Romney and Walker's Rotten Fruit

An Arab proverb states, “And tomorrow there will be apricots!” It expresses cynicism in the hollow promises of politicians.

According to Mitt Romney's new TV ad “It's not working for Wisconsin....” and promises 240,000 new jobs. The choice of that slogan is strangely confusing since it is the reverse of Governor Walker's own slogan which claims that it “is working”. Just exactly what is (or is not) working seems to depend upon what the meaning of “it” is.

Is “it” the stimulus? Can't be that because Walker sent that program packing.

“It” cannot be the billions Walker yanked from public schools and local governments because that's budget cutting and budget cutting is good according to Romney & Ryan.

What quarter million jobs are we talking about? Are they the same jobs promised by Walker?

Or are they in compensation for the quarter million jobs we are on pace to lose in Walker's term?

“It” seems to mean that Wisconsin has somehow been held back by national policy. More likely “it” means that the nation is being held back by massive job losses in states like Wisconsin and New Jersey that swallowed the bitter fruit of Republican austerity.

In the 1930's John Stienbeck wrote of people starving while picking the fruit they could not afford to buy and surpluses were dumped in ditches. The great lie that threatens to starve us is the hollow promise that prosperity will be delivered by a new crop of growers who will hire more pickers if they can just be made to work a little cheaper and live a little meaner. But there are no apricots or anything else coming. The fruit of our labor has all been dumped in the ditch of corporate interests.