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State Watch
The Wisconsin Turning Point
The coming vindication of Gov. Scott Walker.
The recall election for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is scheduled for June 5. That election is now a crucial battleground for the future of America, and even a critical bellwether for how this fall’s elections will turn out. Walker is staring down the national political machine of government workers unions, and the entire Obama campaign. This is a Paul Revere moment for all conservatives across America. The future of your country is at stake. Walker needs your support now.
Walker’s Reforms Are Working,
Spectacularly
Walker came into office facing another
state budget deficit of $3.6 billion. Historically, Wisconsin like
many other states would raise state taxes to counter these
recurring deficits, on top of annual stiff property tax increases
to fund skyrocketing school and other local government costs. But
those continual tax increases were imposing greater and greater
costs on state economies in terms of lost economic growth, jobs and
wages.
Walker, based on his experience serving as County Executive for Milwaukee County for 8 years, and in the state legislature for 8 years before that, focused on cutting the growth in state and local government spending instead. That spending restraint included requiring state and local government workers to contribute to their own benefits more like private sector workers. After all the yelling and screaming in Wisconsin, in the end these government workers were only required to contribute 5.8% of their salaries towards their pensions, which is matched by their government employers (taxpayers), and 12.6% of the costs of their health insurance, with the other 87% paid by taxpayers. This compares to private sector workers paying on average 21% of the cost of their company health insurance, with most private sector workers having no pension at all.
The state budget reforms also made payment of union dues voluntary for government workers, empowering these workers to each decide for themselves if they want to be full dues paying members of the public employee unions. That is a potential savings for families of $1,000 a year for each government worker in the family. This forces the public unions to focus on serving their members and convincing each one that their services are worth the dues, just like every other private sector institution in American society.
The budget reforms also limited collective bargaining to negotiations over salary but not over benefits or working conditions and rules. This gave counties, cities, and school boards the flexibility to make management changes to increase efficiency in serving the public and to reduce costs, without laying off workers and reducing services to the public.
A chief example of how this flexibility has been used is for these local governments to open their employee health insurance to competitive bidding. Previously, the unions demanded that public employers use the unions’ own sponsored insurance entity as their insurer, without market bidding. But since Walker’s reforms removed benefits from collective bargaining, government employers were freed to turn to competitive bidding on the open market, where many have found their coverage at substantially reduced costs. For school districts so far, the savings from this competitive bidding alone have amounted to $211.47 per student. Statewide that would add up to nearly $200 million in savings.
The state has also used this flexibility to halt fraudulent sick leave abuses that unions used to inflate overtime expenses. Workers had called in sick for their own shifts, and then worked the next shift on overtime pay. School districts have also been freed to pay teachers based on performance and not just seniority, and to keep better performing teachers rather than longer term time servers who have long given up caring about their job performance.
Walker’s collective bargaining reforms have added up to over $1 billion in documented savings for state and local governments in Wisconsin in the first year alone. That enabled the entire state deficit to be eliminated without yet another tax increase, and without layoffs of teachers and other government workers, except in three school districts that have continued to resist implementing the reforms.
Moreover, because of the reforms the budget was balanced while property taxes declined on average statewide for the first time in 15 years. The Wall Street Journal reported on April 17, “The [Wisconsin] state budget office estimates that the typical homeowner’s bill would be some $700 higher without Mr. Walker’s collective bargaining overhaul and budget cuts.” Soaring property taxes had previously increased every year since 1998, up 43% during that time. The Journal added, “A year ago amid their sit-ins and other protests, the unions said such policies would lead to the decline and fall of civilization, but the only things that are falling are tax collections.”
In short, Walker’s reforms are working, spectacularly.
Getting Collective Bargaining Right
The right of collective bargaining for private sector workers is not at issue in Wisconsin, though President Obama and the Democrats want to confuse the public on precisely that question. Under current law, there are plenty of market and legal checks on private sector unions to keep them from abusing the public. The ultimate limit if they push too far is that their company will be driven out of business. Though that does happen sometimes, that is only when management fails to do its job in resisting excessive union demands. Otherwise, within current market and legal checks, private sector unions actually perform a helpful market function in ensuring that employers keep up with market wages and working conditions as expeditiously as possible.
Not so for government unions, which are two words that together spell oppression. Federal, state or even local governments cannot be driven out of business. They gain their revenue forcibly through taxes. As a result, there is no market limit to how much such unions can pirate from the public.
Indeed, public sector unions choose their own employers, by voting for the governing policymakers for each political entity — county boards, school boards, legislators, Governors, etc. This creates an inherent conflict of interest, as a politician can be negotiating regarding the pay and benefits for his own political supporters at public expense. That can lead to oppressive political corruption, where there is no political limit as well as no market limit to the plunder of the public by government unions.
