Thursday, April 24, 2014

The Apple Does Not Fall Far From The Tree



By Jeff Simpson

  Matt Walker had this published in the Badger Herald recently:

As a student, I understand the concern about finding a job after college. It’s something that any college student would worry about from time to time.

Where am I going to work? Who will I work for? Will I be able to find a job? All of these questions are common and natural among upcoming graduates.

The good news is that students in Wisconsin can worry a little less.

Since taking office, Gov. Scott Walker, along with Republicans in the Senate and Assembly, have worked to create more economic prosperity for everyone in the state, including college students, so that we may have the opportunity to find a job after graduation.

The problem of course is that it does not reflect reality on the ground:


Employers in Wisconsin shed an estimated 9,500 total public and private sector jobs in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported late last week.

Along with North Carolina (11,300 job losses) and Alaska (2,300 job losses), Wisconsin experienced a “statistically significant” decline in employment, according to a press release from the BLS.

The Wisconsin losses included an estimated 7,900 government jobs, 5,000 jobs in professional or business services and 2,200 in manufacturing.

Incumbent Gov. Scott Walker has maintained that his policies of cutting taxes coupled with a more business friendly attitude in state government will boost the Wisconsin economy.

But after a campaign pledge to see 250,000 new private sector jobs created during his first term, Wisconsin has added only about 100,000 new jobs since Walker took office in January 2011.

The state now ranks 9th out of 10 Midwestern states in job growth under Walker.
 We aren't dead last is a great Walker campaign slogan.  Seriously though, I hope economics is not Matty's major or he could be in for a long college career.   Finally this was at the end of Matt's LTE:

Matthew Walker is the chairman of the Wisconsin Federation of College Republicans. This article was submitted on his behalf by Jesse Dougherty (jdougherty@wisgop.org), the press secretary for the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

Let's see, ghostwritten LTE's with no basis in facts and then sign your name and take credit....seems like Matt Walker is following in his father's footsteps perfectly! 

   

25 comments:

  1. Little Matt doesn't have to worry about where he will work as there is cushy wingnut welfare job just waiting for him.

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  2. I'd like to see Matt's answer -- probably in Walkerspeak -- to the question:

    "Did you write this article or did someone else, Matt?"

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    1. "I learned it from you Dad! I learned it by watching you!"

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    2. Lay off the kid. This is minor compared to what happened when he was a junior in high school as one of the delegates from Wauwatosa East. Was following in dad's Marquette University footsteps on how to run an election. So what if the Republican Party did the writing; at least they admitted doing so.

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    3. Oops. Forgot to write, "delegates to Badger Boys State". My son was at Badger Boys State that year. What happened during the elections that year was a first for Badger Boys State. All the boys in attendance that summer got a stern lecture on "ethics" from the Wisconsin Supreme Court. (which my son continues to find ironic in light of 'chokehold" Prosser.)

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    4. Anon 10:46/ 10:50

      Can you elaborate more or share any more information on this?

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    5. I ask because I've seen a lot of extended family members in election volunteer photos of my own state senator.

      I wonder if this WisGOP is simply one big incestuous feudal network?

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  3. Ugh - I had thought that maybe the sons were to be pitied. No-one gets to choose their parents, after all. But apparently this son, at least, is just as icky.

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  4. "The article was submitted on his behalf" does not mean it was written by someone else. And you could, at least, cite the current employment statistics, which are for March:
    Wisconsin's unemployment rate dipped below 6.0% in March to a five-year low of 5.9%, down from 6.1% in February, reaching its lowest point since November 2008. Wisconsin gained an estimated 6,400 private-sector jobs in March from February.


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    1. "The article was submitted on his behalf"

      Help me to understand what this phrase means.

      Should one consider the following as the complete context, as in "This article was submitted on his behalf by Jesse Dougherty (jdougherty@wisgop.org), the press secretary for the Republican Party of Wisconsin."?

      Maybe the complete contest of your cherry picked quote is: "Matthew Walker is the chairman of the Wisconsin Federation of College Republicans. This article was submitted on his behalf by Jesse Dougherty (jdougherty@wisgop.org), the press secretary for the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

      What exactly is going on? Did the Republican Party of Wisconsin vet or edit the comments of Matthew Walker in any way? Or did they just serve as a helpful conduit in passing this LTE on to the decision makers at the paper? Certainly any other college student could get a letter published by just submitting it directly to the newspaper.




