News out of DC likely grows Wisconsin deficit even more

A surprise headline out of Washington today was the Congressional Budget Office’s projection of higher U.S budget deficits for the near future. This increase in the U.S. deficit would go from $439 billion in the recently-completed 2015 Fiscal Year to $544 billion in 2016, and would be a reversal of the trend since 2011, as the deficit had been cut by more than 2/3 in the four years since that time.

In addition, future U.S. budget deficits were projected to rise by an additional $1.5 trillion over the next decade. The CBO explains a couple of the reasons behind this projected increase.

About half of the $1.5 trillion increase stems from the effects of laws enacted since August—which will reduce revenues by $425 billion and increase outlays by $324 billion over the 2016–2025 period, CBO estimates, adding $749 billion to projected deficits. Much of that amount stems from the extension of tax provisions by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, which will reduce corporate and individual income taxes.

About 30 percent of the increase in CBO’s projection of the cumulative deficit through 2025—$437 billion—results from revisions to CBO’s economic forecast. Lowered expectations for growth in the economy and for wages and corporate profits led the agency to reduce its projections of tax receipts from all sources by $771 billion over the 2016–2025 period. Lower projections of inflation, interest, and unemployment rates, among other changes, led CBO to mark down projected outlays by a smaller amount, $334 billion.

I’ll leave the tax cuts and extra spending alone for now (I’ll tie them in later), and concentrate on the GDP growth projections that the CBO relied on for this report.

The CBO says 2015’s full-year GDP is still expected to come in at 2.0%, just as they projected in August. But 2016’s growth was revised down to 2.7% vs 3.1% in August, and 2017 dipped to 2.5% vs the last projection of 2.7%. And that 3-year CBO trend of 2.0%-2.7%-2.5% growth for 2015-17 is a notable slowdown compared to what the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau had in their state revenue projections from 12 months ago.

Gross Domestic Product.

It is estimated that real GDP grew by 2.4% in 2014. Global Insight expects accelerated GDP growth of 3.1% in 2015, primarily caused by lower energy prices, which stimulates growth by increasing the amount of disposable income that consumers can spend on discretionary purchases. Real GDP is expected to grow at a rate of 2.7% in 2016 and 2017. Growth in nominal (current-dollar) GDP is expected to track a similar course, accelerating from 4.0% in 2014 to 4.9% in 2015, followed by a slight slowdown to 4.6% in 2016 and 2017.

So 3.1% growth in 2015 was predicted by LFB in January 2015, but now CBO says it’ll be 2.0%. And while 2016 and 2017’s rate isn’t that different, it’s from a much lower BASE due to the 1.1% gap in 2015, so those total output numbers would also be lower.

Let’s also see what the LFB predicted would happen for job growth 1 year ago.

Employment.

The average unemployment rate for 2014 was 6.2%, an improvement from a rate of 7.4% in 2013. The unemployment rate is expected to continue to decline through the forecast period, dropping to an average rate of 5.5% in 2015, 5.3% in 2016, and 5.2% in 2017. The labor force participation rate has fallen each year from 2006 through 2014, declining a total of 3.2 percentage points from 64.6% to 61.4%. This trend is expected to reverse over the forecast period, with the labor force participation rate increasing to 61.6% in 2015, 61.8% in 2016, and 62.0% in 2017.

Total nonfarm payrolls reached their first quarter 2008 pre-recession peak of 138.3 million during the second quarter of 2014. Global Insight expects total nonfarm payrolls to continue growing over the forecast period, increasing to average payrolls of 141.7 million in 2015, 144.2 million in 2016, and 146.0 million in 2017. Private sector payrolls, which reached their prerecession level in the first quarter of 2014, increased 2.5 million in 2014 and are expected to increase an additional 2.8 million in 2015, 2.4 million in 2016, and 1.6 million in 2017. Public sector payrolls grew by an estimated 37,000 in 2014, and are expected to continue growing by 59,000 in 2015, 87,000 in 2016, and 210,000 in 2017 due to increases in state and local employment. Federal employment is expected to decline slightly. Public sector payrolls are not expected to reach prerecession levels over the forecast period.

