What a Koch-knocker
Hey Wisconsin! Scott Walker thinks you’re stupid.
Scott Walker wants you to forget that he slashed the budget, lied about his reasons for doing so (Spoiler alert! – it was never about the budget), and then stealthily passed a budget repair union-busting bill (despite Democrats had fled the state to forestall the passage of that bill), all in the name of union-busting.
Oh, and let’s not forget about that prank call in which Scott Walker thought he was talking to David Koch, and proceeded to demonstrate how throbbing a Koch-knocker he is.
Well, all of that happened about six months ago, and I reckon Scott Walker thinks that we’ve all forgotten about it. We’ve moved on. No big whoop.
Not so fast, pal.
Sarah Jones at Politicusa has a must-read story about the effect that Walker’s Koch-infested union-busting budget bill has had on job creation. Needless to say, it’s not good news for Walker:
How’s that war against the public sector going for the uneducated Thug King of Wisconsin? Not so great. Remember how Governor Scott Walker justified giving public works to the Koch brothers, giving $2.3 billion in new tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy, while cutting the pay of teachers and union members because it would “create jobs”? Oh, and let’s not forget the hundreds of thousands of union members whose rights were torn away from them in an illegal session in the name of “shared sacrifices”. The job-creators excuse is getting stale and growing increasingly transparent over time.
So far, that little meme is an epic fail. In one month, Walker has cost Wisconsin 2,300 jobs, 800 of them from the private sector and unemployment rose this month to 7.9 percent. To put this in perspective, the Republicans claim Obama is a failure because there was an overall zero job growth last month for the country. However, when we parsed those numbers, we found that under Obama, we had private sector job growth that was zeroed out by public sector job losses, due in large part to Republican job killing measures of the public sector in numerous Republican led states.
So, zero job growth is an epic fail, but 2,300 jobs lost is a success.
Are you with me? It’s called spin. Walker’s administration is trying to claim that overall, they are doing better than the nation. But that might be because as Wisc Politics notes, “(T)he state’s unemployment rate had been holding steady or falling for much of the two years preceding his taking office.” Remember, contrary to what Walker the financial genius told everyone, the state wasn’t actually in financial dire straights; they actually had a surplus when Walker took over. A surplus that even his tax breaks couldn’t bust. They had a hundred million dollars plus of surplus when Walker went after the poor, the elderly, the disabled and the working class. They did have a legitimate problem with their Medicaid program, but they had a surplus.
One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statement:
“Another month, another rise in the unemployment rate under Gov. Scott Walker. Given that the Republican legislature gave Gov. Walker all the tax breaks for corporations, all the tax breaks for the wealthy, all the power grabs and privatization and all the dismantling of voter rights and workers’ rights he demanded, it is time for them to admit their way is a failure. Complete and total. We need to immediately scrap what they have done, erase it from the statutes and invest in the people of Wisconsin so that the people of Wisconsin have a fighting chance at undoing the historic economic damage the corporate menace which put Scott Walker into the Governor’s mansion caused. If Gov. Walker’s schemes were going to work, we would have seen some glimmer of hope by now as we pass nine months of this administration.”
Got that? Not only did Scott Walker’s all-tax-breaks-all-the-time policies fail to create jobs, his policies led to a loss of 2300 jobs.
Of course, unless you’re a political junkie, you might not have caught this story. Hell, even if you are a political junkie, you may have missed it (the Teabillies are raining nutbaggery on our hapless heads — it’s impossible to keep up).
Scott Walker is counting on you being unaware of the failure of his policies in Wisconsin and the lies he leveraged to ram those policies through. Certainly the GOP-beholden media is too busy closely following every non-story out there (including Chris Christie: Will He or Won’t He? and Herman Cain: He’s Got Hundred-Ninety-Nine Problems, but Common Sense Ain’t One and Only Black People Get the Blues (And Wear Bedroom Slippers)) that the pressing stories which affect Americans go ignored.
The abject failure of the media in this country fills liars and the corrupted like Scott Walker with such chutzpah that they can realease statements such as the one Scott Walker released yesterday, in which he blames unemployment on the uynemployed.
Oh yes. I’m serious.
You see, it’s the fault of the unemployed that they don’t have jobs because, goshdarnit, they’re just not trying hard enough:
SCOTT WALKER TO LOOK AT UNEMPLOYMENT COMP BENCHMARKS
Wednesday September 28, 2011 by Chuck Quirmbach(MILWAUKEE) Gov. Scott Walker says he’s looking at whether people on unemployment compensation are trying hard enough to make a quick return to the workplace.
Walker met with business executives in Milwaukee at one of the governor’s new by-invitation only jobs forums. Several executives told Walker that they have job openings, but contend some people who are out of work would rather take unemployment comp for as long as they can, rather than get hired. Walker says he supported the recent extension of unemployment benefits, but wants to see if people who get the aid are meeting enough of the requirements of the compensation program.A laid-off factory worker from Kenosha says it’s a slap in the face to hear employers say they can’t find enough people to fill jobs, and then blame the unemployment compensation system. Scott Page says making the jobless hit another benchmark to get an unemployment check would be wrong,
Page says he sometimes comes to meetings of the labor-backed Wisconsin Jobsnow Coalition, which attracted about 40 people to a sidewalk protest outside Gov. Walker’s appearance in Milwaukee.
