U.S. keeps growing jobs as Wisconsin stalls out

More evidence this week of "same story, different month" when it comes to the U.S. economy's recovery and Wisconsin's continued lagging in the age of Fitzwalkerstan.

First bit of evidence came from Thursday's weekly jobless claims report. It showed U.S. unemployment claims were coming back to normal after the disruptions from Hurricane Sandy, with new claims back to a seasonally-adjusted 370,000, which is around the level it was before Sandy.

The state numbers lag the national ones by a week, and use non-seasonally adjusted data. This is important to note because it included the week of Thanksgiving, which usually drives unadjusted claims lower simply because there are fewer days in the week that the claims office is open. However, this was not the case in Wisconsin.

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending November 24 were in Wisconsin (+5,876), Oregon (+2,328), Ohio (+2,252), Washington (+2,107), and Iowa (+1,262), while the largest decreases were in New Jersey (-23,966) [Sandy effect] , California (-7,053), New York (-6,682), Texas (-6,425) and North Carolina (-2,609).

Yep, we're number 1 yet again in a dubious stat. Now, some of those layoffs were probably shutdowns due to deer hunting (our numbers usually spike around Thanksgiving for that and other seasonal reasons like construction ending), but lots of other states have deer hunting this time of year, and they didn't get increases like this.

And it also continues a trend where Wisconsin's unemployment claims are basically at the same levels as they were this time last year. This is remarkable because the U.S. has had year-over-year drops in unemployment claims of more than 5% in 17 of the last 19 weeks, which will happen in a recovering economy. By comparison, Wisconsin has only had drops over 5% 3 times in the last 8 weeks, and claims have actually been UP 2 of those times.

This chart shows that the bad, upward trend in year-over-year claims, and we are seeing nowhere near the improvement we had from 2009-2010 (shown with the blue line), the year before Scott Walker and the Wisconsin GOP took power.

So we'll see what kind of unemployment clams the week after Thanksgiving holds, because it's a traditional layoff time for outdoor employment.


The other evidence that Wisconsin continues to be left out came from Friday's jobs report, which showed 146,000 more jobs and unemployment dropping down to 7.7%. It wasn't the greatest jobs report, as previous months were revised down by 49,000, making the net gain only 97,000. But especially given the damage from Sandy and probable layoffs from campaign workers with the election over, that's still pretty good.

And as mentioned before, this growth continues to make Gov. Walker's bad jobs record look even worse, as Wisconsin now needs to have created 3,700 jobs in November in order to get the Walker jobs gap below 100,000. With the high unemployment claims in Dairyland, I wouldn't bet too much on us getting under 6 figures.

Walkergate hacks cracking?

I saw last week that Keith Gilkes was going to be part of a Marquette Law School panel discussing the recent elections, and I was stunned at the hubris involved. After all, Gilkes was prominently mentioned in Milwaukee County Assistant D-A Bruce Landgraf's slideshow during the Kelly Rindfleisch sentencing hearing. And Gilkes headed up the "Campaign team," which Rindfleisch illegally worked with to coordinate strategy on Walker's run for governor in 2010 while Rindfleisch was working on the taxpayer's dime in Walker's Milwaukee County Executive's office.

Gilkes also famously gave the order to Rindfleisch and other county staff that there be "not a paper anywhere that details a problem at all" with the O'Donnel Parking garage, when a piece of concrete fell and killed a teen in the Summer of 2010, lest Walker be blamed for mismanagement of the County-owned facility. Gilkes was the subject of the Rindfleisch's statement of "You are in the driver's seat," of who was calling the shots in Milwaukee, a message sent from Rindfleisch's alternate email out of her Milwaukee County offices.

After being a prominent part of the slideshow, I couldn't believe that Gilkes would show his face in public, but he did, along with his ass after the event. Wispolitics captured the following exchange, and I'll add a few notes as well.

Gilkes said Walker's successful defeat of a recall effort in June was likely decided by Wisconsin voters as early as January, when the guv explained his stances and his actions since taking office.

"My gut level feeling was that Walker established himself in January when he told his side of the story. I think essentially, at that point, people had made up their minds," Gilkes said. (That, and tens of millions of dollars of propaganda along with a media that was not willing to challenge what were clearly lies by Walker and his camapaign.)