As a result, nationwide public employee unions plunder taxpayers for pay for state and local government workers that is on average 45% more than the taxpayers paying those salaries make in the private sector. The bill to taxpayers for each of these workers includes an average hourly wage of $26.25, plus another $13.56 in hourly costs for benefits, for total hourly costs of $39.81, or $80,000 per year on average. This is true in Wisconsin as well. Indeed, the Manhattan Institute’s E.J. McMahon reports that for public school teachers in Milwaukee, the annual cost of family health coverage is $26,844, for which the teachers were paying nothing.
About the Author
Peter Ferrara is Director of Entitlement and Budget Policy at the Heartland Institute, General Counsel of the American Civil Rights Union, Senior Fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, and Senior Policy Advisor on Entitlements and Budget Policy at the National Tax Limitation Foundation. He served in the White House Office of Policy Development under President Reagan, and as Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States under President George H.W. Bush.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (92) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Peter Ferrara
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http://spectator.org/archives/2012/05/23/the-wisconsin-turning-point
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Darin| 5.23.12 @ 6:32AM
The reforms are working. School districts which have done them have not only saved jobs but created news ones. And unions oppose the reforms. This needs to be shouted from the rooftops to expose unions for the fraud they are. Unions care only about themselves.
Jack in Wi.| 5.23.12 @ 7:11AM
M. Ferrara does a very good job in this essay. The reforms were long overdue. This state needed them badly. We can see what unreformed states like California and Illinois did. They had huge tax and borrowing increases, that have resolved nothin. The states still have huge deficits and the employes are just as arrogant as ever.
Before there were government unions there were still civil service rules. Government workers always had good penisons nad bennefit packages. The NEA, for example, was an effective lobby group as were the police and postal associations. The fact that unions were first alllowed in Wi. 1959 and has spread this cancer to other states. The fact that this lieral state has reputiated unions for government employees is the reason the national liberal groups are flooding this state with money. It looks good for Walker right now, but in this state anything can happen. Pray for Scott Walker.
Gary B| 5.23.12 @ 8:59AM
And contribute a little money, if you can.
Anthony| 5.23.12 @ 9:39AM
Yes, Send Scott Walker some money and feel good about playing your part in taking back America!!!
Al Adab| 5.23.12 @ 11:15AM
One State at a time. Piece by piece until at long last limited government returns to America.
Gary B| 5.23.12 @ 1:07PM
Hoo rah!
thinkforyourself| 5.23.12 @ 2:06PM
Mr. Walker does not need any more money. He has been given quite enough from small businesses, ie. Koch Industries.
JR Gierlach| 5.23.12 @ 3:20PM
And from private citizens like me.
Joseph| 5.24.12 @ 3:46PM
I live far far away from WI and I sent Mr Walker $50.00. I only wish I could afford to send him $50,000 because that is how important I think this fight is to the future of America.
old white guy| 5.23.12 @ 4:16PM
i'm guessing you really don't think for yourself.
AbolishUnions| 5.24.12 @ 11:32AM
And from out of state patriots like me! Unions are going down. Freedom of choice is what America is. Unions are communism.
Ground Control| 5.24.12 @ 12:37PM
Obviously, someone ELSE does the thinking for "thinkforyourself."
Roy N.| 5.24.12 @ 1:29PM
Have another drink of kool aid and another toke on your joint.
Soljerblue| 5.24.12 @ 2:17PM
the thrust of yiour post, and your posting handle constitute this week's best example of an oxymoron. Emphasis on the 'moron'.
Joellen| 5.23.12 @ 11:30AM
Governor Walker is the example that ALL Republicans should be following. I always shudder when they portray Gov Chris Christie as the defender for the taxpayers against the unions. He is a LIGHTWEIGHT compared to Governor Walker.
Tim the Enchanter| 5.23.12 @ 1:57PM
Nice play on words regarding Gov. Krispy Kreme.
Joseph| 5.24.12 @ 3:51PM
Christie is not my idea of a real Republican but in NJ he is, relatively speaking, a true Conservative.
The Unions learned early on not to mess with this guy because he won't back off 1 inch and they know it.
Indy| 5.23.12 @ 7:38AM
Good luck Gov. Walker and to all those volunteering to be poll observers, thank you!
Wasn't it JFK that opened the door to public sector unions via Executive Order? Even FDR got this one right and opposed public sector unions.
