Optimistic State "job creators" now certain; no new jobs.

When can we stop calling businesses "job creators," since its been 3 years of nothing? Just wondering.


Did you ever get the idea that Republican politicians are given maybe a little too much credit, for doing so little when it comes to jobs?

The following will show you how businesses will twist themselves into a pretzel, to keep one of their own friendly lawmakers in power, even if it means continually shooting themselves in the foot...for god knows how long.  

Wisconsin lost 10,200 construction jobs in the recent 12 months, a new report shows … Bob Barker, executive vice president of the Associated General Contractors of Wisconsin (said) "There have been times when we have ranked at the bottom, and there have been times we have been ranked at the top," Barker said.

What happened to all the breathtaking panic of uncertainty? Could the policies be the cause of our states increasing unemployment numbers and steady job losses? Or does Walker deserve more time, like say 2 year or more, before we can expect “change you can believe in.” Obama wasn’t given any time at all dealing with a worldwide Great Recession, before Republicans attacked his policies as failed socialism. Yet Obama's policies have seen steady, slow job growth, and Walker…well, ya give him more time. 

Wisconsin lost an estimated 11,700 private sector jobs in June and the unemployment rate rose to 7 percent, the state Department of Workforce Development reported Thursday.

Here's WTDY's Dylan Brogan with the Walker story not many news outlets and conservative talk shows are covering. (audio)

And those conservative excuses keep on comin'…

Because of its shorter construction season, Wisconsin got hit harder than some other states, added Dennis Slater, president of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, a Milwaukee-based trade group.

Employment is likely to remain flat or shrink if federal and state officials continue to pull back on large infrastructure projects … "The public sector has been cutting construction in all areas. State governments have seen some pickup in revenue, but they're devoting it to Medicaid, public employee pensions and retiree health care. They haven't increased construction budgets, from what I have seen."-Ken Simonson, the  Associated General Contractors of America  chief economist said.

Yeah, maybe we should cut back on that sorry list of socialist programs and give it to private business.

Will Walker's Crony Capitalism and Lying turn Conservative Voters Off? Dream on.

Lies, lies and more lies from the Walker administration's denial, but expansion of crony capitalism.

Newly released records show a Stevens Point company accepted an offer of tax breaks contingent on it winning a state contract, appearing to contradict earlier claims from Gov. Scott Walker's administration that no firm commitment had been made to the company.

Surprise, the Walker administration lied.

WSJ: Documents provided to The Associated Press show the chief executive officer of information systems company Skyward signed an acceptance of the $11.7 million tax break offer on March 26, four days after it was proposed.

In a June 19 email, DOA spokeswoman Jocelyn Webster described the so-called "soft offer" this way: "To be clear, Skyward did not receive any firm commitment, monetary awards, or tax incentives from WEDC." The documents provided to AP show the company had accepted the offer.

Corporate blackmail is now common:

Skyward has threatened to leave the state if it doesn't get the contract.

And as I reported some time back:

Not bound by bid rigging?

WEDC leader Paul Jadin has stood by the Skyward offer, saying he believed it was legal because his agency isn't bound by procurement laws that forbid bid-rigging.

There aren't many people willing to stand behind bid-rigging. Rep. Paul Ryan bashes crony capitalism in his reelection campaign, but it's standard operating procedure in Wisconsin:

Republican Rep. Robin Vos said he thinks WEDC has been doing a "wonderful job" and concerns … were overblown. "I don't even think it was that big of a deal," he said. It's possible that Skyward will still get the state contract.

Ya thing? Corporate welfare continues to drain the public coffers:

Skyward employs about 270 people statewide … sells management software to track grades, attendance and other information for schools and serves 220 of Wisconsin's 424 districts. The tax breaks offered were to help Skyward with a planned $20 million expansion of its headquarters and the hiring of more than 600 workers.

"Moms across the country" battled "big special interests" in Walker Recall Win, says Lt. Gov. Kleefisch!

Smart Girl...really?

Billionaire money, PAC's, and corporate cash...NOT SPECIAL INTEREST.

Liberal organizations, unions, and Democratic voters...BIG SPECIAL INTERESTS.

Red Alert Politics (I didn't make that name up I swear) reported on Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch's recent appearance at the Smart Girl Summit in Alexandria, Virginia (see pic below and its funders), where she declared that "big special interest money" lost to America's "moms" in the Walker recall win. Really? The amazing comment was such a amazingly blatant lie. It's the same one repeated by Scott Walker and the state Republican authority.  

