Walker's office: State will have budget surplus

cnredd · #1 (**permalink**) 05-13-2012, 02:08 AM

What to do with a guy who not only balances the state budget in 16 months but creates a surplus?...

You try to remove him from office, of course...

Quote:

Republican Gov. Scott Walker's administration said Thursday that its new revenue projections show the state will finish the 2011-2013 budget years with a surplus rather than the deficit predicted earlier this year.

The projections were based on stronger-than-anticipated personal income growth last year, Walker officials said. The numbers could give the governor a boost as he heads into a June 5 recall election against Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. The Democrat has been pounding Walker over his inability to jumpstart the Wisconsin economy.

"This is great news for the state," said Walker campaign spokeswoman Ciara Matthews. "(This) is why voters in 2010 chose Scott Walker to be governor and why they will stand with him again on June 5."

Barrett campaign spokesman Phil Walzak questioned the accuracy of the projections, which were compiled by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, an agency within Walker's administration. Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, issued a statement calling the announcement a political gambit.

"The timing of this announcement from Gov. Walker's partisan budget office is highly suspect given the fact that the governor is in the middle of a campaign," Barca said.

The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated in February the state would finish the two-year budget period that ends June 30, 2013, with a $143 million deficit.

But the state Department of Revenue now estimates that the state will take in about $265 million more than the bureau expected, which should translate to a $275.1 million surplus on June 30, 2012, and a $154.5 million surplus on June 30, 2013, Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch wrote in a letter to Walker.

Obama "creates or saves" eleventy gabillion jobs and no one questions him...Walker, who came right out and showed the people of Wisconsin how to do it through legislation, gets questioned on numbers his opponents WANT to be deficits...

Manitou · #2 (**permalink**) 05-13-2012, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cnredd

What to do with a guy who not only balances the state budget in 16 months but creates a surplus?...

You try to remove him from office, of course...

Well, you see, the union bosses say that is bad for the economy, because taxpayers will not be ripped off by government sector unions giving themselves pay raises, and then working people will have more money to spend on necessities, and, and--well, anyway the union bosses say that's bad.

AZRWinger · #3 (**permalink**) 05-14-2012, 12:58 PM

Who cares if Walker balanced the budget without raising taxes. What is important is what he thinks about gay marriage and how does he explain being a bully in high school.

Infidel Dog · #4 (**permalink**) 05-14-2012, 03:40 PM

This one below makes some interesting observations concerning the Wisconsin economy.

There's a survey showing unemployment in Wisconsin is breaking records for job loss. One would assume that's a survey all these out-of-state-union organizations and other leftist NGOs will use in advertisements leading up to the recall election.

It's curious though that other records are showing the exact opposite of what that survey purports to show.

The lecturer makes a pretty good argument that the Wisconsin economy is improving in spite of what the bogus survey shows.

John Koskinen - Wisconsin Jobs Outlook for 2012 and 2013 - YouTube

I mention that, because what I don't understand is how close the polls are in this coming election. Surely the average Wisconsite isn't against things getting better. Here's the answer, I think. If the state of the Wisconsin economy is mentioned by the out-of-state campaigners, they're lying, and they have a ton of money to spread those lies.

Infidel Dog · #5 (**permalink**) 05-17-2012, 03:40 AM

Too mathy for ya, right?

That's OK. Try this one. Just a good ol melody.

"Stand With Governor Walker" ~ by Glen Shulfer - YouTube

saltwn · #6 (**permalink**) 05-17-2012, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cnredd

What to do with a guy who not only balances the state budget in 16 months but creates a surplus?...

You try to remove him from office, of course...

Walker's office: State will have budget surplus

Obama "creates or saves" eleventy gabillion jobs and no one questions him...Walker, who came right out and showed the people of Wisconsin how to do it through legislation, gets questioned on numbers his opponents WANT to be deficits...

Idaho did something similar a few years ago though quieter. They gained money by taking the retired state employee health plan away.
As a direct result my sister-in-law died of diabetes related complications because she was too sick to wade through trying to obtain some other state insurance (which she probably wouldn't have qualified for due to a small pension.)
F*ck Butch Otter of Idaho and F*ck Wisconsin Walker. I hope to heck he walks.

Infidel Dog · #7 (**permalink**) 05-17-2012, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saltwn

Idaho did something similar a few years ago though quieter. They gained money by taking the retired state employee health plan away.
As a direct result my sister-in-law died of diabetes related complications because she was too sick to wade through trying to obtain some other state insurance (which she probably wouldn't have qualified for due to a small pension.)
F*ck Butch Otter of Idaho and F*ck Wisconsin Walker. I hope to heck he walks.

Hyper-emotional, irrelevant nonsense. Walker didn't kill your sister. Making unions pay a portion into their pension isn't taking people's health plans, and Wisconsin isn't Idaho.