Gilkes later told reporters voters were "understanding" of the situation and of what happens when there are "problems with personnel." (And who hired those guys, and decided to keep these crooks on board? I don't think people are so understanding now that they see the pattern.)

"He is the one who brought discrepancies to the attention of the DA, and has decisively taken action when anything's been brought to his attention," Gilkes said of Walker. (This is complete BS, because Tom Nardelli told Walker money was missing from the Veterans' Fund, and Walker had no choice but to call an investigation, because he couldn't keep the con up any longer. The only "decisive action" Walker has taken on John Doe from that point on is to stonewall the investigation and encourage talk show hosts to smear it.)

Gilkes also told reporters he "had no knowledge" of a private wireless router system that allegedly enabled a secret email system in the Milwaukee County Courthouse. (Which is why you emailed Rindfleisch using her Gmail address on the secret email system. Do you think we're fucking stupid, Keith?)

Asked if a similar router exists in the state Capitol, Gilkes became angry.

"That's just absurd, I'm done," he responded and walked away.

I agree Keith, I think you're done.

He can join ex-Walker appointee Kevin Kavanaugh in the joint, as Kavanaugh was sentenced to two years in prison today for stealing over $50,000 from a fund for the family of injured and killed veterans that raised some of its funds through an annual event known as Operation Freedom. As I pointed out 2 months ago, Walker's thinly veiled "support the troops" campaign event has a lot of interesting connections to Walkergate.

Walker gave control of Operation Freedom funds over to a local American Legion post in early 2009 [after Kavanaugh was suspected of stealing]. Interestingly, later in 2009 Walker took away the handling of funds for Operation Freedom from the American Legion, and gave it over to a non-profit headed by...Tim Russell. And Russell allegedly began to embezzle the funds for his own use, as well as a "Scott Walker for Governor" website.

The other part people forget about the Kavanaugh and Russell cases is that a lot of the donations for Operation Freedom came from some connected names and businesses, as mentioned on Page 17 of the Tim Russell criminal complaint. Kavanaugh is alleged to have used donations by then-State Rep. Mark Gundrum (who Walker would later appoint as a Court of Appeals judge), and Russell also got some of his Operation Freedom funds from GOP backers and politicians.

Of course, Russell pleaded guilty last week to felony theft for his part in misusing Operation Freedom funds, but prosecutors only recommended 2 1/2 years in jail for Russell, which tells me they got the info they needed on people up the food chain from ol' Timmy.

Capper at Cognitive Dissidence gives an indication who might be the next to fall in Walkergate, and it could be former Walker DOA Cindy Archer, who apparently is trying to sell her Madison home, and was in the room when Act 10 was being drafted with Michael, Best and Friedrich attorneys. Before she abruptly quit her 6-figure gig with Governor Walker's Administration and got her home raided with a computer seizen by the FBI in September 2011, Archer also worked on limiting Capitol access with....then-Walker Chief of Staff Keith Gilkes.

Funny how all these guys know each other, doesn't it? And you thought I was kidding when I called WisGOP an organized crime syndicate. I got a feeling Kavanuagh's sentencing today won't be the last time we'll be able to say this about a Walker hack.

Case closed- trickle down doesn't happen

3 simple stats should tell you all you need to know when it comes to figuring out if wages and wealth actually "trickle down."

The lead from a CNN article from this week lays it out.

Just four years after the worst shock to the economy since the Great Depression, U.S. corporate profits are stronger than ever.

In the third quarter, corporate earnings were $1.75 trillion, up 18.6% from a year ago, according to last week's gross domestic product report. That took after-tax profits to their greatest percentage of GDP in history.

But the record profits come at the same time that workers' wages have fallen to their lowest-ever share of GDP.

"That's how it works," said Robert Brusca, economist with FAO Research in New York, who said there is a natural tension between profits and the cost of labor. "If one gets bigger, the other gets smaller."

Profits accounted for 11.1% of the U.S. economy last quarter, compared with an average of 8% during the previous economic expansion. They fell as low as 4.6% of GDP during the recession.

In fact, a chart of profits shows that the time period of the Great Recession has been the ONLY time since the Bush tax cuts took effect on 2001 that corporate profits haven't been growing as a percentage of GDP.

