Wisconsin Madness as Seen by the ‘Little People’
Yesterday a good friend who lives in southeastern Wisconsin sent me an email telling me how embarrassed she is to be from Wisconsin. The recent protests and the pathetic escape of the Senate Democrats to the nearby People’s Republic of Illinois have both angered and shamed my friend Margaret. She simply cannot believe that while she and her neighbors have been financially crippled over the past two years, these supposed public servants continue to grow fat while feeling no ill effects of the Obama recession. No longer basking in the glow of the Green Bay Packers Super Bowl victory, my friends on the other side of the border are positively beside themselves at the insane behavior of their public servants.
Another friend could only shake his head in disbelief. He wondered why Governor Walker’s “budget repair bill” has triggered so many clearly un-civil protests in the state capitol. As an accountant he understands that the Wisconsin Constitution requires a balanced budget and that union concessions would prevent massive layoffs. With the economy in shambles, isn’t it better to make a few concessions than sacrifice several thousand jobs? “It just kills me that we are expected to make so many sacrifices to pay for these people who don’t care one bit about us,” he added.
This morning I spoke with a co-worker named Jason who hails from the Dairy State. He said that “Walker should do like Reagan did with the air traffic controllers and fire their a**es!” His anger was focused on the Madison and Milwaukee public school teachers who called in sick to attend the protests at the capitol which caused the cancellation of classes in their districts. Wisconsin’s public school teachers are well compensated and receive lavish health and retirement packages that far outpace what similarly educated citizens could earn in the highly competitive private sector, a point not lost on Jason, who struggles to make do on half that amount while buckling under the weight of an oppressive property tax bill.
The general consensus among those people I spoke with is that they fully support Scott Walker and the Republican legislature and they appreciate their willingness to stand up to the public sector unions and endure the rhetoric and angry crowds that have assembled in Madison. To a person, there was no sympathy for the public school teachers who they regard as overpaid and unproductive. Unlike Mr. Obama, who is not familiar with the proposed legislation, the Wisconsin residents whom I talked with know that the proposed “budget repair bill” does not affect either police or firefighters, nor do they bear any animosity towards those public servants.
The appearance of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and fellow agitator Jesse Jackson in Madison on Friday merely served to prove to my friends and co-workers that Governor Walker and the Republican leadership were doing the right thing for the state and its overburdened taxpayers. My friend Bruce said: “If Rev. Jackson and that union thug Trumka are going to fire up the crowd, they must be scared.” Jason added: “Jack-ass Jesse Jackson? That proves we’re right. I just hope Walker doesn’t cave.”
What are the exact provisions of the bill? A couple lefties on O’Reilly claimed that the bill was going far beyond just a one-year fix on contracts.
Here’s the bill itself. See for yourself.
http://legis.wisconsin.gov/2011/data/SB-13.pdf
Wow – a 5 page bill that one barely needs a lawyer to understand!
The legislators quit and the governor should appoint replacements.
The photos from the strike should be checked for public servants. Every one identified should be fired for fraud. They claimed to be sick, but were defrauding the state of their salary by their absence.
I’d bet you can hire replacements in a heartbeat in an era of ten percent unemployment.
Its seems to me, that the teachers who drug school-children to this protest, should be charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor(s).
Unless of course, truancy is legal in Wisconsin?
Unless of course, truancy is legal in Wisconsin
In the Republic of Enlightenment, would that surprise you?
Arguably, it’s kidnapping. And I am serious; I can tell you of case in New York State not all that different.
Fire all of them — union thugs in the capital, teachers, and Dem. legislators in Illinois hiding out.
Thank YOU,
The wonderful Teachers Unions of Bucks County PA!
With an AVERAGE salary of near SIX FIGURES, NO contributions to your health care, and REGULAR strikes for pay raises with percentage increses in the mere TEENS, you’re just SO REASONABLE compared to the “Red Shirt Mob” that just violently took over the freaking State House of those poor taxpaying schmucks in WI.
We’re SOOOOOOOOOOO lucky YOUR union isnt quite as nasty, selfish and arogant, and potentially VIOLENT as THEIRS.
We should thankfully receive yet another tax increase for the luxury of having gracious and fair people like YOU spending us into oblivion! Were SO proud that YOU earn almost DOUBLE what the average privately employed person in America does!!!
That makes the taxpayers in YOUR district SPECIAL!
By the way, Lords and Ladies, may we PLEASE still vote from time to time?
We promise it wont offend you TOO much…
We’d hate to have to lose OUR State House to Union Mob rule, too.
Thanks SOOO much,
We LOVE you!
Your wonderful post just oozes and drips with the level of sarcasm with which these union thugs deserve to be described. Did anyone notice the irony of “teachers” to whom we give tons of our hard earned money, misspelling their protest signs? Looked like it was straight out of “The Onion”.
That could be because a LOT of the people there are not teachers,
OR even associated with the teachers.
However, the teachers appear to welcome the thugs with open arms and closed minds.
They are Obama’s mob that he called out..some piece of work we have for a president.
“They are Obama’s mob that he called out..some piece of work we have for a president.”
O’Sputnik’s Organizing for America and the DNC have created a new political movement “Democrats Against Democracy”.
Nice call; You have a great euphemism to beat the liberals over the head with.
I’m so sick of hearing it’s not the teachers, it’s the union “leaders”. Well, who elected the union “leaders”?
They aren’t teaschers. They’re “educators”. Ask one.
Union heads are the bane of EVERY taxpaying citizen, (as their tax dollars end up paying the extortion)few have a clue as to what these thugs-yes, they are thugs!-are up to.
Our CPA tax practice handled non profit audits, in addition to complex corporate tax work. I cannot count how many times we turned down audits of local unions(on the east(left coast)because after an initial review concluded that financial shenanigans were rife in the union.To wit, we told them to take their business elsewhere, but their response was almost always the same-how much can we pay you to look the other way.Thieving bastards….
My point being-union heads(and some of their rank and file)behave no better than mafia-like organizations.They have a strict hierarchy where Board members are atop of the ‘family’, those under them serve as their ‘under bosses’, and the rank and file are used as their shock troops.
The day that unions are abolished is the day that ordinary citizens will be free of their thuggery.Moreover, capitalism will explode as a result, sans a union thug no longer waiting to bust non union heads.
Really.
“The day that unions are abolished is the day that ordinary citizens will be free of their thuggery.Moreover, capitalism will explode ”
Yes, capitalism will explode but so will unemployment….so many former Public Union “professionals” with no real world job skills, no work ethic, and no VALUE to the rest of us, will be destitute…
Like Welfare, the Public Unions disrupted the “Darwinism” of our culture, by allowing the otherwise impossible breeding of so many non-producers.
Simply “throwing them in the street”, and out of their comfortable upper middleclass lives by the tens of thousands (millions?) will requre a NEW set of Federal Programs to “preserve their lifestyles” and “transition them” to the private sector.
Sort of like how every innocently started “school lunch” program morphs into taxpayer funded breakfast, lunch, AND dinner PLUS over the weekend “snack packages” for “the children” who otherwise wouldnt have anything “healthy” to eat at home ….because their parents on public assistance cant really be expected to spend some their welfare checks on their own FOOD now, can they?
Unions and Islam are twins! They will both “Exist” within the system they are attacking until they get the upper hand. Then they take over and allow NO inputs from their employers/dhimmies. They appear to be civil and offer no conflict until their agenda is attacked. In the union case it is staggeringly over priced labor rates coupled with benefits only a CEO could expect. In the Muslims case it is Sharia law and as they gain more power the start encroaching Sharia bit by bit into OUR constitutional laws. Even if the Govenor wins this round, as long as this union exists, it will be just like the Muslims who continue to chip away at the foundation of democracy. When both are confronted with their ultimate aims they cry discrimination and unfair tactics by their accusers. As Ronald Reagan did to the air traffic controllers, we have to offer them a one time return to sanity or fire them.
Such Vile Sarcasm!
And it is quite undeserved.
Don’t you know that those teachers DON’T earn nearly as much as an NBA Player, or a Movie Star?
Can’t you get it through your head that they still have far to go to get Equity with Fat Cat Wall Street Banker’s Salaries?
You clearly Don’t Get It!
Huh? Maybe not fat cat bankers, but, truly, have you looked at the benefits teachers get? Pretty fat. And by the way, have you looked at where US kids stand vs. kids in other countries such as China in terms of what they know? This is the disconnect that boggles most peoples’ minds.
no one is forcing anyone to be a teacher. If you don’t like it get another job is a free country.
Pssst:
You forgot to put a “/sarc” emoticon at the end of your post.
If people have to be told what is sarcasm, they are probably not really paying attention, just reacting.
You don’t get it. The average private person also doesn’t get paid like an NBA player. Your class warfare is typical
LOL; NICE “SARCASM”
I know, such a drag for them to STILL be shackeled to us wage slaves, no matter HOW much they earn….Its just so….so embarassing.
They spent 30 million on a palace for the Board of Ed offices in Bucks County….glass atrium, 10 foot oak doors, multi media conference room out of a Star Trek episode…
And DARN, they STILL have tolerate being among the commoners CHILDREN, every DAY, in those awful cramped “temporary classroom” trailers hidden from view BEHIND the middle school….for the past ten years
With all that money, time off, bennies and perks, they realize they still work in a TRAILER, and its embarassing!
DAMN those cheap no-class PARENTS!
(yes, with teachers wages up 35% in that same time frame, the “temporary” trailers are ten now years old with MOLD REMEDIATION ISSUES to deal with)
Exactly what business is it of yours or anyone else as to how much the bankers make? The same was claimed of doctors some years ago and people reduced their pay and liberity and the consequence is the distruction of medical care in the US. The fact is that we need to forget how much other people make. If we want that salary, then go get it. But otherwise, it is none of anyone’s business. Now, the teachers salary is our business as we pay it. It is plain that we can not afford that salary. The answer if you are a liberal is to tax the rich. But if you believe in the concept of a free America, then you know that taxing the rich is a moral wrong. Instead, we need to redure the cost of our government. It has become far too much at every level. We need to make it possible for all of us to have the chance to make the same as bankers, instead of placing roadblocks at every level to stop us.
We do not live in a free society. The reason is that people for years have been saying “tax the rich” or that we need to control one issue or another. Ever thought about why you can’t go to the drug store and buy the medication that you think is necessary for a condition? Who ever said that government could control this one simple concept? The US was the originator of the thought. Before that you could treat yourself as you desired. Is that the action of a free country? Lets get our freedom back, lets markedly reduce our governmet at every level.
Notice all the young 17 and 18 yr old kids in there.Bussed in from the local obama election house, or from the uni.They are there for the good times of protesting where they can create havoc and mayhem destroying shops and setting everything on fire. These are professional protesters that go with the highest payer.They are NOT anything to do with this bill,they have been bought by the unions.They don’t care where the money comes from.
When can we expect the Tea-party thousand to protest in favour of the Governor.
Yeah, Obama’s gang sent in the university students w/all their ideals about fair play…..but not a taxPAYER among ‘em.
Yes, amongst those youngsters, anybody asked them if they will graduate and join ‘the producer class’?
“A recent study from Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute compared Wisconsin’s public workers with their private counterparts in the state.
The study revealed Wisconsin public employees earn 4.8 percent less in total compensation per hour than comparable full-time employees in Wisconsin’s private sector.”
http://www.channel3000.com/news/26896459/detail.html
The average teacher’s salary in Madison Wisconsin is $41K. Average teacher salaries for job postings in Madison, WI are 27% lower than average teacher salaries for job postings naionwide.
http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=teacher&l1=Madison%2C+WI
Yes, I teach, 40 years in “the school biz”. For Christoper, et al, I too, have had the experience of inclusion/mainstreaming of students with a broad range of abilities and needs, some so severely and profoundly challenged as to have no means of communication other than grunts, who joined my classes of more than 30 pupils for the sole purpose of experiencing exposure to other children who learned to compassionately interact, sometimes wiping noses and drooling lips, others with greater academic potential. It is a teacher’s responsibility to meet the needs of all of the students in the classroom. Yes, my colleagues and I devote 60+ hours per week to our profession, -most good and great teachers do. And yes,there are mediocre teachers as there are mediocre performers in every profession.
I am saddened and offended to see an entire profession sullied by the actions of a few and smeared by the misinformation people choose to believe.
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/_nypost_teacher_pay_myth.htm. Teacher pay myth article right here.
Thanks. Most enlightening.
As a Teacher Aide in Wisconsin I know that if you have a severely handicapped student in your classroom that an Aide will be with that student. You end up with an extra adult in your classroom. That Aide will assist you and your other students as well as the the handicapped student. So stop acting like you have all these added responsibilities and you are some kind of martyr. Also, why don’t you tell everyone what your retirement benefit will be after working only 30 years (and only 9 months a year) including health benefits?
