Republican Gov. Scott Walker, on the magic his administration performed by manufacturing new “jobs” numbers showing job growth in Wisconsin (emphasis added):
“…I think that’s good news, not just for me personally, but I think it’s good news as we mentioned to small business owners here, for employers who are looking to grow and expand in the state.”
Yeah, what a coincidence…Gov. Walker’s administration decides to become the only state in the country to calculate jobs numbers using its own method, and just coincidentally that new method of calculating jobs numbers just happens to benefit Gov. Walker’s chances in the June 5 recall election. Nope, there’s definitely no bias in Gov. Walker’s own administration releasing it’s own jobs numbers (numbers that differ greatly from the accepted jobs numbers for our state), and it’s all just a coincidence that the numbers just happen to benefit Gov. Walker!
Phil has done yeoman’s work breaking down just how phony the jobs numbers Gov. Walker’s administration pulled out of thin air really are, but Democratic State Rep. Mark Pocan summed this farce best:
“Creating new numbers doesn’t create new jobs. We’ve all seen Scott Walker struggle to tell us the truth before, and we are seeing it again. In his one year in office, Governor Walker ‘dropped the bomb’ on state workers and dropped the ball on job creation. In 20 days, I’m confident the people of Wisconsin will be able to sort fact from fiction and send Governor Walker packing.”
The truly unfortunate thing about the new jobs numbers concocted by members of Gov. Walker’s administration is that some unfortunate souls will actually believe the numbers released by Gov. Walker’s administration are actually an unbiased, accurate account of our state’s jobs situation, when in reality Wisconsin actually lost jobs last year.
Once again Scott Walker has shown he’ll do or say anything to keep the only job that really matters to him – his own.
I agree, Zach. Chances are good that a great many will believe Walker’s numbers. Perhaps some are unfortunate souls, but there are also a great many who will refuse to consider any possibility other than the accuracy of Walker’s new figures. Facts and evidence will not stir them. Yet, there are probably quite a few who will recognize the cognitive dissonance that is bound to occur. These few will come to their senses.
Is there a threshold for lies that he will eventually break and people will finally see the light? What an embarrassment for the state of Wisconsin to have such a Governor.
Wow good readers, why the doom and gloom on here – were you hoping for terrible numbers?? So much for wanting the best for Wisconsin.
The numbers were backed up by facts and figures, and even the lib bureaucrats confirmed that they were the real deal. Cheer up – 2018 will be here before you know it.
Viva Walker! Paul from liberal Milwaukee
I wasn’t hoping for terrible numbers; I just hate liars.
I need to change my user name with this asshat around…
C’mon Paul, watch the name calling – your president told us last year that we need to tone down the rhetoric….
Don’t go trying to stick me with Obama. He is too conservative and too passive for me. Call him OUR President or THE President but he sure as Hell isn’t MY President
In all the text I see above on the page, I see nothing that informs me. It is all LACKING IN FACTS, EVEN MARK POCAN. The truth lies in the facts. I want facts and evidence, not metaphors or empty rhetoric. WANT FACTS ABOUT THE JOB NUMBERS? Click on the link that follows “Paul has done” near the top of the page (link begins “yeoman’s work) and scroll down. You will learn that the Household Survey data, which Walker uses, makes no assumptions as to where people surveyed are employed. This means people living in Racine and working in Rockford are counted as employed, or living in River Falls and working in St. Paul. This means if jobs were added in Illinois or Minnesota, Walker is counting those as employed people. THOSE are facts. It could swing the numbers in Walker’s favor. Bob LaFallotte almost died in his passion to have the facts. We will lose this battle if we don’t know history or defend our positions with facts.
Greenbeat, Phil provided facts and I provided opinion. There’s a reason I included a link to what Phil wrote, and it’s because I wanted to focus on opinion while letting Phil (our designated go-to guy on all matters related to the economy) fill in the rest.
Greenbeat, then why didn’t Walker use this FACTUAL method before? Why didn’t he count people living here but working in other states before? Oh, could it be because no other state does so — since it’s stupid to do so as a state measure and only useful as a national measure, precisely because of crossed state lines?
More to the point regarding Walker’s promise, you could look it up: He promised to create jobs in Wisconsin. These are not jobs in Wisconsin, when they are jobs in other states where Wisconsinites have to drive for work now, adding to their costs and cutting into their family time, all because Walker is a LIAR. And that’s a FACT.
Greenbeat: I believe that Phil makes the distinction between the Establishment Survey and the Household Survey in his piece. In so doing he demonstrates the facts you are looking for. The fact being that the household survey is not an indicator of jobs created in the state of Wisconsin. At least this is how I interpreted it. If I am wrong in that, I welcome Phil’s gentle correction. 🙂
Apparently it wasn’t clear I appreciated that Phil provided facts. Problem is, since I posted my comment, I found out by digging further that the newest jobs report didn’t use either the Establishment Survey nor the Household Survey but rather a third method that presents numbers as facts before the numbers have been reviewed. Normally the numbers wouldn’t be released until June 28, after they are reviewed. I entirely agree Walker is a liar. He’s been claiming for weeks that he added jobs this year, and he needed “proof” before June 5.
Hey guys, good luck stumbling around on the grassy knoll….
You’re an friggin’ ass, dude.
Comparing the Kennedy assassination to Walker’s making up job numbers in a truly cynical, desperate and disingenuous attempt to cover up the disastrous reality of his policies?
What is wrong with you, you jive-ass wingnut m*therf*cker?!
Walker “cooked the books”. Even the simplest analysis lays that bare. Just deal with it. Oh, yeah, and go back to whatever wingnut echo chamber/cesspool out of which you climbed.
Note to Zach: Shouldn’t you have a filter which prevents two people posting under the same name? You’ve got two Pauls here on opposite sides of the political spectrum. NOT helping the clarity of the discussion.
Do a little reading “wingnut Paul”, and see how honest economists view Walker’s fictional “report”:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/17/1092428/-Wisconsin-Economist-Eviscerates-Walker-s-Actual-Jobs
@ Phil and Zach: There a “hat tip” to Phil and Blogging blue in the linked article.
More reading for “wingnut Paul”:
http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2012/05/governor_walker.html
Am I going too fast for you, mofo? Maybe if you stopped using your finger and mouthing the words. . .
Sticks and stones, guys – why the name calling?? Can’t wait until June 5th!!
Four words, douche-bag: “Your Kennedy Assassination analogy”.
Get some Kleenex for June 6th.
P.S. Change your name. There’s already a Paul here who sees the world a whole lot more clearly than you do.
Yeah, Paul’s Doppelganger is achieving its intended purpose – sowing confusion in order to obfuscate and subvert.
Will the real Paul please stand up? 🙂
Howsa ’bout the real Paul login as “The Real Paul”?