Sunday, October 30, 2016

Walker-led WI economy stalled, unattractive, report finds

[Updated from 10/29] Well, if as Republican Gov. Scott Walker did with ideological and partisan-power retaining motivations  - - you slash the state's cornerstone UW system budget and attack its historic mission - - the very attributes which drew students and faculty to the state - - and you  neglect and degrade the state's urban centers, and Wisconsin's environmental legacy and desperately-needed and ignored transportation alternatives which attract young millennials and families and entrepreneurs - - and you intentionally diminish women's right to choose, and unfettered voting, and honest public policy approaches to clean air, fresh water and climate change - - then of course your economy and state image will stall and decay as people look elsewhere while rejecting the unappealing product you put out every day as a matter of policy and intent, a new comprehensive report confirms.


With relatively few college-educated people moving here and an economy that is generating large numbers of lower-skill jobs, Wisconsin faces a challenging future, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Extension and UW – Madison argue in a new report.
The state’s workforce has a smaller share of people with a bachelor’s or advanced degree than that of any of its neighbors, and Wisconsin’s in-migration of such adults is among the lowest in the nation, say researchers Tessa Conroy, Matt Kures and Steven Deller.
“From the perspective of developing an educated labor force that supports both innovation and entrepreneurship,” they write in a paper published earlier this month, “the metrics presented in this report are troubling.”
As I have observed often on this blog - - one two examples from May, 2015, linked here:

A couple of days, when analyzing policies of Walkerite Republicans that make Wisconsin unattractive, I'd written:
It would not surprise me if Wisconsin's population gain slows or plateaus as a result of these punitive, small-minded and overtly hostile GOP programs, guaranteeing Wisconsin's long-term status as a low-wage, slow-to-no-new job growth entrepreneurial and lifestyle backwater.
Not to mention earlier posts
How much evidence do you need to grasp the damage our 'Midwestern nice" presidential poseur-in-chief has added to Wisconsin's stalled economy through punitive, trickle-down fiscal 'planning' - - damage he heaped on top of a national recession recovery that is bypassing the state on his watch?
Report: Wisconsin worst in nation on 
shrinking middle-class
And we remember the steaming pant load which GOP leaders offered some gullible media even earlier:
The economic prediction of state legislator Robin Vos, now Assembly Speaker, who spoke with certainty in April 2012 about the coming boom in Wisconsin once Scott Walker nailed down the recall win:
Once June 5 hits and Gov. Scott Walker is securely re-elected, “our economy is going to take off like a rocket,” state Rep. Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said Monday during a meeting with The Journal Times Editorial Board.
What you/we/he are left with is a low-wage, slow-growth, atrophied, fossilized and corporately-polluted backwater which Republicans can more easily dominate through gerrymandering, voter ID and off-year election 'successes' - - a Wisconsin turned partisan red with its electoral college votes more reliably in the GOP camp, but which remains 
pessimistically blue in mood and outlook.

Updated: After all, Walker pledged during his ill-fated run for the Presidency to "wreak havoc" in Washington, DC - - and we all knew we were living through the trial run.

With the predicable, intentional and long-term consequences.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Well written James.

Unknown said...

what is there to say. He is wrong and bad for wisconsin and the only solution is to vote him and his minions out of office. The damage he has done and will continue to do will take decades to repair. nj

James Rowen said...

Thank you, Phyllis.

Anonymous said...

It's MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! More divide-and-conquer is in the way. Nothing beats a failing economy when your goal was to loot the treasury, institutionalize pay-to-play, and give even more to out-of-state multinational corporate interests/overlords.

Reason to learn said...

Im predicting the future to go something like this...Walker and "some" of the legislature will lose in 2018. A new Dem governor will take over and barely get the state on track through a combination of taxes, infrastructure spending and UW system funding returning back to pre-Walker spending. 2022 will come and the idiots of WI will fall for the GOP blaming the Dem Governor for spending money and thus win re-election. Reverting back to the ol' trickle down strip mining approach to governing. This is the way it's always been and will continue.

Jake formerly of the LP said...

The "education should work to meet business's needs" comments by Walker crony (and mediocre CEO) Tim Sullivan explains a lot when considering how badly this state has underperformed.

These guys have to go

Anonymous said...

When one little man has control of all of the branches of state government and his band of merry Republican legislators view governing as amounting to nothing more than seizing and holding power you end up with this great conservative experiment that does nothing for the people and sells out to corporate and special interest donors you get what they sow......low wage no benefit jobs......corporate and big Ag tax cuts that result in drastic drops in revenue which lead to defunding of government agencies and services.......cuts to education the environment [DNR] and roads and infrastructure...........an economy that is going no where and people leave the state and other people choose not to stay or return as there is no opportunity here.... businesses avoid locating here as there is no consumer economy for their goods and services ....wages remain depressed....the cycle rinses and repeats!

acierman said...

Way to go dick head ...keep voting for this prick and its gonna get worst ...ffs what dont people get ?

Tom Strini said...

Red states fail blue states boom. BLUE California, Oregon and Washington are crushing it. Kansas, Wisconsin and the rest are being crushed. Check the scoreboard.