Wisconsin one of many places missing out on the "Trump Boom"

Yesterday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis released its estimates of real GDP by state for 2018, and WisGOP legislators tried to use the figures to keep up their meme of “things are just fine in Wisconsin.”

Wisconsin’s GDP growth last year was best since 2010
State had second strongest growth in Midwesthttps://t.co/kJnaaBiw8M

— Alberta Darling (@SenDarling) May 1, 2019

Huh, Wisconsin’s economy picked up after a pre-election budget that increased aids to schools and roads (albeit nowhere near enough to make up for past WisGOP damage)? You don’t say!

In addition, if you go back to the last 2 years, Wisconsin is on top for GDP growth in our part of the country.

But also notice that Wisconsin along with other Midwestern states are behind the rest of the nation for economic growth since the election of Donald Trump. And the Midwest is far from alone in being left behind in the alleged Trump boom that Republicans try to sell the public.

Note how all of the dark blue in that map is in the West, Texas and Florida. To break that down a little further, this means ¾ of US states grew at a rate below the country as a whole.

Number of US states above, at or below US GDP rate of 2.9%, 2018
Above US rate 11
At US rate of 2.9% 1
Below US rate 38

On top of Wisconsin falling short of the US rate of growth again in 2018, apparently Bertie DAHHLING didn’t read the article that she’s quoting from, because it also had this tidbit.

The 2018 growth rate marks the first time Wisconsin’s real GDP has increased by more than 2% in a year since 2011. After two years of negative growth in 2008 and 2009, Wisconsin posted 3% growth in 2010 and 2.1% in 2011. From 2012 to 2017, the state averaged 1.3% annual growth.

Wisconsin now ranks 17th in the country last year for economic growth. The U.S. economy as a whole grew 2.9% last year while the Great Lakes region grew 2.2%, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

So Wisconsin never grew as fast in any of Scott Walker’s years in office as they did for the one full year Wisconsin government was under a budget approved by Jim Doyle and his fellow Dems in the Legislature. You sure you want to brag about that, Bertie?

If you back to the end of 2010, which is when the Age of Fitzwalkerstan began in this state, you can see that Wisconsin has consistently been in the bottom half of Midwestern states for economic output growth, even with the slight improvement of the last 2 years.

One other item of note in Wisconsin’s state GDP report is that nearly 40% of the state’s growth in 2018 was in manufacturing. But that sure didn’t translate into significant job growth in that sector, as Wisconsin fell far short of the US rate of growth last year with only 6,800 jobs added (and all in the first 9 months of the year). In fact, for the last 6 months measured, we’ve actually lost 1,200 manufacturing jobs, so don’t count on that sector’s growth in output to continue.

All that extra output also hasn't boosted wages in the manufacturing sector in Wisconsin, as we still pay the least out of any state in the Midwest as of September 2018.

Average weekly wage, manufacturing Sept 2018
Minn $1,269
Ill. $1,261
Mich $1,214
Ind. $1,131
Ohio $1,127
Iowa $1,103
Wis. $1,078

So who’s taking all of the benefits from this bump in manufacturing and other economic growth in Wisconsin? Likely the same oligarchs who are shaking down Bertie Darling and other high-ranking WisGOPs at a DC lobbying firm’s fundraiser this week.

But Darling’s tweet wasn’t just the act of a dimwitted old fool (although that plays in). It’s also part of a cynical strategy to hamstring the Dems that were elected in November. The GOPs want to talk up the subpar situation we’re in today to trick rubes into thinking they accomplished something other than power-grabs over the last 8 years. Then the WisGOPs will try to sabotage Gov Evers’ budget and administration by keeping us under failing Walker/WisGOP policies well after they’ve been rejected at the ballot box, and blame the inevitable stagnation/decline on Evers.

Don’t fall for it. We should be much better off than we are today, and it’ll only change when the paid-off GOP saboteurs in power get the boot at all levels of government.