First Official GOP President Announcement

I kindof wish it was Scott Walker who made the announcement.

Take that Obama!

I'll bet.

Come on, you know who's really running for the liberal/democrat side.

Take Obama, change the skin pigment, add different reproductive parts, and you get Hillary.

At least Walker has a chance of winning.

I wouldn't go so far as to call him worse-case scenario, but he's pretty *** terrible.

But I'm sure the lobbyists are salivating at the thought; he seems the kind of guy ripe to exchange favors for contributions.

Sure, whatever you say man. We all know how much you hate Walker anyway, so you got to make stuff up just because of that hate.

What am I making up? Obviously I hate the guy. I'm not trying to hide that in the slightest.

He really does seem like that type to me...part of the reason I hate him...

So any talk from Governor Walker and his spokespeople on Faux News or AM radio about how “Wisconsin's budget is better off than it was four years ago,” is simply not true. In fact, much like his idol Ronald Reagan, he's taken an iffy situation and made it much worse with his "tax cut and spend taxpayer dollars on his buddies" policies. And unlike Reagan in 1986, there are fewer options left to get out of the mess that us in Wisconsin are in.

Feel free to keep these facts in your quiver if/when Walker tries to sell his bid for the White House, because you can bet much of our media won't make the effort to look too deeply into the reality back here.

Wisconsin budget worse off as Scott Walker starts 2nd term


I realize you'll just immediately dismiss the story due to the source, but hey...

Dear Governor Walker and Members of the Legislature:
Pursuant to s. 16.43, Wisconsin Statutes, the Department of Administration is
submitting the Department of Revenue's general purpose tax revenue estimates for the
State's biennial budget for fiscal years 2015-16 and 2016-17, as well as a summary of
state agency budget requests. In addition, revenue estimates for the remainder of the
current fiscal year 2014-15 have been included. Such revenue estimates are used to
identify the funds that serve as the base for the biennial budget.

I am pleased to report our state budget's foundation is secure. The State of Wisconsin
completed fiscal year 2013-14 with a positive general fund balance of $516.9 million.
As a result, we entered fiscal year 2014-15 with the second-largest opening balance
since fiscal year 2000-01.
As reported in the Annual Fiscal Report last month, under Governor Walker's
leadership, Wisconsin has built a $279 million balance in the Budget Stabilization
Fund, the largest in its history.

Over the last four years, Wisconsin has achieved balanced budgets. Regardless of the
obstacles constructed at the federal level and the correspondingly sluggish national
economic recovery, Wisconsin continues to manage its budget within the means of the
taxpayers.
Such discipline and prioritization will continue, both for the remainder of fiscal
year 2014-15 and through fiscal years 2015-16 and 2016-17. For the coming
biennium, agency budget requests exceed expected revenues by $1,096 million in
fiscal year 2015-16 and by $1,118 million in fiscal year 2016-17, for a total of
$2,214 million over the biennium.

Wisconsin's Economic Outlook
Wisconsin's economy continues to gather strength after the weakest national economic
recovery since the Great Depression; however, this sluggish national recovery is
contributing to relatively volatile changes in tax revenues. Five and one-half years
after the end of the Great Recession, national real gross domestic product (GDP)
growth has still not reached the 2.7 percent annual real GDP growth we experienced
in 2006.

Nevertheless, we expect moderate but steady increases in GDP in the next three years.

We have already seen solid growth in three of the past four quarters, with the severe
winter substantively and unpredictably impacting the economy for one quarter. IHS
Economics projects GDP to increase by 2.6 percent in calendar year 2015 and
accelerate to 2.8 percent growth in calendar year 2016 and 3.0 percent in calendar
year 2017. Wisconsin's GDP growth remains slightly above the Great Lakes region.

Due to the frugal management discussed earlier, the state will end the 2013-15
biennium with a balance. However, continued spending pressures, particularly in the Medicaid program and correctional system, and unpredictability at the federal level
represent challenges to keeping our fiscal house in order.
Continued expansion in employment, housing, manufacturing and personal income
indicates a broadening and more robust recovery as noted below:

Employment Growth – Wisconsin's unemployment remains lower than the
national average. During the current biennium, Wisconsin has seen its
unemployment rate drop (5.5 percent in September) and is lower than the
national average (5.8 percent in September). Wisconsin's unemployment rate
equaled or exceeded 9.0 percent from May 2009 to March 2010, but it has
declined steadily since that time.
In total, Wisconsin has recovered approximately 91 percent of the private sector
jobs lost in the Great Recession. According to the federal Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS), Wisconsin's total labor force participation remains well above
the national average and ranks 10th nationally for calendar year 2013.