Now compare that to the wage side. I've popped a version of this chart on in the past, but now the GDP report has updated these numbers to show that wages as a % of GDP is even lower today, down to 43.5%.

You can't help but notice that the only time in the last 40 years when this number has been on the way up has been in the 1990s, when the rich paid a higher marginal tax rate. It proves trickle-down to be absolutely false, as profits and wages are more likely to be hoarded when top tax rates are low, and it is only when the incentive to hoard is reduced through higher taxes that make higher pay and investment in a company a better bet over excessive profits and legialized gambling in the stock and real estate markets.

And it's not like workers aren't doing their part in cranking out more products, because they're as productive as ever. On Wednesday, it was revealed that non-farm productivity was up 2.9% in the third quarter of 2012, and total output was up by 4.2%, both of which were well above expectations. In a related note, unit labor costs were DOWN 1.9%, meaning it was cheaper to crank out the same products. Now if trickle-down and supply-side really worked, workers would be sharing in this increased productivity through higher wages, and both owner and worker would be doing fine, as profit margins would still be high.

So what do workers get for doing their job smarter and better than ever, because obviously they're not being rewarded out of the goodness of the boss's heart, (like they'd be in supply-side world)? Well, they get their wages threatened further when states like Michigan try to pass right-to-work-for-less legislation. Not only is this is a gutless move, because several of the "yes" votes are by lame-duck GOP legislators on their way out the door (probably to a lobbying firm backing corporate slime who support this), it's a pathetic reversal by Governor Rick Snyder.

In articles on the situation, Snyder previously said he wouldn't approve of such legislation, because it was so divisive, but then he changed his mind, basically approving of a race to the bottom by saying that Michigan needed to be "competitive" with neighboring Indiana, who approved of right-to-work-for-less last year. It's never enough with these corporate scum, is it? They're grabbing a record amount of profits while dropping wages to record lows while workers give them record levels of product, and it still isn't good enough.

These people won't stop till they get it all, and they'll try to buy off as many lowlife GOP politicians as they can to try to get there. I fear the message these greedheads got from November's election was to move as fast as they can on these things, because the people have already begun to turn on them and their puppets in legislatures around the country, so they may as well make one last big heist while they have a chance.

And it's going to get ugly as a result. 39% tax rates aren't enough for these guys, I'm starting to think 93% may be more like it.

An actual job creator worth listening to

Unlike GOP job creators who spend more of their time with hands out asking for tax breaks and ways to crush competition, a real Wisconsin job creator got to meet President Obama last week and discuss how to grow business the old fashioned way...by creating a product people want. Oh, and since it was New Glarus Brewing's Deb Carey, they also got to talk about beer.

Carey has been a member of the White House’s small business council since 2011 and has attended council meetings in Wisconsin and Washington, D.C. In 2011 she was named Wisconsin’s Small Business Person of the Year and the national runner-up Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

As for dealing with the fiscal cliff, Carey said she supports preserving the Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class, but believes it’s fair to return to Clinton-era rates for upper income-earners.

“I do think that that is a reasonable expectation,” Carey told me. “You’re ending a tax decrease. You’re just going back to what Clinton had done.”

Republicans counter that raising taxes on the wealthy would hurt many small business owners since profits at most small businesses are taxed at the individual level. But Carey said it’s a very small percentage, in the single digits, of small business owners that “make that kind of money.”

Carey said the small business owners present Tuesday were asked what changes they’d like to see to help their businesses. She told the president more needs to be done to boost the pool of skilled trades workers. Her business has struggled for several years to find qualified workers, such as welders and workers who can maintain beer tanks and pumps.

I'd trust her word on how to get things done. New Glarus Brewing announced yet another expansion this September adding another $7 million expansion to the $75 million brewery building it opened up 4 years (here's a good rundown on how New Glarus built up to the new brewhouse). This expansion put the brewery in the great hilltop location it currently sits in. I highly recommend visiting it if you get a chance, and to go to their abbey underneath with the specialty beers. Today, New Glarus is now the largest craft brewer in the state, and top 30 nationwide, despite not selling the product outside of our home state.

Now this is the way the system should work. Person makes a good product, expands the business, maybe with some help via SBA or other type of help from the government along the way, like New Glarus Brewing did with a TID district in its town, then they hire people to make more product, which expands demand for housing and other products in their community, and economic growth continues at a healthy level. I also find it interesting that New Glarus Brewing had a prominent Obama sign in front of its brewery, and actively opposed a GOP-backed law that changed beer wholesale licensing in Wisconsin.