Will you condemn those who called in sick?
Will you condemn those who got minors involved?
Bucks County, PA—where the Pennsbury School District is battling its overpaid teachers.
And where two teachers at Penn Valley Elementary School gave out Pro-Union progaganda homework assignments to their classes.
Ah yes, we should be so thankful for our aristocratic betters who indoctrinate our kids while they fleece us blind.
Pennsburry?
Oh, no no no dear, I’m from the Evil Twin District, the one with the really frightening Superiority Complex? Council Rock!
You see, Pennsburry is WORKING CLASS, no self respecting ROCK teacher would ever work there…when THOSE teachers approach C.R. wage levels, well its just unacceptable! C.R. will HAVE strike next! They are the HIGHEST paid teachers in the STATE, a level of prestige they will simply NOT relinquish, under ANY circumstances.
I mean, how DARE Pensburry they think they should earn as much as C.R. teachers, many of whom live in the restored Victorian Mansions of Solebury and Newtown?
The NERVE!
Thanks, Phil, for this fascinating anecdotal report. I hope your sampling of Wisconsinites accurately reflects the Wisconsin electorate as a whole.
Never mind the fence on the southern border. Indiana taxpayers should be building a fence on the Illinois border.
As a Chicago resident, I can’t blame you one bit. Although I do hope you put together some sort of screening process for refugees – not all of us are left-wing parasites.
“Indiana taxpayers should be building a fence on the Illinois border.”
Just be sure the fence doesn’t impede the flow of businesses escaping IL for IN. Keeping IL residents & their “values” on their “own side” should be the primary objective. Other than liberal Dems, unions & Obama, who wants IN to turn into IL East?
Actually, as a much oppressed and long suffering serf from the downstate of the Land that Forgot Lincoln, I was kinda hoping you guys on our eastern border might stage a territorial expansion and help us to get out from underneath the despotic yoke of Cook County.
I suppose I could border jump, but blast it: there are a lot of nice places in IL…good farmland, Shawnee is really nice; heck, the state went overwhelmingly red the last election — but for you know where. A lot of Illinois deserves to be in a better state than Illinois.
Someone should be organizing counter protests… surround the capital and encourage the governor and those who stayed to continue their good work and chase away the thug union protesters. Someone should also be organizing a massive recall of all 14 of the cowards who ran away.
Why don’t you be that someone. Why is it always someone else!! All you guys are always big talk no action and the left knows it!! Too comfortable to put your butts on the line. Oh Oh why doesn’t someone stand up the them …. anyone but me boohoo!!.
To them ~ Not the them
I believe Saturday will be your big day in Wisconsin. That is when the working people will have a chance to reply.
The gov was elected to stand up to them and he better stand his ground. As for me i have to be at work Monday morning.
With all due respect, it may be the case that Jefferson does not live in WI and thinks this issue should be dealt with by citizens of the state.
I live a couple states away in flyover country and have to admit I am watching this clash with great interest. The Governor was terrific in last night’s press conference and I have enjoyed hearing the different views from Wisconsonites (hope I got that right) on both sides of this issue. The bussed in agitators and the unhelpful comments from the White House add to the drama. Looks like El Presidente has waded into another issue that will not go his way.
Did everyone notice – It appeared that, not only did Gov. Walker NOT use a teleprompter, he didn’t even have notes. He just spoke truth.
Agreed! He is my new hero, along with Mitch Daniels and Chris Cristie! Also looking forward to when Gov. Kasich (sp) takes off the gloves in Ohio! These guys are awesome. Gives me hope in our system again!
That is happening today at noon. The call went out yesterday to all conservative and TEA Party groups to gather in Madison for a counter-protest. The hopes are there will be a larger crowd supporting Governor Walker than those supporting the greedy unions.
I look at it this way, these idiots could have been enjoying a nice three day weekend, maybe gone on a short day trip with their families. Now, because of their greed, they’re spending a frigid weekend protesting uselessly and displaying to one and all just how useless and greedy the public sector unions really are.
“Someone should be organizing counter protests… ”
Because people in the private sector can’t blow off their jobs by fake calling in sick and then expect to have the job when they decide to return to it.
I’d just like to say that, although I am a public employee who is NOT in a union, I stand very much with the private sector on this one. Most teachers and public employees are apalled by the actions of these protestors/teachers. Many work hard and are willing to sacrifice, but the unions will not allow it. (I have bargaining experience. The WI teachers had a chance to collectively bargain – with no results.) I work in a school district and think all these teachers should be fired. They are violating their contracts and this is the same as a strike (illegal) to me. Fire them as Reagan did and hire teachers who will appreciate their jobs and work for the children. I’ve watched public schools go steadily downhill over the course of my 25 years working in them. We need a new direction, and unions need to go. I’d also like to encourage parents to start voicing their anger and refusing to put up with this stuff. Kids are being steadily “progressed” in our schools from age 3 to 23 (now 26). You must start fighting the good fight. If you don’t get results, homeschool or find a good private school. The payments are far more worth it than college, which is just a waste of time anymore and SO NOT worth the cost! (At least choose wisely if you elect to go to college.)
Thanks for standing up Fight. I agree 100%. But growing up under unions in a closed shop state I can say this crap has been going on for a long, lon time.
A friend of mine from Wis. e-mailed me today and said “I was going to write you and apologize for our Dems. who are so afraid of not getting their way that they actually ran out of state to avoid doing their jobs. Things have really gotten out of hand.”
I’d really like to be there tomorrow for the Tea Party.
Public employee labor unions was a bad idea to start with. Anyone with any common sense could foresee this kind of eventual confrontation. If the governor of Wisconsin caves on this, look for this tactic to become a recurring government union response to any effort to extract concessions from them. The ONLY good solution will have to be the dissolution of all public sector unions. Wisconsin is ripe for this situation. They have never passed a right to work law in that state meaning that 1% of the taxpayer funded salaries of all the state union workers is automatically taken from their paychecks and funneled back in to help get friendly Democrats elected again. So, all the taxpayers of Wisconsin are funding the Democrat political party there. This is corruption, pure and simple.
Very well said! Just as a point of interest, I believe it was JFK who started this insanity of public sector unions…. Sure fire vote getter, at least until we run out of money. Forget about “YES WE CAN” as a campaign phrase; “KICK THE CAN” would have been more accurate.
Love that! “Kick the Can” – great slogan for the “opposition” to utilize going forward.
Public employee unions make huge political contributions and direct massive voting blocks to elect the people with whom they will collectively bargain. I hear no one offering a defense of the ethics of this situation.
Public Unions should be forced to put pay and benefit packages to the voters – you know, the folks who earn the money the state confiscates.
Scott Walker, stick to your guns and fire every last one of these worthless parasites.
“worthless parasites” = teachers
You’ve nailed it, Sam! Teachers are waaay overpaid FOR WHAT THEY DO! FOR WHAT THEY DO! Their current salary & benefits packages are paid ONLY (in the private sector) to those workers who produce for 12-14 hours a day 6 days a week. Those private sector employees REALLY work and then THINK about how to IMPROVE on their production during their precious time away from their work. You will notice that the union protesters love to argue that they will never be “rich like business owners.” True…and they will never risk every dime they own in order to work 100 hours a week.
Fire these pampered gov’t worker underachievers! Certainly there are enough unemployed college grads out there who would GLADLY accept teachers’ proposed packages. Teaching ain’t brain surgery…it’s an EXTREMELY easy job! (I began my career as a teacher and moved to the corporate world because I could not tolerate the laziness in the public sector.)
Wow. I wonder how good of a teacher you actually were then. Most teachers I know put in 10-12 hour days, when you factor in planning, grading and preparations. When I was growing up, a lot of them worked second jobs, and if they left for the private sector, it was to EARN more money per hour, not less, even with adjustments in benefits. I don’t agree with what the unions are doing in Wisconsin, but I truly, honestly hate attitudes like yours. My mom taught special ed for 20+ years, and the amount of crap she had to deal with on a daily basis- horrible parents, mountains of paperwork, higher admin that was dangerously ignorant about law and public policy, and students who were mixed- some wanted to learn, others just hated it and were resistant to efforts, and most forms of punishment or discipline are really looked down on, if not outright forbidden now…
Teachers of regular courses now face the joy known as inclusion (this is an ongoign argument)- that means that you can have a class of regular kids, and have to then be able to plan to include someone who is severely and profoundly mentally and/or physically challenged- even if you weren’t trained for it (I won’t get into the arguments for and against it).
Are there a lot of bad teachers? Yep. I was there for the first round of teacher testing in Arkansas under Clinton. It was a disgrace.
Are there a lot of hard working, intelligent, caring individuals working as teachers? Yes, and you just slandered the lot of them (well, if online is print, it’s libel, but I digress).
If it was an easy job for you, you must have been in a plush district, or you didn’t care- or at least that’s what I’d believe based on my experiences when growing up, and on the experiences of my friends who teach now (who you have just insulted, along with my mom- way to go). That, or you’re incredibly gifted, but blessed with incredible arrogance too. Which is perhaps the most saddening option.
Anyway, speaking about all teachers based on your limited experience is, well, dumb and arrogant, and again, not helping. I’m guessing it’s best you got out of teaching for all concerned. (yes, I’m a bit po’d)
Christopher, Inclusion classes do not include profoundly mentally challenged students. My grandson, who has a form of autism, went from self enclosed spec ed classes to inclusion classes and on to regular and advanced classes, passing all seven NYS Regents’ exams. He is now in a tough Civil Engineering program getting all A’s and B’s in three engineerig and a calculus course in a college with a top engineering program. Thank God for inclusion classes that move students into more challenging environments. And as for students with physical disabilities, why should they be separated and “warehoused” in special ed classes, often with teachers who are certified in math, science, etc. You are dead wrong in criticizing inclusion classes which can be gateways to real education for many “handicapped” students. You make it sound that these students are severely retarded. We knew our grandson had a genius for math, music, and science, but the schools didn’t. We fought hard and expended a small fortune to rescue him special ed classrooms.
“Inclusion classes do not include profoundly mentally challenged students.”
This would actually depend on the district you teach in. In my district, profoundly mentally challenged students do attend “regular ed.” classes. Not all day, and usually with an teaching assistant, but they are there.
As far as the physically disabled in special ed classrooms, I know of no district that places them in a special ed classroom unless they have an accompanying mental disablement as well.
Taking an extra-job, unpleasant circumstances in the work environment- we call that life. It’s what the bulk of us have to do.
I’m also a former teacher and I will tell you that based on my professional experience, about 20-40% teachers are great/good/adequate, depending on the school, and the range of lazy/bad/awful teachers are EASILY 60-80%. My years teaching was total abject frustration because I was killing myself to teach all my students while some bozo teacher (male or female)in another classroom was literally playing cards in class, showing Hollywood movies, reading books, or gossiping in the halls! And that’s the normal bad, not including bad that “administration” would stir themselves to notice. Why don’t the public just admit the elephant in the living room- most teachers are ,at best,bad???? What more proof do we need to demonstrate that our schools are overall deficient?
“Most teachers I know put in 10-12 hour days….a lot of them worked second jobs, and if they left for the private sector, it was to EARN more money per hour, not less, even with adjustments in benefits.”
On what planet, and in what century, did this fantasy of yours exist?
My sons 4th grade class has a Teacher, a ASSISTANT Teacher, a READING Teacher (because the ‘Regular” teacher cant do that?) a LITERACY SPECIALIST (isnt reading itself kinds like literacy?), and a LANGUAGE SPECIALIST (because the previous 3 assholes couldnt teach “run spot, run! to a small group of 100% english speaking white american suburban children)
Oh yeah, and frigging GUIDANCE COUNSELOR too…in the 4th freaking grade…I suppose to ask the important:
“what do YOU want to be when you grow up, Johnny?”
Because 9 year old are SO career oriented…Astronaut one day, King of the Sea the next, it takes a PROFESSIONAL to guide that conversation right!?
All this for the mere price of ONE HALF MILLION DOLLARS, AS EACH ONE OF THESE REDUNTANT THEIVES IS EARNING A SIX FIGURE INCOME.
(that over 100 grand a year to those of you educated by the failing Public School Math Programs of the last 40 years)
PLUS summers off?
PLUS Tenure?
And you say some leave to earn MORE in the private sector?!
Buddy there ARE NO private sector jobs like that!
Teachers in my district earn DOUBLE the national average of private sector jobs, and work about HALF as many days.
Thats a 4:1 ratio over the people they fleece, while ALWAYS demanding MORE.
The Teachers Union is a Criminal Enterprise that needs to be destroyed.
Period.
Teachers Unions today are CRIMINAL ENTERPRISES
Ok- you just went too far, and those kinds of statements give credence to the calls that the Tea Party is full of a-holes, rednecks and ignorant blowhards.
