The signs point to Walker holding his policy intact and thereby diminishing the power of the state's employees union.
CS Monitor: Why neither side is blinking in Wisconsin's union-GOP budget showdown
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) isn't budging...
The Democratic contingent of 14 state senators remains in hiding outside the state...
...43 percent (of Wisconsin residents), approve of Walker's collective bargaining plan...
...Friday is the deadline to restructure the state's debt, and next Tuesday the state's next biennial budget is rolled out. Staying away from that debate could cede too much power to Republicans and could become a major political liability for Democrats..
3 comments:
It's an irony really what's happening in Wis. and elsewhere. The Reightn has always always hated UNIONS period. Now they're using a crisis the banksters and other greed meisters on Wall st. caused to smash what's left of the Union movement. Up till recently the public service Unions seemed to escape their wrath but no longer. Now as the economy shrinks they have a scapegoat Public service workers. You see it's not Wall st. or Capitalism's extrmes that have caused the Depression spreading out here, it's those pesky Public service Unions is how the narrative is being sold us by the MSM and FAUX news. Anyone and everyone has to be blamed but the people and orgs. ( the banks in particuliar) that are really to blame. However, that siad, the Public Service sector isn't going to get as much sympathy from the public as it might think. Why? because , the perception of the average Unionized Public Service worker isn't that great. These people are seen as if they're all Postal workers and arroagant DMV bureaucrats. Of course this isn't true but like Reagan's welfare queens the media and the right have been carefully painting a picture of these folks for popular consumption for decades. So, my guess is these protests will eventually fizzle and the Unions behind them will be crushed anyway. The goal is an end to any organized opposition to the RAW naked power of the massive Int'l and Nat'l Corps. that since Citizens United have decided to finish the job of turning America into just another 3rd world colony of their growing Int'l Empire.
As you often do, GK I think you have hit many nails on the head as it were.
I like what you have to say about how the middle class is set on each other - "Now they're using a crisis the banksters and other greed meisters on Wall st. caused to smash what's left of the Union movement."
There's always a redirection with the right isn't there. Its called framing. They are very good at it too.
One thing that comes to mind is how privatizing an entity often means that what replaces the union is more costly. Remember how Bush privatized the Iraq War so he could pay Blackwater many times the amount that a US soldier is paid.
Somebody needs to assemble that kind of information.
Yes, privatization turns Public services into profit centers for the client Corps. of the pols that they put in. This is one way the Gov't is being taken away from us. The Right hates Unions and it hates any part of Gov't that they can't totally control and eventually privatize. This process has gotten very far along @ the Federal level. The so called Federal Health care bill Obama wanted was an example of this on a very large scale. The health care Corps. Ins, Big Pharm and Big Hospital wanted to make sure the Gov't would be directing the huge amounts of $$ now being taken from the taxpayers and funneled through State agencies to hospitals etc. for indigent care ( the poor and uninsured). It pissed them ( the Corps.) off they weren't getting to "administer" ( skim) these funds and they claimed it was hurting their bottom lines. So, we have instead of an efficiently run health system like most other civilized Industrial democracies a corrupt expensive farce where were essentially being billed twice for sub-standard medical care. This is a prime example of why Gov't Unions are not going to get the sympathy they think they deserve from the public. Look, I worked for a Gov't sub-contractor for many yrs. and I watched how the Gov't workers that supervised our work handled things. We all resented them, why? Because most had their jobs through their POLITICAL connections not their skills! Plus, they took our work and sold it to their superiors as theirs! This is the perception Jim many of us have of these people and it pisses us off and turns us sour on them when they cry and moan as they are now. They never had to worry about being laid off , they never lost their benefits or health care and they rubbed it in. So the attitude among many of us rightly or wrongly is fuck u now. Still in the larger picture the irony is losing their Unions will just make things far worse for the rest of us in the long run, so we have to choke back the contempt and anger and support them anyway. If they all fail as I said were FUCKED big time. Then the bosses have us all by the short hairs permanently! It's sad that our overlords have turned into traitors really, but that's what the Empire is all about isn't it? Every time I see one of these pricks with an American flag lapel pinned neatly on their 2K grey business suit I want to scream!
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