Scott Walker’s Wisconsin: Open For Business Or Turning Away Jobs?

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06/20/2011

Scott Walker’s Wisconsin: Open For Business Or Turning Away Jobs?

This morning, Tuesday June 21, Gov. Walker went on the CNBC morning business show, Squawk Box, to promote Wisconsin as "open for business." Below are some of the real stats behind his "job creation" plan.

Walker’s Budget Repair Bill Could Cost The State Nearly 22,000 Jobs. In March 2011, the Wisconsin State Journal wrote about a study that claimed that Wisconsin would shed jobs under Gov. Walker’s proposed budget repair bill:

Gov. Scott Walker's plans to balance the state budget by cutting spending and public workers' take-home pay will slow the state's economic recovery, according to projections by a UW-Madison economist.

An estimated 21,843 jobs will be lost over the next year or two as public agencies and workers are able to spend less in their communities, said Steven Deller, a professor of applied economics who studied the ripple effects of Walker's budget-repair bill and two-year budget proposal. [Wisconsin State Journal, 03/20/11]

Walker Refused Federal Money That Would Have Created Thousands Of Jobs In WI. "We're giving away $810 million that will go to some other state, and we'll be losing out on anywhere from 4,700 to well over 10,000 jobs," fumed State Sen. Spencer Coggs, who was president of an AFSCME local before being elected to the Legislature. … Thus, Walker drew more than nine times the contributions from highway contractors than his Democratic opponent Tom Barrett. [Commentary, In These Times, 11/16/2010]

Walker’s Refusal Of Rail Funds Cost The State A Major Train Manufacturing Plant. A December 2010 story in the Wisconsin State Journal about Gov. Walker turning down $810 million in federal funds for high-speed rail quoted a spokesperson for Talgo, a train manufacturer with a major manufacturing plant in Wisconsin:

Nora Friend, a spokeswoman for the Talgo train manufacturing company, called the loss of funds “terrible news” for Wisconsin, for the company and its Milwaukee manufacturing plant, and for vendors and workers throughout the state.

“It sends a terrible message to businesses that are considering coming to Wisconsin,” Friend said.

She added Talgo will close its Milwaukee plant, probably in early 2012, and likely will lay off more than half of the 125 workers it expects to have on its payroll at that time. She said she doesn’t know where the plant will relocate.

“We’ll go where there’s business,” Friend said. [Wisconsin State Journal, 12/10/10]

Click here to read the local editorial from the Capitol Times, "Walker to promote himself, not Wisconsin on Squawk Box."

Posted at 10:42 AM in Health Care, Jobs and Unemployment, Media Matters, State Legislative Updates | Permalink

Comments

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Don't forget about the wind energy company that decided to take it's business elsewhere when it became apparent that Wisconsin (uh...I mean Walker) wasn't interested in this form of renewable energy.

Posted by: John B | 06/20/2011 at 08:32 PM

I challenge you to Thunder Dome Walker.

Posted by: Chris Hitchcock | 06/20/2011 at 09:04 PM

So many people also don't know how Walker's bill is taking money away from disabled children and adults that cannot work. My daughter who is now 21, was injured in a car accident 3 years ago, he wants to put her in a nursing home and let the Federal government take care of her instead of having her at home where she belongs because this way our state money doesn't have to worry about her! A beautiful, smart 21 year old girl in a nursing home this would give her nothing to try and live for. What if it was his daughter!

Posted by: Ann Kraemer | 06/20/2011 at 11:20 PM

While I applaud any effort to stand up to Walker's horrible scorched earth politics I have to say that this kind of preaching to the choir messaging is largely a waste of time and effort. First of all, you're sending this to people already in opposition to Walker. You're preaching to the choir here, and because Walker's side knows you're preaching to the choir you can gather thousands of clicks and they will simply say there are also thousands who support what they're doing. You need to start getting some serious messaging out to the world. Where are the TV and radio PSAs? Where are the press conferences to update people and respond publicly as Walker and his lackeys do their business? Where are the town hall meetings to tap into the potential activists out there. Your tactics are just not enough. We're up against billions of dollars on the other side and the only way to counter that is numbers. You have to get to the average American voter, the independent-minded people who may be indifferent a lot of the time. Get it to the people en masse. We're getting demolished in the media every day and we have no public media presence to counter them. PLEASE RETHINK YOUR STRATEGY! Thank you.

Posted by: Anthony Mark Happel | 06/21/2011 at 05:21 PM

God Bless the strong Wisconsin citizens for staying strong and standing up to the lying and manipulating corrupt politician/bullies. Thank God for the AFL-CIO. At no time do we need unions than this. Without the Union, we're doomed to low salaries and poor treatment of workers. Thank you Wisconsin! Thank you AFL-CIO!

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Posted by: Online Logo Design | 10/26/2011 at 03:41 AM

Great informative post regarding Talgo will shut its The usa place, probably in beginning 2012, and likely will lay off more than 50 % of the 125 staff it desires to have on its paycheck.

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