For the record, not all teachers are bad, and not all are in unions willingly. Teaching in a lot of states is closed shop. That means you join when you sign the ‘I want to be a teacher for your district’ contract- or you don’t get to be a teacher. My mom paid dues to the AEA (arkansas) and the NEA (National) unions her entire career and hated it the whole time. While I’m biased to think my mom is an exceptional exception, she’s not- the union brass typically did what it damn well pleased, and since it’s a closed shop, there was no recourse, especially in light of the fact that everyone seems to be afraid to take on union officials. Nor did she get paid well above the equivalent private sector- a lot of teachers I knew growing up, and now as well, would mostly qualify as lower middle class. Yes, her insurance was paid for, which was nice, but we were always struggling, and I knew lots of others who were too. Also, pay scales were capped based on your degree, not on your experience and success, so a career teacher with a BS/BA would be paid less than a career teacher with a MS/MA for teaching the same damn class, and without other metrics being taken into account.
Now, the admin…that’s where a lot of the money went in the district. I’d wager real money that in most cash-strapped districts, they could get a couple of hundred thousand dollars back per year by cutting the salaries of admin back to reasonable middle management levels, especially superintendants…but that’s another fight.
Digressing back to teachers- I have a good friend who is a music teacher in New Mexico, and she works two extra university classes (main job is grade school) plus private performance gigs to make ends meet. She often has 16-18 hour days, plus weekend classes or performances, and she is not the exception either (at least for music teachers I know). And no, she isn’t rolling in dough, and yes, if offered, she’d pay part of her health care (she might already- i don’t know NM policy on that). She is part of the union there, but again, I believe it’s a closed shop.
Anyway, before you go making stupid statements like you just did, you might, just might, want to get to know a few teachers. Find out what their worries are, what their lives actually are. Prove that the Tea Party isn’t ignorant rabble, but actually concerned citizens (I believe it’s the latter, by the way- but statements like yours don’t help it at all). Maybe you’ll find that they were scared of retribution if they didn’t toe-the-line. Maybe some of them didn’t want to be odd-man-out and have the pro-union teachers and admin notice they were wanting to work, or disagreed. Maybe the admins over-reacted, or worried about violence on the campuses, or maybe they are looking for brownie points with the unions. whatever. Think about it some, and then open your mouth/set your hand to a keyboard, otherwise, you’re just venting hot air and coming off as a d…. something the Tea Party, libertarians, or general conservatism does not need, at all.
Wisconsin HAS a closed shop. I know and work with a lot of teachers. Our local school was open all week but I don’t know if maybe some teachers were “out sick” in Madison. If they were, even if they were some of my favorite people, they are still worthless parasites.
I am a parent of a 7th grader in a public school in one of the better districts in California. I am appalled at the attitude I encounter on a regular basis, not only from the teachers but from the administration. All we ever get are memos about how we can help the teachers and the school, never is there a mention of what they need to do to help our children.
If teachers are as wonderful as you say then why don’t they do something about the situation in their own schools? Why don’t they try to get that horrible teacher fired? Why don’t they make sure the kids who leave their classrooms are at grade level, or at least are held back until they get there?
You say they work all of these long hours. Some do, but they’re a rarity. The fact is that once your lesson plans are done you can coast for years. Not only that, but in the districts I’ve lived in the teachers have parent volunteers, (I call them groupies), who grade their papers, decorate their classrooms, staple the homework, and even maintain their records.
In all of the years my son has been in school only a couple of teachers have treated me with any respect. Most of the time I’m talked down to like I’m some kind of moron. Once I actually had to tell a teacher that she could talk faster and use big words because I had a Master’s Degree and figured I could follow along just fine.
The worst of all of this is that these lazy arrogant teachers are not teaching our kids. The standards are so low now that my 7th grade son’s A paper would have gotten me a C in the fifth grade. You know, I’m mad too, I’m mad that I have to spend hours every day teaching my son what he should have learned in school. I’m mad that everytime I want to talk to a teacher after school they’re gone before I can get to the classroom. I’m mad that kids are left behind because the teachers who love them so much, (yeah, really), do nothing to make sure they’re learning. I’m especially mad that people defend the teachers who vote for these union thugs. Don’t they have any control over their own union? Can’t they vote these people out? I’ll believe that most teachers are good when I see them do something about what the unions have done to our schools. Until then, I’ll stand by my statement that most of them are lazy and arrogant, and don’t give a damn about our kids.
Worthless parasites = these Wisconsin teachers who are choosing to rally at the capitol rather than do their job.
Here in Texas where I teach, we aren’t unionized (can’t, we aren’t allowed), I pay 50% of my health insurance, and another large chunk goes to my retirement. After 15 years I finally broke the $40k mark for salary last year. Could I get fired? You bet, so I do my job darn well.
My fellow teachers from Wisconsin do not have my sympathy nor my support. Here in Texas we are in financial trouble as well. And teacher jobs are going to get cut. Life sucks when we as a country have no self control with money.
BUT! Not all teachers fit the “worthless parasites” label. Not all teachers are overpaid for what they do.
These kinds of intelligent, respectiful and informative exchanges are why I love reading Pajamas Media. Thanks everyone for “speaking up”.
“Public employee unions make huge political contributions and direct massive voting blocks to elect the people with whom they will collectively bargain.”
I wish, I could write like this. Brilliant.
Unions contributed 100 Million at the mid-terms to get Dem’s elected. So instead of taking their members dues and actually helping fund their retirement, etc they lust for power and get greedy and then want a bailout. Average teacher at 100K with no contribution to pension or healthcare is not sustainable and the Gov of WI is fixing a problem created by the unions.
Unions = evil; This isn’t 1925
Teachers = great people corrupted by unions.
Another “educational experience” is to read the newspapers put out by the teachers’ unions for their members. So red they could have been written by a ghost writer from Pravda. And it is disgusting that the Department of Ed (in NYC)automatically deducts union dues from a teacher’s paychecks whether s/he signs up for union membership or not. You may have a different word for it but I call it robbery.
“Public Unions should be forced to put pay and benefit packages to the voters – you know, the folks who earn the money the state confiscates.”
I love that idea. Public sector contracts should face a plebiscite.
From the Democratic Minority Leader of the Wisconsin State Senate…
From the desk of Senator Mark F. Miller, Minority Leader, Wisconsin Senate:
Dear Democrat Colleagues,
I’ve been watching the weather quit a bit lately, and I have to tell you that it is just too cold here for me right now. I know, I know, we’re supposed to be in session, but honestly, how can we be expected to get any work done with fourteen feet of snow on the ground? Seriously guys, it’s cold up here. What we need is a winter break.
Look, the Republicans are bound and determined to do whatever they want. I don’t know where they got the idea that just because they have majorities in both houses and the governorship they can pass whatever laws they like, but that seems to be their thinking these days. So, since I can’t accomplish any of my legislative goals anyway, and since it’s colder than the Governor’s heart, I say we get out of town for a while and hit the beaches down in sunny Chicago. Have you seen the lake here this time of year? I’ve gotta tell you, it’s just plain beautiful. I really don’t know why I’d want to be any other place.
Here’s the thing. Over the years, I’ve maintained a 100% rating with Naral, all the gun-control people, the Sierra Club, the gay-rights group and the public sector unions (except for those a******* cops who keep giving me a bad rating, probably because they don’t like the 100% I got from the ACLU). At any rate, it’s obvious this year that all my hard-earned work was going to be shoveled aside like so much snow by the Republicans. Then it occurred to me what I could do. I could take a vacation, get a little sun and fun, a little r & r, some downtime, some me time, and at the same time I could keep the Republicans from doing anything, and I mean anything, at all. All I have to do is leave town and get you guys to come with me.
It’s perfect! We have the new form of responsible government: If you can’t win the game, don’t play! We can take a vacation and still keep all of our special constituents happy! The unions will love us for this, after all it’s a move right out of their playbook. Don’t work, shut everything down, and make sure nothing happens until the other side caves to our demands. I really don’t see how anything can go wrong…. Read the rest here… http://beautifulletters-bls.blogspot.com/2011/02/wisconsin-democratic-senate-leader.html
Sounds to me like he is abdicating. They should hold a special election to replace any legislators who have abdicated. Replace them with people who will do their jobs responsibly. Same thing for the teachers. They walk off the job and if they called in sick and are out protesting, then they obviously are NOT sick and so are abdicating. Hire replacements who will also do their job responsibly.
Prior to the time for the vote Wisconsin had two parties in their senatorial legislative body (Republican and Democrat). It appears now they have added one more with the escape to Obamaland:
The Flee Party
I believe they’re also known as flee-baggers.
I’m not embarrassed to be from Wisconsin. Yeah, the union pigs at the trough might be Wisconsites (although apparently quite a few of them are here from Chi-town, Obama’s old stomping grounds.) My disgraceful and idiotic US rep. Gwen Moore is from here. But, on the other hand, Scott Walker is a Badger and so are Paul Ryan and Ron Johnson and I’m proud of all three of them. Plus, believe me, the warm glow from the Super Bowl has not worn off yet.
My answer might have been different a few years ago, when Feingold was still in the Senate and the sleazy Dem Jim (“I’m all about spending”) Doyle was Governor. I’d be much more embarrassed to be from Illinois this days – home of bambi, Rahm and Quinn and land of a thousand tax increases, including a sales tax that made me heave the last time I hit Michigan Avenue. (Although I hear the Tilted Kilt in Rockford is quite nice.)
Plus, the Bears QB completely crapped out on them during the playoffs. Not a good time to be a Flatlander.
You are correct and Wisconsonites like you will prevail. You have a whole nation of conservatives behind you. Keep up the good fight!
YES. Rip your shirts off and scream it to the heavens.
WE WANT MORE. GIVE IT UP. GIVE IT ALL UP.
Follow the lead of the piper in the White House. He knows best. He won. He has a crisp crease in his pants. He’s thin. He’s the genius. He’s the one who can create or save jobs. He has the best abs. Organize. Get in our faces. Bring a knife to the fight. Call us Hitler. Scream it out. You deserve it. How dare us, pissant taxpayers, racists, greedy ignorant, dirty fingernailed clingers, dare to challenge YOU, full-time, EDUCATED government workers. Do it for the kids, and to get back at us for pretending we are as good as you.
You know, you just KNOW that greedy taxpayers like us are hoarding billions that we overcharged you for when we unplugged your toilets and fixed your cars, and we refuse to give give it up. COME AND GET IT. Now’s the time to finally put us in our place once and for all.
Bring it on
You said it all. It has become a battle of us and them. Many thanks, Obongo the Uniter, as this climate of confrontation is all on your back. America’s very existence is at state. We the people will ultimately prevail and big government socialism will lose. Glad to be on the right side.
You go guy! BTW, don’t forget it was a plumber who called Obama on his “spread the wealth” slip. Too bad nobody listened…
Reid and Pelosi threaten to shut down the government. Part of the Wisconsin Senate skips town to avoid responsibility. Union teachers take a week off to protest their wages.
Okay, shut down the government and the schools. No graduations this year. That’ll go over big with seniors planning to start college in the fall.
The whole concept of public unions should be illegal, in that it allows members to be represented twice, once directly at the negotiating table as a union member, and again at the polling booth as a citizen of the locality. Simultaneously, each of those privately-employed citizens who together pay the bulk of the union members’ salaries have but one vote, and effectively no power to fight off the unions’ ever-greedier demands. One man, one vote? Not when there are public unions, who offer nothing but specious rationalizations and thuggery when challenged. Public unions are undemocratic in theory, and stink of nothing but corruption in reality. They must all be dissolved.
In the private sector, businesses make a profit. When unions represent the workers at these companies and collectively bargain, they’re trying to get a bigger share of the comapany’s profits.
In that regard, unions have a place and make sense.
In the public sector, there is no profit; therefore, there should be no reason for the union to try to get an ever-increasing amount of wages and benefits, because where does that money come from? There’s no profit being created here. The only way to get more money is to raise taxes, or hope that somehow the tax base increases over time.
Further, unions and employers are adversaries. This is by design. Look at the language of the signs in Madison: referring to Walker as a rapist, as Hitler, as Mubarak. This isn’t the language of people who are looking for some kind of reasonable negotiation with anyone. They’re being adversarial, not only to the duly-elected representatives in the legislature, but they’re also showing a great deal of contempt for the people who actually pay their salaries, the lowly taxpayer.
The unions, the DNC, and Obama and his OfA don’t realize the deep pile of flaming crap they’ve stepped in here. And I, for one, am glad. Because everyone in America is going to see for themselves what a bunch of useless leeches these public sector workers are.
Elections have consequences, and the dems are about to learn just what they are…
Because everyone in America is going to see for themselves what a bunch of useless leeches these public sector workers are.