Moe Blotz| 5.23.12 @ 7:48AM
Even with union employees paying a portion of their pension and benefits package from salaries, we are still paying 100% of the bill. The civil service workers are taking home less from their pay cheques and that is their big complaint. ON Wisconsin and Scott Walker!
ggoblue| 5.23.12 @ 7:50AM
thank you for the intelligent insight. there is a vast difference between private sector and public sector unions, and very few people realize it.
here in michigan, there is a petition drive to amend the constitution and outlaw any 'right to work' legislation[s]. in my union shop i refused to sign the petition. i told them "i'll do you a favor and not sign that, because after you get your ass handed to you, what then?"
there will exist a mandate to pass 'right to work' legislation. thats what then.
no real union man should fear 'right to work' legislation [ i do not]. just do the job the union is intended to do, and drop the left wing radicalism. the shop floor will respond favorably to that.
Crawler| 5.23.12 @ 7:58AM
The fact that the grand socialist himself, FDR, was opposed to union representing government employees should be proof to everyone that the mixture of the two is disastrous.
Unions representing government employees is like giving a teenager the keys to your new Mercedes, a half-gallon of sour mash whiskey and telling him to have a good time, but he'd better behave and act responsible.
I hope Governor Walker and the good people of Wisconsin can weather this union created storm. If they can, I agree with Mr. Ferrara: it will send shock waves of public union resentment nationwide...
Von Mises Jr| 5.23.12 @ 8:01AM
In Private Sector union negotiations, the management represents ownership (stock holders) while the unions represent the workers.
In public Sector union negotiations, the unions represent the workers and the politicians are SUPPOSED to represent the tax payers who effectively own the schools. But the politicians benefit more by collaborating with the union bosses against the taxpayer.
The end result is a money laundering operation where the public sector workers get above market wages and benefits, the unions get $1,000 union dues and the politicians get a kickback from the union dues collected as political contributions, and they get an army of crony organizers. And the taxpayers get hosed. Hence, $80K workers with $25K health plan creating violence in the streets.
In the macroeconomic scenario, the union workers are overcompensated and crony capitalist benefit by the overcharging of noncompetitive sweetheart deals. This is one of the main points of Hayek's "Road to Serfdom" that Perp did not read or could not understand. Once government picks winners such as the insurance company that was charging millions more per year than the going rate with no bid contracts, others must by definition be the losers, be it other insurance companies, or taxpayers.
We see this in Medicaid today. For a $100 office visit, the doctor sees about $13. The other $87 does not go just to cost of operations for the doctors’ offices, but to bureaucracies and fraud. It is posited that as much as one-third of Medicaid is waste and fraud. This is how society returns from capitalism to serfdom.
Barry wants another four (4) years to pick more of his buddies as winners such as George Kaiser at Solyndra. Can you afford another four (4) years of being a loser?
GRONSON3665| 5.24.12 @ 1:39PM
This is a total scam! I can't believe the public doesn't know about this. Union thugs elect cronies who negotiate pay and benefits with taxpayer money, for the thugs who voted them in. Then the crony politician gets the kickback through political contributions. Unbelievable! What a scam!
Suzyqpie | 5.25.12 @ 7:40AM
I think I get it Von Mises. When the Democrats are at the negotiating table with the Unions, there is no one representing the interest of the taxpayer.
tsd| 5.23.12 @ 8:24AM
Scott Walker is a man with principals and has stood up to the national union machine, the liberal media, and our centralized thugs in the communist party in Washington. When we go from negative 3.6 billion to a surplus in one year, he is getting the job done. When we are adding jobs, the state economy is improving and the Democrats are saying things are getting worse because of the Scott Walker, the blatant lies and cheap attacks directed towards him prove they are scared to death and have already lost. We can and must break the union strangle hold on our lives!!
jay mayer| 5.23.12 @ 9:01AM
Actually , tsd , Mr Walker has principles and as a consequence he has very few principals as his friends .
Albert Constantine Jr.| 5.23.12 @ 11:21AM
...or very few pals who are principals...
tsd| 5.23.12 @ 2:59PM
When in a hurry, never trust a spell check program.
Mark MacInnis| 5.23.12 @ 8:38AM
It is time in America to stop using euphemisms. A union leader is a communist. Period. Unions are not about protecting the workers or jobs, any longer. Those days are history. Unions today are about corruption and coercion....of both members and employers.
Gary B| 5.23.12 @ 9:01AM
Exactly. And public education has evolved into nothing more than a union shakedown.
Richard Ryan| 5.23.12 @ 9:03AM
These reforms should help boost the economy in Wisconsin. Maybe soon the teachers can find a good job to keep themselves busy during their 3 month summer vacation.
Suzyqpie | 5.25.12 @ 9:33AM
Whatever happened to Jimmy Hoffa Sr?
Border State Neighbor| 5.23.12 @ 9:10AM
The only questions that I have on all of this in Wisconsin center around:
A. Was this just a big schemed up tactic (all of it) to handicap, stymie, and hamstring the few years that Governor Walker has as governor? Keep him busy with litigation, protests, the legalities of a recall, campaigning for the recall, campaigning publicity, extra fundraising, the recall itself....ALL with the purposeful aim to keep him from actually bringing governing reforms to Wisconsin.
