Eturnalshift wrote:
Unless
this article is wrong...
Maybe I'm not seeing the decimation of an economy and workforce?
I don't follow state politics. I don't know who these people are.
But the article is wrong. And you're wrong for believing it.
*insert Mark Twain quote here*
Quote:
Wisconsin had job growth in 2011 and 2012.
"In January, Wisconsin had an employed work force of 2,833,068, while in December it had reached 2,843,199 — an increase of 10,131 – so it is accurate to claim that the state ended the year with a larger employed work force than when the year began."This works out to job growth amounting to...0.3%.
On the heels of years of losses.
What you're looking at is small statistical gyrations and generally poor long-term trends. This is tea-leaf reading plain and simple - looking at chaos, and trying to find order suitable to one's beliefs. Politicians of both parties do it, and the truth is that American politicians have basically no control over employment.
"Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is 6.7 percent, lower than the national average of 8.2 percent, and a percentage point below from when Walker took office in January 2011."Ok. But
why did unemployment go down, when there was so little change in the number of jobs?
The answer lies with the curious definition of "unemployed". "Unemployed" is defined as "out of work for less than 48 weeks and actively seeking employment". The number of individuals in WI, just like in most of the US, who meet this criteria, has been steadily dropping as people simply give up looking and/or become long-term unemployed, thus "leaving the workforce" and no longer counting as unemployed.
Fwiw, your much-maligned Obama exploits this same fallacy to pump up a national economic picture that is much bleaker than he would have us believe.
Proof can be found
here:
Quote:
Beyond Unemployment: Long Term Unemployment Up; Increasing Share of Workers Need More Hours
Figures 2 and 3 show dramatic growth in Wisconsin unemployment and underemployment and a discouraging shift of unemployment toward longer-term spells for workers who are unemployed.
http://wiskids.blogspot.com/2012/04/des ... yment.htmlQuote:
In Wisconsin, we were the only state in the nation to have a net loss of jobs in the last calendar year [2011], yet the unemployment rate gradually declined...
...The employment statistics released today show that discouraged workers continue to leave the workforce. Despite the declining unemployment rate, the job market is still leaving a huge number of people on the sideline. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: “The combination of high unemployment and depressed labor force participation leaves the share of Americans with a job at levels last seen in the mid-1980s.”
So there you have it. With statistical borking, Walker managed the most statistically marginal gains imaginable...and in real terms, an effective loss in jobs.
Quote:
Wisconsin is on course to fix their budget deficit.
http://www.wisconsinbudgetproject.org/p ... udget.htmlQuote:
Does Wisconsin Have a Balanced Budget?
The Wisconsin Constitution requires that the state pass a balanced budget, where estimated revenues are equal to or greater than estimated spending. By this definition, the state budget is in balance.
Even with a balanced budget, Wisconsin has a structural deficit. A structural deficit occurs when ongoing revenues are less than ongoing spending. The structural deficit represents the gap between the amount of revenue raised and the amount of money needed to continue existing programs.
There are several ways the state can find itself with a structural deficit, yet still have a balanced budget. One common way in Wisconsin is to use one-time revenues to support ongoing costs. The Governor and Legislature are well versed in this technique. For example, their budget proposals might transfer money from a segregated fund to the General Fund, or delay a payment from one year to the next year in order to keep the budget in balance. Structural deficits also grow when lawmakers adopt deferred or phased‑in tax cuts that haven’t been paid for.
The problem is that although some sources of revenue are one-time, spending almost never is. Even big purchases like land or buildings are spread out over many years through the use of bonding, and thus have ongoing costs. Supporting ongoing services with one-time revenue sources will work for a while, but it will lead to a structural deficit and long-term difficulties.
Wisconsin has a long history of structural deficits. We have already used up many of our one-time revenue sources and will have a harder time supporting services in the future.
This is especially true since much of the "savings" come from cutting education.
Fwiw, politicians aren't the only ones who use this trick. Nor are they even the most egregious cookers of books using one-time gains. General Motors, for example, got by for decades on one-time benefits; many other corps do the same.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_raidThis is why skilled investors look at the balance sheet and not statement of cash flows to determine a firm's health.
Quote:
Wisconsin had an increase in personal income... which was higher than the national average for that year.
"In 2011, the average income in Wisconsin was $40,073, according to the nonpartisan Wisconsin Budget Project, slightly lower than the national average of $41,663. Wisconsin’s average personal income rose higher in 2011 than the national average – 4.8 percent compared with 4.3 percent."http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/in ... ion-rates/Annual inflation for 2011 was 3.2%.
Given a 4.8% increase in gross income and a net loss in employment as a percentage of population, this simply means that the rich are getting richer, cashing in on the situation and hence bringing up the average by a meek 1% (again, following years of reduced employment), and the middle class is getting wiped out, as fewer are employed and their earnings yield a lower standard of living.
Now don't get me wrong. I honestly don't believe a Democrat could or would have done much better, although a Dem might not have made Walker's most dangerous decisions such as cutting education and hosing benefits for families with children, decisions that will have serious ramifications in a decade or two. I simply understand that his leadership did not positively affect the economy at all.
But here's the real question for you, Eturnal. Given that I have demonstrated why these statistics are lies by other means, completely debunked them with reference to objective facts and simple logic...why were you so inclined to believe them in the first place?
Is it possible that you are being manipulated?
If you so easily believe a claim that is clearly untrue - isn't that the logical conclusion?
If not, why not?