Saying that there may be hope for taxpayers after all, the Wall Street Journal's editorial board slaps Governor Scott Walker and legislative Republicans on the back for breaking the public employees' unions -- job well done, victory complete, etc., etc.:
The collective bargaining reforms also mean that this won't merely be a one-time budget victory. Government unions know that financial concessions (and layoffs) they agree to during recessions are typically won back when tax revenues increase and the public stops paying attention. They merely need to elect a friendly governor. Mr. Walker's reforms change the balance of negotiating power in ways that give taxpayers more protection.
Unions can still bargain for wages, but annual increases can't exceed the rate of inflation. Unions will also have to be certified each year, which will give their dues-paying members a chance to revisit their decision to unionize. No longer will it be one worker, one vote, once. Perhaps most important, the state will no longer collect those dues automatically and give them to the union to spend almost entirely on politics. The unions will have to collect those dues themselves.
The video up top is from the like-minded, and Koch-funded, Heritage Foundation.
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We need to boycott all things Murdoch. Period. I'll make a list and post it.
There are far too many. Do a wiki search on Murdoch's holdings and pick your favs to boycott. I myself choose his publshing house holdings and all things fox.
I already refuse to watch FAUX News. Keep in mind Murdoch also owns Hulu.com and IGN--we already knew he bought MySpazz, and look what he's done to that! (Ran it into the ground, he did!) He also owns Beliefnet.com (I wonder if Jim Wallis is up to severing ties with that Murdoch holding?) He also owns HarperCollins and, by extention, Zondervan (the latter being a religious publisher known among Christian circles for publishing Bibles and Rick Warren's books.
While many here won't have to worry about boycotting a religious publisher--as it won't exactly effect their purchasing habits--HarperCollins is another thing, particularly for all you Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett fans.
Cynth: Is Murdoch involved with Regnery?
The Wall Street Journal Opinion page is one of the most disgraceful fountains of right-wing propaganda.
Of course, everything they accuse unions of doing with Democracts, Republicans are actually doing with private contractors and cronies. Classic Republican psychological projection!
Is it just me, or is there no byline for that opinion piece? Who wrote it? Who is afraid to claim personal responsibility for that opinion? And why is the WSJ so eager to hide this person's name?
Heritage Foundation hacks.
I knew there was a reason I never subscribed to the WSJ crapola. @!$%# you, WSJ.
"...give taxpayers more protection."
Which taxpayers? The union workers, or the Koch brothers?
I don't think that the Koch bros actually pay taxes. Evade taxes? You betcha!
wow...that is SCARY...! republicans are so slimy...! the heritage foundation is pure evil...!!!
hehe.. koch bros?? do they pay any tax at all?? i think not, sadly... the comment was just more twisted bull@!$%#...
I don't know if they still are, but they used to be big in oil. The cocky brothers... like most evil billionaires they diversify and hide many holdings so you can't find them easily. Rupert Murdock is another one and he is austrailan.
I suppose the usual suspects will now be falling all over themselves defending the WSJ.
What we need to do: 1. Buy local....find a way to grow food to support our local community members.... 2. Transportation.....find a way to reduce transportation costs..car pool...community bus program..volunteers/donation 3. Shelter....find a way to better insulate our homes and office buildings with American made material hopefully with local resources....4. Entertainment....go to local theater better yet walk to the local theater...supports local business 5. Community.....reach out and help your neighbors and get them to vote for people who have humanities best interest at heart....We need to dig our heads out of dirt, stand up and make noise, quit buying their crap, and reach out and take care of one another! Me Included :)
Very well said. I would add one more suggestion. If you have an account with a mega Bank Close it and open an account with a local bank or credit union.
did that today said goodbye to wells fargo....hello credit union
All your suggestions will happen by mere effect of what looks to be $5.00 gas by this Summer, atleast here in Cali.
Five dollars a gallon gas in a car getting 50 mpg works out to be ten cents a mile, same as an SUV getting 15 mpg and gas at a buck fifty a gallon. Used to be lots of cars got 50 mpg, resulting in a gas glut which required the enormous production of SUVs to cure.
http://www.mpgomatic.com/2007/10/19/super-cheap-high-mpg-cars-1984/
In 1984 a Toyota Camry got 50 mpg. Now it gets half that. Same with all other makes, which have been redesigned to increase fuel consumption.
My 1994 Civic gets 40 mpg which I am pretty damn happy about, especially these days. (I secretly shoot those hated SUVs with my imaginary ray gun.)
Honda Civic got 67 highway mpg in 1984.
I bought my first Civic in 1980 and it never got that kind of mileage, Covah. Maybe you need to recheck your facts.
Here is the gas mileage for Honda Civics from 1978 - 1985. There was in fact one model rated at 64 mpg highway, 48 mpg city. It was a manual transmission model. The vast majority of that era were considerably less fuel-efficient.
They want all these government jobs to be eliminated and replaced with private no-bid contractors who are Republicans cronies at many times the cost of government workers.
Look at what they did with defense, mercinaries make far more than soldiers and are free from restraint of law or regulation. Reprehensible.
I need to correct Rachel Maddow for pointing out how unpopular a policy would be if it took from the poor to give to the rich, indicating that such a thing would never pass. It was called "welfare reform," and we found that Americans don't care either way what happens to the poor. Policies are popular as long as the target isn't you.