B. Or does all this fallderall (spelling?) in and around Madison actually highlight and perhaps accelerate the follies of liberalism, of unions, of teachers unions, of bloated entitlements, bloated pensions, etc. Does/will all of this -- despite the agony of it to some -- will all of this actually help to more swiftly undo liberal entrenchment in Wisconsin?
Or is the tactic of A. what the Dems were really after? I welcome insights. Thank you.
irish19| 5.23.12 @ 10:00PM
A) Yes.
B) We can only hope
folderol
bertie| 5.24.12 @ 3:58PM
I think it started as a way to tie up Walker, similar to fleeing the State to avoid a vote on a bill they knew they would lose. Sore losers. As a result, the recall law will almost certainly be amended to limit its scope to wrong-doing. As for rolling back the deeply rooted Progressism in Wisconsin: it's a start!
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 5.23.12 @ 9:23AM
After Governor Walker wins this recall election (please God in Heaven above, let him win this election), every Governor across the Country has to follow his lead, but they've got to go even farther than he has, they've got to include the Police, Firefighters, EMT, and their pension spiking scams. We all love our Firefighters, and Cops, but when they spike their pensions during their last two years before they retire, resulting in them earning more in retirement, than they made on the job, they go from Heroes to Zeroes!! I don't know how they can look their neighbors in their eyes, when they know they're ripping them off to pay for their bloated retirements!!
squalis| 5.23.12 @ 9:55AM
I am certain Gov. Moonbeam will be first on that bandwagon.
Sombrero| 5.23.12 @ 10:24AM
L.L.L., you are most right. This is one of the biggest ripoffs in America. The "Protect and Defend!" in Blue who screw the living daylights out of the rest of the citizenry. The max out their pensions as all of them get a promotion and raise just in that last 24-36 months. Then they contract some sort of disability to further increase their monthly/annual pensions!
And the police and firefighters want us to trust them? Admire them?
THEY ARE THIEVES!
(Many of these cowardly dirty rotten thieves retiring at 54!, a.k.a. your police and firefighters, then move out of state, south or to the southwest -- while still, of course, drawing their pensions from back in PA, NJ, NY, MA -- because they know that their former neighbors cannot stomach being around scum.)
L.L.L, stay on this beat, man. We need to kick our cheatin' police and firefighters in the teeth.
JmsA| 5.23.12 @ 11:52AM
You hit it on the nail, Sombrero. I do medlegal work in CA (and no, I don't do medical malpractice), and I've always wondered how the firemen, policemen, etc., always develop some sort disability as they near retirement. Oh, and by the way, almost every single one of the applicants is grossly overweight, which tells me they've not been been doing much of anything, let alone work.
Gary B| 5.23.12 @ 1:14PM
When I was a kid, policemen were our friends. Now, they're a bunch of Seal wannabees in their cool military garb looking for the slightest premise to kick civilian butts. Nowadays, what police chief of a backwater town doesn't want his own armored personnel carrier with a battering ram on the front? It's bad news out there. Kow tow or get the heck beat out of you.
Von Mises Jr| 5.23.12 @ 3:05PM
JimA, I think it was the Long Island Railroad, or one of the NYC area transportation authoritues that had over 90% of people go out on disability. Secretaries and administrators along with the poor bastards that had to drive the cho-cho ALL were injured on the job.
Obie Wan| 5.23.12 @ 9:28AM
The reforms Walker, Chris Christie and other Governors are making in their states help relieve the immediate burden however they are NOT the answer to this problem. The real answer is to do away as much as possible with civil service employment and shift it over to the private sector. Until that's done it's still going to be near impossible for the taxpayers to keep up with the cost of the current system. Besides there's very few jobs the private sector can't do better and cheaper then government can !!!
Ground Control| 5.24.12 @ 12:44PM
Very true words, simple and wise, Master Kenobi. The lessons of history are simple and easy to understand, government is inherently corrupt, and the more centralized government becomes, the more corrupt it becomes. The Romans experienced this to great disaster 2,000 years ago. Thomas Jefferson and most of the Founders understood this when they advocated limited central government, keeping most political power local, and requiring people to take care of themselves first. A free society is a prosperous society, and even those who falter are helped back on to their feet, not carried through life.
b5blue | 5.23.12 @ 9:35AM
Stick to the principles of our republic, Wisconsin. Vindicate Walker!
squalis| 5.23.12 @ 9:50AM
"Under current law, there are plenty of market and legal checks on private sector unions to keep them from abusing the public. The ultimate limit if they push too far is that their company will be driven out of business. Though that does happen sometimes, that is only when management fails to do its job in resisting excessive union demands."
Unless the US Gubmint bails 'em out with tax dollars, like GM & Chrysler.