Are you ready for this:

Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, who won her recall election, was proud to say she was part of the “movement of moms across the country willing to fight like cats for their kids.” 

Sure it's outrageous and insulting, but that's Rebecca Kleefisch. Kleefisch is actually bragging about all that outside money trying to influence our state policy. But "moms" fighting the big bad teachers unions? Not even close. Check out how much "non-special interests money" came in from all the deep red states and Friends of Scott Walker. From all those moms...?

The Walker administration isn't letting up; the propaganda machine is steering Republicans away from the idea that corporate PAC's and wealthy billionaire contributions is anything but "special interest money" Don't laugh, it's working:

Kleefisch, the closing speaker for this weekend’s Smart Girl Summit and who was greeted with a standing ovation, declared ... people came together to help the “epic battle that was being waged in Wisconsin between the big special interest groups and your average working family.” “It surprises me that anyone can afford to give a campaign a cent. But… some things are so important that we’re willing to get squeezed a little bit…We do what it takes to make the future brighter for our kids.”

Average working families were so taken by Scott Walker's cause... 

Big money churns out more right wing echo chambers!

Scott Walker spent more than $35 million … took in $27.7 million since January 2012 ... brought in 72% of his recall campaign money from out of state in the weeks before the recall ... took in $37.3 million overall, with 62% of that from out of state. While Tom Barrett took in 35% out of state dollars overall.

Squeezed average working families? How will the following ever again make ends meet...

Richard R. Pieper, an executive at Pieper Electric Inc. in Milwaukee, and Richard Roberts of Lakewood, N.J., the president of URL Pharma, both contributed $100,000.  John Nau of Houston, the president and chief executive officer of Silver Eagle Distributors, contributed $50,000. Warren Williamson, a retired real estate worker and longtime Republican campaign and Club for Growth donor from Pasadena, Calif., and Paul Stahlberg of Barrington, Ill., CEO of manufacturing company Catalyst Exhibits Inc., both contributed $20,000.

Republican Rep. Jeff Stone "has his doubts" the "risk" the nation takes enforcing the Affordable Care Act. Be Afraid,Very Afraid.

State Rep. Jeff Stone is so typically Republican, that I couldn't help but show through a little editing, how little they respect laws...especially the ones they don't like.

Stone use the language of stonewalling and uncertainty, to put off today, what could be done in some distant future. It's almost comical the way Stone just can't justify enforcing the new Affordable Care Act. Hey, it could save a few lives, or maybe bring about a Soviet style new ruling government.

Republicans love Guns and Movie Theater Killers.

Only gun loving paranoids would put together, and think, the following Facebook site satisfied a need. I'm just guessing, but due to the inclusion of Obama in one of the pictures, what we have his is another fine example of Republican American Exceptionalism.

Only hours after the Aurora shooting claimed 12 lives early Friday morning, an individual took to Facebook and created a page in dedication to alleged shooter James Holmes.

Despite lots of anger and criticism directed towards the page's yet-to-be-identified creator or creators via the comments, more than 425 people have already Liked the page as of Monday morning.

Responding to angry comments, the person responded "It's a page for those who like James, give him a second chance."

High Graduation Rates Manipulated with "Credit Recovery!" Reinventing Education with so many Bad Ideas.

When you hear someone claim, “Parents know better” when it comes to their kid’s education, they’re lying. There’s so much we don’t know (I’m a parent).

Like when we save money on K-12 schools by gaming a students education. In the end, taxpayers will end up forking over just as much money for remedial classes when those same students go to college.

It’s called “credit recovery.” It’s actually a good idea, but poorly executed to make the schools look good. Look at this example from the state of NY.

Edweek: "Credit recovery" education programs, are increasingly used at high schools across New York as a way for struggling students to complete coursework online. School employees who administer credit recovery programs and some graduates say many students simply Google the answers and fill in the blanks, because there is little adult supervision.  Students can open up a separate Internet browser on screen and look up answers to test questions … many are able to log on to the programs right at home.

And while it's an open secret in many districts, critics say credit recovery allows young people to cheat themselves out of an education while boosting a school district's graduation rate. Schools can also cut personnel costs because fewer teachers are needed when student learning is shifted online.

