Philly Fed sure doesn't think "It's working", only failing governors do

Today's when the companion report to last week's Philly Fed survey on state coincident indexes gets released, with the Leading Indicators report for states. This measures the expected economic growth in the next 6 months, or through October 2012 in this case. And the more the months change, the more they stay the same in Fitzwalkerstan- we have the worst economic growth in the Midwest since Walker took office, and we have the worst outlook in the Midwest as well.

In fact, Wisconsin is slated to only grow by 1.07% in the next 6 months, and when you put together Fitzwalkerstan's bad past and the dim outlook, you'll see that every other state in the Midwest, as well as the U.S. in general, is slated to triple Wisconsin's growth since Walker took office. And that gap really began to widen when Walker's budget became law in July 2011.

This is bad enough, but there's one other item of note to discuss related to the leading index report, and it relates to the upcoming recall elections in another way. Walker has been having a few out-of-state governors show up in support of his policies and to rally the troops in a "we really like what that boy in Wisconsin's doing," sort of way. Included in that was a visit from New Jersey governor Chris Christie on May 1, Lousiana governor Bobby Jindal last week, and Walker's scheduled to have a Koch-infused fund-raiser/event with South Carolina Governor "Darling" Nikki Haley this Friday.

What do these governors have in common with Walker? Union-bashing GOP media whores? Well, that's true, but not the biggest similarity. No, the biggest thing they have in common is that ALL OF THEIR STATES' ECONOMIES ARE EXPECTED TO SUCK - all 4 are in the bottom 10 for expected growth the next 6 months!

Exepcted growth next 6 months and national ranking, Philly Fed

U.S. 1.70%
South Carolina 1.12% (41st)
New Jersey 1.10% (42nd)
Wisconsin 1.07% (43rd)
Louisiana -0.68% (49th)

So apparently one of the things these out-of-staters like about Scotty is that it makes them competitive in a tallest midget contest when it comes to "who's screwing up our state more?" In other words, if the governors of losing states like Louisiana and South Carolina like what you're doing, a real leader might reconsider their strategy.

Call me crazy, but I'd rather be hanging out with people who excel and push me higher than want me to take a ride on a race to the bottom. But then again, I'm not a divisive professional grifter like Scott Walker, and I actually want Wisconsin to improve and become better instead of using the conflict that I created as an excuse to raise money and my national profile. The self-absorption and unquestioned failure of the Walker Administration is a huge reason why he has to be taken out in a week, because unlike the bubble world of RW talk radio and GOP rallies, results (or the lack thereof) DO MATTER in reality.