Gary B| 5.23.12 @ 1:17PM
What about card check? If there are no secret ballots, the union wins through intimidation... period. How about anti-union thugs? Perhaps that would change things. It may come to that.
Reaganpal| 5.23.12 @ 11:05AM
Good article and spot on Peter.
Your assessment of Romney, however, is way off. (May 9). Read the comments. He is NO Conservative and there are many of us who are unhappy with him as a choice to run against Bam.
What he did to Rick Santorum(my choice) here in Wi. is inexcusable. He is one nasty dude with no principles.
I'll be voting for the Constitution party in Nov.
Mary at Ground Zero Wisconsin
Always Question| 5.23.12 @ 12:47PM
Good idea, Mary - let's all protest Mitt and give this disaster in the White House another 4 years.
Putting the sarcasm aside, please, be rational. Do you truly think Mitt is less principled than Obama? Do you think Mitt will do more damage to this country than another 4 years of Obama?
We must - I repeat, must - retire the current resident of the White House.
Gary B| 5.23.12 @ 1:21PM
Mary,
With all due respect, step one is to get that Muslim thug out of the White House. Step two is to hand the Republican establishment their walking papers, including Romney if it comes to that. I have a feeling he's going to be a lot more conservative than he's been in the past. Times are changing fast. He'll either go along or get swept away. The sleeping giant is awakening.
ForTheBetterGood| 5.24.12 @ 11:41AM
Mary, you are making a mistake. This is not the time to not vote Republican. This election is America at stake. Maybe you don't care about America. If that's the case, then carry on in some other country. If you do care about America, then you would know that getting Obama out of our White House is THE MOST IMPORTANT issue facing our country. Don't cut off your nose to spite your face. Voting for Romney is for the greater good of America. If, in four years, you are not better off for your vote, then vote for your constitution party candidate. But, not this time. Thank you, Mary.
Joseph| 5.24.12 @ 4:01PM
Then you might as well vote for Obama or stay home. What ever Romney did to Santorum did not cause Santorum to drop out of the primary.
Romney was hammered hard by ALL the other candidates and he survived and according to Gallup 87% of Rep now support him.
If you don't want to see the ultimate disaster for America another 4 years under this miserable Marxist clown will bring, I would SERIOUSLY reconsider your voting for someone who has no chance.
Who Knows?| 5.23.12 @ 12:42PM
On, Wisconsin!
While we, in America (especially us hyper-navel-gazing political types who spend time commenting at sites like TAS) continue to endure and process the Obama tsunami, maybe the Wisconsin-Walker-recall fight is a perfect example of why this country is so unique---still. Who saw, on PBS, last night, “Civilization”, by Niall Ferguson?
His words and pictures and analyses sure added to the ongoing debate about the continuing struggle of people in terms of politics and economics.
What I think it all comes down to is---RESPONSIBILITY.
Perhaps the best attribute of the USA, with 50 states still functioning as experiments in democracy, is the ability to RESPOND to unfolding events. So, it could be that before we go over the cliff into civilizational oblivion, like previous “empires” such as the Roman one, we can make adjustments on the fly soon enough to avoid the final fall.
Hey---maybe it IS all relative, as Einstein taught us. In my own aging perspective, America sure does have a case of the “slows”, though, when it comes to dealing with such deadly “diseases” as government unions, and all their particular ilks.
But, compared to all other countries we are still far and away the leading FIRST RESPONDER.
Respond—[[Latin, respondere < re, BACK + spondere, TO PLEDGE: see SPONSOR]]
Sponsor---Latin, surety < spondere, to promise solemnly < IE base *spend, to bring a libation, vow.
Libation---1. the ritual of pouring out wine or oil upon the ground as a sacrifice to a god.
However, perhaps it is “response” that is a better word to analyze---its first definition says it all:
“Something said or done in answer; reply, reaction.”
It’s the DOING or the ACTION---that’s where the action is!
So, we are all re-actionaries.
Note---physically, there is no doubt we are thus describable. While we seem to slip slide our lives away in the now, our sensory receptors, especially the eyes, always spend their time catching light rays, or their transformations into sound, smell, touch, and taste, which are from the past. Yes---we act back, as we process dead messages.
What, exactly, is the difference between looking at the light from a star just now arriving onto our retinas after billions of years since flashing out into being, and the light that we turn on in our dark room, at night?
It IS all relative, my fellow reactionaries.
So, keep on being responsible.
Totally.
Dave Williams| 5.23.12 @ 12:44PM
SCOTT WALKER FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!
And you union thugs can go PISS UP A ROPE!!!!
