Just last month, Gov. Scott Walker was boasting about the new jobs created in Wisconsin, trying to claim that half the jobs created in the country were in Wisconsin, thanks to his deregulation and "open for business" policies. It wasn't true.
Well, it's a month later now and things aren't so rosy. But Walker, it appears, has nothing to do with the bad news. WisPolitics.com reports:
The state unemployment rate rose two-tenths of a percentage point to 7.8 percent in July as the state lost 8,200 jobs, including 12,500 in the private sector.
“Wisconsin is not immune to the national economic slowdown this summer, and we are seeing the effects of the national economy in our July numbers,” said Department of Workforce Development Secretary Scott Baumbach.
The DWD release eventually gets around to the numbers:
The latest preliminary seasonally adjusted estimates show a decrease in employment from June to July, including 8,200 overall and 12,500 in the private sector. Compared to July 2010, Wisconsin has added 29,900 jobs overall including 29,400 in the private sector. Without seasonal adjustment, private sector jobs increased by 300 from June to July, and by 37,700 year-to-year.
Clearly Obama's fault. Republicans, of course, had nothing to do with the economy tanking and the stock market's wild ride after the GOP refused to negotiate a reasonable deal on the debt ceiling.
Are people really as dumb as Walker thinks they are?
UPDATE: Scot Ross at One Wisconsin Now adds some perspective:
... 12,500 private sector jobs lost in July and the unemployment rate rising to its highest level in almost a year at 7.8 percent. The news comes after Walker signed into law $2.3 billion in new tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy, while gutting public and higher education and health care, as well as stripping 175,000 workers of their rights.