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Call Scott Walker and ask him, "Where are the frickin' jobs?"

Wisconsin Leads The Nation In Job Losses (For The Fifth Straight Month) and disappearing recall signs.

In November, Wisconsin lost 3,000 public sector jobs and 11,700 private sector jobs. This is not really news though . . . this is the fifth consecutive month Wisconsin has seen a net job loss. http://www.jsonline.com/business/state-lost-11700-privatesector-jobs-in-november-n43f475-135682638.html

Since July, Wisconsin has lost over 44,000 jobs while the US has created 420,000 jobs . . . are you angry yet? Are you even a little bit upset (if you are a Walker supporter, this is) that your Governor, who promised to create 250,000 jobs in four years is actually well on his way to losing that many jobs during his tenure?

And if you voted for Walker because you liked his catchy slogan, "Wisconsin: Open For Business" you should be on the phone right now asking his office, "Just exactly what business are we in - the business of laying people off?"

If you are one of those Walker supporters who place one of those "I Stand With Walker" signs in your yard, you might want to add the phrase, "On the broken backs of the working-class people of Wisconsin" in order to make your sign more accurate and honest.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/16/1046033/-Make-it-5-in-a-row-Walkers-jobs-report

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And on a related note, I want to apologize to the for calling them and bothering them by asking if their department keeps picking up my "Recall Walker" yard signs. I have had three signs "disappear" from my backyard recently, and am now on my fourth sign.

The other day I came across a man in a white four-door car about to remove my latest sign from my back yard. He informed me that it was too close to the road (my back yard is on Ramsey Ave.) and it was actually in the Village right-of-way, and all signs had to be on "my property". So I moved it back about 20 feet. It is now a good 35 feet from the road, but well within my property limits.

Too bad the sign in the photo I posted on this blog is only two blocks down from my house (on Ramsey Ave.) and is only 15 feet ( I counted) from the road, and has been there for three days now. Why is that sign, that is pro-Walker, allowed to stand close to the road and in the village right-of-way, but my anti-Walker sign is told to be removed or moved WAY back?

Let me put is this way - I was informed that some people in charge of the Village are very big fans of Scott Walker, and don't take kindly to "Recall Walker" signs.

If your "Recall Walker" yard sign has "disappeared" or you have been forced to move it WAY back, email village building inspector, Scott Satula and ask him why he tells his minions to remove certain signs, but allows others to stay? ssatula@greendale.org