Gary B| 5.23.12 @ 1:22PM
Hoo rah!
redstorm_| 5.23.12 @ 1:42PM
Too bad this country is full if Oblamer drones and takers or those just plain ignorant of these facts....if he runs on his record and still loses on this recall issue we can count on another 4 years of hell before we can truly remove oblamer...too bad it will be too late then for this country....our current course is simply NOT sustainable.
Buckeye Joe| 5.24.12 @ 9:04AM
Mr. Storm
You underestimate the 47% of likely voters who still support Obama. I'm a farmer and attorney and get paid well to think for myself. Some day you may recognize that our Christian president (as if that needed to be said or mattered) brought back from the abyss that folks on this site apparently drove us towards.
You are correct that our current course is unsuustainable. Unbridled growth and rigged markets will lead us to an economic desert. And they grow no coal in the economic desert.
ObamaIsNoChristian| 5.24.12 @ 11:48AM
" . . . our Christian president . . " Then, why did you say it? Obama is no Christian. He is a Muslim. He is a Communist, Socialist and Marxist. Oh, and by the way, that "abyss" you are talking about - we are still headed there, and faster with Obama. And, with Obama, we WILL GET THERE if we don't vote him OUT. Go back to HuffPo, idiot.
thinkforyourself| 5.23.12 @ 2:09PM
I like how you refer to people who work for a living as "serfs". Is that how you perceive teachers, police and firefighters, Mr. Ferrara?
PattyMor| 5.23.12 @ 2:46PM
Hooray for Gov. Walker. He has more guts and determination that 99% of Republicans currently in office. He said he was going to push through the reforms and he did in spite of the absolute hell he's been through. He went through legislative and a judical recall last year and now he & Kleefish this year.
The only consolation is that the union has chewed up a lot of money in these (I hope) failed efforts. And, at the end it looks like the unions came up zero results.
Dimitry Aleksandrovich| 5.23.12 @ 2:56PM
As a traditional conservative and a trade unionist I hope Governor Walker loses the recall on June 5th. Normally I wouldn't consider myself an ally of public employee unions but given the current corporate war on the American working class and the G.O.P.'s role in trying to break the American Labor Movement I have to come down firmly on the side of public employee unions and with their members draw a line in the sand for Governor Walker and anyone else who thinks they can just strip workers (whether public or private sector) of their collective bargaining rights and workers are just going to accept it. Politics is a blood sport and I'm more than willing to draw blood to make sure my family and the families of my union brothers and sisters have their piece of the pie.
Calvin| 5.23.12 @ 3:53PM
Bribing politicians to get unrealistic benefits may seem like a fair thing to you but not to those that have to pay for it. Reform it or lose it.
Dimitry Aleksandrovich| 5.23.12 @ 3:56PM
Wake up to reality Calvin. What the hell do you think corporations do on a day to day basis. They've turned corruption into an artform and its the working class that suffers because of it. I just go to set things right and bring balance back to the world.
Al Adab| 5.23.12 @ 6:23PM
Nyet. For whom would the "working class" be working if not the corporations that hire them? Would not the proletariat suffer more greatly without their employers?
Dimitry Aleksandrovich| 5.23.12 @ 6:39PM
Not long ago the American worker was in partnership with business and everyone benefitted from the arrangement. That's not the case anymore. Open your eyes the average Joe American is getting screwed at every angle and the "Job Creators" aren't creating that many well paying blue collar jobs in America anymore. It's all going overseas. There's not even loyalty to buying American made products in the public sector anymore. Now we have a San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge manufactured in China and police departments buying BMW motorcycles instead of Harley's or Indians.
irish19| 5.23.12 @ 10:04PM
The jobs are going out of the country because the unions priced themselves out of the market.
tyumbrel7758| 5.24.12 @ 2:02PM
Dimitry,
Not only did the unions' high wage demands force companies to go overseas, the corporate tax rate is higher than most countries too! Why would anyone want to stay in a high tax environment like that? The corporate rate should be dropped and the loopholes closed. There is no doubt unions are bankrupting the States. Don't vote for Obama, it will only get worse.
Bob S| 5.23.12 @ 4:29PM
Traditional conservative my ass, either you have been confused by Obama's class warfare rhetoric, or you are another obfuscator on the Media Matters payroll.
There is no breaking of the American Labor Movement. In fact, the GOP is championing workers' rights over unions' rights. The GOP is not going after private sector unions, just the government unions that inflate the size of government to the point that it is oppressive to taxpayers.
A traditional conservative would never call upon "union brothers". That reeks of progressivism that started to rear it's ugly head in the 1900's.
Dimitry Aleksandrovich| 5.23.12 @ 6:57PM
I'm a Pat Buchanan conservative and you don't get much more conservative than that. Economically I am not a globalist free trader like neo-conservatives, I'm an economic-nationalist and I make no bones about it. I know exactly who I am and I know that I am the real conservative as opposed to the Faux...I mean Fox neo-conservatives that make up the current G.O.P.