Amen, it’s always “best” to make the case against yourself as strong and as obvious as is possible by demonstrating it live on National tv during a school day! After all, they’re “teachers”.
Likewise,I wonder can they say, “Evolutionary dead-ender”, instead of, “Together we thrive”? And why do I keep thinking about hordes of ravenous insects?
Hopefully, the real teachers will also find the strength to step up. We can see what they’re always up against, up close and personal. “Stop the bullying!”
Hear, hear! Well said. I hope you are right. It appears there are a lot of people who are savvy on this issue who are “mad as hell”. But we probably need to educate a lot more….
You don’t really have to be “savvy on this issue.” You only have to be someone who makes less than half the salary of these “teachers”, but pays 100% of her healthcare w/nothing left over for her own pension.
Carolannie, you won’t believe how much I feel your pain. (no sarc!) I was pulling down a for real “fat cat” salary at a hedge fund but QUIT because I didn’t want my life’s legacy to be that I moved ##s around on a computer and lived in a big house. I got an MA in ed in NYC with the plan of teaching in a NYC “high needs” public school. Was certified just in time for the “hiring freeze” to go into place. The best I can do is sub, maybe 2-3 days/week if I’m lucky. Why is there a hiring freeze? The unions insist that any new hires come from the “pool” of tenured teachers previously “let go” from other schools. For the most part, these people sit at home and watch Oprah on full salary (and bennies, natch) and don’t even try to get jobs. Principals don’t want them either, but ARE NOT ALLOWED to hire people “outside the system” like me who (sorry about the immodesty) would be fabulous teachers. BTW, when I started subbing, the teachers union sent me a reply card asking if I wanted to join the union. I threw the card away, but every time I sub, the Department of Ed nonetheless deducts union dues from my already meager paycheck….. The good news is that I love the kids, they are always happy to see me, and maybe I make a tiny difference in someone’s day, who knows.
I agree about distinction between public and private sector, but as a business owner, I have to make it clear that profits are usually put back into business to make upgrades and repairs- what’s left is often syphoned in various fees, taxes, surcharges etc. Since the downturn in the economy we get a call from the state every month asking why we are paying less in sales taxes; every month we give the same answer “did you notice we made a lot less money? We just barely kept the lights on during the worst of it.
I’ve never once seen an affirmative defense of government unions. Whenever I ask for one, union supporters change the subject by arguing that everyone else is jealous of them, they’re heroes and are not to be questioned, their union contracts were inscribed by the finger of God on Mt. Sinai, corps/banks/CEOs are the devil, etc.
Not once have I ever even seen an attempt to argue that the public is better off by having government workers in unions.
State government employees demanding collective bargaining,
and retaining 100 percent of entitlements?-
Must be a Democrat!
How can you spread/spend the wealth if a state is broke?
If they refuse to show for work Monday-
Fire all of them,
then send them an IOU for severance pay.
This is exactly what the unions tried in California, and IT WORKED! They beat Arnold like a drum. The Cal Repubs wimped out and Dems kicked butt in November.
Yeah, California ia screwed, but the unions don’t care-they are getting their money.
It works only if their opposition is spineless and stupid.
Unfortunately, those words define Republican mainstreamers. Is the Midwest different? Let’s see Wisconsin lead the way.
I hope to see the day all the Democrats in Sacramento flee over the boarder to Reno Nevada. On that day I will know California has been saved.
Thanks a lot!!! I live in Nevada. We don’t need ‘em. We already have Scary Harry!!!
Isn’t it about time for Jesse Jackson to father another child out of wedlock?
I have wondered about how the average person is viewing this and have come up with four facts that I think they all know:
1. These people are fully employed when the unemployment rate is nearing
20%.
2. These people make a third more than comparably employed people in the
private sector, plus they have great benefit packages and get 3 months
off every year.
3. These people do a lousy job educating kids, i.e., they are
incompetent.
4. The Wisconsin government asks them to kick in a little on their
retirement benefits and they assault the Capitol.
I don’t think this will be able to be spun in any way that average
people don’t find it disgusting.
You are right. There are more non-union people in the U.S. than there are union people. The fact that Obama is sticking his nose into this and the fact that we are now learning that the DNC and Obama’s private organization, Organizing for America, played a significant role in organizing the nonsense that is going on in Wisconsin is going to greatly damage Obama and democrats nationally. As Dana Perino said on Fox last night, “They are wading into a swamp that they won’t be able to get out of.” And I say, “Hurrah!” I’m hoping for maximum political damage to the democratic party to result from this
And PS, the President has them visit in the White House more than anybody else.
Here’s a fifth point:
5. Somehow these rascals “call in sick”, don’t show up for work, and seem to have absolutely no worries about losing their jobs as they cavort in front of the cameras. Name another job that allows that basic misbehavior.
I live in Green Bay and own a small retail business. Yesterday, I had to contact the Unemployment office in Milwaukee regarding benefits for one of my employees. The lady on the phone politely answered my questions and then proceeded to make the point that her and her co-workers had shown up to work to help us. They all felt they should be protesting in support of the Teachers, according to her. I was shocked that she would use a contact with a Taxpayer to make her point. She proceeded to explain that she only makes $12.30 and hour so these concessions were going to cut deep and it wasn’t fair to have to give up all they had worked for. I mentioned that the 21 people I had to lay off in the last 18 months weren’t real happy either. (Hence the call to the Unemployment office). The general concensus from her was that those not at the protest were thankful to those who were because they were doing it for all of us. Maybe if they all protested and got fired I wouldn’t have to pay my sales tax, unemployement tax, employment tax, property tax, and inventory tax and instead could make my mortgage payment. Ah well, Stand Tough Gov. Walker, we need to get this done.
The next time someone complains to you that they only make $12.30 an hour, you need to tell them if they can’t make ends meet on that salery they need to go look for a better paying job. That’s what I did every time I found myself in a situation where my income and output grew increasingly close.
If you can’t make due in the job you have now, go get something better. Don’t expect me, as a taxpayer, to have to contribute more of my own hard-earned money just because you feel you’re underpaid in your current position.
You should have told here that if one of your employees lied about being sick to protest your employment policies, they would be fired and the next day twenty people would be lined asking for the job. Then ask to speak to her supervisor.
I forgot to mention the comic relief from yesterday. The phone rang at the shop and it was a recorded message stating there was an All Points Bulletin out for Dave Hansen (our senator) who has been missing since Wednesday evening and if you see him or know of his where abouts to call the State Police and then gave the phone number to contact them.
“Wisconsin’s public school teachers are well compensated and receive lavish health and retirement packages that far outpace what similarly educated citizens could earn in the highly competitive private sector, a point not lost on Jason, who struggles to make do on half that amount while buckling under the weight of an oppressive property tax bill.”
Well BOO-HOO for the teachers in Wisconsin. At least they HAVE jobs, unlike millions of Americans today. And did you notice that in NONE of the main stream media reports about this issue, NONE of the reports examine the pay AND benefits the teachers are ALREADY getting? If life stinks so bad for these teachers, why don’t they leave and find another job? I’ll tell you why, because they would be FOOLS to do so. They have amazing retirement and medical packages for not only themselves but their entire families and they should be ashamed of themselves for acting this way, especially in front of their own students. Governor Walker and the Republicans had better not cave on this, becaue if they do there’s no turning back. If they cave, then it’s the unions that run this country, NOT us.
I’ll never travel to Wisconsin ever again – disgusting!
America is one of the most communist nation in the world. I don’t recall any of the ‘hated’ European countries ever electing (in free elections) a commie as a president – a social democrat at best.
This tyranny by the communist unions must stop now. I hope Walker was the cojones to fire those demorats and sign the laws and start turning the state around.
I hear your rage but…. don’t forget WI has a great governor. And the people of Wisconsin elected him!
The adults are saying to the ones acting like children, “You have two choices. You can take a benefit cut by paying into the system like the rest of the population does, or you can keep your benefits, but many will lose their jobs.” Sounds like exactly what Chris Christie did in NJ.
Governor Walker had better do exactly what a good parent would do and FOLLOW THROUGH with his ultimatum. That’s the only way children learn… when they are forced to suffer the consequnces. If the Governor caves, he will be enabling the teachers to continue on with their behavior at the expense of the taxpayers. Sounds to me like they are serious about following through… the Lt. Governor said last night on TV that they didn’t have any other choices… they are out of money.
Personally, if I was Governor Walker, I would lay it out in full like this.
“The unions have two choices.
1-They can accept these concessions to help the state meet a balanced budget or…
2-They can stand firm, in which case the state will then declare bankruptcy, all state contracts will be null and void, and they can negotiate from a starting position with lower pay, no benefits, have to pay their own pensions and health care %100, etc.
Let’s see how firm the unions are willing to stand then?
Let me state a truism. With private enterprise, you are catered to: With government control, you have to cater to the government. As simple as that.
Does anyone else see the irony of the dems just a few months ago saying the Republicans were holding them hostage during the tax cut debate? Now we actually have Wisconsin dems holding an entire state hostage by refusing to do their jobs and show up for a budget vote. These cowards make me sick.
Yeah, and what about their previously never-ending mantra concerning the nearly impossible Republican “obstructionism”, given the Dem. majorities, but which they’ve instead now managed to almost perfectly epitomize in a still free society – as usual and even as a minority. I don’t think their rank
and fileprogressive idiots even know what the words they repeat mean in the first place. Of course, that wouldn’t be very surprising in the case of people for whom “history” also starts and ends with the last minute or second of their continuing lives.Imo, what Obama and the Democrats in Wi. are doing is to continue their Progressive assault upon democratic/representative gov’t itself, which I’m sure only “happens” to be part of the second phase of a Marxist revoluton.
Who is the “Party of No” now?
I believe that’s the Party of No Show!
SO FUNNY!
The 14 a sshats who WALKED OUT ON THEIR SWORN DUTIES and even more so the ‘teachers’ who cheated their school children and the American taxpayer ought to read the Federalist papers, specifically Madison’s No. 57.
Amidst all this, 75 D.C. teachers who were canned in ’08 by then-Chancellor Michelle Rhee will be reinstated! With backpay!
It’s truly disgusting to see lazy, self-serving, government/public sector union types get away with this s hit.
These folks are no different than Nero playing the fiddle..
Just wondering if these Wisconsin Legislators can put this trip to Illinois on their expense report.. for some reason I don’t think it will be coming out of their own pocket…
These teachers, union members, and Democrats need nothing but a good spanking.
They have been taught to throw a tantrum to get their way, and that’s what they’re doing. And they’re teaching the students that are with them, how to throw a tantrum to get their way.
When my kids did this, I gave them a spanking. They are now adults, and do not let their own kids throw tantrums. But, spanking is being phased out.
Spanking should be brought back. These recalcitrant juveniles need a good one. They should be dealt with in a manner that suits their behavior.
One of the union hacks was on a Fox Channel ON THE RECORD with Greta Van Sustern, last night and when the commentator didn’t agree with this teachers union organizer, he kept repeating that “my mother was a teacher and she died in the classroom”.
I think this kind of sums up the left and it’s disgusting approach. This guy was in his mid to late sixties and while it might even be true that his mother died while teaching, what possible bearing could that possibly have on the discussion.
So on national TV we are presented with the greedy teachers unions who refuse to pay a portion of their own retirement costs and health insurance premiums and the reason that the taxpayers should be forced to pay it for them is that “my mother died in the classroom’.
If it wasn’t so dispicable to watch these union pigs pandering for victimhood like this it would be funny. And as Greta Van Sustern closed out the segment the last word screamed by the union thug was:
“But my mother died in the classroom.” You can’t make this stuff up.
“My mother died in the classroom”. I don’t know why, but this reminded me of Obama telling the story of the poor woman who took her dead sisters teeth, because she couldn’t afford her own. Alinsky rule: personalize the debate, make the dumb proletariats forget the premise and focus on the individual.
OldSalt1, you are a nicer person than me. It reminded me of “Rent is too damn high!” response to every question.
p.s.
And as with all childlike behavior; If these tantrums are allowed to be rewarded, they will just do more of the same. These children need some resolute discipline.
I’m a [transplanted] Wisconsin native and unfortunately, most of my relatives are in one way or another in the teaching profession. My brother teaches at a Catholic school and gets by on a mere smidgeon of what his wife’s retirement benefits, which is the main source of their income, bring to her years after she stopped teaching [in the Milwaukee public school system].
I myself am on a full-disability pension from Amoco after a career which, while a mid-level executive in the FSU, ended with a near-fatal food-poisoning event in Baku. My total disability package is less than several of my cousins who taught high school for twenty years and retired at 55 with benefits allowing them to travel abroad occasionally and basically live far better than the average Joe Sixpack. Plus, I have to pay into the system yearly to get my BP retirement health benefits [BP bought Amoco shortly after I was forced into early retirement].
