Jump to content
[[Template core/front/custom/_customHeader is throwing an error. This theme may be out of date. Run the support tool in the AdminCP to restore the default theme.]]

The country is broke, state and local govts broke


Brentastic
 Share

Recommended Posts

Buyer's remorse set in quickly.

 

....if voters in the state could do it over today they'd support defeated Democratic nominee Tom Barrett over Scott Walker by a a 52-45 margin.....It's actually Republicans, more so than Democrats or independents, whose shifting away from Walker would allow Barrett to win a rematch if there was one today.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 405
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

 

Meh. And here's one that shows just the opposite.

 

You guys are reaching but the fact of the matter is WI voters put Walker in office to fix our problems. No amount of whining, crying and dubious polling data is going to change that. 20K WI protesters is far less than the 1.2 million taxpayers that put him in office.

 

Hey, BTW, I'll take a large pepperoni with an order of bread sticks and a 2 liter of Pepsi. When can you get it here?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I, for one, am shocked to find out public workers make more than someone working at McDonalds. People in my industry go from public to private instead of vice versa, because the pay is considerably higher in the private industry.

Maybe these public workers are as stupid as you. I am hearing them talk ever day since this has happened and all they take about is salary - even they are too dumb to realize that it is the total pay package. A lot of these people retire at age 55. Who does that in the private sector? Not many.

 

I had dinner with my sister and family the other day and she is one of the public union teachers and she kept talking salary. All she had to do was take a look at my dad - My dad was the GM of a private company here in Green Bay - was basically the #2 guy in charge for many years and before that was a darn good saleman for said company - he probably worked at this place 20-25 years. My dad is one of the cheapest guys around but is also a very smart and good investor and was fortunate enough to invest most of earnings when the economy was doing very well. At the end of his career he was overworked and wanted to retire but could not until 59. He did everything right and had to work 4 years longer than most of these public teachers. They have it good and they don't even know it.

 

All people are asking them to do is join the real world.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Bushwacked sure does love to strut around waving his pole all over the place.

 

Why even have elected officials? We'll just do whatever bushwacked's pole wants us to do. It's almost like we're mesmerized by his pole waving back and forth summoning us to his commands. We can't help ourselves to any independent thought once we grab ahold of that bushwacked pole with both hands and shake out the results.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Walker was in Eau Claire yesterday. Does that meke me somewhat famous?

 

Did he tell you that if weren't educated by some greedy teacher's union only looking out for themselves, then you would've been able to spell "make" as an adult?

Edited by TimC
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did he tell you that if weren't educated by some greedy teacher's union only looking out for themselves, then you would've been able to spell "make" as an adult?

Or Zeke :wacko:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did he tell you that if weren't educated by some greedy teacher's union only looking out for themselves, then you would've been able to spell "make" as an adult?

 

I can't spell. Yukon lives close to me.

 

BTW, why did you have to edit your post? :wacko:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't spell. Yukon lives close to me.

 

BTW, why did you have to edit your post? :wacko:

 

Because I was edumacated by a bunch of dumb Virginny teachers that don't deserve unions. I think all children should be trained by monkeys instead.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe these public workers are as stupid as you. I am hearing them talk ever day since this has happened and all they take about is salary - even they are too dumb to realize that it is the total pay package. A lot of these people retire at age 55. Who does that in the private sector? Not many.

 

I had dinner with my sister and family the other day and she is one of the public union teachers and she kept talking salary. All she had to do was take a look at my dad - My dad was the GM of a private company here in Green Bay - was basically the #2 guy in charge for many years and before that was a darn good saleman for said company - he probably worked at this place 20-25 years. My dad is one of the cheapest guys around but is also a very smart and good investor and was fortunate enough to invest most of earnings when the economy was doing very well. At the end of his career he was overworked and wanted to retire but could not until 59. He did everything right and had to work 4 years longer than most of these public teachers. They have it good and they don't even know it.

All people are asking them to do is join the real world.

 

Seems like retiring at an earlier age is an odd way to classify one as "stupid." I think many people, including myself, don't have problems with many of the concessions pursued by Walker and already being offered up. Walker is trying to have his cake and eat it to, he's not only trying to ask them to live in the real world, he's trying to eliminate unions. If he would have compromised an inch he could have accomplished a lot of what he set out to do. But' it's too late now, he's more or less in a corner. His obsession with ending collective bargaining is putting him at odds with mainstream Wisconintes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I found this part of what you linked very interesting, so should others in areas that are struggling economically.