If this weren’t actually happening, you would not be able to convince me that this isn’t the plot of some Disney movie with a dastardly Scott Walker playing a supervillain, twirling his moustache and petting a hairless cat.
Scott Walker has no shame. The Tea Party has no shame. And Republicans, who allowed this Teabilly virus to infect their party have no shame. They do nothing but strip rights from workers; pit private and public workers against each other; and fear-monger. They drum up hate among citizens through lies and propaganda, and then they turn around and spit in your face — all the while attempting to pass draconian voter suppression laws so the people of Wisconsin can’t rectify their mistake and kick these Randian bootlickers out of power.
It’s obscene.
Scott Walker, ladies and gentlemen! Union-buster, Koch minion, liar, and propagandist.
Let’s give the boy a hand.
(A little Deniece Williams never hurt anyone. Don’t want to leave you feeling too cranky. You’re welcome. (Oh, and pass the damn bill.))
[cross-posted at Angry Black Lady Chronicles]
singfoom
Now, Scott Walker is an asshole. That’s how you use that word properly. Supply side economics and union busting cannot fail, it can only be failed.
Don’t worry, Wisconsin won’t fall for his shit, he’s going to be removed as soon as possible.
Anonymous37
ABL, your site is loading weird (I am using Firefox).
kindness
ABL is right about Walker….but it’s the people of Wisconsin who still seem to be supporting Walker that I really don’t understand.
I figured Breitbard derangement syndrome (you know, where they believe what they want to believe regardless of the data or facts) was confined to conservatives who don’t have much contact with anyone outside their own inbred circle.
WereBear
A couple of nights ago Chris Matthews had some Republican tool (but I repeat myself) on his show to discuss the practice of advertising a job and specifying no unemployed need apply.
Quick as can be, The Tool was leaping into his programmed spiel that this is all the fault of extending unemployment benefits.
At least Tweety exploded with disbelief.
Quicksand
For those wondering, it’s pronounced “Coke-Noker.”
Anonymous37
Whoops, never mind — it’s fine now.
Comrade Dread
It’s called supply and demand. Offer more compensation.
I like how conservatives can simultaneously hold the idea that companies will offer the best compensation packages to attract the best talent and honestly believe that a bunch of qualified workers are going to sit on their asses and pass up a job that is offering the best wage so they can enjoy the $300 a week in unemployment.
rikryah
recall or jail for this mofo…I don’t care which one
TG Chicago
This month’s numbers are bad news for Walker, but it’s a bit too early to say that he’s been a failure.
http://dwd.wisconsin.gov/dwd/newsreleases/2011/unemployment/110921_august_local.pdf
Wisconsin jobs are up by 6,400 over a year ago, and the unemployment rate is down by 0.1%. It’s a far cry from a few months ago when Walker was foolishly trying to claim that he created half the new jobs in the US, but it still can’t be seen as an utter failure. Not yet, anyway.
pete
@rikryah: Why choose?
daveNYC
Obviously any job losses are being caused by the uncertain business environment brought about by the risk of Walker being recalled.
General Stuck
Scott Walker is reminding me more every day of a young punk ass Richard Nixon. Maybe he will grace us with a “Checkers Speech”, although Nixon seemed a lot smarter than this jackass, but the power to corruption bug is the same for both men. Unsound methods.
beltane
I think the job losses in Wisconsin are due to the fact that not everyone is wearing a suit.In the previous thread I was told that everyone, everyone, has a nice suit in their closet and that if they don’t they’re just subhuman scum who shoud DIAF.
If everyone in WI just had the decency to dress like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers the unemployment rate would be zero.
RareSanity
How many executives? What percentage of total number in attendance expressed this opinion? Do you mean that you have made employment offers and they have been refused, or you have not had applicants? What types of job openings are you advertising? What is the compensation for those jobs? What proof do you have that unemployment benefits are the cause of people either not applying, or not accepting jobs with you?
These seem like some pretty basic follow-up questions, and I’m not even a professional. Sure would be nice if someone actually asked those questions.
@Comrade Dread:
“Conservative” business owners–which we all know, were the only ones at this “invite only” jobs event–never completely finish sentences.
Incomplete: I have job openings that I can’t fill.
Complete: I have job openings I cannot fill, at the wage I’m willing to pay.
Linnaeus
Keep an eye out for Walker’s new & innovative “workhouse” plan for dealing with unemployment.