Wisconsin had a Bismarckian social democracy for over 100 years and when I was a teenager, the mayor of Milwaukee [Zeidler] was a socialist, although the vestiges of city ownership of transit lines were all that that seemed to consist of. Gov. Gaylord Nelson was a legacy of the old Progressive LaFollette wing of the Democratic Party and gave the public servants the right to unionize in 1959 and it’s been Katy-bar-the-door since then, with the Democrats giving unions bigger benefits each time they’re elected and the Republicans finding union money and a national out-of-state apparatus now influencing its politics from Illinois and Washington. The fact that the 2000 and 2004 elections had Wisconsin go Democrat by extremely narrow margins twice under 10000 went uninvestigated despite MASSIVE evidence of multiple Democratic cheating in Milwaukee and Madison, including slashed tires and other violence in Milwaukee. Why protest when a Florida recount was going on and Wisconsin’s electoral vote count is ten? And in 2004, GWB’s re-election made a close inspection unnecessary, and the election of the cause of much of the present fiscal disarray, Gov. Doyle, made such an investigation difficult.
Next Thursday my brother and his wife arrive for a week here in Florida and although he’s a Catholic conservative, she might be very sympathetic to the teachers, so I’m not gonna get in anyone’s face. But I’ve seen a very self-serving poll by a left-wing organization that has a majority supporting the Dem filibuster-by-flight. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has it 60% in favor of Walker. I’m sure the saner natives of Wisconsin will prevail, but the state has the one of the most interesting political histories [inventing Republican Party in Ripon, 1854, primaries, referendum, recall, LaFollette progressivism,et al.] of any I can think of—even israel’s Knesset has a party-allocation system derived from the old Progressive Party’s legacy which Golda Meier imported whole-cloth to Israel in 1948 [Many Israeli friends have bemoaned that any party with more than 5% of the vote gets representation in the Knesset].
I’m hoping Walker stays strong and I’d love to see him become a national figure, the first from my native Wauwatosa since Nancy Dickerson was a TV newswoman back in the day.
My Country tis of thy sweet land of liberty of thy I sing… Just not so long ago on a Day when the New York Sky Line Was Dark and The air smelled of Death And our great Nation was in Shock And Rocked to it’s very core! Was not That the song Both Parties sung,To Show The World That No Matter What The United States Will Stand Together! So Sad Now We Have A Man Who Takes Grate Pride In Showing The World We Stand For NOTHING!!!! THANK YOU Mr.Rat Bastard Obama
All public employee unions should be banned! They have wrecked both cities and states across the nation!
If this situation were completely reversed here is what liberal Democrat legislators would do.
They would pass a law making this activity illegal. The law would say something like this ;
Any elected official who deliberately vacates their post to avoid or escape their official duty shall be terminated by the Governor at once . All benefits of that person or persons derived from their office shall be terminated at once .Any accrued benefits such as retirement , health care , insurance, vacations , wages etc.earned as a direct result of acting in an official capacity shall be forfeited and terminated at once.” At once” is hereby defined as within 10 days of the discovery of such action.
No one has brought up the fact that in addition to making a comfortable salary and great benefits, the teachers also only work nine months a year! I wish I got 3 months vacation a year.
As a Wisconsinite I’m grateful for the opportunity to do our part. It’s time the self dealing democrat party / unions get an understanding of the real world. They can pay more of their pensions and health care. They can no longer forcibly take dues money from employees that disagree with them.
I have good friends that have been bullied buy the teachers union bosses to skip school and go to the protests. That’s exactly what the unions are: bullies. If they don’t like their pay and benefits they can do like everyone else – GET A DIFFERENT JOB!!!!!
Soon their work rules will be fixed and we’ll be firing the bottom 5% throughout our government.
Go Badgers!!!
The President sticks his nose into a purely local matter and orchestrates illegal and potentially violent protests against a sovereign state government democratically elected by the people. When has this ever happened? Where is the outrage? Where are the American people? What is impeachment for anyway?
Actually the politics ended in Wisc. a time back. Now its economics. In a state of 5.6 million people. The Govt. is spending $32 billion per year. That’s $5,714 per person. The per-capita income of the state (how much each person living in Wisconsin earns per year) is only $25,000. Thus, the people of Wisconsin are spending 20% of their total income on their state government.
Add at least another 20% for Fed Govt and 5% for local, country and sales taxs
The cost of Govt for Wisc and alot of other states is over 40%—–and alot of it is to pay for the elite ruling class at 3x the ave. pay scale.
Margaret Thatcher said it best when she pointed out that Socialism is fine until you run out of other people’s money….
The bargaining changes would exempt police, firefighters, and state troopers – all of whose unions supported Walker in the gubernatorial race.
That’s not true, Joseph. Only 4 of those unions backed the current governor. All the others (many, many more than 4) endorsed his opponent.
Nice try, though.
“Only four”? I’m talking about THREE unions.
There is more than one union per profession dude. He’s saying only 4 of the unions in the state representing some of those workers endorsed Walker, while the rest did not. It’s not one union for firefighters, one union for police, etc etc, there are multiple locals and branches and such.
Bottom line: a union for each of the exempted workers – fire, police, troopers – backed walker.
And who wouldn’t? He’s a man of great integrity:
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/feb/18/scott-walker/wisconsin-gov-scott-walker-says-his-budget-repair-/
it is clear that when Obama kept spewing his “shared sacrifice” crap what he meant was that all taxpayers should share the sacrifice of paying more in order to pay more of the unions bloated salaries and pensions. “shared sacrifice” for Obama means taxpayers need to shoulder all of the historical increase in deficits and spending while the unions get pay less and get more.
“shared sacrifice” for Obama simply means a faster transition to socialism and a faster destruction of the middle class in America.
As Obama directs his minions to stage the assault on the Wisconsin state government he is breaking Article IV Section IV of the United States Constitution – “Finally, the fourth section of Article Four requires the United States to guarantee to each state a republican form of government, and to protect the states from invasion and violence.”
by busing in his union thugs into the State of Wisconsin the fuhrer Obama has broken the State of Wisconsin’s right to a guaranteed for of republican government (where elected representatives decide on state matters and not UNION THUGS from outside the state) and to use the Federal government powers to ensure that outside forces does not DICTATE to the said republican government!
Obama once again is trampling on the United States constituion with the use of Union thuggery to influence internal matters of the great state of Wisconsin! this is a matter that can be and should be brought up in a legal suit against the Obama Administration and should go all the way to the Supreme court of the United States!
Obama’s so called knowledge of the constitution is in question here again and should be brought to light and should be brought to trial.
More power to Gov. Walker, and more power to the republican government of the State of Wisconsin. the freedom loving American people are behind you!
“Shared sacrifice” is “shared” only by taxPAYERS. Nearly half the country isn’t “sharing” or “sacrificing” a thing. Any guesses on how they vote?
All animals are equal…some are more equal than others.
The Democratic party is the party of government. No modern democrat will betray the bureaucracy. Every Democrat politician comes from the bureaucracy and if turned out of office will return to the bureaucracy.
We have government for the government.
Wisconsin’s teachers are America’ Greeks — and they are revolting, too.
That said, though, the Wisconsin Public Trough Slurpers may be seen as the shock-troop/storm-trooper brown-shirt brigade indicators of the “Democratic” National Socialist Workers’ and RICO-Racketeers’ Party’s sudden realization that if Wisconsin’s governor (and New Jersey’s and others) succeed in breaking those states’ mobbed-up-unions’ place in the nation-wide “Democratic” National Socialist Workers’ and RICO-Racketeers’ Party’s systemic looting and laundering of Trillions of Dollars of our beloved fraternal republic’s wealth, their decades-long looting will be stopped, nation wide.
Wisconsin must be won.
And every other socialized state must follow in its path.
Did anyone tell these teachers they would earn big money if they got into teaching? No. If they wanted to make big bucks they should have gotten into law, medicine, business, investment banking, etc.
Define “big money.” Teachers are now comfortably middle class if there are two wage-earners in the family. The unions will definitely have to (and should) give up some things here, and that would include Fire and Police, whose pensions and disability issues take a back seat to no-ones, but Walker is going for the whole ball of wax at once, conveniently excluding the unions who supported his candidacy.
Democracy at work.
Try this website:
http://teacherportal.com/teacher-salaries-by-state
Their salaries are not bad for 9 months of work plus being able to retire at 55. The bigger issue is retirement and health benefits, much better than in the private sector.
In some states teacher-benefit packages are exempt from taxes!!!!
Also, if I understand correctly, in NYC the teacher’s union opposed merit pay (i.e. you get paid more if you do a good job). Hmmm.
Man, seeing the teens/tweeners protesting en masse beside their public sector union teachers.. Lenin would be proud.
There is no age restriction for useful idiots.
Right up there with French college students marching in the streets in protest because the government wanted to raise the age at which they would be eligible to receive pensions–this before most of them had worked a day in their lives. True. Happened a coupla years back….
Not couple of years… Couple of months! It all occurred last fall.
Anything that advances the cause of Socialism and Islamism (same economic philosophy), Obama is for.
What should be published is their salary; More than $30.00 an hour, and that does not include any benefits.
AND, they get to buy housing at a reduced rate and lower costs.
See this link:
http://www.shoprate.com/housing-for-heroes-special-home-ownership-programs.html
Easy to see why the Democrat Party wants to keep these parasites well fed. Their union dues go straight to the Democrat Party.
Yes, this is exactly why we must support Walker, Christie and other hero/leaders in standing up to them. Once there are more people on the government gravy train (union pension, whatever) than there are working in the private sector, it will be ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE to get the entitlement thugs out of office. Ever. This is the way it is in Europe.
Tea Party? Any comparisons in the media world between the Tea Party and the gangsters rioting in Wisconsin? In one picture you can capture the difference between leftist trash and the Normal People.
I heard a rumor that OFA is organizinmg these public sector union protests for several other states, including my state of Tennessee – which is a right-to-work state. If they come here, I hope they like TEA parties.
Factoid to keep in mind. Gross generalizations are unfair. Not all teachers in WI are Democrats (especially outside Milwaukee and Madison) and not all teachers want to belong to the union or want to have union dues automatically deducted from their state paychecks by the government and then handed over to the union bigs. But at this point these teachers have no choice. They have no control that their money is being spent “for them” on Democratic candidates, causes and thuggery. There is an untold story here that would be interesting to hear being told. I imagine the dedicated, highly competent and fair minded teachers who disagree with the protests and the school closings are afraid to say much, though. But they are definitely out there.
Whatever happened to Land of the Free and Home of the Brave?
“land of the free, and home of the brave” is what you are witnessing.
“Brave” parasites that have been “educated”.
Madison is no better than Bahrain.
Yes, the good teachers have no choice – they have to belong to the union in Wisconsin and be lumped in with the incompetents and the socialists.
Imagine if that changed – how many teachers would chose to pay union dues? That of course, is what the union is terrified of.
While we were all supposed to genuflect and beat our breasts because a DEMOCRAT politician was gunned down, (all the other dead did not rate) by a psycho leftie (apologies for the redundancy), reports of threats to the physical safety of the Republicans standing up to the Stalinist union goon thugs are going largely reported. Posters with cross hairs, comparisons to Hitler, so what? And coming so soon on the heels of the phony sanctimonious calls for civility? These ass-h—s in Wisconsin chose the wrong time and the wrong issue to make their stand. In the midst of a national meltdown citizens who are sacrificing their own lives and welfare because they are forced by LAW to support these parasites are witnessing the utter lawlessness of those whom they slave for. I was THRILLED to hear that Jesse Jackson, the face of hardcore junk racism, in his continuing quest to remain relevant, a specter of a dead era rode in on a jackass to give the “struggle”, the “uprising”, his imprimatur of legitimacy. If these people had half a brain it should have dawned on them that the rest of the country would surely begin sense the act of organized thuggery taking place at the capitol. Jesse Jackson? I was never happier to see him bestowing upon the snarling crowds his presence and thus his reputation. Did I say half a brain? And consider this…they are TEACHING our children. Get the picture?
‘Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.’ John Adams
The facts are that the U.S. and most states are BROKE; the 80-year-long push toward socialism has failed because the laws of economics cannot be avoided forever. JFK’s executive order allowing public sector unions was just one example of guaranteeing votes with handouts, but FDR set the pattern followed for the past 80 years. Like the USSR before us, we have finally run out of other people’s money to distribute. Just search for ‘National Debt from 1940 to Present’ at the U.S. National Debt Clock website to see that the party’s over. People are now quibbling over deck chairs on a sinking ship, when they should be looking for life rafts.
You’ve been fooled again, no doubt with your consent. Y’see, it’s now coming out that Wisconsin’s governor purposely bankrupted the state by increasing corporate welfare, just so he could set up an ideologically-driven crusade against unions.
