LETTER: Walker bad for state’s economy

To the Telegram:

Gov. Scott Walker is advancing a reactionary agenda to eliminate government services and weaken the social safety net.

In the guise of budget repair, he is attacking unions, collective bargaining, health care, our public schools, and even recycling. He is attacking the programs and policies that built a strong economy in the past. Rather than fixing our budget problems, this extreme austerity will result in economic decline for Wisconsin.

In a consumer driven economy, good, secure incomes for the working 99 percent of us are essential for a strong economy. You cannot cut your way to prosperity. You must invest in people to build for the future. Education, infrastructure, health care, family supporting jobs and economic security for all workers are needed. This simple truth seems ideologically unacceptable to conservative reactionaries like Gov. Walker.

Walker instigated big cuts in state and local government programs and in public workers’ take-home pay. At the same time, he cut taxes on the state’s wealthiest taxpayers and biggest corporations. But the results are a loss of over $1 billion to Wisconsin’s economy.

Douglas County will lose $6.3 million in spending power for public employees alone. Since June, Wisconsin has lost 27,600 jobs and ranks 50th in the nation for job creation. These figures are from a report by the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future (The Price of Extremism: Wisconsin’s economy under the Walker administration, www.wisconsinsfuture.org).

Wisconsin can’t afford these shortsighted and destructive policies. We must recall Gov. Walker.

Philip Anderson,

Maple

Tags: opinion, letters, money, politics