J. B. Schmidt December 21, 2011 at 04:33 pm
Of course, the spend more approach. More government spending means less debt. If only some one would have thought of that.
Oh, wait! Europe did. That worked out great. Where should the money come from to pay for these government programs? Let me guess, the rich. When Europe did that, the income for all its citizens dropped. That is why Europe has a lower median wage then the US.
CowDung December 21, 2011 at 04:36 pm
Wasn't Walker's budget and repair bill introduced in the last February-March time frame?
What happened five months ago was the first round of recalls...
J. B. Schmidt December 21, 2011 at 04:37 pm
So when you cut pay to state employees, the economy suffers. But when you do the same to the rich via higher taxes, the same is not true?
You appear to believe that Walker is hiding a money tree in his backyard in Tosa. Where is the money supposed to come from?
Ben Hogan December 21, 2011 at 05:04 pm
Jason@ Maybe while you are on the phone calling Walker you should also place a phone call to your beloved leader Obama and ask him why Lobbyists are still in Washington. He claimed in 2008 that he was going to end lobbying. Also ask him when he plans on closing Gitmo, yet another promise made during the campaign.
Ben Hogan December 21, 2011 at 05:07 pm
He might be hard to get a hold of right now because I think he is flying to Hawaii for 17 days. I think he is meeting up with Michelle who couldn't wait to get to Hawaii, so she and the girls took a seperate plane at a taxpayer incurred cost of 100000 per flight. Not only is this a waste of taxpayer money but can you imagine how much extra greenhouse gasses they needlesly pumped into the atmosphere? These idiots want us to carpool but they can't even fly together. Rich people, God I'm sick of them.
James R Hoffa December 21, 2011 at 05:10 pm
Um yeah, the "Rejections of federal dollars" should read 'Rejections of federal borrowed money that would eventually have to be paid back with interest.'
Tell you what Jason, if you're so keen on leveraging your children's financial future to foreign powers, do so in their name only, but leave my children out of it! $135k+ of debt per taxpayer is enough for me! But, I guess you prefer to just keep on piling on the debt. If you were/are a teacher, I sincerely hope that you never taught personal finance to anyone else's children!
Robert W Farkas December 21, 2011 at 05:43 pm
Jason, It may be best if you stopped replying or even writing your editorials since you are either a liar, are stupid or totally misinformed. You pick.
Who here or anywhere in Wisconsin does not know that the recall effort started as soon as the election ended. That was before your and my Governor, Gov. Scott Walker took office. The public employee unions and its lemmings knew from Gov. Scott Walkers campaign commitments exactly what he intended to do to solve WI budget and failing school problems. ( And he did it in grand style despite the fools and jesters of the union beating there bongos and stinking up our fine Capital) To state that the unions Useful Idiots have only been doing the street walking for the unions for five weeks marks and that marks the begin of the recall is total nonsense and I think you really know that. In Wisconsin, much like our nation under obama, no one want to risk investing in an uncertain market. You people are nothing but rocks in the roadway to real progress. Want to have some fun, just ask those union street walkers what they would do, how they would solve the States problems. Watch them morph into rabid dogs and snarling spitting rodents. It's like a scene from the new show Grimm. Tell us, what was the unemployment rate under Diamond Jim Doyle, the Casino King and Train to Nowhere Humpy Dumpty?
James R Hoffa December 21, 2011 at 06:34 pm
BTW Jason,
I guess you believe that the McIver Institute is also a non-partisan non-profit, right?
Middle Molly December 21, 2011 at 06:56 pm
Patchreader123, where did you get your numbers? Yes, Illinois did enact a temporary tax hike in an attempt to fix the gaping budget hole cause in part by back-to-back felons in the office of the Governor and the recession. But where is your source for the job loss of 89,000 jobs? Unless Illinois is forcing businesses to lie on the employer's reports that they send to the feds, Illinois has actually gained 62,000 jobs this year. And Wisconsin has gained a grand total of 3,200 jobs. Wisconsin was a November turkey in job growth, and it looks as though it will receive lumps of coal for job growth in November: http://mollysmiddleamerica.blogspot.com/2011/11/which-states-were-job-winners-losers.html
patchreader 123 December 21, 2011 at 07:18 pm
Jason:
I reviewed the web site you suggested (http://www.wisconsinsfuture.org). Did you read the October, 2011 newsletter entitled "Who Does Not Pay Taxes?" http://www.wisconsinsfuture.org/publications_pdfs/WhoDoesNotPayTaxes/IWF%20Oct%202011%20WDNPT.pdf It basically laments the fact (rightfully so) that certain big corporations in Wisconsin have paid zero (0) state income tax over the years despite earning millions of dollars in profit. However, what is noteworthy and peculiar about the article is that such tax avoidance has existed from 2000 through 2009, yet the article fails to criticize the Legislators and Governor(s) that permitted such tax avoidance during this period. How do you feel about the Wisconsin Legislators and Governor(s) that permitted this tax avoidance between 2001 and 2009? Will you be as vocal in objecting to this as you are about the activities of the current administration? Or will you remain silent?
J. B. Schmidt December 21, 2011 at 07:43 pm
@Molly
How are we supposed to trust the numbers you presented when you did not adjust down the 7000 for the revised October Wisconsin numbers? Also, have you taken into account the unemployment rate for 'gold star' states? Only one of them is below WI. It would appear we are still a better place to live.
Middle Molly December 21, 2011 at 08:53 pm
