And it looks like Wisconsin outpaced most of its Midwestern neighbors this Spring, with a strong 2.5% growth rate that nearly matched the US rate of 2.8% for Q2. The BEA's graphic also shows the bounce back of oil states in early 2017, after most of those states fell into recession in 2016.
But what was also noteworthy about the BEA's report was summarized this paragraph.
In addition to the new 2017:Q2 statistics presented in this news release, BEA also revised quarterly GDP by state statistics for 2014:Q1 to 2017:Q1 and annual statistics for 2014 to 2016. Updates were made to incorporate source data that are more complete, including the September 2017 annual update to the State Personal Income Accounts, and to align the states with revised national estimates that were released with the November 2nd annual update to the Industry Economic Accounts and the July 2017 annual update to the National Income and Product Accounts.So that's a lot of significant, updated data. And when you look at those numbers, Wisconsin doesn't fare so well at all, and it diminishes the good number that we saw in Q2 2017.
Q2 2017 also was the final quarter of the 2015-17 Scott Walker austerity budget that had significant cuts to try to impress RW oligarchs during his (epic failure of a) campaign for president. So let's look at that time period, and see how our growth measured up to other Midwestern states, and the rest of the country.
That's not so good, especially in the first 12 months, when Wisconsin was 6th out of 7 Midwestern states for GDP growth and barely exceeded 1% overall. The state did a little better in 2016-17 (Iowa's flatlining helped), but we still lagged the country in the rate of growth, and were more than 2% behind our neighbors in Minnesota and Michigan.
We also can use the updated figured from 2014-2016 to get a longer-range view on how Wisconsin has fared in GDP growth since Scott Walker and the Republicans came to power in 2011. And this makes Wisconsin look even worse, as we were 6th out of the 7 Midwestern states over this time period, with a growth rate 1/4 slower than not only the US, but also 3 of the 4 states that border us.
So let's not think the good numbers for Wisconsin's GDP in the middle of 2017 are any indication that ALEC/GOP policies are "working". As you can see, we have a long way to go if we want to catch up from how badly we fell behind during the first 5 years of the Age of Fitzwalkerstan, and given the stagnant population and wage situation that Wisconsin continues to be mired into, it's hard to see how that gap is going to be narrowed in the near future.
As the son of a great CPA, through my schooling thought that not all money is created equal. GDP is purely a monetary measure. What if our GDP stats were all based on prostitution? Maybe they do or don't have records for that, and what taxation results from it? Same with drugs, but does this "economic" activity really bolster Wisconsin's economy?
ReplyDeleteWhen the idea that the GOP pushes is that you should just be thankful for all the crumbs we offer, making work and living life an impossibility... so much for families and progress.
Back in the day I could get a decent job as a welder, without being certified by some school--I just had the the desire to learn and the business took a few minutes of their precious time to train me.
Now you are paid little to be certified to get that job, and management makes all the money, and our economy goes downhill because the workers have little money to spend in our local economies. Just look at Fond du Lac or West Bend; it's really not a success story, but for the fortunate few.
All true. And they definitely want the rest of us to be grateful for the few crumbs that the owners throw our way. Feudalism really does seem to be the end goal for today's GOP, which is why GDP is merely one of many stats that should be used to analyze economic well-being.
DeleteThanks for sharing.
One topic that hasn't really been discussed on here that might need to be looked into is housing shortages in different states. It's interesting Minnesota seems to be struggling with housing shortages in nearly every job market the state has(just search google over the last year)...I can't remember a time in the last 40 years that ever happened and to such an extent. Normally if there were any before, it was due to a specific employment growth area or hot industry in one place. What would cause the entire state to have such extensive shortages in such a short period of time? I'm sure more strict building codes, material cost, labor cost/availability play a role and Wisconsin has workforce housing shortages in some areas like Madison but they don't seem as extensive or serious as they are in MN. Duluth last month hit record low unemployment in October and appears to have a serious housing shortage. That entire region was economically in trouble for years, so some readers may find it strange to see such a rapid turnaround. The problem for Wisconsin on housing is that even with less strict building codes, the state won't have any additional surplus budget funds(like MN to spend hundreds of millions on investments in new and affordable housing subsidies) to invest in areas that do have housing shortages(possibly near fox conn or Madison, so could that possibly cause big problems for those areas? Even with the large amount of cash Minnesota is investing, the shortages are still severe, so it makes you wonder what Wisconsin will face with less funding available if severe shortages do appear.
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