And also note the comparison to another female-headed private business in South Central Wisconsin- Epic Systems, which has famously refused to deal with vendors that are part of Walker's buddies at Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, and CEO Judy Faulkner has told fellow Epic workers at a conference that she supported the anti-Walker side during the Wisconsin Uprising. This is also while Epic has continued to expand in Verona, and now is nearing 6,000 employees and $1.2 billion in revenue, making it the largest private employer in Dane County.

Looks like the successful folks in Wisconsin business realize that good products, paying for good workers, and increasing demand is the way that things get done in the 21st Century. And the policies that encourage intelligence, innovation, and proper compensation to those who do good work are the way to go in the coming years. It sure beats the "race-to-the-bottom" losers like WMC and the supply-side oligarchs who care more about staying on top and grabbing increasing levels of profit over improving their product and expanding their businesses.

So why does our governor and state legislature seem hell-bent on following that losing right-wing strategy instead of listening to real job creators like Dan and Deb Carey, and Judy Faulkner? Hmmm?

We'll never forget you BB!

Was a bit surprised by the news that Badger coach Bret Bielema was leaving to get a sizable pay increase at Arkansas. I'm not overly concerned with it, though. There's a solid coaching tree with Bielema and Alvarez that leads to Paul Chryst at Pittsbirgh (yes, Chryst is saying he's "comitted to Pitt," we'll see what he does when Barry actually calls him and offers big money), and former UW d-coordinator and NIU head coach Dave Doeren (who took the NC State job a few days ago, but I'm betting he could bail on that job if he wanted to).

And while I appreciate that Bielema got decent results at UW (68-24 in 4 years), and I understand that it shouldn't be taken for granted, there's still his penchant for losing close games and squandering great opportunities, like in 2011 when UW lost 3 games in the final seconds despite having a future starting NFL QB in Russell Wilson. And I won't miss goofy time-management and sideline demeanor that doesn't really behoove itself to great confidence in tight moments.

Now this 13-year season ticket holder would be unhappy if I was looking at ponying up $5-$10 extra a game if UW backs up the Brinks truck for a new coach- I'm near my limitations on the subject as it is, and I'd almost prefer tailgating over paying $42 a pop for often-mediocre games. But I can't blame Bielema for wanting to get out of town before the posse turns on him, and he'll get paid quite well in a beautiful part of the country (my Dad's got a place in the Arkansas Ozarks- it's cool other that they still have dry counties).

But Bucky will be fine as well after Bret Bielema as well. No folks, the Morton years will never come close to coming back to Madtown, us fans know what a winning program looks like, and we won't accept anything less. And the facilities and program and history of putting guys in the NFL has things at a point that this is a helluva job to have. Some good coach will be smart enough to get it.

Voucher schools- another fail WisGOP continues to cling to

Another day, another example of the Wisconsin GOP continuing to double down on failed, self-absorbed policies.

There was a long Sunday article from the Journal-Sentinel's Alan Borsuk where he called for more accountability of Milwaukee voucher schools, and admitted that they don't do a better job of educating students. Borsuk quotes the Travis and Atlas Schools in Milwaukee, who have proficiency levels between 2 and 5.5% when it comes to reading and math, despite each school getting tens of millions of dollars from taxpayers over the last 15 years. When you realize Borsuk was the long-time education writer for the Journal-Sentinel, and continually backed the pro-voucher Bradley Foundation's meme of how Milwaukee Public Schools were failures in need of massive overhaul, you understand just how bad things must be at voucher schools for him to make the following statement.

There are some excellent schools in the voucher program. But, overall, results have fallen short of what was envisioned when the groundbreaking program was launched two decade ago. Results on the state tests show about the same results for Milwaukee Public Schools kids and voucher kids - and neither is close to good enough.

MPS schools have elaborate accountability systems and tons of information is available about each school. The accountability systems haven't been so effective historically, but there are signs of improvement as more low-performing schools are closed. That said, there are still plenty of MPS schools that get results that are not much different from those of Travis and Atlas (and at much higher cost per student).