If you have the guts to read it, here’s the story:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/02/wisconsin-gov-walker-ginned-up-budget-shortfall-to-undercut-worker-rights.php
I did have the guts to read this, as well as the comments. This is a left-wing smear job, on a left-wing site that is mostly read by people who like to watch Ed Schultz and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. ‘Nuff said…
It’s more likely that Barney Frank, the Democrats, and the CEOs at Fannie and Freddie intentionally arranged the financial crises in order to get Obama elected than the accusations you are making.
Governor Walker addressed this slander in his speech, which you can easily find on YouTube.
Anonymous, the TPM article you linked to is False accordingto Politifact. You’re the one who has been fooled.
Y’see, it’s now coming out that Wisconsin’s governor purposely bankrupted the state by increasing corporate welfare, just so he could set up an ideologically-driven crusade against unions.
Astounding! Amazing, when you consider Walker’s been in office since – last month! Give the man a couple of weeks and he can bankrupt a whole state (that the previous Dem governor spent, not like a drunken sailor, but an entire friggin’shipful of sailors on shore leave -sorry, Peter the Bubblehead – of course has nothing to do with why Wisconsin is bankrupt.)
Anonymous, I’m sure, also firmly believes that the moon is made of Swiss cheese and that Jack Frost paints the windowpanes. That’s some great dope supplier you’ve got there, mister.
No offense taken.
The next round of parent-teacher conferences in the Madison schools ought to be very interesting. The people who pay the teachers’ salaries need to tell them that they aren’t getting any more of our money because we don’t have any more money. We’ve finally arrived at that point that Maggie Thatcher predicted so many years ago: Sooner or later, you run out of other people’s money!
Millions of us have lost our jobs, our houses, and our retirement nest eggs. Many of us are barely making ends meet, living from paycheck to paycheck. If the teachers are not willing to do their jobs for what we can afford to pay them, I’m certain that there are lots of other people out here who would be more than happy to do so. And, given the recent test scores and the number of students who can’t read at grade-level, getting rid of a bunch of the current crop of teachers would not be a great loss…
My son was just explaining to me why he is struggling in 8th grade math in our public school here in Pennsylvania. The district is now implementing ‘independent study’ in mathematics. The student works on “investigation sheets.” The teachers are not allowed to teach. They can only give the student hints. The student must come to the correct answer on their own. If they don’t get the right answer that is ok too. Brilliant.
Maybe there is an issue here, maybe not, but hearing your son’s analysis of why he is screwing up is a beginning point, not an ending point. Investigate further.
Yes, this “teaching” method has been popular for a long time in this era of “Reform Math.” Standard instruction, memorization of multiplication tables; long division have been ditched for new, cooperative and investigative methods. I work with some students who are the victims of this garbage. Please take time to find out what basic skills your son has, makesure he understand all the operations he is using- so often I find that children begin having trouble when one of the basic skills was not taught to mastery.
I got a sample of “Reform Math” @ a fast food restaurant the other day. The teenaged cashier absolutely, positively didn’t understand 25 cents change doesn’t require screaming to the boss that she needs a new roll of quarters RIGHT NOW. When I said 2 dimes & a nickel would do, the manager said the employee was “fairly new” & didn’t get her “full training” yet. Wow, imagine if I’d said 3 nickels & a dime or 5 nickels….talk about your higher math. (Brought to you courtesy of your local teachers’ union….thanks, teach!)
Anonymous poster at 9:10– Try reading multiple sources to get your information. Even such bastions of leftish thought, Salon and Ezra Klein in the WaPo have called BS on your talking point. (If you have the guts check them out.) Wisconsin is in a world of budget and deficit hurt as far as the eye can see, and it has little to do with their current governor who has been in office all of two months.
We’ve got the Dem’s on the run boys, keep up the heat!
Yeah, they ran through the briars an’ they ran through the brambles
An’ they ran through the bushes where the rabbits couldn’t go.
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn’t catch ‘em
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.
The legislators should be given the ultimatum of returning in three days or be removed from office.
Teachers should be docked two days pay for every day of absence.
The Highway Patrol should be given bonuses for every one of the bums they return to the Legislature.
Recycle the money they will save from docking the pay of the legislators and teachers.
I, for one, am furious with the 14 senators. Given the history of a similar ploy attempted in Texas, (one senator FINALLY caved after TWO walk-outs as a redistricting bill was introduced and then re-introduced) I’d say an attempt at recall (I’ve heard of two in the planning so far) might be the only thing that gets any of them back here in any reasonable amount of time. Obviously ALL legislation will be held up, not just this bill. Besides the signs Phil mentioned, there exists video of one that actually has crosshairs on Walker’s face. I wasn’t able to go to Madison today, but just judging by the number of hits various pro- and anti-Walker sites have been getting, the tea partiers will be vastly outnumbered. There is a decided socialist and communist element present as well. This IS, after all, The People’s Republic of Madison.
Imam OBama keeps proving he has no clueof what a president’s job is- but he sure has demonstrated his heart is still in LOCAL community organizing- the only job he has any real life experince-
yes he knows how to whine professionally- and though as pres he should NOT EVER be butting into LOCAl and STATE issues- he just cannot help himslef
of course no word from him or madame DeFarge err Pelosi or the other DSem whiners about civility in public discourse, calling people Hitler etc.
If tea party does nothing they get accused, Sarah palin blamed for anything they makeup- yet DEMS and UNIONS doing acting dispicably? CRICKETS- MSMS not a peep
\
HYPOCRTIES and LIARS
I am a member of the UAW. Many of the union members vote republican. I’m so sick of that cow Trumka and the evil Jesse Jackson. May God Bless the govenor of Wisconsin!
I campaigned door-to-door for Scott Brown, (Republican) last year, in traditionally Democrat, union working class neighborhoods outside Boston. You would not believe how many people looked up and down the street before whispering to us that although their union leaders were ordering them to vote for Coakley, they had had it (!)and would vote for Scott. I learned that in politics you should not generalize about how certain people will vote. At the end of the day, people mostly figure out what is good for them.
Just think what these people are teaching your kids.
Ahem, ahem,… uh, I think you mean ‘indoctrinate’ our kids. But, good point and well taken.
I saw one of those kids on Greta’s show the other night. When Greta asked him how the benefits for the teachers should be paid for, he replied, “Tax the rich!” Oh, that’ll work just fine, won’t it? And then even more companies and jobs will move to Texas…
This is exactly the product of what happens when the leftists pushed for government employee unions. These aren’t “public” unions, these unions are opposed to public interests and should be outlawed from the local to federal level. “Public service” jobs should not mean the become sub-elites with better bennies than the rest of the public who they sheer their profit from.
This needs to change nationwide and it CAN be done. The leftist utopian socialist progressives will make all sorts of noise as they are in Wisconsin, but they ARE THE MINORITY. Lets crush them. Unions belong in the private sector, not in government. Even the unions in the private sector have outlived their usefulness and have become abusive.
Flush them all away. Lets find a better way to deal with companies that don’t treat their employees right. There are more ways than you can count to deal with unfair employers, all within the framework of the free market, which the left hates with a passion. The left has become completely un-American, we need to flush them as well.
It’s funny. If teachers make less — and there are a heck of a lot of teachers in America — they will spend less. At Wal*Mart, and Amazon, and Best Buy. American corporate profits will plummit and the American economy along with it.
If instead of cutting teacher’s pay, you decide to tax the rich (the top 1%) more, it will have almost NO effect on the American economy. The rich will still spend. They will just have a little less money to save in their bank accounts.
Actually, the best solution is a large savings tax that would encourage the rich to spend.
What about if the rest of us have less spending money because our taxes keep going up to spend more on teachers? The money for those salaries has to come from somewhere, you know.
By your logic, the rest of society should make do with less just so that a very small percentage of the population–the teachers–can spend more. The absurdity of that should easily be grasped by anyone that hasn’t drunk the Obama-Aid.
Please get some sense!
None of these teachers are getting rich doing this. They’re mid-low middle class. But the good thing for the American economy is that they spend basically all that they earn and that makes the American economy grow.
These billionaires and millionaire bankers we bailed out — where is that money now? Cayman Islands? Trust funds?
Impose strict rules that money earned by Americans cannot be “hidden” and tax the hell out of anything over $50M in savings.
Trust me, none of you people will be effected by this lol. Yet, all the local, state, and federal budget will balance out and it will not break the back of the middle class – teachers and others – who are the backbone of the American economy.
Trust me, this is the best solution not just for the teachers but also big business. If hundreds of millions of Americans have less to spend every month, a lot of our big businesses will go down.
None of the teachers are getting rich doing this…
If they wanted to get rich, they shouldn’t have become teachers now should they?
If they want higher salaries, maybe they should start looking for a better paying job instead of ordering us little taxpaying peons to pay more of our own hard-earned salaries to fill their wallets?
Uhm, they’re not protesting because they want to be reach.
They just want honest pay for honest work to continue living their middle class lives.
(rich)
Sorry, Jennifer, a study by a doctoral candidate at the University of Wisconsin blows your whole “teachers are underpaid” concept right out of the water.
An analysis of a U.S. census survey data on wages finds no evidence that Wisconsin’s public school teachers are underpaid in comparison to their peer groups. In fact, quite the contrary. When public school teacher salaries are adjusted for the number of weeks teachers work each year, it becomes clear that teachers are among some of the most highly compensated employees in the state
You can read the whole report here, and he goes into quite a bit of detail.
http://www.wpri.org/WIInterest/Vol11No3/Niederjohn11.3.pdf
These billionaires and millionaire bankers we bailed out — where is that money now? Cayman Islands? Trust funds?
It’s in the US Treasury, because it’s been largely paid back. Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, PNC, and US Banc were loaned a collective $175 billion and have paid back every dime, plus 5% interest.
They’ll simply skirt additional taxes.
The real solution is to take a chainsaw to the federal budget & regulations that choke the life out of the economy, conduct massive roundups & deportations of illegals, and cancel foreign aid to everyone but Israel.
Israel deserves US protection more than any other nation on Earth, and the continuation of aid to Israel after cutting the rest off would enrage the muzzies, causing them to act out, at which point they could be slapped down like petulant children. This in turn would infuriate the left, providing an opportunity to deliver the same comeuppance to them.
I agree with a more isolationist approach to foreign policy. Our defense budget is insane and frivolous spending has got to. But like with the teachers, we cannot create adverse effects on the economy by decreasing the spending power of the middle class, who spend all their money anyway.
So actually you are right on the mark imho — much less foreign aid and removing illegals are two things that would decrease spending, while not effecting most American consumers.
This, in addition to taxing the savings of the wealthy would be a good 1-2 punch.
(less defense spending would have bad effects on defense workers so I would be against that)
Straight out of the leftist talking point script. And as untrue today as it was prior to November 2, 2010.
The top 1% already pay 95% of the taxes in this country. Nearly 50% pay little or no taxes and many of them receive monney from a system they contribute nothing to.
Keep putting more of the burdon on the so-called “Rich 1%” and they will soon decide to take their ball and go home (ie: somewhere where they don’t have to pay such exorbitant rates) and then where are the other 99% of us going to be with the money collected by the government to pay for essential services dropping by 95%?
You are completely ignorant of how money actually works.
The economy will suffer because those teachers won’t have as much money to spend.
Really? Do you think that money is just mana from Heaven? That it just fell from the skies? That money already exists in someone else’s pocket. It is taken from them via taxes to pay those teacher salaries. If it were not taken, it would still be being spent in the economy. NOTHING
Tax the extra capital.
Someday I will figure out which typo makes my comments post before I am ready.
We have this economic mess, because folks like you are ignorant of how money actually works.
1) If the teachers have less money to spend, then the economy will suffer.
Really? Do you think that money came ex-nihilo? Is it manna from Heaven? That money already exists in the economy. It is taken from those who create wealth to pay those teachers’ salaries. If the teachers get less, then those who earned that money will be able to keep more of what they earned, and they will still be spending it. If the teachers get less, NOTHING WILL CHANGE. The money will still get spent… just by someone else.
2) Tax the savings of the rich. Make them spend their money.
Really? What do you suppose the rich do with their excess cash? Do they stick it in their mattresses and sleep on it? No, they REINVEST it! You cannot open, expand, or even operate a business without capital. Capital means the excess cash in society. If you seize the assets of the rich, there is less capital for business, which means less jobs!
The private sector produces wealth. The public sector consumes wealth. The money is either invested back into the economy, and grows the economy… or it is invested into the government, and grows the government. Jennifer, where do you think the money ought to be allocated?
Now, tell me again how taxing the rich to pay for more government is a good idea?
Indeed.
Most rich people (certain families with last names beginning with K excluded) don’t have a basement vault full of Benjamins, what they have are assets that provide a steady income.
