Walker hoodwinks Iowa

[Updated 4:30 p.m.] The Des Moines Register reports that Walker wowed right-wing Iowans this past weekend with this version of clever but shallow talking points:

Walker told the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition that four years after his election, Wisconsin is better off. The unemployment rate has dropped from 9.2 percent to 4.6 percent, the state's budget is balanced and the state's pension fund is fully funded.

"Wisconsin is better off?"

Some quick facts, if they still matter:

*  Wisconsin's roads - - starved for state pothole and repair aid - - are now rated third worst in the nation, a study shows, so if you're coming here, drive carefully, check your tires and update your AAA towing insurance.

*  Walker is not responsible for the success of the Wisconsin Retirement System. Its national reputation is long-standing and well-known, and its funding at virtually 100% has been consistent and documented since at least 2003, this report says.

Additionally, the fund itself is conservatively-managed and insulated from  politics, adjusting payments depending on market performance and does not over-distrbute payouts to retirees.

Furthermore, Walker began making noises about meddling with the system's basic structure, but backed off in 2012 when no one else was interested in messing with success.

* Yes, Wisconsin's budget is balanced, but that's because balanced budgets in Wisconsin are required by state law.

However, Wisconsin is facing a projected 2015-'17 budget deficit - - in fact, Walker had the state skip a recent debt payment because the projected deficit has risen to $283 million - - so the budget Walker has submitted for the upcoming biennium will be adjusted by the Legislature into balance as state law requires through some combination of added fees, taxes, spending cuts or borrowing.

And before you let Walker say he's never proposed a state tax increase, the record shows he proposed three in his 2011-'13 adopted budget aimed at low-income Wisconsin residents, according to the state government's non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau and reported by PolitiFact.

*  Finally, about the state's falling rate of unemployment. Yes, that number is down in the post-recession recovery, but beware how cherry-picked that number is from among many other statistics that show how poorly our state's economy is performing since Walker took office.

Wisconsin under Walker has fallen to 40th among the states in jobs added, and to 42nd in wage growth - - with virtually all the jobs created since 2010 clustered in low-wage categories, according to a review of official data by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center for Economic Development.

Couple all that with Walker's refusal to allow any increase in the minimum hourly wage above the legal floor of $7.25, his signing of a wage-depressing 'right-to-work law, and his promised 250,000 new private-sector jobs coming in 100,000 short and you're left with a political spinner declaring victory when there's little to cheer about.

Here's one link to the bigger picture.

C'mon, Des Moines Register: do a little digging and fact-checking.