Now compare that with the actual data that came in. Labor participation rates did not increase in 2015 vs 2014 (the numbers from the BLS are slightly higher than what the LFB quotes, but participation rates were down by 0.1% in December 2015 vs December 2014). This lack of increase in participation rate helps explain that while the unemployment rate was lower than the LFB’s paper indicated for last year, job growth was not as high in 2015 as what the LFB thought it would be.

12-month change in total jobs, Dec 2015
LFB projection private sector +2.8 million
Actual private sector +2.55 million (-250,000)

LFB projection total jobs +2.86 million
Actual total jobs +2.65 million (-210,000)

Average unemployment rate
LFB projection 2015 5.5%
Actual rate for 2015 5.3% (-0.2%)

So even And with the unemployment rate being lower than expected, this may mean that job growth could be somewhat limited, barring a huge increase of participants into the work force (not likely given the large amount of Boomers that are leaving jobs).

What this means is that these projections of U.S. job and GDP growth would reduce the amount of revenue growth that could come in Wisconsin over the next 2 fiscal years (everything else being equal, of course). So combine those slower growth prospects with the below-budget income tax revenues that we’ve seen in Wisconsin for the first 5 months of the 2016 Fiscal Year, and it would seem very likely that the LFB would reduce Wisconsin’s projected revenues from the amounts that were written into the 2015-17 budget 6 months ago.

Now, some of these revenue issues may be offset a bit by the added spending in that deficit-increasing bill that passed Congress, especially in Transportation. By the same token, some of the state’s tax revenue will also go down with the addition of those federal tax cuts, as many of those will reduce federal taxable income, which then reduces how much income the state can tax). So I can’t say one way or the other whether that new tax bill that went through in Congress will help or hurt the Wisconsin state budget picture.

But here’s what I do feel comfortable saying. Today’s CBO report not only predicts higher budget deficits for our federal government in coming years, but the lowering of economic growth mentioned in that document portends a current budget deficit in Wisconsin that will have to be dealt with. It seems likely that those lower projections would be the final source of data needed for the LFB to say Wisconsin tax revenues will be projected down when their numbers come out in the very near future, and it’ll make for even more “fun” in a Walker/WisGOP budget that was screwed up to begin with.

Gordon Hintz's State of the State primer

Just in time for this evening, we get this excellent write-up from a top-notch legislator, State Rep. Gordon Hintz. Rep. Hintz released this State of the State "primer" predicting certain statistics and BS Gov Walker will try to throw out this evening at the Capitol, using some of Walker's pathetic spin in recent months.

Hintz's first point should be familiar to all 4 of you who regularly read this blog.

CLAIM: "We have at least according to two of the statistics from the federal government, the highest number of people last year working in the last 20 years." (http://www.wearegreenbay.com/news/local-news/state-of-the-state-preview) 1/17/16

In May of 2010, Wisconsin had 3,074,000 people in the labor force (BLS). In May of 2015, Wisconsin had 3,076,000 people in the labor force. The labor force growth rate over the past 5 years is an anemic 0.01%. Compare that to the growth of Indiana (.41%), Iowa (.31%), and Minnesota (.61%) over the same time period.

Related to that, Hintz points out that Wisconsin's workforce participation rate has dropped by more than 6.8% since 1995, and their 1.82% drop in the last 5 years matches the drop in participation that right-wing spinmeisters try to use as a mark against the Obama Administration. Sorry Scotty, you didn't build that high participation rate, you haven't increased it since you've been in office, and you certainly don't get to take credit for the "low" 4.2% unemployment rate that's a result from that decline in participation.

There's another one Walker claim Rep. Hintz cites, one which Walker has constantly mentioned throughout his 5 years in office. What I didn't know until Gordon mentioned it was that there seems to be an ulterior motive for Walker continuing to cite this particular source.

CLAIM: “Chief Executive Magazine today ranked Wisconsin the “12th Best State for Business” in its annual survey of CEOs, an increase of two spots over the 2014 ranking, and a significant increase since 2010, when the state ranked 41st.”

