able to see the results from GOP dominated states:

The sickening devotion and unquestioning love affair Republicans have with their leader, Scott Walker.

I couldn't resist posting this outrageously ironic conversation on the Devil's Advocates show, from Tom the caller.

Tom, like all Republicans, can't stop talking about voter fraud and restoring confidence in elections. Protecting the integrity of elections is big with these guys...except when they're the ones winning. Now suddenly, electoral fraud, whether at the ballot box or manipulated through voting machine software, is non-existent.

Tom the caller is reacting to an article questioning whether Scott Walker beat Mary Burke.

Tom the caller said we've got to get over it, Walker won, it's just sour grapes and whining now. He even said we had to get over Bush, ironically forgetting how Scott Walker continued to blame former Gov. Jim Doyle for everything, not even mentioning Mary Burke's name in the campaign.

Tom the caller then went on to list everything that's really important to a functioning society, telling the hosts:

Tom the caller: "You lost because people are sick and tired of the talk about the war on women, the war on the elderly, the war on big PHARMA, the war on middle class workers...you gotta get over it. It's just out of hand now...nobody...everybody sees through it. You're fooling nobody." 

I heard this same rap from my former conservative friend in Milwaukee, who now gets his news from every fringe right wing phony news site.

Hilarity ensued as Tom the caller claimed we had "less debt" than when Gov. Doyle left office.

Wrong, but you couldn't tell Tom the caller that, who claimed anyone could "find figures that go in anyone's favor." Ah, guess so "ironic" Tom. Surreal stuff and another example of the intractable belief system conservatives strictly adhere too.

Now in charge of Wisconsin, these "Stand with Walker" voters are speaking out....

We know Wisconsin Public Radio isn't exactly the most popular radio station on dial for Republican voters, so anytime a few of the more moderate ones decide to call in and drool on and on about their dictatorial leader Scott Walker, it's an eye opener.


Take for instance reelected Secretary of State Doug La Follette, who talked about how Walker divided Wisconsinites; from booing opponent Mary Burke's Vince Lombardi quote, to the perception that Walker is succeeding where Obama is failing.

That prompted a few typical "stand with Walker" voters to call-in. Take note, these are the people who are now deciding who will be running our state government. I never thought the so-so dystopian film "Ideocracy" would turn out to be a brilliant foretelling of our current political environment:

The callers didn't mention La Follette's Republican challenger, Julian Bradley, for some odd reason. He wanted to restore the powers his own party took away from that "do nothing" office.

Democrats need to change the way they frame their successes. For instance, why do they always throw out "qualifiers" when they bring up their accomplishments. Like "things could be better," "we're not there yet," "there's still a lot of work to be done." That kind of goes without saying, you know? While on the Republican side, utter economic failure is touted as "the Wisconsin Comeback" and "moving forward," which is nothing even close to reality.

More on Republican/Ideocracy: In a misguided critique of the movie "Ideocracy," the reviewer still made some nice observations that apply today. Check out the comments section too. Here's the link.

"Idiocracy is now our point of reference for the dumbing down of society. Whereas previous generations had movies like Network (1976) that challenged our understanding of possible media-driven futures, millennials have Idiocracy. And while the film expresses an arguably legitimate frustration with our current cultural landscape, it also leads us down a strange and illogical path for creating a better future."

College Republicans low information talking point dummies!! Doesn't bode well for the future of the GOP.

Republicans have always ripped college students for their idealism, liberalism and naivety. For many of them, students are too young and too misinformed to even vote. Age brings on the onset of senility…I mean conservatism.

Well, talk about projection and being misinformed, the College Republicans are simply embarrassing. In the most unlikely criticism of Mary Burke, former CEO at Trek Bike, and the most unlikely portrayal of career politician Scott Walker, the College Republicans posed this madness:

Wisconsin will be acting as the employer Nov. 4, and we, as Wisconsinites, are going to hire a candidate for governor based on his or her previous job experience. By making the decision to vote for a candidate, we are essentially hiring someone to manage a business in which we all are stakeholders. 

Hiring Burke would be like hiring a recent business school graduate to be the new CEO of Walmart. While the graduate might be a great person, they have no relevant experience as a manager or as a corporate executive. While working for Trek, she made plans to send jobs oversees even though she could have kept the jobs right here in Wisconsin.

First clue: Mary Burke didn't have anything to do with the decision to outsource, that was just another phony talking point by WISGOP. Sure that discredits everything these dunderheads would write before and after, but this is way too much fun.

You’ll love this next point posed by “some pundits,” which I would assume to be an elite class of conservative idiots:

Circus act? 

There is another red flag on her résumé that voters should check out. After her brief time at Trek, Burke embarked on what some pundits have described as a year-long snowboarding sabbatical. While Burke should be able to spend her money in any way that she wants too, this should still be a red flag for any employer. If anyone were to take a spontaneous year off work, any serious employer would have questions about the gap in my résumé. Everyone regardless of their political affiliation should want to question Burke about this sabbatical. 

This was a huge issue with my conservative friend in Milwaukee. Funny thing, while Republicans complain about people being on unemployment too long, they're also saying those same people shouldn't be given a job…so, they should stay on the public dole? Confusing? That's how they think.

They also had this funny bit of projection, a point I recently blogged about dealing with Walker’s lack of answering all questions. It’s really Mary Burke’s problem?

The employers should refer to her interview. During the second debate that Burke had with Gov. Scott Walker, she never really seemed to offer any real solutions. She did a great job saying that there are some problems with our state, but she rarely, if ever, gave real, tangible, actionable solutions. 

Funny, those tangible, actionable tax cuts for our job creators haven’t done anything at all. She actually gave a number of different ways to get industry going again in the state, and it isn’t another tax cut.

While we don’t know about the other employers, we do not intend on hiring the recent college graduate to be the new CEO of Walmart.

Weird and stupid, but that's why I'm posting this. "Stand with Walker" drones think it’s best to hire a college dropout with no corporate executive experience at all. In another press release, the College Republicans said this:

“No matter what Mary Burke says on campus today she can’t hide the fact that she still refuses to commit to another 2 year tuition freeze. UW-Madison students deserve to know if she is planning to raise tuition if elected like her predecessor Jim Doyle chose to do.

She answered this already, saying she would freeze tuition if the state starts funding our state colleges again. After all, they're a huge money maker and job creator.