True costs are pushed to the future, when students arrive at public community colleges and can't do the work. About half of all students who enter the state's community college system need remedial and developmental education, which costs taxpayers some $70 million annually, according to the State University of New York.

Your jaw will drop at the justification given below:

The "Operation Graduation" program at Columbia High School has been lauded … Before, 44 students failed to graduate. After, that dropped to just 12. In their own news release (they had this quote by) one former student: "It was a shocker to learn what I could get done in a day." At Columbia, The district uses a credit recovery program called NovaNet and students talk openly about "novanetting" a class they're failing.

Instead of looking at the other great educating systems around the world, the U.S. for some reason has decided to reinvent the wheel so to speak, with broken programs and privatization. I’m mystified.

Ron Johnson gives in to America's potential killers, says: " 30-Round Magazines are just Common."

This guy keeps getting dumber and dumber. Please, will someone challenge this tea party idiot?

Laws…who needs ‘em? Why have a speed limit when someone is just going to break it? Why have a sensible law restricting guns from having large ammo clips, when someone will just carry more guns or buy an illegal one?

Why even have LAWmakers at all, when laws don't matter anyway? One thing is for certain, we don’t need so much useless, upside down thinking from the blathering idiot of senate, Ron Johnson. Fox News' Chris Wallace asked a perfectly reasonable question, and got this jumbled mindless disconnected answer: 

Johnson: "People will talk about unusually lethal weapons, that could be potentially a discussion you could have. But the fact of the matter is there are 30-round magazines that are just common. You simply can’t keep these weapons out of the hands of sick, demented individuals who want to do harm. And when you try to do it, you restrict our freedoms."

Guess we've "restricted" the victims in the theater shooting, of their freedom to live. What an sociopath.  

The problem with the argument that someone with a concealed weapon might be able to stop someone hits the brick wall when in fact, almost no one carries a concealed weapon. So more guns, doesn't mean more protection:

Ron Johnson: “If a responsible individual had been carrying a weapon, maybe, maybe they could have prevented some of those deaths, some of those injuries,” he said.

Ryan, Conservatives Surprised by Questioning Press, Belittle it for Demanding Honesty.

CBS’s Nora O’Donnell has apparently decided enough is enough.

A pioneer of right wing lunacy, Michelle Malkin, featured on her blog this moment of conservative outrage by Doug Powers, who wrote: “Paul Ryan won’t refer to extending over ten-year-old code as ‘cutting taxes,’ CBS host scoffs.”

And well she should. Nora O’Donnell is doing what most reporters should be doing, treating Republican talking points like the ridiculous statements they usually are. Paul Ryan is a master at reframing and rewording simple truths into wonkish mumbo jumbo that the press interprets and genius. Far from it.  

Powers: Rep. Paul Ryan tried to explain to CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Norah O’Donnell why he doesn’t refer to extending the same tax rates that have been in place for over a decade as “tax cuts,” but with the election and Dem talking points in the balance, O’Donnell was having none of that:

Amazing isn't it. Temporary tax cuts that add to the deficit and should be allowed to expire, have now been extended so long now, that they're no longer tax cuts? Spin, con or just more Ryan condescension?

Since Milwaukee's Voucher program began in 1992, Wisconsin became one of the slowest improving states.

Funny thing about the education reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; seems she forgot one important detail. Maybe it’s not important, but I thought I’d bring it up anyway.

Isn’t it an odd coincidence that in a new study that covered the years 1992 through 2011, ’92 being the first year of Milwaukee’s voucher system, Wisconsin became one of the slowest improving states in the country? Voucher's should have created competition and a race to the top. What happened? It's all BS: 

jsonline: A new study that looks at National Assessment of Educational Progress scores in reading, math and science for 4th and 8th graders finds Wisconsin to be one of the slowest-improving states in the country between 1992 and 2011. Wisconsin was near the top of the heap in 1992, when it ranked 6th out of 41 states in terms of NAEP scores. In 2011, it ranks 14th, according to the study by researchers Eric Hanushek, Paul Peterson and Ludger Woessmann published in Education Next.

In 2011, a study of Milwaukee’s voucher system came to the conclusion that voucher students performed "similar or worse" than other poor Milwaukee students.

