The Walker Agenda Is Still Working! Part CLIV

When Scott Walker was running for governor in 2010, he tried to take credit for creating 2,000 jobs at GE Healthcare by throwing money at them to move into the Milwaukee County Research Park:

Walker's campaign whined back:

Walker's campaign manager Keith Gilkes said that a better comparison would be the Milwaukee County Research Park, where GE Medical built an $85 million facility. Gilkes said the facility has created 2,000 jobs. Gilkes said that another comparison would be the $200 million in investments at Mitchell International Airport, which have created hundreds of jobs.

"Scott believes that the government doesn't create jobs, people do - that's why he plans to lower the tax burden so that the private sector can flourish," Gilkes said.

Walker then fell back to his old stand by method of whining...he emailed Charlie Sykes and mewled:

The work we did at the Milwaukee County Research Park with Wauwatosa to attract some 2,000 jobs from GE Healthcare and the nearly 1,000 jobs at the airport from Southwest, Air Tran and Republic airlines are much greater than the city's work in the valley.

But the bottom line is that people create jobs and not government. The Mayor's plan is limited to tax credits which allow the government to pick winners and losers.

We need a better business climate for all - through lower taxes, less regulations and limited litigation. Getting government out of the way is the best way to improve the economy!

But as they say: The government giveth and the government can taketh away."

And by driving the state's economy into the ground, Walker is proving that adage to be true:

GE Healthcare, which has a major presence in Wauwatosa and Pewaukee, announced today that it plans to cut its Wisconsin workforce of about 6,500 employees by 2 percent.

"GE Healthcare can confirm that it is looking at ways to streamline its structure and reduce costs through different ways, including removing duplication and layers in the organization. This will reduce complexity, speed up decision making and help us become more accessible for our customers. Taking these actions will position GE Healthcare well for 2013 and beyond," said GE Healthcare spokesman Benjamin Fox.

"While GEHC regrets the loss of any job, the business needs to make tough decisions in the current economic climate. As part of this process to streamline our structure, approximately 2 percent of positions will be affected here in Wisconsin."

GE Healthcare will try to find "alternative roles" for its employees to mitigate any job losses, Fox said.

I can just imagine what those "alternative roles" might be.

"Oh, you're a microbiologist? We can offer you a position as a janitor, since you know how to kill germs already. It's only a $50,000 per year drop in pay."

To add salt to the unemployment wound, this will be the second year in a row Walker's agenda has caused GE Healthcare to cut jobs. They had cut another 81 people last year.