Business leaders were asked to grade states with which they are familiar on a variety of competitive metrics that CEOs themselves regard as critical. These include: 1) taxation and regulation; 2) quality of workforce; and 3) living environment. The tax and regulatory grade includes a measure of how CEOs grade a state’s attitude toward business, a key indicator."

One of the State Advocate CEOs for Chief Executive.Net Magazine is none other than Diane Hendricks, Chairman of Hendricks Holding, Beloit, WI. Forbes Magazine estimated Hendricks' March net worth at $2.8 billion. Hendricks and her husband, Kenneth, built ABC Supply. She became chairman of the company after her husband died in 2007. The company posts annual revenue of more than $4 billion.

She was also Scott Walker’s largest donor, and yet owed no state income tax in 2010.

Yes, THIS Diane Hendricks.



It's bad enough when a Governor thinks that literally kissing up to CEOs is a mark of doing a good job (it usually means very bad things to real people), but when he doesn't reveal that "CEO Magazine" IS A MOUTHPIECE FOR ONE OF HIS OWN PUPPETMASTERS, then it looks even more pathetic.

And there are 4 other demolitions of Walker claims in Hintz's primer. Feel free to read the whole thing.

Thought of this MLK evening

These words are sadly every bit as relevant today as they were in 1963.

I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.

- Dr. martin Luther King Jr.
"Letter from a Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963

Sometimes those in power won't do what is needed, because they don't want to kill the golden goose that may have helped them reach power, or don't care deeply enough about the plight of other groups of people being wronged. And that's as true today as it was 53 years ago.

As Dr. King would constantly remind people (especially in his later years), when the status quo is unacceptable and/or declining, then that situation must be changed. And that's only done by DEMANDING it and acting for change.

Sunday morning Vegas thoughts

Quick thought on last night's game from Vegas (where the gambling gods and the nightlife have been nice to me...so far)

It was borderline shocking for the Pack to be even in that game given that their top FOUR receivers were out for most of it. But it's still a lousy defensive breakdown in OT after the D had played so well up to that point.

I'm just glad I'm older now and get over things like this faster as a fan. But 5 playoff losses in the last 9 years coming on the last play of the game? That's just a lot.

Onto the gaming floor and the 60 degrees sunshine.

Gotta get out of Dodge

On a 3-day weekend with a ton of great sports, combined with two buddies 40th birthday, there's only one place to go.



And a whole lot of us have put on some LBs in the last 20 years, haven't we? I'll check in a bit, but I've got more important events to attend to in....VEGAS!

I just hope I don't look like this by Day 2.



But let's face it, given the way Wall Street has been going (and plummeting again today), going to the sports book is a much safer and legitimate investment these days.

Rep. Bowen calls out WisGOPs for not giving a crap about MKE

State Rep. David Bowen (D-Milwaukee) has been building an impressive resume of statements and political positions in recent years, maybe none more than last year when he rightfully expanded the debate on the racist South Carolina shooter to the wider issue of racist speech by right-wing politicians and media members. He’s part of a good group of young Milwaukee legislators that move past the machine politics of the past and are in the process of returning the state’s largest city to its more progressive roots.

And it was Rep. Bowen made that another great statement in light of dimwitted Rep. Bob Gannon (R-262 area code) flipping off Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca. The incident happened after Gannon was rightfully called out on the Assembly floor for his racist and arrogant comments about violence and unemployment in Milwaukee, and Rep. Bowen contrasted bipartisan bills that were passed dealing with issues afflicting many poor people across Wisconsin, and compared it to the anti-Milwaukee attitudes that Gannon and the Wisconsin GOP have.

Today, legislators from both parties, from all corners of the state, came together to pass legislation that addresses heroin abuse, an issue that greatly affects rural areas. This included legislators that don’t represent these areas, because it is good for our whole state when we pick each other up instead of tearing each other down.

Yet, Rep. Gannon, and those on the other side of the aisle who agree with him but who may not be quite as animated, say Milwaukee’s problems are Milwaukee’s alone. In doing so, they choose to separate themselves from ‘We’re in this together’ and instead embrace an ‘It’s your problem, you fix it’ mentality. They have effectively taken themselves out of the equation when it comes to addressing the root causes of poverty, and they have taken themselves out of the equation when it comes improving our state by improving our largest city.

