Pierce draws the WEDC-ALEC lines

Charlie Pierce keeps cementing his status as a leading "guy who gets it," particularly about things here in Wisconsin. He hits on the WEDC story and connects it to Walker's overall failure on jobs here.

As you know, Walker's great promise in both [governor] elections was that he would turn the state around and make it a friendlier place to despoil the wildernes...er...do business. He's certainly done any plutocrat could have asked on that score; I'm surprised they aren't digging for iron ore under the dome of the state capitol by now. The problem — and anyone who's thinking about him as a presidential candidate in 2016, as I certainly am, should recognize it — is that Scott Walker is really rather bad at this.

Those are the numbers provided by the U.S. Chamber Of Commerce, which is basically a trade organization for oligarchs. And they show that Walker has managed to place Wisconsin dead freaking last in short-term job growth and 44th out of 50 states in its overall ranking. It is very hard to get nominated for president as a Republican if the U.S. Chamber is throwing tomatoes at your resume just for laughs. (hilariously, this was released just days after Walker kissed up to the Chamber at an event in D.C. on Monday) Luckily, though, Walker established a special agency to monitor job growth in the state, so he's right on top of this problem.

Except, well, no. They're pretty much screwing up, but they're having a grand old time doing it.

"Auditors also said employees of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., a quasi-private entity, made a number of questionable and unexplained purchases, including season tickets to UW-Madison football games and iTunes gift cards, and contracted for services without conducting open and competitive selection processes."

Pierce goes on to end his blog by reiterating that privatization giveaways like WEDC aren't something unique to Wisconsin, but are instead a nationally-orchestrated campaign.

I'm telling you, don't sleep on this place. Wisconsin is the lab rat for what they want to do everywhere. That they are also screw-ups is comforting, but it's not a real defense.

As I've mentioned before, it's no coincidence that WEDC was a carbon copy of Mitch Daniels' IEDC in Indiana, and that fellow Koch-head John Kasich's "Jobs Ohio" was a copy of both, including the same claims of immunity from audits and disclosure of funds. What is going on here is a national agenda that comes from right-wing stink tanks, and has nothing to do with helping these individual states create jobs or improve the quality of life for the vast majority of the state's residents.