Illinois' unemployment rate has gone up, and the number of people reporting themselves as working in Illinois went down in the beginning of the year. However, over the past three months, 23,000 more people in Illinois have reported themselves as working. The unemployment rate represents the number of people both employed and actively looking for work divided by the number of people looking for work. Over those same 3 months, 31,000 people in Illinois entered the labor force... They either got a job or actively started looking for work. Which is why Illinois' unemployment rate went up even though the number of people working went up. In Wisconsin, 15,000 more people reported themselves as working in the last three months, but the labor force (those working plus those looking for work) decreased by 594 people. So that is why, even with fewer people returning to work in Wisconsin, Wisconsin's unemployment rate went down. We have to remember that the number of jobs refers to the number of jobs in a particular state, but the people working in a particular state could actually be living in an adjoining state. People working refers to people residing in a particular state, but those people could actually be working in a different state. This is one reason that jobs numbers do not match "workers" numbers.
Lamont December 21, 2011 at 08:55 pm
I want to thank you Jason for you insightful post. All the information that I'm getting is stating how many jobs this state is losing. All of this other information from supporters of Walker is heresay. One thing I can say of supporters of Walkers, they won't go down without a fight. What's that saying, it's always two sides of a story. The truth and their lies. Jason you have the truth on your side. Don't give up brother.
Middle Molly December 21, 2011 at 09:07 pm
My sources are Bureau of Labor Statistics. I have several large spreadsheets covering various aspects of jobs numbers and I add the publicly-available data from the BLS monthly. The BLS monthly states report http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/laus.pdf provides the last three months of jobs data, and data from a year previously. I calculate numbers for the current year and the last three months, and I calculate percentage increases or decreases and rankings for the various states. If you wished, you could develop your own spreadsheets with this data; it's not very complicated, just a bit time consuming.
The BLS data is the latest available and prior months are adjusted every month. I could explain exactly how the data is collected and I could also give you the UTA monthly report numbers used by the state and federal agencies, but I would run out of room here. If you have a specific question about how I calculated a specific number, just let me know and I will provide all of the BLS reports so that you can do it yourself. Through most of my life I was very middle of the road politically and I always split my ticket. No more. I think Repubs are shameful. So, yes, the tone of my blog is "liberal", but I'm careful to be objective in any of my reports regarding unemployment or jobs. That should be obvious. Our seasonally adjusted jobs numbers are still below what they were when Obama took office. If I were just a hack, I wouldn't report that.
Middle Molly December 21, 2011 at 09:10 pm
CowDung, I just wrote a long explanation of the calculations that one will find at my blog. I welcome ANY question of my methodology or conclusions. I will happily provide my BLS sources and you can crunch the numbers yourself.
Middle Molly December 21, 2011 at 09:17 pm
Interesting.. Down in that article, there is a paragraph that says: "While states on average were 78% funded, Illinois was just 51% funded, according to a Pew Center on the States report issued earlier this year based on 2009 data. Wisconsin and New York both were at 100%." That was 2009 data, before Walker. So..... Walker shouldn't have any problem with pensions. I hope that they are still at or close to 100% funded. It sounds as though whoever was managing the pensions before Walker was doing a good job.
Read more: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20111217/ISSUE01/312179972/pension-peril-illinois-trs-goes-higher-risk-with-investments#ixzz1hD5D8WqQ Stay on top of Chicago business with our free daily e-newsletters
Middle Molly December 21, 2011 at 09:29 pm
The unfortunate reality, J B, is that, when talking about the last year, the national jobs /employment situation has improved much more than Wisconsin's jobs/employment situation. Wisconsin is, as of November, the 46th state in job growth in 2011; the 47th state in job growth this past month, the 50th state in job growth over the last three months, and the 43rd in job growth from November 2010 to November 2011. And fewer and fewer people still believe the "job creator" stuff. The true job creators are people with money to spend. When the people are more confident, they buy more, and businesses will rush to meet the demand.
Middle Molly December 21, 2011 at 09:30 pm
At what price to the environment of Wisconsin? At what price to miner's safety? Or doesn't that matter as long as the Repubs can trumpet "jobs"?
Robert W Farkas December 21, 2011 at 09:51 pm
Middle Molly, Yes what price or impact to the environment are you talking about? Identify what adverse impact there will be please.
Risk to miners??? Do you understand these are open pit mine(s) that are safer than our highways? The people in that area do not care about your politics one single bit. They want honest work with good pay and the mine(s) will provide direct employment for years and with the increase in income it will expand other businesses in the area. No you want those peoples children to starve, wear hand me downs and go bare foot, have no health or dental care from their family or employer and the elderly to freeze in the winter for lack of money for fuel. I am not so heartless or thoughtless. This is what you want for Wisconsin and America?
robert heule December 21, 2011 at 10:14 pm
@ Terance Van Parys The crusade to Illinois was merely a seldom used legislative delaying tactic. What about the abuse of the filibuster by the G.O.P. in the U.S. Senate? A reasonable independent could at least hold his or her lunch down dealing with the Illinois exodus than watching Mitch Mc Connell filibuster on the floor of the US. Senate.
robert heule December 21, 2011 at 10:21 pm
I never used personal attacks or name calling as long as I have been participating in this marketplace for the exchange of ideas. To me politics are fun. My disclaimer is as follows: I don't intend to upset anybody.
