Bob Haase Another Can Of Worms

The Budget and Job Growth Shell Game

I need to begin by stating that I am neither a Republican or Democrat and have voted for the person I feel is best qualified rather than the party they belong to.  I have found that over the last few years neither party has done a good job of representing the people because they are too busy representing their party.  Having said this I want to bring up a few things about Wisconsin job growth and the proposed budget that might make someone think differently, but I would have said almost the same thing when Governor Doyle was in office.

I will begin with job growth.  During the last election Governor Walker said that Wisconsin ranked third highest among all the states in job growth.  After the election it was reported that Wisconsin ranked 33rd .. not 3rd, and we ranked dead last compared to other midwest states.  Wisconsin has lagged most states for the last 10 years when it comes to job growth and this was also the case when Governor Doyle was in office. One thing that has changed is a practice that Governor Walker started where he releases the quarterly census date for Wisconsin a few weeks ahead of all the other states so that it makes it impossible to really compare Wisconsin job growth to other states.  By doing this he can state any figure he wants and we will never know.

Also during the last election Governor Walker talked up the point that he turned a 3 billion dollar budget deficit into a budget surplus during his first term and he even returned some of the money to the people of Wisconsin because we ended up with a budget surplus.  Now that the election is over we are finding out that Wisconsin is actually facing a budget deficit of around 2 billion dollars and growing.  After starting this year with a $517 million dollar surplus the Legislative Fiscal Bureau is now projecting a $233 million dollar deficit.

Now comes the real problem.  The budget proposal presented by Governor Walker for the next biennium would result in a 2 billion dollar deficit and it still contains all kinds of cuts.  Many of the cuts that are buried in this budget bill will not have any budget implications but will give the governor’s office more power.  By the way… Governor Doyle did the same thing as did the governor’s before him.  There are budget cuts that will affect everyone in the state but especially the middle class.  

Why are we in this problem?  I believe we are in this problem because neither party wants to do anything that would make the other party look good even if it is in the best interest of the people.  Both parties play a shell game so that it is difficult to find the truth about anything.  They know that their constituents will not take to time to check anything out so they can say and do whatever they want. 

My main concern is that this budget bill will get rammed through just like the Right to Work bill so that our governor can get on with his race for president.   You notice him spending more time out of our state already.  Warning… be on the lookout for some smoke screens to cover up the real problems we have in this state such as the budget and jobs because he may not have the time or the real answers to address them.   

Bob Haase is the host of “Outdoors Thursday” heard Thursday mornings at 9:10 a.m. on News-Talk 1450 KFIZ.