Vouchers and privatization were the saviors of education. A supposed innovative improved right? Wrong. But according to the most snake like Republican in our state assembly:

Rep. Robin Vos, who (was) developing a proposal to expand the voucher program to other cities, took a more optimistic view of the results. "Obviously opponents see the glass half-empty," Vos said. "I see the glass half-full. Children in the school choice program do the same as the children in public school but at half the cost."

Breathtaking in its upside down logic, it's at least...cheaper. Oh sure, we saved money, for now. Keep in mind, behind the scenes, voucher schools are clamoring to get the same student money as the public schools. It's education on the cheap, but only temporarily. 

Conservative business people actually believe they did it all themselves. That explains a lot!

The small partisan minds of business owners on the right always seem to get agitated by a simple word or a phrase, losing sight of the point being made. It’s an easy way to make themselves feel real important, and look the rugged individual, so I can see why they do it.

Here’s one wonderful example that appeared in the MountPleasant Patch:

Brian Day: This past week, President Obama raised some eyebrows when he told an audience that small business owners did not get where they are by themselves, suggesting that they owe their success to the federal government.

He never said anything like that, but nice try, and a common tactic on the right to make sweeping nonsensical generalizations. He never said we owed our success to government, ever, but if he had that certainly would have been outrageous. But Day resents everything that makes the market work for business and consumers, from unemployment insurance, to licenses, to workers compensation, Social Security, Medicare, fuel taxes to the estate tax. It’s all Obama’s fault. Hell, who needs any of this stuff?

From where I stand Mr. President, I pay a disproportion of taxes where I don't feel the federal government deserves my thanks. Yes, I have had teacher to thank, but they didn't take the risk I did. But I can guaranty that the federal government did nothing but put up road blocks to my success.  Some years, some of my employees make more than I do.  I thought this was the American dream, but under your leadership, it's becoming more of a nightmare. We are responsible for 4 out of every five jobs out there.

Oops, did he really mean “DEMAND” is responsible for all the jobs he’s had to create so he could make more money. If his clients saw their incomes drop, Day would lose business. But that's beside the point, Day did it all himself. Oh wait, Mitten's Romney said the same thing as Obama (did you know Obama is black?):

When it comes to education, "We need to focus on the supply side...if the profit motive is allowed to work." Voodoo Educational Policy?

While for-profit educators are marketing the benefits of private schools, like cereal manufactures health claims of the health benefits of eating sugar, these PT Barnum's are now moving on from winning over gullible parents, to corporate lobbying groups. Making the case that profiting from a child's education is something that should be admired as an integral part of the American entrepreneurial spirit, they're stepping up the propaganda. Check out the picture of the blatantly obvious publication below, filled with absolute hogwash. Click the picture for a larger view:

As you can see, the idea's presented here are still a little rough around the edges, because right now they're in the early stages of framing the issue.


Taking a cheap shot at the teachers union belies their argument, and the use of the term "supply side" may be an honest description, but it's also interchangeable with its other name, "voodoo economics." 


In the Edweek article pushing the great privatization success story in Sweden, never once mentions those national laws that even private schools must adhere too, along with testing and accountability. Why? Because the model being sold in the U.S. doesn't include those annoying rules of accountability, that's why. They want the profit and the experimentation, but none of the blame when it comes to failing children in their formative years. The brains ability to absorb information in these early years happens only once, and can't be taken back. A mishmash of "innovation" taking place in all fifty states would be pure chaos. 


There's still one issue these privateers never seem to bring up; how Republican legislatures and congress are trying to defund education. That would dry up the taxpayer slush fund.  Private companies will find it almost impossible to increase or maintain profits if Republicans continue to cut education.

Military Spending Cuts no big deal.

If just considering the military cuts alone, and not the million jobs lost from our congressional military industrial complex, it should be easy to do. Bush cut much more from the budget during two wars, believe it or not. Retired Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, a conservative, has even more facts that turn the Republican lies on their head. Another example of opposite day, everyday, in Republican world:

Walker Supporters Silent on Job Losses or slow State Recovery...why?

According to a new survey by wisbusiness.com, those conservatives who are doing well in Wisconsin oddly think the country is going in the wrong direction. Yet they're happy as heck about the direction Walker is taking us, even though that's not going well at all. That kind of thinking is dangerous, especially when conservative voters have no desire to demand better results, because majority power is all that really matters to them now. They don't want anyone else controlling "their country." Click pic to enlarge:

I thought this was interesting:

Rush on Batman, Bane and the cartoons.

