The Wisconsin Cheese Showdown

[Insula Dei]

I never got why the right deems it necessary to dmeonize public sector workers. Not only is it bad politics (most people will know at least one public sector worker and have a reasonable chance to find out how the 'overpaid and overpensioned' thing is BS), it's also actively  going after the most valuable part of society, the very people we rely on every day and who are in fact ridiculously underpaid when compared to the private sector. I also find it repulsive on a personal level, as almost my entire direct family consists from teachers and othe public sector workers.

[Insula Dei]

I never got why the right deems it necessary to dmeonize public sector workers. Not only is it bad politics (most people will know at least one public sector worker and have a reasonable chance to find out how the 'overpaid and overpensioned' thing is BS), it's also actively  going after the most valuable part of society, the very people we rely on every day and who are in fact ridiculously underpaid when compared to the private sector. I also find it repulsive on a personal level, as almost my entire direct family consists from teachers and othe public sector workers.

What sheer nonsense. The most valuable people of society are the private sector who pay taxes into the government, not the people who take money out.

Funny how a small-government conservative like yourself seems to believe the goal of society is to put money into the government, and not to, oh I don't know, enable people to develop themselves and realize their potential. Your beloved entrepreneurs wouldn't be anywhere without their education, your prvate sector wouldn't be anywhere without roads and infrastructure,  and you yourself wouldn't be anywhere without administrative services to make sure you get to live the fantastic American life.

I hope that nobody will faint with surprise.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/02/wisconsin-gov-walker-ginned-up-budget-shortfall-to-undercut-worker-rights.php

Wisconsin's new Republican governor has framed his assault on public worker's collective bargaining rights as a needed measure of fiscal austerity during tough times.

The reality is radically different. Unlike true austerity measures -- service rollbacks, furloughs, and other temporary measures that cause pain but save money -- rolling back worker's bargaining rights by itself saves almost nothing on its own. But Walker's doing it anyhow, to knock down a barrier and allow him to cut state employee benefits immediately.

Furthermore, this broadside comes less than a month after the state's fiscal bureau -- the Wisconsin equivalent of the Congressional Budget Office -- concluded that Wisconsin isn't even in need of austerity measures, and could conclude the fiscal year with a surplus. In fact, they say that the current budget shortfall is a direct result of tax cut policies Walker enacted in his first days in office.

"Walker was not forced into a budget repair bill by circumstances beyond he control," says Jack Norman, research director at the Institute for Wisconsin Future -- a public interest think tank. "He wanted a budget repair bill and forced it by pushing through tax cuts... so he could rush through these other changes."

This is just sickening. This entirely issue honestly just leaves me speechless. How people actually defend this behavior is stunning. (Though maybe, I guess, I shouldn't be as surprised as I am.)

You nail it.

[Insula Dei]

I never got why the right deems it necessary to dmeonize public sector workers. Not only is it bad politics (most people will know at least one public sector worker and have a reasonable chance to find out how the 'overpaid and overpensioned' thing is BS), it's also actively  going after the most valuable part of society, the very people we rely on every day and who are in fact ridiculously underpaid when compared to the private sector. I also find it repulsive on a personal level, as almost my entire direct family consists from teachers and othe public sector workers.

What sheer nonsense. The most valuable people of society are the private sector who pay taxes into the government, not the people who take money out.

Funny how a small-government conservative like yourself seems to believe the goal of society is to put money into the government, and not to, oh I don't know, enable people to develop themselves and realize their potential. Your beloved entrepreneurs wouldn't be anywhere without their education, your prvate sector wouldn't be anywhere without roads and infrastructure,  and you yourself wouldn't be anywhere without administrative services to make sure you get to live the fantastic American life.

This is the standard liberal response that is, as usual, full of dung.

US Real education spending has doubled in the past 20 years, and teacher rolls have increased by nearly 50%.

People were realizing their economic potential in times past with much less education bloat.

Part of me is hoping you're not really that border-line moronic. Did you just really mention how everything was better before people got educated? Really?








I mean really?












No, really?

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[Insula Dei]

Freedom fighters!

[Insula Dei]

Krazen, your literal words:

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I think that even in the US education now is better than it was in the Fifties.

[Insula Dei]

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A couple of things:

-How is the private sector any more 'real' than the public sector? Do you have to pay your managers millions in order to be real? I'd say that the Banking sector for example is Cloud Cuckoo Land more than anything.

-Teachers are the one segment of the population where a sense of citizenship should above all be present. Union activity, far from an evil conspiracy against millionaire bankers, is a citizen's way of defending his own position in society.

-This is about the future of education. Teachers might also be interested in, you know, getting a normal wage and a decent pension, but more importantly they're currently fighting to keep education in Wisconsin at a semi-decent level.

[Insula Dei]

Fwiw, I'm hearing that if Walker gets things his way, low-ranking college professors who have a family with two children and who are the only source of income for their family'd qualify for Food Stamps. I don't know about you guys, but I think it a disgrace that those ridiculously overpaid teachers now are also going to leech of Welfare.

[Insula Dei]

I passed up a lucrative proffesorship at Marquette because i wanted to help public school kids, nice to be demonized for it.

Be silent, you wicked Union thug! Isn't it enough that you're stealing our future and that of our kids with your unreasonable demands? Isn't it enough for you to have the joy of thinking about all those banker's children growing up in an America impoverished by the likes of you?

[Insula Dei]

It would be interesting (and ironic) if a state like Massachusetts or Maryland tries to end corporate personhood in response to this.  I wonder if that is being considered anywhere.

Probably not, both given Santa Clara vs Southern Pacific Railroad, and more importantly, we already have states without public sector unions.
It's hardly uncharted waters.

I'm so sorry to hear that. You have my condoleances.