Wisconsin Job Growth Data Paint Bleak Picture of Scott Walker Years — 2011-2019

Defeated Gov Scott Walker (R) has not apologized
for Wisconsin's slow job growth during his tenure.

Madison, Wisconsin — Wisconsin lags far behind its neighbor and the rest of the country in recovering from the 2008-09 great recession, shows a graph authored by pollster Charles Franklin.

Slowed job growth during the Gov Scott Walker years (2011-2019) is striking when compared with Minnesota and the United States at large following enactment of controversial policies touted by Walker repeatedly as "bold reforms," the jobs data show.

Franklin used data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Total Gross Domestic Product for Wisconsin [WINGSP], retrieved from Federal Reserve Economic Database (FRED), Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

The slow job growth during the Walker years will not come as a surprise for Wisconsinites who voted out Scott Walker as Gov Jobs Failure and ScottHoles became associated with his tenure.

Franklin first published his jobs growth data graph, below, on Dec. 30, 2018.

Several have asked for this comparison of job growth in Wisconsin, Minnesota and nationally. Jobs scaled to 1990-1-1 employment=100.

/9 pic.twitter.com/cik4bif796

— Charles Franklin (@PollsAndVotes) December 30, 2018

Reports: Scott Walker Is Destroying the Middle Class

Even as Scott Walker and the Republicans attack transparent government and promote dark money, new reports demonstrate the evisceration of the middle class in Wisconsin under Republican rule.

Just think Scott Walker actually believed he was "called" to bring to the nation what he has inflicted onto Wisconsin.

It was widely predicted last spring Walker was a lightweight who could not handle a presidential primary campaign.

The only question now is whether Walker's wreckage of Wisconsin's middle class was done purposely or accomplished by Walker's incompetence.

From Joel Rogers in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "According to a recent report from the Pew Research Center, Wisconsin now leads the nation in destroying its middle class. Defining 'middle-class households' as those with income 67% to 200% of their state's median, Pew showed Wisconsin leading all other states in the 2000-2013 period in its rate of loss. The finding is shocking, but probably not news to anyone who's been watching Wisconsin trends in wages, jobs and income. As COWS, a think tank based in Madison, has consistently shown in its annual State of Working Wisconsin, wages have been stagnant, job growth anemic and income has been declining for a long time."

Wisconsin Dead-Last in Business Start-ups

Wisconsin is now dead-last in new business start-ups, passing Alabama on the stagnant-activity list. (Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) (CognitiveDissidence)

The ranking comes from a report by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Economic growth occurs when government steps aside and empowers the people, Scott Walker said last night in North Carolina. (Knoph, North Carolina News and Observer)

Walker spoke at the ultra-right-wing Civitas Institute, omitting mention of the last-place-in-start-ups news.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article23251845.html#storylink=cpy

Scott Walker in over His Head

Gov. Scott Walker has cancelled a planned merger of two economic development agencies after a new audit said Walker's job-creating entity failed to follow statutes or its own policies when making financial awards.

The audit released Friday also says the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. failed to meet all statutory requirements related to program oversight and that staff "did not consistently comply with policies established by WEDC’s own governing board" which is chaired by Walker. (Ivey, The Capital Times)

Waste, fraud, corruption, cronyism and and incompetence.

WEDC calls itself, "Wisconsin’s lead economic development agency, with more than 600 regional and local partners, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) fosters the cooperation necessary to support job creation."

Scott Walker pretends to presidential aspirations, but as his chairmanship of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) makes clear, Walker is not bright enough to handle a state agency much less the presidency of the United States.

Scott Walker Is Taking Wisconsin Down Hill When We Can Least Afford It

The Capital Times has an editorial of no cheer reviewing the damage our extremist governor Scott Walker has wrought up Wisconsin.

How could such a Tea Party extremist ever get elected in Wisconsin, aka the"progressive state."

Money, $10s of millions of it poured into Wisconsin from other states, with an emphasis from Palm Beach and the Koch brothers.

So, watch for the Koch brothers, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the MacIver Institute and other GOP front groups tell us how wonderfully jobs are being created.

Sure, and arsenic is good for children and asbestiform grunerite is good for your lungs.

Oshkosh Corp Awarded $400-Million Contract

From the DoD:

CONTRACTS: ARMY
Oshkosh Corp., Oshkosh, Wis., was awarded on Nov. 10, 2009, a $438,440,000 firm-fixed-price contract for 1,000 of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected, All Terrain Vehicles (M-ATVs) and associated basic items of issue (BII) with an option for 400 M-ATVs and BII. Work is to be performed in Oshkosh, Wis., with an estimated completion date of May 31, 2012. Five bids were solicited with five bids received. U.S. Army TACOM Contracting Center AMSTA-TAC-ATBC, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-09-D-0111).

MSJ: Mercury Managers Sue for Unpaid Bonuses

John Schmid has a piece in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on mid-level managers at Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac unhappy about unpaid bonuses. Reports Schmid:

As union workers at Mercury Marine fought over contract concessions meant to save hundreds of jobs in Wisconsin, the company's midlevel managers filed a lawsuit over unpaid bonuses.

The class-action lawsuit, filed last month in federal court, argues that the Fond du Lac-based outboard-engine maker failed to pay $7 million in bonuses to roughly 100 managers. According to the suit, senior Mercury executives instructed lower level managers in April 2008 to implement a cost-savings program and assured managers that they would receive 10% of whatever savings they managed to achieve as an incentive.

The suit names Brunswick Corp., Mercury's parent company, as defendant. Brunswick cancelled bonuses despite repeated assurances that the managers were entitled to a 'self-funded bonus program,' said Gregory Gill Sr., the attorney representing the managers.

One wonders how much of the cost-savings concessions the union gave back on its contract will be paid in bonuses to the workers.

Area Stores Seeking out Cub Foods Employees for Jobs

One positive aspect of the closing of Cub Foods on Madison’s southwest side on Verona Road is that the employees are getting attention from other grocery stores in Madison to work for them.

Cub Foods is scheduled to close in mid-March, leaving many residents without a place to buy their groceries and many employees without a job.

But a large area grocery chain is reportedly stepping up and offering employment to the Cub workers.

“Yeah, I heard that Roundy’s (who owns Copps and Pick n’ Save) is saying to (Cub) management ‘send your people over,’” according to one Cub employee.

That’s good to hear. We have been shopping at Cub Foods for years, and the employees are good people but several questioned on Friday had no clue what they are going to do for a new job.