Middle Molly December 21, 2011 at 11:20 pm
Farkas, those are the same kinds of arguments that are used to support abuse of labor anywhere.. back in the days of child labor: Do you want these kids to starve? We'll pay them to work! And even now, in slave labor conditions around the world. It was a reason for continuing slavery.. without the plantations, the slaves would starve. Now.. I don't know what kind of "regulations" that Walker is deforming, but I'm never one to assume that all regulations are bad. Before any regulation is deformed, I would want to know exactly why that regulation was put into effect in the first place. If there was no good reason for it, or a political reason for it, or a reason that technology has now made obsolete, then, fine, get rid of the regulation. But can you tell me one particular regulation that is going to be done away with.. and give me any kind of history of that regulation? Or do you assume that, because Walker is getting rid of it, it must be a bad regulation?
Middle Molly December 21, 2011 at 11:21 pm
JB, my numbers use the LATEST BLS revisions.. I revise my spreadsheets every month.
Robert W Farkas December 22, 2011 at 02:27 am
So Molly, even though we are talking about employing the adults (who provide for those children and elderly you want to starve and throw out into the cold) in a work environment that is very heavily regulated you prefer to enslaving the children in the mines. Whatever works for you in your world.
I never considered that concept but the way this obama economy is going you may be right. All regulations are grand in your world, fine, no more fast food for you. No more battery powered vehicles that require mining rare metals and toxic chemical to make the batteries that produce the electricity. No more wind powered turbines to mutilate the birds and disrupt air patterns. No more keeping score or giving grades, no more games of tag or races on the playground. No more pickup trucks or SUV because Molly and the government thinks they are all bad things for either the environment or the people., no more whatever regulation, Molly thinks all regulations are good always good. No, to answer your question, I do not assume anything. I wait to see what is proposed, evaluate the facts and information and then formulate an opinion. Try that path sometime rather than making rash uniformed statements. And your line on slavery and plantations is just plain stupid and ignorant at best. Are you going to invoke some comment regarding nazis next? I do assume that you pulled that nonsense out of one of your body cavities other than your mouth. "Deform" a regulation, that just precious.
Eric December 22, 2011 at 03:24 am
"The crusade to Illinois..."? Crusaders typically head off to do battle for a cause, NOT flee from it.
"... merely a seldom used legislative delaying tactic" ? Our fleeing crusaders perverted a quarom rule designed to insure legislation is not sneakily enacted by a minority of the total membership. Instead our "crusaders" insured that an even smaller minority would bring legislating to a halt. Today's US Senate fillibuster is a travesty, no matter which party is employing it, and they both do it when it suits them. The intent behind the filibuster is to add a further check on legislation that does not have a large majority backing. Reasonable people can disagree over the need for another check in our system in the form of the filibuster. Today's filibuster is nearly anonymous, a behind the scenes paperwork exercise, without political risk, and often abused. If Senators were required, as they once were, to take political risk by visibly tying up Senate business on the chamber floor, then the procedure would be less abused. The filibuster is being used as intended, albeit excessively. Refusal to attend legislative sessions in order stop legislation is a perversion of the quarom requirement.
robert heule December 22, 2011 at 04:05 am
Eric, I'm just trying to keep you busy, what would you have done if I had not sent that? Sorry, I should have used "self exile in the wake of tyranny" instead of crusade. On the serious side, thank you for your excellent comment on the filibuster.
Bren December 22, 2011 at 04:53 am
Wisconsin's state employee pension fund was 0% liability. That was the entire issue about the "budget repair" bill. "We're broke" was a catch-phrase lie. Wisconsin was not in bad shape. The pay cuts/concessions weren't to fill a deficit hole, the funds were to fill the new hole that would be made by the corporate/rich people tax cuts. Not to mention the fact that collective bargaining had nothing to with fiscal issues (as was tacitly admitted by the Republicans when they pulled that part out of the "budget repair" bill and voted on it late at night.
The dishonesty is hurting our state. It has to stop.
CowDung December 22, 2011 at 02:12 pm
While the state pension fund may have had 0% liability, in many localities that was not the case.
If you want to stop dishonesty Bren, perhaps you need to stop posting. Contrary to your claim, there was indeed a 'deficit hole' that needed to be filled, and it was not created by the 'corporate/rich people' tax breaks. Also, it is not true that collective bargaining has nothing to do with fiscal issues--you should know very well that collective bargaining does indeed involve employee compensation. How can it not have anything to do with fiscal issues?
CowDung December 22, 2011 at 02:19 pm
I think you missed my point, Molly...
Edward Willing December 24, 2011 at 05:56 pm
Could it be that the jobs that have been lost are legitimately the responsibility of a national economic problem for the last three years, and a WISCONSIN Governor problem for 8 years?
Such selective vitriol is so transparent. The climate here for job creation is better than it was, but cannot happen in too short a time. And qutie frankly, the psychotic behavior of Wisconsin's union leftists is plenty reason enough for businesses to now wait out what they initially perceived as a very positive change for our state. Those treating our Governor and Reps and Senators they way they have been have done NOTHING to move our state forward. So in other words, thanks alot.