Therefore, taxing SAVINGS isn’t gonna get you diddly-squat. In fact, taxing the rich more doesn’t get you very mich either. The Economist says:
Taxing the rich gets you about a week and a half worth of the annual federal budget. And taking away the money that they would otherwise invest in new businesses cuts jobs, which then cuts tax receipts.
We need to get more people back to work, and cut government spending at all levels. That means that everyone needs to share the pain… even teachers. Welcome to the real world.
Right after the stock market crash, a friend of mine–who worked on Wall Street–was having his usual $50 haircut by his usual fancy hair stylist in a shop near Wall Street. As she cut his hair, the stylist said to my friend, her steady client, that she was so glad people were getting fired on Wall Street because those people are so arrogant. My friend’s mouth dropped open. Apparently it never occurred to her to think about where the bulk of her business came from. Just sayin’ Jennifer…..
The employees forgot the word ‘servant’. You don’t punish the public or in this case the students for something they don’t control. You also don’t take your members over a cliff for an issue that will not get the support of your bosses–the public. Contributing to your own pension and health care plans is not unreasonable. Wait until the TSA gets their union up ad running and they try and shut down the airports. Bad union move and also one by the elected legislature for running out on the responsibilities. I hope they’re all replaced.
I think any teacher not at work on Monday should be fired.
It would also be an interesting social experiment to see if kids showed progress with a new influx of enthusiastic employees grateful to be employed….. Just sayin.
this is just the beginning. its going to get a lot worse. and soon. at all state local and eventually the fed level. and everyone is going to be taking SS and medicare haircuts. the numbers dont add up. these protestors are just complaining about 2+2=4. when that hard reality hits them, all the creaming and marching in the world really wont matter. its over. they just dont know it. like kids when they get punished and cant watch cartoons, and have to go to bed early. they are not adults. and they cant do math. and there are a lot of them. and their day is coming. to be “educated”. this whole country is now just a mth problem. thats why daniels says “lets call a truce on ‘social’ issues”. there wont be TIME for them soon. thats the candy, playtime, for decadent non-important times. we are headed for consequential times. and playtime’s over.
People need to understand the serious distortions in pay scales in Wisconsin. Teachers at the top of the heap are overpaid. Many limited skill people such as road workers/plow drivers are compensated well beyond reasonable. On the short end are college educated even advanced degrees in science area such as water biologists, foresters, wildlife biologists who are lucky to get $45k a year.
Lets even the compensation field and there would be a lot less strife.
People need to understand the serious distortions in pay scales in Wisconsin. Teachers at the top of the heap are overpaid. Many limited skill people such as road workers/plow drivers are compensated well beyond reasonable. On the short end are college educated even advanced degrees in science area such as water biologists, foresters, wildlife biologists who are lucky to get $45k a year.
Lets even the compensation field and there would be a lot less strife.
Why should police and fire be given preferential treatment?
Why should police and fire get preferential treatment?
Let’s see…? How many of these whiney teachers would be willing to run into a burning building? How many of these leftist union bosses would be willing to face down a criminal armed with an automatic weapon? Would Jesse Jackson ever have the guts to put on the uniform of our nation’s armed forces and go face to face with a religious fanatic whose only goal is to maim and kill innocent people?
I think the answer to any of the above is no, none.
Does that answer your question about why police and fire should receive preferential treatment?
No.
Then you’re obviously an idiot who has no concept of what it takes to be a fire fighter, police officer, or member of the armed forces, and I feel very, very sad for you.
“No”.
Well, D-White is a member of the Great Washed. A high school English teacher. Why is this info omitted from your posts on the sublect Ping Pong Tongue? Could there be one of those conflict on interest issues that are so proudly displayed by “lefties”, if you’ve touched anything but Government Money?
Red Pencil Neck, can you justify the government employee’s action in Wisconsin? Use the Federalist papers. Use your Lather experience.
Tongue On Bro.
Lather was thirty years old today,
They took away all of his toys.
Let’s try this: work has a value. Being a cop, a fireman, or a teacher all have value. Teachers affect more people every day and don’t get to retire as early, or have access to well-paying overtime duties, but do have a much shorter work year. The other two have to put their lives on the line a lot more and get to retire earlier. Teachers generally require much more education and have everyday positive (one hopes, but not always) interactions with far more people than do firemen or policemen, and that remains true over the course of a year, even when you factor in the teacher’s short (180 day work year.) You can take all of the above, add your own info and then compute. Why you would then conclude that teachers do not deserve collective bargaining, but fire and police do, beats me, unless fire and police have voted to support your guy and teachers haven’t. That is often how it works. Most communities solve the “problem” by paying all of them roughly the same pay.
Wow, D-White, Tongue on a Hot Tin Roof.
“Why you would then conclude that teachers do not deserve collective bargaining, but fire and police do, beats me, unless fire and police have voted to support your guy and teachers haven’t.”
Give yourself a beating.
No Government Mule should be unionized. The conflict of interest is too overwhelming, as reality has proven. Remember reality Pick It Fence But? Peek out of the Cocoon and check out all the logical conclusions that have been popping up for some years now. Europe?
“Teachers generally require much more education and have everyday positive (one hopes, but not always) interactions with far more people…”
What a bunch of Tongue Pinging. Hang with me D-White, and I’ll introduce you to more people than you can handle through the musician gig. Way more. And they voluntarily pay me money Voluntarily!!!! What a concept! A positive interaction too!
Bring out the violins – Learning music is a lifelong pursuit and requires long hours of practice and self discipline and education. So I want the taxpayers to feel sorry for me and take care of me. Please! I had to perform with the flu a few weeks ago! I need a doctor’s note, so I could buzz out on the gigs from now on. I need a pension! I demand it! I’m so useful, because I think so! If you don’t, I won’t play my guitar and I’ll march on… something! The nearest bar. Yeah! Tears on My Pillow.
Once again, the All Powerful Modern Liberal Knows Best. So what, slave. Pay and benefits for Government Mules should always lag the private sector, simply because wealth is not created, but taken, as a primary function.
Well, then we won’t get the best… Heaven forbid D-White, take a look around. At least 75% Leech City.
Besides, you’re dedicated, you’ll work for half pay. After all, in your scam, it’s about The Childrrrrreeennnen.
Schools should be privatized. The police and fireman should be run along the line of the military.
No, not overnight, Ping Pong Tongue. Being a junkie is the tough part of it. Your Bros and Sisters will be let down easy. Lot’s of vodka!
“Let’s try this:” Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. Be brave.
He looked at me eyes wide and plainly said,
Is it true that I’m no longer young?
I feel bad that you had to perform with the flu; maybe you should become a music teacher. The shame, the shame!!
Evidently, society in its infinite stupidity has judged that they will pay for public education, police and fire, but not for your music gigs. This is one of the stranger analogies you have made yet, and that’s quite an achievement.
It’s sounding as if you might be a lot close to Lather than your humble correspondent. Priceless!
Oh D-White. No so. What you call society, a mask in this case for Animal Farm government actors, will pay. That is, if you know the “right” animals, put out proper content as decided by “them”, lose integrity, bow down, be a slave, all the while pretending independence with fellow trough feeders. I want my grant!
National Endowment for the Arts. Oh and, most states/cities have troughs as well. Fattens up losers quite well.
Yes dear D-White, worthless.
Drawing pictures of mountains that look like bumps,
And thrashing the air with his hands.
I did not create the market I worked in; it was a market and I did reasonably well in it. I did not have to bow down, but I certainly could not engage in outrageous blurtings every time the spirit might have moved one to sputter. Having judgment is not necessarily slavery, although it may seem that way to those who NEED to blurt (or create odd recurring obsessions.) It was a job.
Tighten up D-White. Ping! Notice that you deal with yourself as an individual, but others are grouped according to some Pick It Fence But Decree.
Speaking of groups, which you view as a primary unit, check out what your group did to another –
(CNSNews.com) – Two-thirds of the eighth graders in Wisconsin public schools cannot read proficiently according to the U.S. Department of Education, despite the fact that Wisconsin spends more per pupil in its public schools than any other state in the Midwest.
That’s “U.S. Department of Education”. That’s “Two-thirds of the eighth graders in Wisconsin public schools cannot read proficiently…”
Warm up the Ping Pong Tongue. Maybe a bit more anger will get you that much further.
Why not condemn this travesty instead of using the Pick It Fence as a shield?
You’ve graduated Thin Man.
You try so hard
But you don’t understand
Just what you’ll say
When you get home.
So, we are surprised that Berkeley on Lake Monona has turned ugly? Hell, it was my impression that scholarships were awarded to UWM women (especially education candidates) that displayed leg and armpit hair and wore earlobe jewelry of sufficient length to preclude confusion with their Amish sisterhood. (Amish women, of course, would never wear sandals. They have too much self-respect and usefulness)
In 1957 I had a kindergarten teacher that wore long skirts and earrings of excessive legth. She also played guitar and sang folk songs. In retrospect, I guess the liberal coddling was operative even in my school in 1957 in Kalifornia. It is present in spades these days and Madison is but one node. Like a cancer on the body politic, all nodes must be removed for the nation to survive. Let the Wisconsion loons rave. Of course, they will be asking us tax paying tea partiers to pay their food stamp bennies when Gov. Walker has fired their asses. And we probably will. Sigh.
If a job is worth doing then its worth getting paid for!!!!!!
When teachers go back to their roots of teaching then we cannot pay them enough.
They are the architects of our future. They need to teach, the family and society needs to educate.
This is a cost benefit analysis.
May those who do not teach take themselves and their union to that inferno from which they should have never escaped (just being politically correct).
LoL, this article is such an obvious hoax. You didn’t “talk” with anyone except partisan Republicans. Not “little people”.
You’re full of it.
Ground control to Major Tom!
So the majority of Wisconsinites who voted for Walker in November were all rich fat cats? No ‘little people’ among them? Gee, I’m surprised. I didn’t think Wisconsin had so many zillionaires. I thought the biggest fat cats in the country were mainly in heavily Democratic districts, like Manhattan, and Hollywood. Do you think John Kerry lives in the projects? He’d spit on someone like Tom.
Look, teaching is a hard job and good teachers have my respect. But I’m tired of teachers talking as though they are the only ones with hard jobs, the only workers in the country. What about the people who work in private industry, you know, the ones who actually pay the teachers’ salaries? Are those people not workers? Are the Tea Partiers not workers? People like Tom hallucinate that Republicans sit around all day burning lit $100 bills or something. No, they work every much as hard as teachers, without the job security or the gold-plated benes. Nobody will protest in Madison if their pay gets cut.
I can understand why the unions are screaming. Pigs squeal when you get between them and the trough.
Actually, sounds like you’re teh one “full of it”. You weren’t there so you have no idea to whom he spoke. Your just trying to demean his statement without proof, thus using a typical liberals process of dismissal because you disagree.
Unions: Tools of the Communist. Traditionally labor unions have been used to subvert targeted societies for Communist takeover. That the rank & file members are not Communistic matters not, as the leadership is hard left. The purpose of the Communist is the elimination of American manufacturing capacity. It was this ability to produce war materiel that sustained GB in the early years of WWII, a fact not lost on the Reds.
Gov’t employees should never be allowed to organize. Unions are nothing more than cash cows and voting blocs for dhimmicRAT parasites, who in turn vote more money to the unions.
This is what happens when an election is won by a party. Same thing as what happened when the Dems won the Presidency, Obama got elected, and then they began to pass unreasonable bills, and ram everything up our rear ends once they were installed into office.
For instance passing a HUGELY OVER priced, and SHODDY health care bill, WITHOUT even reading it, and WITHOUT the majority of public support, and telling everyone to just shut up while they did behind sealed door deals.
Then they got on sites on the internet and posted every chance they got, over and over…”WE WON YOU LOST, SHUT UP!” In case you haven’t noticed, ay backs are Hell. The major difference here is that Gov Walker is not doing this out of malice, but rather to be fiscally responsible, and to SAVE THE STATE OF WISCONSIN, and to PREVENT massive layoffs.
So ask your self this…are those Union thugs, and the Dems going to pay your salary once you get laid off for illegal absences? Or for turning in FAKE doctors excuses? There are plenty of people looking for YOUR job(s), who are OUT of work, and really NEED one. Get over yourselves and get back to work before you can’t.
Oh, and by the way YOU LOST AND WE WON SO SHUT UP!!! (See…that doesn’t feel so good does it?) Oh yeah, and Nancy Pelosi, you disgrace yourself by saying you support this mess that your bud “O” has decided to side with, and support as well, to the point of organizing, and sending in anarchists, commies, and union thugs from other states, to rabble rouse when there can be no other outcome but that bill passing, and praying for a riot so he can maybe hold another Beer Summit, and put himself in the lime light yet once again.
I’m praying they cut funding to his teleprompter, and that Governor Walker will fire very teacher who went to these protests, revoke the licenses of every doctor issuing fake excuses, and stand his ground. GO GOVERNOR WALKER!!!!