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    2. "Wisconsin gained an estimated 6,400 private-sector jobs in March from February."

      ...and lost 5500 of them due to revisions of the Jan and Feb numbers.

      Total private sector jobs added in those three months? 900.

      (Total non-farm jobs added in those three months? 300 (!!) )

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  5. Grifting isn't easy, but someone's gotta do it. It seems to be the Walker family business.

    Speaking of grifters, notice that WHAAAA-ska doesn't mention the 13,000 jobs lost in February, which is from that same report? Check out Page 3.

    http://dwd.wisconsin.gov/dwd/newsreleases/2014/unemployment/140417_march_state.pdf

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    1. WHAAAA-ska thinks he entitled to his own facts, and made up ones are the best. Like most teabags, he cannot tell fact from fiction.

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  6. @david blaska, we'll see if those statistics hold after the revision period, besides how many people fell into the hopelessness of the long term unemployed, without an extension because Republicans don't care for full bellies of soulless poor people, and are not included in those numbers.

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  7. I note that Blaska has adopted the shift from employment statistics to unemployment rate as telling the story of Wisconsin and jobs. Clever but wrong. The Dems need to pound on the number of JOBS, not an unemployment rate that has been artificially lowered by rules making it more difficult for Wisconsin citizens to claim unemployment. No one can deny that the Republicans aren't long-range thinkers when it comes to political strategy, since the legislature changed the law without knowing just how badly the state would be doing in job creation. I suspect that the switch to unemployment as the indicator of economic health was in the works within a year of Walker's election, or at least when hiring did not take off like a rocket after the recall.

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    1. It's hard to debate paranoia but I'll try. Firstly, it is Simpson who used the monthly survey numbers but he did so for February when March was readily available. Secondly, you are mistaken in assuming that the federal BLS statistics are taken from unemployment insurance filings. I quote from the BLS website: "Some people think that to get these figures on unemployment, the Government uses the number of persons filing claims for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits under State or Federal Government programs. But some people are still jobless when their benefits run out, and many more are not eligible at all or delay or never apply for benefits. So, quite clearly, UI information cannot be used as a source for complete information on the number of unemployed." These are federal numbers, JB. Blame Obama. By the bye, if you are so concerned about the economy, where is your impatience with the nations' slowest recovery?

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    2. How could I be impatient with "the nation's slowest recovery" when Wisconsin's "It's Working!" recovery is twice as slow as that? Seriously, David, if you were keeping your messages consistent then you ought to be worrying right now about the U.S. economy overheating 'cause it's going so very much faster down the superhighway of job growth and GDP than Wisconsin under Governor "Choose this Month's Best Sounding Statistic" Walker.

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    3. You're out of your element davey...

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    4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS8X2Qp_6aA#t=19

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    5. Interesting that WHAAAA-ska talks up "lower " unemployment claims, because the Joint Audit Committee just authorized the LAB to take a closer look at why there have been numerous delays in people getting their unemployment benefits processed.

      You don't think the Walker boys would make it harder to claim unemployment just to keep the claims numbers down, would you? NOOOOOO!

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    6. Jesus, Jake! Did you even read the excerpt from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics clearly stating that UI benefits are NOT used to determine unemployment?

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  8. The jobs statistic was the centerpiece of Walker's campaign way back when. He is clearly worried about his failing to achieve half his goal, so he recently tried to weasel his way into getting another year's time to be included with the original 4-year plan.
    250,000 counts only private sector job creation. Look at all the public sector job losses. Those public sector jobs were a vital part of our state economy! I'm sure many of those jobs were Wisconsin university graduates. We should pound away at the hard fact that Walker's private sector job performance is a genuine failure, but it also gives tells little about the damage he's done to our economy.
    Unemployment rate statistics are also very misleading, as the do not count those who have been out of work long-term, which is the predicament for a very significant part of the work force.

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    1. What's doubly funny about that point is that the government has ADDED 8,500 jobs in the last 12 months in Fitzwalkerstan, so now Walker's DWD is trying to take "credit" for it.

      Hey, some lackey has to set up the new wireless router system, right?

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    2. not that waaaASSka againApril 25, 2014 at 6:40 PM

      Probably a few Wankerites paid to troll the blogs and make deposits there upon too. Not that that ever happens here.

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  9. Whatever happened to Governor Payola's "open for business" signs at the state border?

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