That final paragraph knocks it out of the park, because it’s what infuriates me about the WisGOP mentality in the 262 area code. They and their spokespeople on AM radio claim to be concerned about the economic issues surrounding the poor in Milwaukee, but don’t lift a finger to do anything that might help to solve those problems.

Well, I guess do lift ONE finger when it comes to the City of Milwaukee. In this video clip you'll hear Gannon ramble about some more dog-whistling garbage, and seems to imply that the City of Milwaukee should get more money from the Feds to fight the problem (the state can't put together these funds to target the issue because...?). Then Dem leader Barca comes on the respond, and the incident happens around 1:20 in this video after Gannon and Barca responds (you'll see Barca complain about what Gannon calls the "guess-ture", but you won't see the finger itself).



In fact, the Bob Gannon, Speaker Robbin' Vos and the rest of the GOPpers from the 262 have often made those inequities much worse, whether it’s through cutting inflation-adjusted shared revenues to the city by $55 million since 2000, defunding Milwaukee Public Schools through the failed voucher program and the recently-passed privatization of certain schools, or by using the city as a punching bag for partisan advantage (that means you, Governor Walker), which drives down its attractiveness to outsiders that may want to visit or relocate there.

In addition, the lagging job growth in the Age of Fitzwalkerstan and lack of new start-ups that have resulted from WisGOP/WMC economic strategy keeps a lack of good jobs from being located in and around Milwaukee, which continues the cycle of poverty and economic stagnation. Given that the GOP is in power in pretty much all facets of state government these days, perhaps these guys might want to do something different that helps to attract jobs and talent, and improves the quality of life for the state’s largest city

But that goes to Rep. Bowen’s larger point- WisGOPs don’t want Milwaukee to succeed, and they don’t want violence and unemployment to go down there, because they need that cycle of poverty to continue. If lower-class and other mediocre white suburbanites to feel superior to another group of people, they don’t ask too many deep questions as to why their lives haven’t improved in the Age of Fitzwalkerstan, and why their schools and roads are falling apart, but instead can just blame the poor minorities in Milwaukee for not pulling their share, and back policies that stick it to “those people.”

It’s a pattern that the New Republic’s Alec MacGillis captured very well in June 2014, describing the “Toxic Racial Politics of Scott Walker,” and the Wisconsin GOP that he heads up. MacGillis notes the difference between the heavily GOP “WOW Counties” around Milwaukee (Rep. Gannon is from Washington County, the reddest of the 3), and the city that many of them owe their existence to.

It is as if the Milwaukee area were in a kind of time warp. Like the suburbanites of the ’70s and ’80s elsewhere in the United States, the residents of the WOW counties are full of anxiety and contempt for the place they abandoned. “We’re still in the disco era here,” says Democratic political consultant Paul Maslin. This has affected the politics of the state in myriad ways. The nationwide trend of exploring alternatives to prison hasn’t reached Wisconsin—it has the highest rate of black male incarceration of any state in the country. [AM talk show host/GOP spokesman Charlie] Sykes told me he could track the desertion of the city through the discussions of Milwaukee public schools on his show. “Through the 1990s we were very interested in education reform, and then it was like a button was switched, and those were someone else’s kids,” he said. “That’s when I realized we weren’t a Milwaukee station anymore.”

Predictably, by 2010, the WOW counties were aflame with anti-Obama fervor, and Walker set his sights on the governor’s mansion. This climate should have favored his primary opponent, Mark Neumann, a highly conservative ex- congressman from southern Wisconsin. But so formidable was Walker’s talk-radio base that it altered the course of the race. Day after day, Sykes and [fellow AM radio a-hole Mark] Belling lauded Walker and savaged Neumann. Belling called Neumann a “liar” for criticizing Walker’s county budgets and declared, “No one I know thinks [Neumann] has a chance of winning.” The attacks were unfair but damaging, Neumann told me. Walker beat him by 18 points. In some precincts of the WOW counties, he won close to 75 percent of the vote, but lost to Neumann across much of the rest of the state. To Sykes, it was no coincidence that Walker’s support aligned so closely with the listening range of their stations. “If you look at that map, you see talk-radio land,” Sykes says.