More on the battle for statistics. Basically what happened was the Union leftists wants to push a poll sampling 3% of employers saying Wisconsin is losing jobs. Walker pushed a survey out early polling everybody showing Wisconsin is gaining jobs.

The left is fuming, because they don't like Walker being able to release the data early, but here's what it boils down to.

Quote:

Economists generally laud the validity of the quarterly census figures, which are time-consuming to compile. One reason they don't figure as prominently in the political debate over jobs is the six-month reporting time lag.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics uses the quarterly census data to make revisions to the monthly survey data in order to retroactively clean up the inaccuracies that stem from extrapolation.

"The quarterly (census) data is much more reliable," said Brian Jacobsen, an economist in Menomonee Falls with Wells Fargo Funds Management. "If that one's showing job gains, that's going to be tough to argue with. It's a census as opposed to just a sample. That's a reason why that survey is used for benchmarking purposes."

Unlike most employment data, which is the property of the federal government, each state's quarterly census data belongs to the states, according to the bureau.

That gave the Walker administration leeway with the quarterly data, which the governor seized. The early release amounts to a rare action that breaches tradition but doesn't violate any agreements between the bureau and the state, officials at the U.S. agency said Tuesday.

By convention, states nearly always wait for the national release - or at least until the federal authorities review and revise the state data, a process meant to weed out mistakes that usually involve small changes.

Asked if Wisconsin broke any rules, bureau officials responded via email: "No, BLS does not have any concerns. Wisconsin is free to publish its data when it wishes."

With the early release, it's impossible to compare Wisconsin's performance in 2011 with other states. But that wasn't the point that Walker wanted to make. He wanted to show that Wisconsin generated jobs last year.

The next monthly jobs numbers come out Thursday, and the Walker administration is already signaling that it wants to discredit them before they even come out.

Pro-Walker activists circulated a video this week by a Department of Revenue economist, John Koskinen, who methodically critiques what he calls the flaws in the standard monthly employment estimates. Koskinen argues the monthly jobs data is out of step with other more positive indicators.

"I've learned to hate employment numbers because they're benchmarked, re-benchmarked, massaged, changed, revised," said Koskinen, a political appointee who also worked under Walker's Democratic predecessor.

Walker speeds release of positive jobs data - m.JSOnline.com

saltwn · #8 (**permalink**) 05-17-2012, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Infidel Dog

Hyper-emotional, irrelevant nonsense. Walker didn't kill your sister. Making unions pay a portion into their pension isn't taking people's health plans, and Wisconsin isn't Idaho.

...

Yep you're gonna think hyper emotional. It's gettin deep out hear.

saltwn · #9 (**permalink**) 05-17-2012, 12:20 PM

Till the unemployment figures came out. And then azzhole released a revised version

like we didn't see that coming from a paid schill.

Quote:

Jobs report 'unclear,' release time questioned by Eau Claire Economist

EAU CLAIRE, Wisc. (WEAU) - An alternative research method not used in other states has Wisconsin gaining more than 23,000 jobs rather than losing more than 33,000, according to numbers released by the state Wednesday.

"Employers, job creators and job seekers need to know the truth about the actual job picture in the state of Wisconsin," Secretary of Workforce Development Reggie Newsome said.

Newsome said because the new report used numbers from unemployment insurance data of 96 percent of Wisconsin employers rather than a sample of 3.5 percent of employers that were previously reported.

But retired University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire economics professor Edward Young says those numbers don't necessarily reflect the current job climate.

"Different reports will give you different results, so it's important to look at one series of data, in a consistent manner," Young said.

According to Young, the numbers, measured in from Dec. 2010 to Dec. 2011 are too old for most economists to use and he questioned the unusually early release time before the June 5 recall election and before the Bureau of Labor Statistics had a chance to review them.

"It's bad for the country for politicians to manipulate release dates for data, whether they help them or hurt them," Young said.

The state hasn't provided further information as to where the job growth happened yet.

"B.L.S. will be going through the information and doing their analysis, and when they publish the information, they will be providing a break down," Newsome said.

Young says without that data the state's employment numbers are nothing to boast about.

"Depending on the survey that you look at, we're just keeping up, or we are not keeping up," he said. "If your indicators tell you that you're not doing very well, then you should change policy if your indicators tell you that you're not doing well, and you just say, well the indicators must be wrong, I'm gonna look at a different indicator, thats the road to disaster."

Infidel Dog · #10 (**permalink**) 05-17-2012, 01:21 PM

How is that any different than what I said. I explained it better is all.

There was a poll of 3% of employers. It showed job loss. The leftists like that one. They wanted to campaign on it.

There is another collection of statistics. That polls almost 100% for employment figures. That one wasn't due until after the election. It shows job gain. Walker pushed it through early.

The left is pissed. Now they can't offer their cherry picking study of 3% as if it came straight from God. Walker outmaneuvered them again. He didn't do anything they wouldn't have done if they were in his position, and smart enough to think of it (the first is unlikely and the second impossible). He didn't break any laws.

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