Walker Promises To Create Jobs? You Gotta Be Fracking Kidding!

On Wednesday, Scott Walker gave another one of his stump campaign speeches disguised as a budget address.  One of his campaign promises was that he was really going to get serious this time about creating jobs in the state, even though the last two years is more than ample proof that he either doesn't know what he's doing or he's simply lying.

Sadly ironic, he gave his false promise of more jobs on the same day that we learned the go ahead was given for the loss of 600 jobs with the closing of the Kewaunee power plant.

Not coincidentally, those 600 jobs being lost is a direct result of Walker's "business friendly environment." The business that he's being overly friendly with is fracking:

Daniel Stoddard, senior vice president of nuclear operations at Dominion, declined to provide details about the negotiations toward a possible sale of Kewaunee.

The prospect of increased regulations, while a concern, wasn’t the main factor in the decision to permanently close Kewaunee.

“Certainly anything that impacts cost or increases costs doesn’t help the situation by any means,” said Stoddard. “But I can’t say that’s the primary driver.”

The plant has become uneconomical because of low natural gas prices, and the boom in domestic natural gas production tied to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Those low natural gas prices have prompted other utilities to shift more of their power generation fleets to natural gas from coal.

And thanks to Walker and the other Republicans that have allowed Big Energy to have their way with our state and country, these jobs losses - not to mention the poisoning of our air and water - is not the only thing we have to be worried about.

And now that they have a grip on our state, not only are they not going to let go, but they refuse to stop trying to claim larger and larger areas for their exploitation.

Karoli at Crooks & Liars has a very clear break down of two reports that just came out that show that fracking could lead to a bursting bubble, like the housing bubble did five years ago, which will send the entire economy into another tailspin:

It is with Matt's book in mind that I read two reports released today about fracking and Wall Street by the Post Carbon Institute and the Energy Policy Forum.

DeSmogBlog boils it down:

Together, the reports conclude that the hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") boom could lead to a "bubble burst" akin to the housing bubble burst of 2008.

While most media attention towards fracking has focused on the threats to drinking water and health in communities throughout North America and the world, there is an even larger threat looming. The fracking industry has the ability - paralleling the housing bubble burst that served as a precursor to the 2008 economic crisis - to tank the global economy.

Playing the role of Cassandra, the reports conclude that "the so-called shale revolution is nothing more than a bubble, driven by record levels of drilling, speculative lease & flip practices on the part of shale energy companies, fee-driven promotion by the same investment banks that fomented the housing bubble..." a summary details. "Geological and economic constraints – not to mention the very serious environmental and health impacts of drilling – mean that shale gas and shale oil (tight oil) are far from the solution to our energy woes."

I'm certain these reports will be dismissed as the left-wing answer to right-wing climate change deniers. Before naysayers do that, they should consider the sources behind the report.

Isn't that just special?

First Walker sends Milwaukee County into an economic downfall. Then he takes the state down the same path of failure as he tries to fool himself into thinking he has a chance to be president. But even before the reality that he won't ever make it to the White House sinks in, he's already helping in another attempt to bring the world's economy crashing down.

Not that he cares.  As long his campaign donors get theirs, and give him his kickback, he doesn't see the problem.

The Real Reason Walker Doesn't Want To Do The Healthcare Exchanges

Karoli, writing at Crooks & Liars, had the misfortune of watching Scott Walker speaking with Paul Gigot about his abdication of his duties in setting up a healthcare exchange in Wisconsin.

She absolutely nails it in her translation from weasel speak to English:

Finally, on the question of the Medicaid expansion, Walker appears cagy when he says the idea of 100 percent funding is tempting, but you know, that damnable fiscal cliff gets in the way. (It doesn't.) Reading between the lines, I see this as the real excuse for his foot-dragging on expanding Medicaid:

In light of the fiscal cliff and everything else out there, there's a very real possibility even with the next year or two that Medicaid funds to states might be reduced and without true flexibility through block grant, now we have a real tough time dealing with what we have today, let alone anyone.

Whisper with me now: Scotty Walker doesn't really want to cover those poor folks. He just wants the money for them so he can use it for other things, and keep kicking the poor in the teeth for every problem there is for as long as possible. Poor people, after all, shouldn't expect health care.

This is so stupid. The federal government is trying to REDUCE health costs by getting these people covered and in front of doctors before they are so sick the state bears a huge burden, but yeah, poor people. Can't stand the idea of poor folks getting a leg up when Scotty can't control the funds flowing through to them. Plus, fiscal cliff!

Now that I've debunked Scotty's stupid reasoning, let me share with you what my strongest reaction to this segment was. It was the closing:

GIGOT: It is going to be a big debate and we'll watch your decisions carefully.

To which I reply, WHY? Why will we watch Scotty's decisions carefully? Why on earth would we care what Scott Walker does? Because he's done so well managing Wisconsin? Shoot, every Wisconsinite on the planet should be overflowing with gratitude that Walker didn't see a way to profit personally or politically from state-based exchanges and the Medicaid expansion.

Damn, she's good. And I'm not just saying that because she included a couple of links to my stuff, but it does show where she gained her keen insight into the ways of the weasel Walker.