Walker won the general election against Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett with 52 percent of the vote. Some prognosticators expected that Walker might fare better than previous Republicans in Milwaukee County, given that he had spent eight years governing it. In fact, he did no better than the Republican norm, with 37 percent. But in the WOW counties, he exceeded even the GOP’s usual sky-high numbers. In his inaugural address, he took the audience on a long rhetorical tour of the state—“Superior to Kenosha; Sturgeon Bay over to Platteville ...” He did not mention Milwaukee.

Because Walker and the Wisconsin GOP doesn’t care about Milwaukee, and never will, no matter how much that mentality hurts the rest of the state. And that’s why I find the suburban Milwaukee Republicans like Bob Gannon so obnoxious- not just because their complaints are filled with foolishness and dog-whistle racism, but because they’re more concerned with kicking down at the less fortunate than trying to take any steps to improve the desperate situation many poor people in Milwaukee are in.

And it’s a big reason why Republicans from suburban Milwaukee are unfit for office, at any level. I just wish the suburban 262 would secede from the rest of the state, call themselves the “Republic of Fitzwalkerstan”, wish them luck in raising their own tax revenues, and allow the rest of us who do give a crap about this state’s future the opportunity to get to work repairing the damage this horrible mentality of mediocre suburbanites has inflicted on a once-great state.

Walker student loan "reforms" don't erase the higher ed mess he caused

Feeling the heat from Legislative Democrats and advocacy organizations like One Wisconsin Now, and in light of reports that Americans now owe more than $1.3 trillion in student loan debt, Gov Walker felt the need this week to try to look like he was do something on the issue of student loans and the costs of higher education. As a result, Walker introduced a list of proposals intended to show that he also wants to contain higher education costs, with tax incentives and slightly expanded funding for certain grants included.

Gov Walker’s press release supplied a list of bills that he says have been or will be introduced by GOP representatives in the Legislature (though there doesn’t seem to be any listing for these bills in the Text of Recently Introduced Proposals as of this time). Here’s a look at a few of these proposals on student loans and college affordability.

Deducting All Student Loan Interest – authored by Representative John Macco and Senator Howard Marklein, this legislation would eliminate any cap on the tax deduction for student loan interest, which would save student loan debt payers $5.2 million annually when it is fully phased in. This tax deduction would be the most generous of any state in the Midwest with an income tax and benefit roughly 32,000 Wisconsin taxpayers paying off student loans. This deduction also directly benefits middle class Wisconsinites with an average benefit of more than $200 annually for those making between $30,000 and $70,000;

· Increasing Wisconsin Grants for Technical Colleges – authored by Representative Dave Heaton and Senator Sheila Harsdorf, this legislation would increase needs-based Wisconsin Grants by $1 million for technical college students in the biennium or $500,000 annually. This would benefit over 1,000 students throughout the state;

· Creating Grants for Students in Emergency Financial Need – authored by Representative David Murphy and Senator Howard Marklein, this legislation would provide $130,000 to UW System colleges and $320,000 to technical colleges to provide emergency grants to students. This approach has been credited with increasing the likelihood a student finishes his or her degree in these unfortunate situations by increasing student retention;

For selfish reasons, I approve of the proposal on student loan interes, and wish the concept was taken to Congress, because the phase-out level of that tax deduction is at a point where a couple that each earn the median amount for people with a master’s degree isn’t able to use it. It seems a bit odd to not allow those who put in the work to get their extra education and income aren’t able to write off the interest on the loans that helped to make it possible, because they get paid too much with their improved job. The complication is that 32,000 taxpayers writing off $200 a year means a tax break of $6.4 million a year, and given our state’s budget problems, that may not be affordable. But I'll at least say it's a start.

On the expense side, these items sound OK at face value, but obviously funding must be found to pay for those items as well. And as Chris Walker at Political Heat notes, the $1 million for the “Wisconsin grants” won’t go very far, as the large amount of needs in the state requires a much larger commitment than that.