The G.O.P. champions workers rights my ass. John McCain champions American workers rights so much that he wants foreign sailors to unload ships in ports around this country which would absolutely break the back of the longshore unions. I think Mitt Romney summed up the G.O.P. line best when he said "corporations are people my friend". You are wrong Bob about the G.O.P. not going after private sector unions. What do you think "Right to Work" laws are. I'll tell you what they are. It means that a union shop (business that hires exclusively union labor) is a thing of the past because a business can choose to hire people who won't join the union thus breaking the union.
In the past both Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon and I'm sure Gerald Ford courted the union vote. Now just the mere mention of unions can get you labeled a "socialist" when the biggest beneficiaries of government welfare are big international corporations that don't give a shit about the United States and much less the American worker.
I am not a leftist by any means, but to be a conservative means that you have to create a balance where management can turn a profit and labor can provide for their families. Without a balance Americans cannot conserve the way of life they are accustomed to therefore American conservatives need to take their lips off the ass of Wall Street bankers and embrace collective bargaining, economic nationalism (fair trade, not free trade, bring back tariffs) and some amount of Federal regulation of Wall Street.
tyumbrel7758| 5.24.12 @ 2:08PM
Actually unions get more money than corporations and give more money to politicians than corparations. Your issue with wall street is flawed as well. It was democrats who wouldn't prosecute wall street corruption. Unions aren't about collective bargaining, they are about money laudering with politicians who do their bidding. It is a scam. Why do unions force workers to give money (which the founding fathers would never allow) to support murder by abortion and immoral practices like homosexuality?
Sorry Charlie1| 5.24.12 @ 10:39AM
You make a valid point about unions being a balancing mechanism in our economy; however, you avoid the central point of the article. We are NOT talking about vicitmized employees. We are talking about public employees who get to negotiate their pay and benefits with people whom the union has helped to elect. And the taxpayer HAS to pay the bill. If politics is a blood sport, the public union supporters -- like you -- are bringing a knife to a gunfight. Americans are tired of feather-bedding takers instead of makers.
Dave Minnich| 5.24.12 @ 12:06PM
You don't read very well, did you? Public sector unions are NOT in solidarity with private sector unions - they are simply not comparable. Private corporations have little truck in this battle, since public unions salaries are paid by almost all by individual taxpayers and small businesses, not large corporations. Oh, - BTW - when the private sector unions were taking it the chin from imports, where were the public sector union members? Buying Toyotas, Hondas, and other foreign/non-union made goodies (check out the teacher's parking lot of a public school) . Some solidarity!
gracepmc| 5.24.12 @ 12:46PM
A piece of the pie is one thing. The whole pie that someone else pays for is another.
Joseph| 5.24.12 @ 4:07PM
What collective bargaining "right" are you talking about, liberal? Did I miss something when I studied Constitutional law? And if collective bargaining is a "right" how come the SEIU employees who work for the federal Government cannot themselves collectively bargain through their union ?
And just WHAT is this "corporate war on working class" you are talking about?
You spend to much time watching MSNBC and Al Sharpton and really ought to learn to think for yourself.
Richard Baker| 5.23.12 @ 3:28PM
Dimitry:
Walker is not trying to break the labor movement. He's trying (and succeeding) to render Wisconsin solvent and spare the taxpayers the bloated cost of the feel-good union contracts that had bankrupted the state. Union arrogance will backfire and Walker will win next month.
Bob S| 5.23.12 @ 4:25PM
With all these savings, Walker just makes sense. Only the unions come out weaker, but for a governor elected by the people, the choice between government unions and the people has to come down to the people, and only a few governors have come to that realization. The people of Wisconsin will realize that Walker makes more sense than the government unions, and when Walker wins, it will signal other governors around the country to combat the evils of government unions.
cornell| 5.23.12 @ 4:41PM
Scott Walker for PRESIDENT!!!!!
Speedypete| 5.23.12 @ 6:11PM
I listen to Wisconsin radio and what I could not believe was the school districts were spending millions on no bid health insurance. Owned by either the NEA or some teachers union, not sure. The state legislature and Governor Walker forced the open bids and the evil private insurance companies saved the districts budgets and saved teachers jobs. If I were a Wisconsin taxpayer and voter I would be there on June 5th and have a class action suit on June 6th to get the overpayments returned.. If you can believe what you here on radio.
PCP Smoker| 5.23.12 @ 7:28PM
Since conservatives are stupid about politics -- notice Mitt Romney winning the nomination -- I would not be talking about "vindication" until the results come in. Conservative radio all star Mark Belling has been noticing van after van of leftist drones being brought to the polls. Yes, its anecdotal, but let's not get cocky or stupid.