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Mark Maley (Editor) June 8, 2013 at 05:59 pm
Welcome to Greendale! We're glad to see that you're part of our community. Patch readers can findRead More out more about this new business in a profile that will be published next week.
David Cotey (Editor) June 9, 2013 at 11:04 am
We actually did a story on Friday! :)Read More http://greendale.patch.com/groups/business-news/p/florist-opening-second-location-in-downtown-greendale
Steve ® June 6, 2013 at 12:38 am
LOL teachers doing anything in the summer. Full time pay for part time work and you think they willRead More use this without a union mandate!
Walker celebrates after defeating the liberal unionista blue fisters
Jason Patzfahl June 5, 2013 at 12:23 pm
We can look up to see who signed a recall of their elected official because of grievances, but weRead More cannot look up who donated large wads of ca$h to the same official's campaign...Thank you GOP for turning that window of open accountability into a one-way mirror with the GOP looking out and everyone else stuck looking inward, wandering why we don't get the same vantage point. A bit hypocritical don't you think? And BTW, your GOP budget just ticked off every principal, superintendent and public school family in the state of WI today. Good luck on that second term of negative growth (-0.74).
Steve ® June 5, 2013 at 12:38 pm
Jason- See the IRS for list of donors to pro republican groups. They were illegally collected andRead More distributed. You signed the recall, no one made you do it. Deal with it already and stop changing the subject to interject some off the wall non comparison. ~in solidarity
Bren June 14, 2013 at 08:20 am
I think Scott Walker's record speaks for itself in terms of state job growth and misplacedRead More priorities. "Blue fisters" didn't create Scott Walker, he's been a creature of ALEC since the early 1990s. Let's see if he decides to do a Bachmann in 2014. A lot of people who didn't vote in the recall election because they didn't understand/agree may not have voted for him in 2010. Anyone who has a 20-something college grad who can't find a job, male spouse, family member or friend in their 50s who can't find a job, was cut from needed health care benefits, etc., is bound to be looking for better leadership.