 

Thomas Holmes of the University of Minnesota compared counties close to the border between states with and without right-to-work laws (thereby holding constant an array of factors related to geography and climate). He found that the cumulative growth of employment in manufacturing (the traditional area of union strength prior to the rise of public-employee unions) in the right-to-work states was 26 percentage points greater than that in the non-right-to-work states.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seems like retiring at an earlier age is an odd way to classify one as "stupid." I think many people, including myself, don't have problems with many of the concessions pursued by Walker and already being offered up. Walker is trying to have his cake and eat it to, he's not only trying to ask them to live in the real world, he's trying to eliminate unions. If he would have compromised an inch he could have accomplished a lot of what he set out to do. But' it's too late now, he's more or less in a corner. His obsession with ending collective bargaining is putting him at odds with mainstream Wisconintes.

Walker is doing nothing to eliminate unions in the private sector. There is a big difference between private sector unions and private industry when it comes to the negotiating table when compared to how the negotiating is between the public sector unions and say a school board. This has been mentioned before and nobody seems to care about this but it is a big issue.

 

Walker is going to strip a ton of state aid from these local govts and the way the PUBLIC unions have a stranglehold on negotiations these local govts have very few options to balance individual budgets. These school boards are supposed to be on the side of the well being of the state not bend over backwards for the unions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

These school boards are supposed to be on the side of the well being of the state not bend over their constituents.

 

It has always been very interesting to me how much power local school boards wield and how little attention is paid to the candidates for those positions.

 

The school board power, in many jurisdictions, has as much ability to levy taxes as do city councils/county commissions. They have control, in many cases, over the largest budgets in any jurisdiction and can decide how and where to spend it without a lot of oversight from city councils/county commissions. They can do their business however they see fit pretty much unfettered.

 

For instance, in Marietta the new HS built a few years ago ended up being, depending on who you talk to, 20 to 40 million over budget due to sweetheart contracts given to the GC and subs and no one was held accountable during the next election cycle. This crap happens all the time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It has always been very interesting to me how much power local school boards wield and how little attention is paid to the candidates for those positions.

 

The school board power, in many jurisdictions, has as much ability to levy taxes as do city councils/county commissions. They have control, in many cases, over the largest budgets in any jurisdiction and can decide how and where to spend it without a lot of oversight from city councils/county commissions. They can do their business however they see fit pretty much unfettered.

 

For instance, in Marietta the new HS built a few years ago ended up being, depending on who you talk to, 20 to 40 million over budget due to sweetheart contracts given to the GC and subs and no one was held accountable during the next election cycle. This crap happens all the time.

 

Up until recently school board presidents were the building inspectors in unincorporated areas in Texas for commercial construction. I believe that changed only two years ago.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Among those asked about the state budget deficit, 52% supported the Democrats and 44% supported the Governor. Most of those 50 and over support the Governor, 40-somethings are evenly divided, and those under 40 support the Democrats.

 

Among those asked about weakening collective bargaining rights, 56% supported the union and 41% supported the Governor. There is a similar age dynamic on this question, even though the overall level of support for the Governor is lower.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Largest unions pay leaders well, give extensively to Democrats

 

 

Union treasuries - filled by dues paid by union members - not only fund programs benefiting union members and their families. The money they collect also pays six-figure compensation packages for labor leaders and provides millions of dollars for Democratic causes and candidates.

 

...

 

Gerald McEntee, president of the AFSCME, said Walker is retaliating for organized labor's support of Democrats, in particular for the money given to his opponent in the 2010 election.

 

In the 2010 elections in Wisconsin, AFSCME gave almost $83,888 to Democratic candidates. Half that amount went to the campaign of Tom Barrett, whose top 10 donors were unions. Barrett lost to Walker, who promised during the campaign to take on organized labor if elected.

 

"This is political payback, which does nothing to promote job growth or help the middle class," McEntee said on The Huffington Post. "This is nothing less than union busting at its most transparent, designed to deny workers a voice in the workplace."

 

"political payback", I suppose that is one way of looking at it. another way of looking at it is trying to end a FUBARED positive feedback loop whereby taxpayer money is funnelled to unions, who then funnel that money to their preferred candidates, who then funnel more taxpayer money to the unions. it's quite the racket they've got going, shame for them it has to end.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"political payback", I suppose that is one way of looking at it. another way of looking at it is trying to end a FUBARED positive feedback loop whereby taxpayer money is funnelled to corporations by way of tax breaks, who then funnel that money to their preferred candidates, who then funnel more taxpayer money to the corporations with additional tax cuts and incentives. it's quite the racket they've got going, shame for them it has to end.

 

Agreed.

 

The system is broken in both ways as it relates to campaign finance and political kickbacks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information