And our President is siding with UNIONS?????? These UNION nuts have our kids for 40 hours a week???? The state is going BANKRUPT!!!!! Geez…fire them..ALL–OBAMA and MICHELE are such a disgrace to America–136 new taxes http://www.atr.com.(Americans for tax reform)for small business’. I would pull a REAGAN on them like he did with FAA. Liberal teachers got him voted….thugs..thugs…
Perhaps you meant: http://www.atr.org/
Tom 71, I AM one of the little people; a trucker with a Kalifornia education and a UTAH degree and a Republican. I see the destruction that has been wrought, I see the profound difference between home-schooled kids and those infected by liberal dogmas. Fortunately, I survived the indoctrination and can distinguish between the fruitless fruits and hairy legged professore of academe that espouse BS. And while gay, I stand with the RIGHT in an increasingly LEFTIST nation. But be assured and advised, my .22 caliber is stronger than your best leftist diatribe and I recently replenished my ammo supply in anticipation of the torn curtain. Isn’t it a great nation that permits such expression. Isn’t it a great time to be CONSERVATIVE ? Try to copulate with me and you’re liable to be gender modified. (Gadsden re-interpretation)
As a former teacher, I was forced to join the union. During every election I saw my dues go to the Democratic party to get some socialist elected. I’m a die hard conservative. In theory, I was supposed to be able to recoup the part of my dues that went to the leftist politics. In reality, the union never returned that money to anyone.
I would have preferred to invest money in my own retirement account, but just like with social security, I was forced to put it in the teachers’ retirement account.
I would have liked to earn merit pay by doing a good job, but belonging to a union means that bad teachers can keep their jobs and good teachers get the same pay for doing much better work.
Believe me, it’s never about the children, unless they are talking about indoctrinating them in leftist ideas. It’s about mediocrity and power!
Back in my college days in the mid-80′s I managed to get myself hired for a summer job with what was at the time a major airline at LaGuardia Airport. When the job started, my self and three other temps were told, “We know you’re only temporary workers who will be here three months, but while you work here you will be required to pay union dues. However, you will not be actual members of the union and will have no union benefits.” You can imagine how much that thrilled the four of us college students.
Years later, when I got a job with the City of New York, I was told, “You are not required to join the union. However, even if you do not join the union, you will still be required to pay union dues but you would not receive any union benefits, so you might as well join.” I reluctantly joined, and as expected, the union did nothing of any benefit for me personally.
My next job was with the Navy. No unions. No BS.
If I can possibly avoid it, I will never join another union again in my lifetime. They’re worthless to the average deckplate-level worker and only exist to make the union bosses rich and influence Democratic politicians. A waste of my money.
The sheeple of Wisconsin have elected & allowed the democrats to run their State for decades, and you’re surprised this is happening?
When will Americans learn the democrats are their enemy? When we no longer have a country to call our own?
Many good comments here.
1. The citizens of Wisconsin are not Robber Barons preying on teachers. There is no need for a unionized teacher work force to ensure that teachers get a fair wage. Free market competition can do that, as it does for other jobs in Wisconsin.
2. According to the Wisconsin constitution, the budget has to be balanced. Teachers should be given the option of taking the layoffs or the pay/benefits cuts.
3. Apparently these protesting teachers aren’t math teachers.
Much of the commentary regarding Wisconsin’s public employees has focused on unions making concessions–as if the issue were unions versus society. Although much could be said about unions as such (mandatory unions, laws favoring unions, for example) it’s important to understand that the current matter in Wisconsin is not fundamentally about unionization as such. Rather, it is about public employees versus taxpayers. When the welfare state starts to seize up, as all welfare states eventually have to do, either it must self-deceptively charge forward by printing more money, increasing spending, and continuing the feeding at the public trough, or it must stop and begin reversing itself (with the ultimate goal of dismantling the monstrosity it has created). What we are seeing in Wisconsin is not fundamentally about unions versus society: it is about welfare stare versus taxpayers who for decades have been duped into it and are now starting to wake up.
In my state, the school systems spend $28 million a day for in-house training that occurs at least once per month, and takes away a whole school day away from the kids, and makes parents stay home, pay for sitters, etc. It’s a pain in the butt.
The LA Times published a thing last year that further training, and even further degrees for teachers, has no effect on children’s progress. The teacher has the ability to run a class room from day one, or they are apparently in the wrong profession.
This would save our state more than $300 million dollars a year if they just ended training days.
There is serious money to be cut out there with useless programs, etc. The school systems and unions will never go for this as they are entrenched in the status quo.
I hope Barry keeps overreaching and the result will be Wisconsin as his political Waterloo.
All of You Are Black! Go to Hell! Obama Is a Hitler!
There are certain things we ought not say in America’s post-racial, post-incivilty era. “All of you are black. Go to hell!” is one of them.
Good grief! Would anyone ever say that? Could an elected white official ever say that? Well, no, and none did.
However, at a Dallas County Court Commission meeting, black commissioner John Wiley Price did say to various people present, “All of you are white. Go to hell!” and, for emphasis, repeated the hell command three more times. After a member of the audience rebuked him for his language and said, “You should be ashamed!” Price’s unoriginal rejoinder was, “I’m not ashamed! Go to hell!”
The Dallas brouhaha was precipitated by an exchange in which Price was indirectly referred to as a “mullah” for allegedly forcing out of office a 24 year veteran election administrator. Price took offense at being termed a Muslim leader or warlord and retaliated by telling white people what he thought of them, a flagrant insult for which he later refused to apologize nor to retract.
See clips of the initial confrontation and Price’s subsequent obscenity-laden rebuttal, both of which suggest America hasn’t yet entered those new Obama eras of post-racialism and post-incivility, here: http://tiny.cc/x2rca
Even more grossly uncivil rhetoric is being spewed in Wisconsin where the president hasn’t been compared to Adolph Hitler but where Wisconsin’s new Republican Governor Scott Walker is being subjected to attacks that are equally repugnant.
Teacher and other union labor leaders have compared Walker to Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Hosni Mubarak and, just as Commisioner Price sought to accent his hell comment, Walker has been depicted on signs ”with a cross-hairs rifle sight over his face.”
The public employee protests in Madison and throughout Wisconsin have become so dire, and dirty and farcical, that even the chairman of the state’s Democrat Party, Mike Tate, has condemned them as unacceptably extreme without mentioning that his party, along with the Democrat National Committee, President Obama’s political apparatus, the Service Employees International Union, and other outside forces with political and social agendas of their own, have been stoking the Wisconsin unrest and working to take the chaos on the road to Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Minnesota.
State Democrat legislators adding farce to the mix by running away and hiding and teachers calling in sick by the thousands leaving the students they claim to care for either out in the cold or joining demonstrations they don’t understand didn’t perturb Chairman Tate.
However, he drew the line with what his Press Secretary Graeme Zielinski described as inflammatory signs, then drew another, politically-correct, line . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=3686)
While this is a sad state of things, including nearby Illinois’s financial, union, public education and 2nd Amendment woes to bring up but a few, I’d like to see neighboring Iowa and nearby Minnesota, Indiana and Missouri take advantage of this ‘free P R’ so to speak.
Big and small private sector businesses, private schools and gun enthusiasts should be plugging their products.
The end result being the tried and always true method of self-sustaining/sufficent, capitalistic, economy supporting interests are the TRUE beacons of keeping America comepetitive and essential.
Where’s today’s Milton Friedman..!?
And they want free Viagara? Pass it out to all the demonstrators, then pass out free Spanish Fly. Bring in some rock bands, and you’ve got Woodstock in Wisconsin.
They want to screw the People of Wisconsin? Let’s get them in the mood.
As a kid growing up in the 60′s, going up to the Family farm in Wisconsin to help my Grandpa was better than Disney world. A beautiful State and great people.
I am proud of the people of Wisconsin and I urge the GOV to NOT cave to these union thugs and Obama (BIRM)
If the unthinkable happens and we lose to Trumka and “Rev” Jesse Jackson, not to worry…..OHIO is next. And we will fight the next good fight. Count on it!
How much does the Union Royalty (guys at the top) make?
Whatever the dues are paid by members has to account for a very tidy sum.
On February 19, 2011 – 5:41 pm, jennifer wrote:
Uhm, they’re not protesting because they want to be rich.
They just want honest pay for honest work to continue living their middle class lives.
Peter responds: Then you’re obviously NOT paying any attention to the facts, because one of the first demands the union leaders put out was that instead of cutting the union member benefits and making them pay into their own health care and retirement like every other person who is merely wanting “honest pay for honest work to continue living their middle class lives” they demanded the Governor raise taxed on the citizens of Wisconson! RAISE TAXES so these union crybabies can continue to live BETTER than the taxpayers that PAY THEIR SALARIES!
“Wisconsin labor union leader Michael Bolton told Chris Matthews last night that the state should raise taxes to plus the budget gap just like Minnesota is proposing.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/#41652174
There comes a time when you just can’t squeeze any more blood from the stones. That time has come. The unions must now learn they are no better than the peopns they have been robbing all these years.
The real fight is over the attempt to remove the collective bargaining power. Quick question, what does the removal of collective bargaining have to do with a short term budget repair? Anyway, which court orders is the administration ignoring? I read the article on this site that claimed the administration was ignoring court orders, but for anyone actually familiar with the law, it was clearly a misleading and incorrect article. Anyway, talk about nepotism, the head of the state police is Steve Fitzgerald who is the father of Scott Fitzgerald the senate majority leader. Somehow the police are except from all the cuts to state employees. Hum?? But really the question is what does removing collective bargaining have to do with fixing an immediate budget gap?? . Also, why do you call peaceful protesters a mob? No one has been arrested, which means the protest has been calmer than Halloween in Madison.
Please don’t hate all people from Illinois. We who live in SOUTHERN Illinois hate Chicago and think it should be made into it’s own criminal state. We didn’t vote for Obama or his thugs and goons. We support the people of Wisconsin and hope that Gov. Walker has the backbone and fortitude to stand up to the Obama thugs.
Oh, I certainly don’t hate Illinois folks – well, maybe a little when the Packers are playing da Bears:-)
Really, I think when most Wisconsinites complain about “FIBs” they have the people of Chicago-land in mind, not the downstaters
I’ve never met a person from downstate Illinois who had much good to say about Chicago. It’s very unfortunate that the Chicago-area voters (both living and dead) drag the rest of you down with them.
Back in the 80′s I was working in a foundry that afforded me membership in the Steelworkers Union. This was my first (and only) union job. I have to admit that I liked getting a good wage, and the benefits were better than I had in the past. I always felt a kind of disconnect between me and the union leadership. This disconnect was made initially when the union tried to tell me that I had to vote for the Democrat in the presidential elections of 1980. Sorry, I liked Reagan and that’s where my vote went. A few years later when the foundry went on strike there was only one person that voted to keep working. That person never had to change their vote. The new contract was a sham anyhow and no better than the old one with the added difficulty of causing a ton of resentment between the company and the workers. Working there after the vote required a lot more attention to company dictates. After a period of time, nearly a year, we still did not have a copy of the contract in hand. Our union was primarily concerned with the 600 worker mine and the 500 worker hospital and our 60 worker site didn’t carry a lot of pull. When I asked for a copy of the contract from the union ( I was a union rep at the time) I was basically told that I was out of line and had no idea how things were done. This was unsettling to me and smacked of the kind of intimidation that one would expect from an organized crime boss rather than a union president. The frosting on the cake though was the thing that made me decide that unions were evil. While attending a union meeting at the hall on the regular day and time the union local president of Steelworkers 4950 declared that since it would be in the best interests of every union member and the nation he felt it was his duty to initiate a new politial action committee the name of which was to be ” The Committee to Buy John Hinckley a Bigger Handgun”. This was a month or two after the assassination attempt on Reagans life. Now when I see Union people in a mob I realize that they are dangerous and need a dose of reality. That reality is that most of us live on less than a quarter of what they make and we do it well. I do NOT take government handouts or assistance, I OWN my house outright and I OWN a Harley, two pickups and a Chrysler Pacifica outright. I have all that I need to make a great life for me and my family without the opulent benefits and wages that they make. Yeah, I would like to see a $40,000 year sometime but just because I never have does not mean I need to sell my soul to a vile criminal Democrat front and call it union brotherhood.
I live in WI, and support the teachers. They don’t mind paying slightly more for benefits, but do care if the state gets rid of all their collective bargaining rights. FYI: Teachers make a rather paltry salary compared to, say, an engineer. But teachers are the ones who mold the youth. If the bill passes, expect an exodus of good teachers from the state for greener pastures.
Does “molding youth” include taking them out of class without permission to demonstrate with them?
Hasn’t Obama commited enough high crimes and misdemeanors yet?
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