PattyMor| 5.24.12 @ 6:05AM
I agree, Scott Walker for President. After the Romney regime end, we need to back Walker for President. Ever notice, though that all the Repub. talking heads, all mention Christie, McDonald, Portman, even Ryan a Presidential candidates waiting in the wings, but never Walker. Its because they really don't want reforms. If and when he runs, we need to get out early and fund him.
Stephen| 5.24.12 @ 9:45AM
"But it is not just Walker's highly successful, pro-taxpayer, pro-growth reforms that are put to the test in this election."
You made the case for Walker's reforms being pro-taxpayer, but not for them being pro-growth. There's no connection to economic growth in his collective bargaining reforms, except for the absence of further state & local tax increases that would dampen economic activity. It's not the same thing.
Where's the state-level tax reform? Regulatory reform? Education reform and choice? These are the things that would be pro-growth, but not public collective bargaining rights. What Walker did was imporatant but if that's all he does, then he'll be a disappointment as governor.
Sapwolf| 5.25.12 @ 11:52PM
And that's why we have to help him win a SECOND term as governor.
mayogubbins| 5.24.12 @ 12:28PM
What a load of hyperbolic garbage. If this passes for right wing news then the "Paul Revere" moment is the dumbing down of our citizens who can no longer think for themselves. Our economy crashed not because of the public unions that make up about three percent of the workforce or "skyrocketing public costs". It crashed because of a combination of inflated house prices and Wall Street's risky investments. The anti-union stance is political and not economical. Wake up.
FBConservative | 5.24.12 @ 1:23PM
Gov. Walker worked against the privileges of few people, for the benefit of all. Obama and the Democrats can yell all the lies they want, they are not going to change the truth.
http://FBConservative.blogspot.com
Soljerblue| 5.24.12 @ 2:25PM
Just a small observation here. I have family in Wisconsin, and so have followed the Walker ordeal since its beginning. Lately I've been a volunteer caller with Americans For Prosperity-WI chapter. As you might imagine, we get many, many hang-ups. But without exception those who've chosen to respond to the questions are emphatically pro-Walker, and eager to say so. There's no question in my mind that these folks are motivated and will turn out on June 5th. What's more, approve-disapprove, and who-would-you-vote-for-in-November questions are included. I realize this is generalizing from specifics, but I've come to the conclusion that Badger State voters are pissed off enough that if Walker wins by any decent margin, WI is definitely going to be in play in November.
elephant4life| 5.24.12 @ 3:20PM
If this recall movement fails, I hope that Wisconsin will take steps to amend their constitution to require actual malfeasance or dereliction of duty as justification to initiate a recall election. If anyone should have been removed from office it was the Democrats in the legislature who fled the state in an attempt to destroy the democratic process. This Walker witch-hunt is just an attempt to negate the last election's results. If they don't fix this process, it is only going to get worse. That being said, would that we had the ability to recall Federal officials, including the Speaker, the Majority Leader, and the President, for malfeasance, abuse of power, and dereliction of duty.
Truthsayer| 5.25.12 @ 7:49AM
Great fictional piece. The Gov. grilled in front of congress admitted his union busting programs did not save a dime in the budget. Unions already gave back concessions before he signed union busting rules. His job growth is near the bottom in the country. His biennial budget is nowhere close to balanced. For all the giveaways to business, no private sector jobs came online. The private sector has pension plans for half the working class in America. Put this article in the fiction section of the library.
artoo| 5.25.12 @ 1:34PM
I guess you believe that if a lie is repeated often enough, people will believe it. In front of Congress, Governor Walker admitted that the portion of Act 10 requiring annual recertification would not save any money. HE DID NOT say that the other parts of Act 10 would not save money! Your job growth statement is based on statistical estimates since proven to be wrong by actual count. The biennial budget is not perfect, but is better than the 3+ billion deficit if we had done nothing.
HueyLives| 5.25.12 @ 8:56AM
Did the Walker campaign pay for this ad? No doubt. They're buying everything else.
Sapwolf| 5.25.12 @ 11:48PM
Gov. Walker has a new nickname we can give him for when he runs for POTUS in 2016 or 2020:
The MAN!
Sapwolf| 5.25.12 @ 11:53PM
Walker/Paul(Rand) 2016 or 2020
spoofproof| 5.29.12 @ 5:23PM
Gov Walker's campaign had better have a CPA at every polling place in the state. Anybody knows Scott Walker should win. He's been leading for weeks. But the key to the Election (ANY election) is the honesty of the votes counted. Richard Trumka's unionized bureaucrats are known as vote-stealers. Do not trust a Democrat, anywhere, anytime.
Steve| 5.29.12 @ 5:25PM
THANKS FOR POSTING! We've been all over this on Common Cents..
Steve
Common Cents
http://www.commoncts.blogspot.com