Walker's Failed New Jobs Pledge Is Entirely Self-Inflicted
His sure-to fail 250,000 new private sector jobs pledge after one term - - current totals, 90,000 added, 160,000 to go - - was a show-off sound-bite of bumper-sticker simplicity. Then he made things politically and fiscally more damaging through four ideologically-motivated, job-killing mistakes:
* Walker blew up collective bargaining with Act 10, which reduced the take home pay of tens of thousands of public employees statewide and withdrew those dollars from the retail, main street economy.
* Walker wiped out years of construction work that would have built the proposed Amtrak rail line extension from Milwaukee to Madison, along with assembly, repair and maintenance work at the now-shuttered Milwaukee Talgo train factory.
Also lost in this historic Walker misstep: future Wisconsin train industry business intended for other markets.
* Walker botched the creation and management of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, his signature new jobs agency for which there was no real need.
Walker, who chairs the agency, showed the private sector that he and his team were little more than management buffoons as they allowed the WEDC to slide into PR and accounting hell without prudent oversight, loan-tracking, and other best practices or basic standards and controls.
* Walker pushed to fast-track a proposed open pit iron mine in a pristine watershed near Ashland knowing it would conflict with Federal/tribal treaties, sane water management, and existing tourism and recreational businesses and traditions.
Ahead are years of delay and conflict - - none of which will produce jobs.
The bottom line:
There is Walker jobs plan. There is no theme, no blueprint, no serious, comprehensive, inclusive coordination of public, private, non-profit local, state and federal resources and expertise to stimulate the economy, to create jobs or to advance a positive image nationally to retain and attract people and business to Wisconsin.
TV spots, talking points and documented false claims do not a jobs plan make.
Walker had no plan because he does not believe in government, other than as a platform for personal advancement to higher office where he can play bellhop to donors and their narrow, special, self-serving interests.
6 comments:
His original deliberate incompetence could be explained by ideological rigidity as he played to the Tea Party crowd. Then as the multitude of scandals erupted, he denied responsibility by claiming a lack of knowledge. This just made him look plain-old incompetent, indecisive and out-of-touch, so much so that even the Journal-Sentinel has been forced to slam him on the editorial page.
He reminds me of a child concocting increasingly elaborate excuses for why the homework hasn't been done. I'm sorry Guv, but "the dog ate it" isn't going to win you reelection.
Walker's success is directly tied to a recovering national economy.
Jobs and economic recovery are indicators under national democratic policy. Obama owns it after 5 years.
Haven't heard the blame Bush montra lately.
Anonymous- 2:08. What the hell are you yammering about? If Wisconsin created jobs as the rest of the U.S. had since Walker took office, we'd have nearly 50,000 more private-sector jobs.
Obama can own 4 straight years of economic growth and increased jobs. It's not as good as it should be, but it's sure a lot better than it was under Dubya.
Put that reality in your talking points and maybe we won't consider you such a dead-end loser.
Anonymous- 2:08. What the hell are you yammering about? If Wisconsin created jobs as the rest of the U.S. had since Walker took office, we'd have nearly 50,000 more private-sector jobs.
Obama can own 4 straight years of economic growth and increased jobs. It's not as good as it should be, but it's sure a lot better than it was under Dubya.
Put that reality in your talking points and maybe we won't consider you such a dead-end loser.
A 'Planet Money' program that I heard either at the time of the election or very shortly thereafter made the point that in a typical recovery the expectation would be return or creation of 180000-190k jobs and that his 250k
claim would be rather unambicious
addition.
Jake,
Government jobs don't count and neighbor organizers are government funded government created jobs.
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