Redshift
None of this was caused by a “Teabilly virus” infecting the GOP. The union-busting, middle-class-impoverishing core has been there since at least Reagan; the Teahadists are just the latest bread-and-circuses the billionaires have bought to convince the rank and file that this is for their benefit.
piratedan
just surprised that they haven’t drafted him to run for President yet
ruemara
@beltane:
I understand you’re offended, but no one said this. You should really turn down the hyperbole a bit. These aren’t people who disagree with you on the goal, they have a different idea about the method. And in no way did they deride your husband or yourself to this extent.
beltane
@ruemara: They were extremely condescending. I promise not to mention this again or to engage with either of these people in the future. I rarely get into confrontations with people either online or offline but the snottiness really got to me. That’s all I have to say about the matter.
Ozymandias, King of Ants
@ruemara:
Funny, because that is exactly was said to beltane here.
Here’s a hint: If you have to wear a suit to a job interview, you’re probably not “working class.”
Rick Massimo
It’s simple really: Scott Walker figures that if he amkes life miserable for enough jobless Wisconsinites, they’ll move to another state! Unemployment rate goes down! Someone else’s problem!
Comrade Carter
Walker is an a-hole, and I say that as someone from the same city (Wauwatosa) that he’s from.
He got kicked out of a Catholic College (Marquette) for his able work, he didn’t graduate.
So he got himself elected to the State Senate, then to head of Milwaukee County (and he bankrupted the place) then he’s off to Madison…
It’s LONG PASSED time to end this nonsense. We got next year to reign him in… A recall.
Omnes Omnibus
@beltane: Christ, do we really need to carry that over to another thread? The everyone has a suit comment was stupid. FWIW the original mentions of suits had to do with Civil Rights protesters in the 50s and 60s when standards were different. Most people were not saying that protesters need to dress like lawyers. Now can we leave that topic over on that thread?
Egilsson
I’ll gladly give again to WI democrats to unseat Walker.
The whole “vast right wing conspiracy” thing involving plutocrats is actually true, and WI does in fact appear to be an important stage in that.
It’s very important nationally to win there.
Mnemosyne
@Ozymandias, King of Ants:
Secretaries aren’t “working class” anymore? When did that happen?
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: The middle class includes both Warren Buffet and his secretary. Weren’t you aware?
kideni
And now the Republicans in the state leg are working on giving Walker the power to make the rules for his own recall. Assholes. I don’t think there’s any way they could stop it altogether, but still. Assholes.
Fred Fnord
> …petting a hairless cat…
Is that a euphemism for masturbation that I have not encountered before?
Mr Stagger Lee
I bet Snott Walker is a big enough dick that he will wear a GO BIG RED sweater at the Nebraska-Wisconsin game, and he is a closet Bears Fan. Probably wear a Red Sox hat at the Brewers playoff game.
SIA
@Fred Fnord: Ha! Hahaha!
ppcli
“Several executives told Walker that they have job openings, but contend some people who are out of work would rather take unemployment comp for as long as they can”
Bullshit.
Ever since I was 10 years old (I’m a lot older than 10 now) I’ve heard this sort of crap. “I know a guy whose brother advertised a job for weeks, but nobody would take it even though there are people in the unemployment office all the time.”
Post the jobs or shut the fuck up. And if there actually are jobs there, and not just a conservative trope that has existed as long as there has been unemployment insurance, they will be filled in hours. If they aren’t it is because either they have extremely high skill requirements, or because they are so unsafe that only single persons with no children and a high tolerance for risk will take them, or they offer compensation that is so low that it is impossible for someone to survive on, let alone support a family on. Or maybe it is something else: if the job isn’t filled there will be some reason that will be obvious to everyone why no sensible person would take the job given the terms and conditions.
Post the damn jobs, asshole, or shut the fuck up.
I’m unusually cranky today but I really am fed up with this never ending monsoon of bullshit.
Ozymandias, King of Ants
@Mnemosyne: What part of probably do you not understand?
It was even italicized.
Nancy Irving
@ppcli:
Exactly. Anybody who says this should be required to list the name, address and *especially* the telephone number of the company that supposedly has these unfilled jobs.
Paul in KY
@Omnes Omnibus: I think it generally helps if protesters dress like lawyers/going to church.
You want to look as stereotypical middle-America as possible (IMO). That way it is harder for the Villagers to paint you as DFHs.
Paul in KY
@Fred Fnord: It would probably work as a euphemism. Try it out ;-)
PWL
I like that fact he went to an “invitation-only jobs forum”. Democracy in action, yeah, right.
I can only imagine an “invitation–only jobs forum” is a bunch of rich Republican types jabbering at at other, and discovering to their surprise that they all agree with each other–the the jobs problem is all the fault of the poors.
I doubt if anybody who might offer a differing opinion–like an actual unemployed poor–was invited to this shindig. But hey, the “people” have spoken, and we now know what the problem is–it’s you!
I like the other thing here–the contempt these people innately harbor for anyone who isn’t rich like them. They seriously believe that “the poor” are lazy, selfish, and stupid–unlike themselves,of course–and would rather loaf around collecting unemployment than actually working.
Obviously, these country-club clowns have never actually tried to live on unemployment benefits–ain’t no bed of roses, I can tell you–nor do they understand how devastating it can be to someone who’s used to working to suddenly lose your job, and become a nothing in society…