The Colorado theater massacre cast a dark shadow over what was, a welcome third installment in the Dark Knight series. I'll have more on that once I take in all the details, and the gun laws that allow this madness to continue.

Still, on the political side, we were treated with a surreal dose of lunacy from Rush Limbaugh:

Rushbo:“Do you think it is accidental that the name of the really vicious, fire-breathing, four-eyed, whatever-it-is villain in this movie is named Bane?" Limbaugh asked on his radio show. He added, “So this evil villain in the new Batman movie is named Bane. And there's discussion out there as to whether or not this was purposeful and whether or not it will influence voters. It's going to have a lot of people. The audience is going to be huge. A lot of people are going to see the movie. And it's a lot of brain-dead people -- entertainment, the pop culture crowd -- and they're going to hear Bane in the movie and they're going to associate Bain.”

It’s apparently a plot hatched in 1993.

Gun Loving Sturtevant Man's Plea Deal: Sell House and Move to Texas. Still want to be like Texas?

Who would have negotiated such a plea deal? Sure it's odd, but take a look at the guy we can't be happier to see go... 

Mt. Pleasant Patch: John Thillemann has 60 days to put his house up for sale and move out of Wisconsin, according to a plea deal reached Wednesday.

Thillemann, a former Sturtevant trustee, was charged last December with possession of a machine gun after police found a fully operational AK-47 under Thillemann's bed. Officers were in Thillemann's home while executing a search warrant based on complaints from neighbors that teenage girls were going in and out of his house. Thillemann may be suffering from some type of post traumatic stress. Thillemann agreed to put his house up for sale and move out of state. The Journal Times report says Thillemann will move to Texas.

Latest Walker Job Losses and Higher Unemployment now Obama’s Fault. Where’s the after recall Jobs Rush?

We're still waiting for those surveyed by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce who were chomping at the bit to start hiring.

But you know, the whole country is going through a time of very slow jobs growth, so...that leaves Gov. Scott Walker off the hook? 

Not so fast. Scott Walker said over and over during his recall campaign that businesses have never been more upbeat, promising that once the recall was over, and Walker won, economic certainty would be established and employers would start a hiring frenzy. Walker won...so where are the jobs?

These genius business owners and excited “job creators” didn’t need demand for their product or service, they needed certainty and Gov. Scott Walker in their corner.

Welcome to the new phase of Walker excuses. First the bad news, and lousy trend lines for Walker:

jsonline: Wisconsin lost an estimated 11,700 private-sector jobs in June and the unemployment rate climbed to 7% from 6.8% in May. June's private-sector job losses were the deepest in 11 months. The report shows losses (and a) slew of layoff announcements in recent days: the iPacesetters Inc. call center in Eau Claire; the Stark and Roth investment firm in St. Francis; Provimi Foods Inc. meat processors in Seymour, and the SNE Enterprises vinyl window and door manufacturer in Mosinee all announced deep jobs cuts this month. In northern Wisconsin Thursday, the Marshfield Clinic announced it would cut 119 jobs.

In the government sector, Wisconsin lost an estimated 1,500 jobs, led mainly by cutbacks in cities, counties and public schools. Net losses in both the government and private sectors led to an overall decrease of 13,200 total non-farm jobs last month.

So what happened to the overwhelming optimism by business owners once Walker got his job back?

"These numbers are not a surprise," said Cullen Werwie, spokesman for Gov. Scott Walker. He noted that the national jobs numbers for June also were weak. Rich Meeusen, chief executive of Badger Meter Inc., a metro Milwaukee manufacturer said, "With all the uncertainty, it's very risky for a manufacturing company, which tends to hire for the long term, to make those commitments."

My gut feeling is that there will never be a perfect moment, a “certain” time, to hire, expand, create, be optimistic, innovate or take chances. Is that the way to run a business? No. The only thing they really want out of all of this? 

One party rule. I know, that's an odd conclusion and one that doesn't seem remotely related, but that's my determination after talking to and listening to many of my conservative friends. 

After a Great Recession, the "willingness to 'unbuild' state Government...has never been done before."

At a time when wages and family buying power have declined, energy and health care costs have increased, and jobs have been shipped overseas, it’s hard to imagine a way of climbing out of this mess anytime soon. If you’re doing alright now, it won’t be long before you’re affected too.

Making things worse, the public blames Obama instead of congress. Change for change sake is the disgruntled voter’s mantra. The following report only substantiates the idea things are going to get a lot worse.

