Public Employees Protesting WI Governor

Oddly enough, the majority of taxpayers choose the unions:

 

Anyway, I'm not opposed to cutting spending to reduce federal deficits, and I certainly appreciate that states have to balance their budgets. It just seems unfortunate to me that teachers and unions are being singled out as leeches and parasites, when more broad-based cuts (and tax increases) is clearly where we need to aim.

 

I'm not sure what a national poll has to do with a state issue, but regardless, I wonder what the results would be if those polled knew that the federal government doesn't allow any collective bargaining. Not ever for wages, which WI workers would keep.

The facts are all over this thread. WI public union workers have many advantages over their paymasters in the private sector. WI had an election, and elected a governor who campaigned on repairing their budget. At some point, the idiots of America need to realize that the money will soon not exist to pay out these promises that have been made by Democratic politicians to their campaign funders in the public unions.

That said, what Walker should do is strip off the non-financial aspects of the bill, vote on the Collective Bargaining portions, and pass them. A quorum of 20 is only needed for appropriations bills; collective bargaining does not fall under that umbrella.

I'll point out that the poll of a "adults", and not "registered voters", or even "likely voters".

 

Why is that an important thing to note? maxiep and mook were talking about tax-payers. Even people who don't vote pay taxes. I don't think either poster was, in this case, talking about the political fall-out but, rather, who should be "protected" (the tax-payers or the public unions). mook's post suggested that the tax-payers don't seem to believe they need protection from the public unions.

 

How do you know the "adults" are working? How do you know that "adults" aren't students.

The demographics show that the respondents were "the youngest adult 18 and over in the household". Plus 36% of states arleady don't allow any collective bargaining for state union workers.

 

In Wisconsin, the last poll I saw had 48% supporting the Governor and 38% supporting the union. Furthermore, 67% of the people polled in the state disagreed with the Democrats decision to leave the state to avoid a quorum.

The poll you cited was nationwide and the question was asked in general. No one is being asked to pay more taxes to support existing benefits for unions in this poll. In other words, there's no perceived penalty to supporting the "working man". I wonder if the poll numbers in the above paragraph look that bad in a state as pro-union as Wisconsin, what it would look like in a more pro-right-to-work state?

Here's what I do know: Wisconsin has until today to refinance its bonds to save $165MM. If it can't (and it requires a Senate quorum), then Wisconsin has to trim $165MM from its budget. It may be government employees, it may be government services. The bottom line is that the Democrat Senators have put the union ahead of the people they represent and the teachers have put themselves ahead of the kids. Neither can ever call themselves public servants ever again.

 

What I find interesting is that both Pew and the NYT have out separate national polls of "adults", while the real issue is in WI, where I imagine respondents would be much more educated on the issue.

Anyhow, I love these demographics from Pew in their polling of "adults".



http://people-press.org/report/?pageid=1915

 

I don't know that every one of them is either part of the workforce or else an adult who was part of the workforce and is currently without employment but wanting it (I consider those to be "tax-payers" too, even if they currently don't due to being laid off). But unless there's some reason to believe the poll was gamed for an agenda, I do think that it's probably a perfectly reasonable cross-section of tax-payers.

 

Oh come on now. 40% of Americans think raising state taxes is the best way to reduce state deficits? This poll seems highly suspect. Either that, or we're a bigger bunch of idiots as a nation than I suspected.

 

The most recent Party ID data

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/partisan_trends

To say that Democrats and Independents are over represented in this poll is an understatement. Yet, people look uncritically at it, and accept the findings as some sort of validation.

 

Yes. My tax dollars help pay for the services Sug provides, the home he lives in, the porn he buys, as well as the money for all facets of state government, be it from state taxes or federal Stimulus dollars. All this, and he doesn't even teach my kids. I'd rather pay a teacher directly, but paying for lazy freeloading service workers like Sug, as well as numerous other public boondoggles, makes private school unrealistic financially for us right now.

You really don't know much about how government operates, and where the money to fund it originates. Seems to be a pattern around here.

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703530504576164870117398088.html?mod=ITP_opinion_1

Bingo.

 

Good thing I'm not in this thread or it would get decided too fast.

I'll let all you pups get some practice.

 

Is he against protesting?

I really hope he had an article putting down all the right wing protests over the last few years.

Didn't America speak in 2008? And then when the Dems tried to pass legislation didn't the right wing gather in protest? But I thought democracy was working and the will of the people was served, since the people elected Obama and shooed out the Pubs.

Terrible article.

 

It's one thing to protest peaceably on your own time, as the Tea Partiers did, it's quite another to call in "sick" and have doctors write you fake excuses so you get paid to protest instead of teach. These protests shut down the schools in Madison and other towns in Wisconsin for several days. The taxpayers of the state paid for the teachers to protest. Protesting is fine, but don't interrupt services and don't ask others to pay for your activity.

 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-02-26/end-unions-and-end-the-privileged-class/