Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker

Unfortunately, the U.S. Chamber, in a report released at the event, didn’t share Walker’s enthusiasm. Its annual scorecard on state economies ranked Wisconsin 44th for overall economic performance and 50th—as in dead last—for short-term job growth as measured between September 2010 and November 2012. It also has Wisconsin 39th in “business climate”—on par with the state’s ranking under Gov. Jim Doyle.

Wisconsin's economy has not exactly been roaring under the leadership of Gov. Scott Walker, and it's not just people who support collective bargaining who've noticed. Walker went to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event last week to talk about "How to lead enterprising states." But there was a hitch: Walker's strategy is to pretend everything is going great and that Wisconsin's fictional thriving economy shows that Walker was right all along. But, with nearly 1,000 layoffs recently announced by businesses in the state, how much longer can that strategy work to prop him up if even the Chamber of Commerce can't sign on to the fiction? Not that the Chamber won't likely keep supporting Walker as long as he's worse for workers than he is for businesses.