Saturday, May 20, 2017

Walker's Defense of Over-Spending

Governor Walker makes a defense for his Really Large Spending plan.

He sets it up with a lot of noise about recently-added jobs and the current (top-line) unemployment numbers.  That setup is deliberate, because he wants you to connect these with his spending on EdYooomaCaayShun:

...we include the largest actual dollar investment in K-12 education ever. We increase state aid for our technical colleges and the University of Wisconsin System. And we continue to hold the line on tuition to make college more affordable for students and working families.  ...

One has little to do with the other, of course; the vast majority of people employed in construction and manufacturing do NOT have college degrees, and many do not have HS diplomas, either.  And while retail employment IS employment, it is not something on which a State's economy is built.

Nonetheless, the Governor plunges onward!!

...In my budget plan, we have the lowest level of transportation bonding since the 2001-2003 state budget and the lowest overall bonding in 20 years. On top of that, our rainy day fund is 178 times larger than it was when we first took office. ...

(But whatever you do, do NOT look at my budget with your GAAP glasses on.  Pay attention ONLY to the rainy-day squirrel!!)

.....we make government more accountable so we can continue to lower the tax burden on our hard-working taxpayers....

Note well:  the Governor does NOT say that it is a 'smaller Government,' just that it is 'more accountable.'  That's because you cannot define "more accountable" any more than you can define "more".  It's a clever rhetorical device, but is it what we rely upon for umpty-$$Billion in spending?

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