The bill that Walker touts to will help so-called “need-based” students will fund about 1,000 additional grants. However, last year, more than 37,000 technical college students who were eligible for the grants didn’t receive them. Doling out a small amount of grants will help a very small portion of students in dire need, and do little to help the debt crisis facing college graduates.

There are also provisions in Walker’s proposals to increase funding for staff that can help find students more internships (the WMC crowd loves their free labor!), and a bizarre unfunded mandate to require schools to send out financial literacy information to students, as well as mail current loan status and cost information to students (which seems to be a waste of time for the schools and a veiled attempt to scare some into not continuing their education once they see the costs and debts involved).

Governor Walker also tried to promote the fact that the last two budgets he has signed has frozen in-state tuition for all UW System institutions, saying that this moved has helped make the universities more affordable for today’s students.

According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, in the ten years prior to Wisconsin’s current historic four-year tuition freeze, tuition increased an average of 8.1 percent across all UW System. Over that same period, tuition had gone up 118.7 percent prior to the freeze that Governor Walker and the Legislature enacted. Compared to the average increases over the prior ten years, across the UW System, students have saved $6,311 because of the freeze. While savings vary by institution, the tuition freeze meant average savings of $2,926 at UW Colleges and savings up to $9,327 at UW-Madison.

Walker’s claim of a $9,327 savings over the 4 years at UW-Madison (for example) is sketchy enough- an 8.1% average increase would result in total in-state tuition reaching $12,736 in 2016-17 instead of the $9,327 it is at today (or just over $3,400), and even if the savings are taken in total, it reaches $8,192, not $9,327. That still doesn’t mean there isn’t relief there, but it’s not as much as Walker claims it to be (Pages 20 and 21 of the PDF on the Legislative Fiscal Bureau’s paper on UW tuition give a good history of the rates over the last 10 years).

However, it’s worth noting that a large amount of those tuition increases between 2001 and 2011 are attributed to cuts in taxpayer funding to the UW System, to allow the total amount of funding and quality for the UW System to stay somewhat consistent. That has not been the case in the Age of Fitzwalkerstan, as the UW’s documentation said the one-time benefit savings of Act 10 didn’t come close to making up the difference in tuition that was required as a result of Gov Walker’s first budget cut in 2011 (it’s on Page 21 of that LFB tuition paper). Now the cut of $250 million for 2015-17 has been installed along with the tuition freeze for those two years, meaning that despite general taxpayer funding being around $50 million less for the UW System vs 2013, tuition hasn’t been able to be raised to make up that difference, let alone pay for higher costs over the last 4 years.

Walker’s claim also assumes that the UW would have used the tuition to offset increased costs in wages and benefits for their faculty and staff, but those increases have been far smaller in the post-Act 10 world, so there wouldn’t be a need to raise tuition as much anyway. In fact, it seems quite likely that had Walker decided to adequately fund the UW System since 2011, tuition increases could also have been mitigated or outright avoided. These same goals of putting a lid on tuition would have been able to be done without sacrificing the UW System’s quality and potentially reducing access to programs, both of which hamstring the earning ability of students once they get out of college, and their chances of growing the state’s economy.

This doesn't even include the crippling of tenure, stacking of the UW Board of Regents with right-wing hacks, and regressive social legislation that has made retaining talent less likely for UW System schools. All of those developments have compromised the UW’s ability to produce a high-quality education that allows high-skilled talent to come to Wisconsin for college, and/or want to stay after college ends, and preventing that scenario from occurring would seem to be a much more worthwhile boost to Wisconsin’s economy than tuition freezes or being able to write off a few dollars of student loan interest on one’s taxes. So while Gov Walker’s proposals on student loan repayment and college costs might be a slight improvement from the status quo, it still doesn’t come close to making up for the damage his past policies have had on higher education and college graduates in the state.

And this package of proposals also doesn’t forgive Walker from avoiding the common-sense solution in the Wisconsin Democrats’ “Higher Education, Lower Debt” bill, which would allow college graduates to refinance their student loans into lower interest rates, just like they can with a car, a house, or most other types of debt. Sorry, Scotty, but your misdirection play isn’t going to fool any of us outside of the Bubble, and it doesn’t come near close enough to handle the real problem of student loan debt and the reduced economic activity that results from that debt.