If it weren't for democracy we'd have jobs, says Walker

Governor places blame of minimal job creation, losses squarely on businesses' fears of electoral outcomes

Gov. Scott Walker has a problem accepting responsibility.

His administration, during the first two years of its run, has had a difficult time drumming up job creation in the state of Wisconsin (perhaps because tax breaks don't create jobs on their own).

Walker has tried to place the blame elsewhere. In 2011, he blamed the debt ceiling for stalling jobs, despite placing the blame on that event within the wrong month. He's blamed President Obama's health care package even though the vast majority of it hasn't been implemented. He's blamed protesters at the state Capitol for job losses, too, though jobs continued to drop after they left.

Just before June, he even blamed the recall election that had forced him to campaign for the job he had held for 18 months prior.

And now, he's repeating that same old line -- blaming another uncertain electoral outcome for the job losses the state is now seeing. This time, however, it's the general election rather than his own that's the "problem:"

"Overall, we'd like to see greater growth," Walker said in an interview Wednesday. "To me, I'd want to be going at record-setting pace. I don't think that's going to happen, based on the people I've talked with, until after Nov. 6."

Emphasis added.

Walker fails to realize that while jobs are being lost in the state of Wisconsin, in the rest of the country they're improving. Put bluntly, Wisconsin's "worst in the country" numbers aren't typical of the rest of the nation.

Furthermore, jobs aren't created because of electoral outcome -- they're created because of demand for products. Cut people's paychecks, and they're going to have less capital to spend. And with less capital comes less demand.

That's precisely what a UW economist predicted would happen as a result of Walker's Act 10, the bill that cut pay for state workers while simultaneously removing their contract bargaining rights.

The short of it is that tax breaks to businesses don't create jobs -- why would they use extra cash to create jobs if they got it by doing nothing? Without demand, it's simply like getting a greater profit. And as any businessman will tell you, if you can get a greater profit with the same workforce, you shouldn't go on a hiring spree.

Walker can cast the blame all he wants on the outcome of elections affecting the job situation in Wisconsin. But facts are facts: while other states are adding jobs, Wisconsin is seeing dismal growth, or worse, job losses. Until he realizes that demand, not tax cuts that benefit the top one percent, creates jobs, Wisconsin is in for a long, difficult tenure under Gov. Scott Walker.