Initial jobless claims in Wisconsin have declined from an average of 12,935 per week
in October 2010 to 6,762 in October 2014, a strongly favorable trend over the
last four years. Layoffs, as reported to BLS, have declined markedly and BLS'
Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages indicates consistent growth in
employment.
As a result of this solid job growth and the corresponding decrease in jobless
claims, the State has fully repaid the unemployment insurance loan from the
federal government. This occurred far more rapidly than anticipated and
provides further incentive for employers to expand job opportunities for
Wisconsinites.

Home Ownership – Wisconsin building permits have rebounded strongly in
recent months, growing 13.6 percent in calendar year 2013 and are expected to
continue this pattern. Wisconsin's rate of home ownership continued to
improve to 68.5 percent in calendar year 2013, higher than the national average
of 65.1 percent; conversely, the national rate of home ownership is trending in
the wrong direction. Through September of this year, existing home sales are
continuing the strong pace of calendar year 2013, while prices are rising
moderately. The combination of robust home ownership, home prices and
home-building will accelerate economic growth, increase employment and grow
incomes through new jobs in construction. This remains one of Wisconsin's
strongest employment sectors.

Personal Income Growth – Wisconsin's per capita personal income grew
1.8 percent in calendar 2013, compared to 1.3 percent nationally. Similarly,
Wisconsin's personal income is projected to grow 4.3 percent in calendar
year 2015, 4.7 percent in calendar year 2016 and 5.3 percent in calendar year
2017.

Here come the jesters, one, two, three.
It's all part of my fantasy,
I love the music and I love to see the crowd,
Dancing in the aisles and singing out loud

My point is read the source they cite.

Now, now. Jesters are kind beings who seek to entertain and brighten peoples lives through song and dance.

These politicians engage in a song and dance of a different kind and the only lives they brighten are not your everyday folks working for a living.

I really like the part where they all pile out of the clown car and set up the circular firing squad.

Wisconsin budget worse off as Scott Walker starts 2nd term


I realize you'll just immediately dismiss the story due to the source, but hey...

I really like the part where they all pile out of the clown car and set up the circular firing squad.

Birth certificate is clearly forged. Also needs to give the long-form birth certificate so I can say it is also forged.

Wisconsin budget worse off as Scott Walker starts 2nd term


I realize you'll just immediately dismiss the story due to the source, but hey...

FY 2014 Ending balance +$516.9 million

FY 2015 Ending balance -$132.1 million

Thanks for giving us journalistic dishonesty. This is about as accurate as Brian William's helicopter story.

Let's ignore the fact that they are taking an internal budget made by the Secretary of State of Wisconsin and attributing it to Scott Walker's budget proposals. I mean, that was the obvious flaw in the argument I would have expected you to have noticed. But let's ignore that.

Also, let's ignore the fact that they are comparing apples to kumquats. I mean, in 2010 there was a whole different fiscal issue going on than what is happening in 2014 (when this was first proposed). I guess people already forgot about the housing crisis that affected the world economy (or conveniently choose to forget it for the sake of argument). But let's ignore that fact too.

Instead, let's get right down to the journalistic dishonesty. For instance, their calculations are incorrect. Lets go over them a bit:


First off, they refused to say ending balances of what. Just to let you know, it's the ending balances of Gross Balance on the governmental version of the Profit/Loss. That means that the state is expecting a gross balance of about $516.9 million of revenues.

They then go further and pointed out:


Their calculation later on made it seem like there is a total difference of $649 million in revenues, but in reality, the SOS is projecting that revenues will go down by $132.1 (mainly because there are some income items associated with contracts, and you cannot project future contracts that have not been signed or even proposed, and it is illegal to do so). There's dishonesty #1.

It then goes further and reports an overprojection of expenses based by anticipated COLA increases + LIBOR rates. The document even stated as such. It stated that this was a conservative projection based by a lower number of income (as stated with contracts above) and a higher number of expenses (as stated in this paragraph). In other words, the author decided to take the overinflated numbers that seemed to be best for his argument just to make an argument. That's dishonesty #2.

To tie it all together, he is adding items that do not belong there, like the issue with the Transportation Funds. He even included it in his analysis, which is a completely different issue and has nothing to do with the budget, as those revenue and expenses are specially allocated for that one specific purpose only. That's dishonesty #3.

I know that you don't understand governmental budgeting, Ramyrez, but don't expect us who do understand to not comment on this.

This is about as accurate as Brian William's helicopter story.

Paul Ryan for president!(if we are talking budgets^^)

Donald Trump for president!!!

ftfy.