The Lost Years

Scott Walker is all about jobs. At least that's what he keeps saying.

Part of his electoral success was due to his message of stopping rail expansion in Wisconsin. Trains are so antiquated; we shouldn't be spending taxpayer dollars on these pie-in-the-sky rail initiatives.

[We'll put aside, for the moment, the fact that the Federal government was going to pick up much of the cost, and we'll ignore all the jobs that would have been created.]

Using public transportation options to more easily and efficiently connect citizens and business over a larger area (in this case: from Gary, IN to Minneapolis, MN) just didn't make sense to Scott Walker.

Now, with terrible job growth and and burgeoning pressure to provide good economic news, Gov. Scott Walker endorses Milwaukee-Chicago metroplex initiative.

Hmmm, how odd. Mr. Economy wins two elections claiming job growth omnipotence and belittling transportation linkages. Now reality has shown (again) Republicans' claims of knowing 'how to grow the economy' are bullshit!

So, what does Mr. Economy do now? He flip-flops and takes the position of his opposition (connect the region, and use public transportation to help facilitate such), which he has railed (no pun intended) against for the past few years.

Of course Walker hasn't called for improved rail linkages. But just admitting there is something to be gained, economically, from better regional linkages is a big step in the right direction.

Wisconsinites have had the misfortune of waiting years for Mr. Walker to have this economic revelation. Time wasted, money lost, and jobs squandered.

Wow! Imagine that, working with others is more economically-beneficial than trying to simply poach jobs with platitudes ('Open For Business').

For Further Reading:
Great Lakes Megalopolis
Great Lakes Megaregion
Megaregions