Milwaukee charter schools also are required to report quite a bit of information publicly and, in many cases, the charter authorizer (at MPS, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee or City Hall) has been pretty effective in holding schools to performance standards, closing quite a few. That said, there are still low-performing charters...

Voucher schools, however, report to pretty much no one. They are accredited by organizations, but accreditation is kind of a big-picture look at whether a place fits the definition of a school. It is not really an accountability system. In practical terms, it's really hard for anyone to tell a voucher school to shape up or lose your money, if the school meets a variety of regulations. A very limited amount of information on voucher schools is public record.

Another study quoted in an October Urban Milwaukee article found little to no difference in test scores between voucher schools and MPS schools, despite voucher schools having a lower percentage of their students being tested, and author Dave Steele goes on to say

There is evidence that tighter accountability standards, including requiring that schools receiving vouchers be accredited and take state standardized tests, has led to better results and fewer bad schools being allowed to participate.

This is remarkable to me, because parents who send their kids to voucher schools (believing that it's a better sitaution vs. MPS) would seem more likely to take an interest in their kids' educations. And as a former teacher myself, I can tell you that having a parent who cares greatly increases a child's chance for success, regardless of where that kid lives or what school he and she attends. So if voucher schools perform no better (and often worse) than MPS, despite MPS having a higher percentage of special-needs students and seeing to be more likely to have parents who don't care about their kids' educations, doesn't that tell you voucher schools are FAILING TO DO AS GOOD OF A JOB AS PUBLIC SCHOOLS?

Heck, even GOP legislators admit poverty and parental involvement are the most likely factors in kids doing well in school. Remember when Mike Ellis, Robin Vos and company were hanging out at Inn on the Park?

That discussion was centered on coming up with other ways to expand the Wisconsin voucher program after allowing it go to Vos's home area of Racine in the state budget. (notice Vos talking about some entrepreneur ponying up $200 million? I'm sure he doesn't stand to make anything out of this deal, it's just a coincidence.) But the bill was written in such a way that vouchers could have been expanded to other areas of the state, and it was only under public pressure that the Legislature decided to close the loophole for the time being in March.

 But if you think the WisGOPs have seen the light and are going to end their backing of the failing, money-sucking voucher program, think again my friend. Gov. Walker annoucned last month that he plans to ask for an expansion of vouchers in the next state budget, while holding public schools to higher accountability standards.  Naturally, Walker did this on the oligarch rubber-chicken circuit in California instead of in Wisconsin (priorities, you know), and on its face, it seems ridiculous for an alleged "fiscal conservative" to just give away free money to unaccountable voucher schools while having big government limits on local public schools.

Then you remember that the voucher hustlers include two former corrupt Assembly Speakers in John Gard and convicted criminal Scott Jensen, who along with others on the voucher lobby gave input on the GOP's illegal redistricting maps. Now these guys are planning to cash in on that gerymandering by having their puppets defund public schools for the lower-performing vouchers, and you can bet there are serious donations in store from the voucher lobby if the Legislature is able to expand this failed policy. And why not, because it's a helluva payoff for those voucher folks to get tax dollars funneled their way, without anywhere near the accountability that public schools get.

What's also not surprising is that the voucher movement in Fitzwalkerstan has nothing to do with results, but everything to do with funneling money to the well-connected. Just like with Logisticare and WEDC, these guys are going to continue to cycle our money in a small circle amongst themselves and their contributors, and leave the vast majority of Wisconsinites out in the cold, with a lower level of performance.

WEDC = Logisticare- the more we know, the worse it looks

I've written several times about the failures of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corportation (WEDC) in the 21 months since the Walker Administration and the WisGOP Legislature signed off on it in 2011. For a refresher, you can go back here to see how they lost millions in state loans as well as here to see how they illegally used HUD funds and funneled money to favored companies.

The big news from yesterday is that it turns out that corporate welfare was failing even more than we already knew, as more than $12.2 million in state loans are past due, not the $9 million that was first reported, and Page 4 of the WEDC report says 70 of 187 loans intended to "support business start-up, job retention, and business expansion" are past due (just under 37.5%).

So why did this data get lost and all of these taxpayer-funded loans be allowed to slip away? Check these quotes from new WEDC CEO Reed Hall and 30-year-old lifetime GOP hack and WEDC No. 2 Ryan Murray.

