I'm not talking about "ineffectual" as it applies to getting his cronies in the State legislature to give him what he wants in terms of the monsterous budget that he's signing today. I'm talking about ineffecutal when it comes to things that matter to everyday people - like saving their jobs!
The statewide unemployment rate is 8.7 percent. The unemployment rate is 9 percent in the Milwaukee area, 9.2 percent in Wausau, 9.5 percent in Sheboygan and a staggering 12.9 percent in Janesville. Even in Madison, an area where employment is propped up by government jobs that almost never go away, the unemployment rate is 6.2 percent.
To put this in perspective, the Milwaukee area alone lost nearly 45,000 jobs in the last year!
The biggest problem though is that Doyle seems completely and totally unable to stop the job losses.
First, there was the decision by Thomas Industries to move 400 good paying jobs from Sheboygan for Louisianna. In this case, it appeared that Doyle couldn't even be bothered to intervene personally - choosing instead to watch high speed trains in Spain and high end golf at the Masters.
Second, there was the decision by General Motors to bail on Janesville once and for all. In contrast to the Thomas Industries debacle, Doyle did make an effort to save 1500 jobs in Janesville. Unfortunately for Janesville, it seems that Doyle was used mostly as a bargaining chip by GM to extract more concessions from Michigan.
Now comes the battle for Fond du Lac's largest employer, Mercury Marine. - 620WTMJ's Jeff Wagner
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