"Dead last for Midwest GDP" isn't something Walker agencies want to mention

You may remember our Wisconsin Department of Revenue tweeting this out in May.

In 4th Quarter 2017, Wisconsin real GDP grew 3.1%, ranking 8th in the country! #WIWorking @WisconsinMC @CROWE_UW pic.twitter.com/n3YOQDrkMn

— Wis Dept of Revenue (@wi_revenue) May 4, 2018

I called that taxpayer-funded campaigning out at the time for its obvious cherry-picking, and how it forgot to mention the state’s underperformance for all of 2017 as well as the first 6 years of the Age of Fitzwalkerstan.

Well yesterday, we got a report from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis that gave the 1st Quarter GDP figures for Wisconsin and all other 49 states. So why didn’t I see that news being plastered on Walker Administration social media?



Oh, that’s why. Dead last for GDP growth in the Midwest for the first 3 months of this year (BEFORE we started losing jobs in Q2), and 40th in the US.

A big culprit in Wisconsin’s subpar showing was a significant loss in agriculture/forestry sector, which subtracted nearly 0.5% from Wisconsin's total by itself. I've got to wonder if it’s related to the increasing number of dairy farms going under at the time, a trend that continued through the 2nd quarter.

Despite the weak 1st Quarter, the last 12 months measured still has GDP looking pretty good for Wisconsin (4.5% for current dollar GDP, around 2.0 % in real GDP). But in the 7 years since Act 10 was rammed through the Legislature in March 2011, the picture continues to show a subpar performance in Wisconsin.



5th out of 7 Midwestern states, and well behind the US rate of growth. I'm guessing Scott Walker's taxpayer-supported campaigners won't be tweeting out that picture either.