NY Times; The fiscal crisis for states will persist long after the economy rebounds as they confront rising health care costs, underfunded pensions, ignored infrastructure needs, eroding revenues and expected federal budget cuts, according to a report issued by a task force of respected budget experts. The problems facing states are often masked by lax budget laws and opaque accounting practices, according to the report, an independent analysis of six large states released by the State Budget Crisis Task Force. “The ability of the states to meet their obligations to public employees, to creditors and most critically to the education and well-being of their citizens is threatened,” warned the chairmen of the task force, Richard Ravitch, a former lieutenant governor of New York, and Paul A. Volcker, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve.

The problem; Republican cuts to spending, services and government.

“This is a fundamental shift in the way governments have responded to recessions and appears to signal a willingness to ‘unbuild’ state government in a way that has not been done before,” it said, If federal grants to the states were cut by just 10 percent, the report said, the loss to state and local government budgets would be more than $60 billion a year … Things are worse than they appear, the report contends.

And it's not like we didn't see health care costs going through the roof for at least the previous decade.

Even before the recession, Medicaid spending was growing faster than state revenues, and the downturn led to higher caseloads, making the program the biggest share of state spending, as states have cut aid to schools and universities.

Desperate budget officials often see public pension funds as an almost irresistible pool of money. As a result, the report found that from 2007 to 2011, state and local governments shortchanged their pension plans by more than $50 billion — an amount that has nothing to do with the market losses of 2008, which caused even more harm. 

Ann Romney, Condescending Rich...Snob!

You've got to wonder what these elitist asses talk about when they're with "their kind:"

Ann Romney, wife of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, told ABC News, "We’ve given all you people need to know and understand about our financial situation and how we live our life."

Liars should come with a warning....

Here's the graphic shown in the HBO series Newsroom during one of their newscasts. It hit home. Shouldn't we see this used more often in our daily newscasts?:

Republicans Convinced Americans their Health, Wages, Benefits and Safety Nets the real Problem in U.S., not the Banks and Wall Street Excess.

I don't even know where to start describing how horrified I am at the point mad in the following story: 

NY Times: The state with the country’s worst health care record just happens to have a governor who has been the loudest voice against national efforts to improve it. A quarter of the residents of Texas, 6.3 million people, are uninsured, by far the highest percentage in the country. (That number includes more than a million children.) Texas ranks last in prenatal care and finished last on a new federal assessment of overall health quality that examined factors like disease prevention, deaths from illnesses, and cancer treatment.

That’s a nasty statistic if we’re supposed to be the greatest and wealthiest country in the world. But let's face it, there are these little things like humanity and compassion that just keep getting in the way. 

Yet Gov. Rick Perry recently told the Obama administration that he would proudly refuse a huge infusion of Medicaid money that would significantly reduce those shameful statistics and cover 1.7 million more people. The same indifference to suffering that pushed Texas to the bottom is now threatening to keep it there.

Despite the large number of people dying due to a preventable diseases, or who are left to suffer a lifetime of pain due to a chronic illness, conservatives aren't moved.  

At least five other Republican governors have made a similar choice … Their refusal illuminates a growing divide over the nature of a state government’s role. Around the country, a new study shows, states continue to face a fiscal crisis because of rising costs and Republican-driven cuts in federal aid.

That’s a “fiscal crisis” caused by, and brought on by their own irresponsible ideological actions.

Some governors and lawmakers are … using the downturn as an excuse to end a long tradition of states being the final backstop for society’s neediest. Over the last year, for example, eight states have cut or eliminated cash welfare payments to their poorest residents.

It happened last week in Pennsylvania, where 61,000 residents — almost all of whom are disabled and poor — were told that they would abruptly lose their $200 monthly general assistance payments, all to save $150 million a year. Our hands are tied by a tightening budget, welfare officials told astonished recipients, though Gov. Tom Corbett’s hands didn’t seem restrained when he handed out $300 million in business tax cuts earlier this month. In Maine, Gov. Paul LePage — who compared the health care reform law to the Holocaust — signed a budget bill in May that will reduce or eliminate existing Medicaid coverage for 21,000 people.

And from all indications, Americans appear supportive of Mitt Romney, who will institute nationally what we’re seeing in the above mentioned states. The race is even.

Is there anything the Republicans can't sell the American public?