Chuck Berry, “Don’t You Lie To Me” (click to listen or download)
In his predictable screed against the November 4, 2008 Madison school referendum, Dave Blaska makes at least two statements that are demonstrably false.
Today, housing values are plummeting; unemployment is edging up…
The chart above shows housing value trends. After a drop in January, the general direction is up; by about $20,000 since the first of the year on both average and median. Sales have slowed and both the average and the median are down slightly in year-to-date measures, but one look at this chart and others reveal how unsupportable the verb “plummeting” is. There is a slight downward trend for August, but if you look at prior years there have been downward trends in August since at least 2005. According to the Dane County Real Estate Blog:
The Dane County market certainly needs to get better (especially the condo market), but once again the national numbers show that we’ve avoided the meltdown that is occurring in other parts of the country.
Blaska is even further from the truth on unemployment. According to the Department of Workforce Development’s latest report unemployment in Madison dropped 0.3% in July, is the same as it was one year ago, is the lowest rate of any Wisconsin Metro area, is 1.2% below the state rate (unadjusted) and 2.4% below the national rate (unadjusted). Sorry Dave, going down, not up and doing very well in comparisons.
Better luck next time you decide to pull “facts” out of thin air.
One reason Madison continues to attract jobs and homebuyers is the quality of our public schools. Keep our community strong and prosperous, Vote Yes for Schools!
Thomas J. Mertz
AMPS 