Fire Walker Chronicles: Inside Job

Yet more evidence that GOP Gov. Scott Walker needs to be given the boot:  since he took office in January 2011, Wisconsin has now seen the worst year over year change in the jobless rate:

It seems that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) might have been overreaching when he promised to create 250,000 new jobs in his first term. While Walker has spent the last twelve months slashing state budgets and busting unions, Wisconsinites have been dealing with the consequences. New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that Walker’s state saw the largest decrease in jobs over the last year, dropping nearly a full percentage point:

Over the year, nonfarm employment increased in 45 states and the District of Columbia, decreased in 4 states, and was unchanged in Alabama. The largest over-the-year percentage increase occurred in North Dakota (+6.5 percent). The largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment occurred in Wisconsin (-0.9 percent).

Walker, meanwhile, told Newsmax this week that, “We ultimately saw a net increase in jobs this year.” That is incorrect, unless by ‘we’ he means a group other than Wisconsinites.

Oops.  And surprise, the state's steep austerity measures have put it in dead last among the 50 states in job growth in 2011.  Shocking, I know:  austerity doesn't work.  Imagine that.

Guess what, Wisconsin?  You get to do something about it.