"I think when you go from 300 staff in the (former) Department of Commerce down to approximately 50, there's inherent staffing issues in that," Hall said in the interview. "Honestly, I don't think enough attention was probably paid to this part of WEDC's function. It seems clear now ... there's certain fundamental loan officer functions that probably got neglected for a while."

Murray said the sudden drop in staffing was partly due to about 200 workers transferring to other agencies that took over the former commerce department's environmental and building and safety regulatory functions. And he said that of the 100 staffers remaining, about half retired or transferred to other agencies that would allow them to retain their state benefit packages.

Staffing at WEDC, which was created in July 2011, is now at about 90 employees, Murray said.

So cutting the staff by more than 80%, throwing new duties and workers to other places without a transition plan in place, and replacing civil servants with years of experience with hacks and other crony newbies didn't work out for ya? As this guy might say,

 

"Oh, you think so, Doctor?"

Wonderboy Murray goes on to say "Simply put, WEDC did not appropriately prioritize its time or the personnel needed to document certain financial processes," and says discussing the software to track the loans were "put on the back burner." Priorities, you know. Like promising $11.7 million in WEDC tax breaks to companies before they won bids that were allegedly open to competition, for example.

In a classic Friday afternoon news dump, WEDC threw out a report detailing WEDC's attempts to account for the missing state loans and the number of loans that are now past-due. As part of these "corrective" measures, WEDC is going to again use taxpayer dollars to get a third-party to do its oversight work, and I say again, because WEDC's first contractor didn't quite work out.

Consulting firm Titus, who was hired to help WEDC create the systems and processes necessary to ensure reliable financial reporting, was not properly managed, resulting in unclear project definitions and confusion among stakeholders....

Titus’ contract has been cancelled, and the company’s work product is being reviewed.

So much like with Logisticare, when something fails in Walker World, try the same thing again with someone else.

Underscoring the seriousness with which we take our responsibility to address these outlined matters and any others requiring attention and action, we have engaged Financial Institution Products Corporation (FIPCO), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Wisconsin Bankers Association, and accounting firm Schenck SC to conduct independent, third-party reviews of our financial systems and processes.

Schenck’s audit of WEDC’s financials for the 2012 fiscal year is scheduled to be complete by WEDC’s December board meeting. FIPCO will review our loan portfolio and recommend risk control policies and procedures appropriate for an organization such as ours. This review is also scheduled for completion by the board meeting.

Well first, that's assuming that the WEDC board is told of the results, unlike what happened in late September, when WEDC Chair Walker said possible HUD sanctions against WEDC was a "need to know" situation, and that the Board didn't need to know. And with these guys, you know that's a big IF. But maybe the Walker boys have learned lessons from Logisticare and the 21 months of WEDC, and are going to change course in the next couple of years.

Oh wait, Page 54 of the recent State Budget Requests shows WEDC is asking for nearly $63 million in state tax dollars for the next 2 years, not much different than what they get now. And the WEDC document confirms that that the Walker Administration doesn't think having an unaccountable organization handing out tax dollars is an issue.

First, let us state unequivocally that WEDC’s mission of supporting economic development and job creation through bold initiatives aimed at propelling Wisconsin’s economy forward remains intact. Moreover, we have uncovered no irregularities that signal misconduct of any type. (nooo, of course not. These failures are all accidental and not a natural byproduct of a failed setup.)

The lapses we’ve identified are isolated to the documentation and reporting processes within WEDC’s financial operations, and there is no evidence that they affect the functional aspects of WEDC’s programs. While serious, these problems are fixable, and they should not discredit the many successes WEDC has achieved. WEDC has successfully created a nimble, efficient, customer-focused organization—one that is better positioned to meet the needs of businesses operating in an intensely competitive global economy than the old Wisconsin Department of Commerce.

Riiiight, because falling behind all of our neighbors in the Midwest is a record worth hanging your hat on, and it's not like you didn't know the WEDC model had the same kind of fails when it was put in place by Mitch Daniels in Indiana.

Yep, they're doubling down on this just like they're doubling down on the Logisticare model, and the crony capitalists and their puppet legislators will keep on plucking the WEDC chicken until we boot them out and put a stop to it. And I have little doubt that this will be the last time I discuss WEDC's epic fails on this page.