Keep in mind that Walker's policy exempted police and firefighters so they could go on strike and still engage in collective bargaining.
Just saw some interesting polling on CBS news that 60% of the voters felt that recall should only be used for malfeasance while only 20% felt that it should be used for policy. That pretty much explains the gap Walker's win and polling showing Obama leading Romney in WI. This was less about support for Walker and Republican policies and more about disapproval of the recall process.
No it was about bringing jobs to Wisconsin and eliminating a deficit. You wouldn't of had such high voter turn out if it was about 'disapproval of the recall processs'. People who dislike Walker and disapprove of the recall process are not going to wait 30 minutes in line after work to vote for Walker. I found video footage of mark <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vEwXa197uBU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Except he hasn't done that. Walker's jobs record an unmitigated disaster For months now, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics have unambiguously shown that under Walker's leadership, employment "growth" in Wisconsin has ranked among the worst of any state in the country. The most recent monthly "year-over-year" data, for example, from the BLS' Current Employment Statistics, show that employment shrank by 21,400 in Wisconsin between April 2011 and April 2012 - a period that nicely coincides with the first full year after passage of Walker legislation (i.e. the budget-repair bill and June 2011 budget). This "job creation" performance, a decline of 0.8%, places Wisconsin dead last among the 50 states in job growth during this period. By way of contrast, employment grew nationally during the same period, by 1.4% - the same national jobs growth for which Republicans such as Walker and Mitt Romney routinely castigate President Barack Obama.
Unemployment is down to 6.7% from 7.6% a year ago $3 billion budget shortfall to $300 million surplus
Well so much for the romantic idea that people power and lots of on the ground organizing can easily overcome millions of dollars of elite money. Could this be the beginning of the libertarian/conservative wet dream of more or less direct rule by the deserving elite? The hastening of the end of the middle class that we boomers grew up with and will fade from the memories of the debt ridden youngsters?
You might want to have a check on that 'surplus' figure: http://www.jsonline.com/news/statep...-have-a-budget-deficit-4o3s9ro-137863973.html http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickung...ever-come-clean-on-wisconsins-budget-deficit/ Let's not beat around the bush, most of ths states probably do this as well, according to Forbes, so did Democrat Jim Doyle (Walker's predecessor). But in reality, with the GAAP system of accounting (which Walker himself promised to use as a campaign promise, but rather unfortunately has broken now), Wisconsin still has a budget deficit. A big shame really.
Not to mention that the national unemployment rate has dropped at about the same percentage points as Wisconsin's. If memory serves me correct though, tallanvor is one of the posters who would call the national jobs records abysmal due to who is in office.
That's simply not it. A good chunk of the voters that came out were Obama supporters & Democrats - Obama had a double digit lead with the voters that came out to vote. But many also said they were opposed to recalls outside of executive malfeasance, and those people likely voted for Walker. Unlike places like California that have an extensive recall history, Wisconsin doesn't and people there essentially said that they don't approve of the idea. This loss likely has to do with a number of things: 1. Disapproval of recalls in general 2. Maybe voters there just like Walker - remember, you often have Dem governors in GOP states and vice-versa 3. Maybe voters there just dislike Barrett Money ordinarily has a lot of influence, but when you get this much turnout and this much interest, and everyone knows the basic issue (Walker and his policies), the influence of money decreases. Trying to treat this like any other election misses the entire point. To address the original topic of this thread, I think we can now conclusively say the Democrats' strategy was not surprisingly a total failure. Dems' strength tends to be in legislating - instead, they played a very GOP-like game that they aren't good at and got their butts kicked.
Agreed - every governor balances their states' budget no matter how big the deficit, because that's what is legally required. But most - including Wisconsin - do it by just shifting funds around or through creative accounting. Texas did the same for a few years, which is why they've had such huge holes these last few years. It's not much of an accomplishment and has no real impact on the long-term health of the states.
So it's a better accomplishment to do what Obama is doing and not even put forth the most basic of efforts to balancing the budget? lol seriously you should step back and think about what you write sometimes
I don't recall commenting on Obama and his budgets here. Perhaps you should instead step back and think about what you read.
*points at Europe* See that? Still want to balance the budget? Obviously at some point the government will have to, but to say that now is rather silly. You can't even wait until the whole Europe debacle has blown over and austerity actually works before using that point?
HAHAHAHAHAHA SUCK IT DUMBASS SOCIALIST SCUM!!!! <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xaKlsINl8hk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
God knows we should have useless government bureaucrats like police officers make say .01% of the geniuses that made bogus ratings of liar loan mortgages. It is very simple if you just accept government "bad" any thing in the private sector "good". Hightop, you are such a tool for the .1%..
