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So, the Republican governor of Wisconsin and his Republican cronies broke a law to ram through an unpopular bill last night. I just have to ask myself, what is gained by this? It will not be a victory for the Republican party because the bill will be overturned in court, the governor will be recalled as soon as possible, and a wave of outrage will pull Republicans from their seats in elections wherever they hold them in the state.
The whole point of ending collective bargaining for the unions who did not support the newly elected governor (police and firefighters are exempt) was supposedly to save money for the state. The teachers and other public employee unions agreed to cuts in pay and benefits, however, they did not want their right to collective bargain taken away.
The changes made last night cut the collective bargaining rights, they did not touch financial cuts at all. so much for the tenuous premise that the bill was illegally passed on the basis of cutting the state budget deficit.
Now, Republicans might have saved themselves by compromising on the collective bargaining rights, gotten the finance cuts they stated they desperately needed, (but we know that wasn't the point of this) but now they've engendered volatile hate against their party that is not going to go away for DECADES. Long-term planning not their strong suit.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/10/wisconsin.budget/index.html?hpt=T1
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/03/10/134415101/shock-vote-wisconsin-senate-approves-controversial-anti-union-bill
The whole point of ending collective bargaining for the unions who did not support the newly elected governor (police and firefighters are exempt) was supposedly to save money for the state. The teachers and other public employee unions agreed to cuts in pay and benefits, however, they did not want their right to collective bargain taken away.
The changes made last night cut the collective bargaining rights, they did not touch financial cuts at all. so much for the tenuous premise that the bill was illegally passed on the basis of cutting the state budget deficit.
Now, Republicans might have saved themselves by compromising on the collective bargaining rights, gotten the finance cuts they stated they desperately needed, (but we know that wasn't the point of this) but now they've engendered volatile hate against their party that is not going to go away for DECADES. Long-term planning not their strong suit.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/10/wisconsin.budget/index.html?hpt=T1
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/03/10/134415101/shock-vote-wisconsin-senate-approves-controversial-anti-union-bill
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-10 01:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-10 02:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-10 02:35 pm (UTC)i only hope you are right.
have you noticed how Republicans have taken a battle axe to our country in every way shape and form? hacking away at basic civilization, schools, health, safety-net? the so-called budget crisis is only the result of a lower tax revenues made much, much worse by give-aways to the super wealthy, like extending the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest 2%. in WI, they first passed huge tax cuts on rich corporations to actually create the budget shortfall, to give them the chance to bring the war to those greedy teachers and nurses and firefighters.
just look at this chart: i.imgur.com/fpmFw.jpg
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-10 02:39 pm (UTC)actually, most oil companies and other top corporations pay nothing or almost nothing, and receive huge regulatory favors from Congress on top of it. as Leona Helmsley famously said, "paying taxes are for the little people."
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-10 07:01 pm (UTC)And they can't say it's to benefit the public, because the unions that supported this gov, the police and firefighters were exempt, it's just a way to pit certain sectors of public employees against the others.
But it's nothing new from Republicans, after Regan fired all the air-traffic controllers, I guess we could see this inexorable slide to the death of unions, where people seriously ask, do we even need them anymore? Pathetic.
What makes me angry is the previous 'most selfish generation' they've sucked the country moving from hippies to yuppies to the entitled, they've got what they wanted, so fuck everyone else coming up after them.
FAIL!
Date: 2011-03-10 06:00 pm (UTC)The silver lining is that the working folks are much more aware of how the moneyed interest are only looking out for themselves. Gov't by the corps for the corps.
Re: FAIL!
Date: 2011-03-10 06:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-10 09:23 pm (UTC)And this crazy shit needs to get reversed soon. And I mean nation wide.
I'm getting to the point where I am thinking violent thoughts.