Conservatively Speaking
State Senator Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) represents parts of four counties: Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, and Walworth. Her Senate District 28 includes New Berlin, Franklin, Greendale, Hales Corners, Muskego, Waterford, Big Bend and parts of Greenfield, East Troy, and Mukwonago. Senator Lazich has been in the Legislature for more than a decade. She considers herself a tireless crusader for lower taxes, reduced spending and smaller government.
New report shows Wisconsin’s economy is in trouble
By Mary Lazich
Friday, Aug 17 2007, 01:21 PM
Americans for Prosperity has a new report that says Wisconsin’s economy remains stagnant, while at the same time government continues to grow and Democrats are proposing the largest tax increase in state history to pay for government health care.
The Wisconsin Prosperity Report analyzed data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics from June 2006 to June 2007. Here are some of the key findings:
· Wisconsin had an anemic 0.28 percent job growth.
· 58 percent of jobs created were government jobs.
· Government payrolls are growing more than eight times faster than private-sector payrolls.
· Wisconsin lags behind the region and national average in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a measure of everything produced in the state.
· Wisconsin’s real inflation-adjusted economic growth from 2004 to 2006 was just 2.2 percent, while the national economy expanded 5.9 percent. All of Wisconsin’s neighbors, with the exception of recession-plagued Michigan, grew far more rapidly: Minnesota at 2.9 percent, Illinois at 3.4 percent, Iowa at 4.1 percent, and South and North Dakota at 6.8 and 8.8 percent respectively.
· As of 2006, Wisconsin has fallen to 25th in per-capita GDP and can no longer be considered a rich state, but simply middle-of-the-pack, and falling. Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic AnalysisYou can read all the details
here.The report is clear. Wisconsin’s economy is in trouble. Raising taxes by the record-setting numbers the Governor and legislative Democrats are proposing is not the answer to our economic woes.
