Walker's Minions & Their Cherry-Picked Statistics

Tom Hefty (conservative shill, Wisconsin Policy Research Institute affiliate and Journal Sentinel contributor), in an attempt to make Scott Walker's policies appear effective, cherry-picks statistics to make his point. Actually he just rattles off numerous surveys that say Wisconsin is headed in the right direction, Wisconsin is poised for job growth and Wisconsin has a bright job outlook. More or less, opinions masquerading as statistics.

Hefty, in the article, states, "Economic statistics are frequently complex, confusing and sometimes contradictory. Partisans cherry-pick statistics to make their points." Which is exactly what Hefty's article does.

David Dayen found:

According to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, median household income in Wisconsin is $51,467 a year, nearly $800 below the national average. And it has fallen consistently since the passage of the anti-union law in 2011, despite a small bounce-back nationally in 2013. The Bureau of Economic Analysis puts Wisconsin in the middle of the pack on earnings growth, despite a fairly tight labor market with a headline unemployment rate of 5.2 percent.

Moreover, the meager earnings growth that has come to Wisconsin has mostly gone to the top 1 percent of earners. Another Wisconsin Budget Project report shows that the state hit a record share of income going to the very top in 2012, a year after passage of the anti-union law. That doesn’t include the $2 billion in tax cuts Walker initiated in his first term, which went disproportionately to the highest wage earners. (This is precisely the agendaWalker is likely to run on in his presidential campaign.)

Walker proponents can talk of job growth and moving things forward, but that's all really just meaningless bluster if the jobs aren't decent paying. And, as the actual statistics show, Scott Walker's policies have led to declining household income for most Wisconsinites.