The difference is that "welfare reform" took money from the target population of the extreme right wings' hate campaigns-people who don't work....this particular "unpopular policy" takes money from people that work-people who the extreme right wing motivate to vote for their polarizing candidates. Nice Try Brother :)
This Is What Class War Looks Like
Interestingly, most of the talk about union dues is from people who don't belong to a union and don't understand them or the process of determining dues and how they are used. Dues and their distribution are determined by democratic process at local, regional and national levels through elected representation. Most of the dues (about 70%) collected are kept at the local level and used for operating expenses. Most local unions do not have full-time employees. Most local unions do not have a hall, but pay rent for a monthly meeting. Most local unions members pay less that $50 a month in dues but often elect to contribute more for strike funds and political action. This is their choice, just as it is in private clubs and fraternal organizations. There is nothing sinister about the process. It is simply grass roots democracy that has deep and cherished tradition acheived under the most harshest of conditions. Regardles of social class, personal wealth or the lack thereof, fear, misinformation, company hired thugs, intimidation and even death, unions were formed to protect workers and their rights as human beings. Any government that decides to abolish unions is anti-democracy and in violation of human rights. If anyone or any government thinks this is a good time to prevent unions from collecting dues by refusing payroll deduction is just plain technically ignorant. Every union will have a website for members to contribute in an instant. Just as I, only half an hour ago contributed $xx each of the next three months to support WI state democratic senators in their recall elections, so will union members support their unions. Took maybe three minutes. Social networking will continue to gel the interests of like minded groups, also increasing their power during elections and other political action. Finally, there are laws regarding unions and their certification on the federal level. This will be the undoing of states seeking to decertify. Any action taken by the department of labor and then ignored will be unjucted by federal courts while a stay will maintain union rights until a final decree. Keep the faith union members, your numbers will now grow and so will your power. Solidarity forever, Kathy
Thank You KatieBerrier.....I very much enjoyed this very education explanation of how unions operate
Yes, thank you Katie! As a past union member myself I found you post to be very informative and well stated. My father and grandfather were both Teamsters, and I will continue to support the rights of workers and unions everywhere. This fight is far from over.
Why am I not surprised? We all know who owns the Wall Street Journal, don't we? Hint: his first name is Rupert. I wonder if that scarred him for life? (Apologies to other Ruperts, but I couldn't resist.
Here's a good place to start:
Isn't the whole concept of taking from the many to benefit a few sorta like communism? Dude, I knew it! Republicans are a bunch of pinko-commies!
Interesting that hitler broke the unions right after he took over, Germany,- and the Koch picked Scott Walker right after he became Governor. Fred Koch was one of the American Liberty League players who wanted to implement the hiterian policies in 1934, and now his son's Tea Party are trying again. Sad that the elite on Wall Street are repeating the same.
We have reached the tipping point, finally. I have been waiting for something to wake the people of this country to the brutality of the wealthy for years. Because they paid no attention to the news, the people of this nation are as guilty as the perpetrators of the stealing of America and the death of our economy. We need to let Congress and the President know that now is the time for all that change Mr. Obama promised us. Real regulations on Wall St. and the banks, criminal charges and arrests of those people who caused the problem and we need Elliot Spitzer as Special Prosecutor to take them down. Maybe we can freeze their assets so we can eventually get some of this stolen money back. Higher taxes on the rich, back to 70%, and take back of the money George W gifted these people while in office. 30% of $1 million is still $300,000.00. If they can't live on that amount they need to examine their lifestyle.
If all else fails we can always borrow some guillotines from France and start with the Koch Brothers, Dick Cheney and Carl Rove to prove how serious we are about reforming this country to bring back democracy.
Its Orwellian. When average American middle class workers are refered to as the elete!!
Sarah Palin was on Hannity tonight with a Banner underneath her that read "Can You Afford Four More?" It referred to four more years of Obama, as in if he were reelected.
Of course, no one votes for corporations and big business interests who back the Republicans (and the Democrats). I don't think its about can we afford this or that. A B or C candidate. Thats only one way of looking at the issues.
I keep saying it and will continue to, the GOP has one goal and one goal only - Make the rich richer and to hell with the rest.
I do not understand why people can't get that. It is plain as day in everything they do. They want to return to pre-Depression days of a two class system of the rich and the poor with the standards of education that went with it (education only for the "elite"). The amazing thing how so many poor and middle-class are actually believe in this goal and fight tooth and nail for it even though they will never be part of that elite class. At the rate we are going we will soon be essentially electing corporate entities into office, bypassing the shills pretending to be making decisions for citizens. I try to take pleasure in being able to later say "I told you so" but sadly the consequences of this sad move to basically train the country to worship the top 2% is just too depressing.
Part of the reason the GOP is able to maintain support is that they keep throwing just enough crumbs to their base to keep them on their side. For instance, all the talk about job creation during the last election, and now all the talk about abortion to appeal to the Christian right. And lets not forget about maintaining the fear of terrorism by having these debates about Muslims. All these things also serve to distract the public away from the rewards the GOP is handing out to their corporate friends behind closed doors. I dislike the GOP with a passion, but they know how to play the public, and they do it very well.
Unless there is a massive movement by the majority of the population in America to fully reform our government, I don't see anything changing anytime soon. In fact, I think it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
Maybe we have finely woke up a sleeping dragon, the only way to stop this is WE the people , and keep talking and talking never stop, we need to drown out the noise on fox noise. Lets try and pass a law like they have in Canada which is you cann't LIE to people and call it NEWS. they at that network would have close shopand Rachal Maddow would stillbe here. Thank you Rachal I really look up to you.
But I'm not looking for protection from unions. Can I get protection from corporations instead?
did Maddow mother drink or use drugs when she was carrying the dyke!!!
It's a pretty good sign that you've got nothing intelligent to add to the conversation when you result to personal insults. But you knew that already, didn't you?
Really interesting is that the Republican Conservatives have ZERO credibility on anything positive, but they sure like patting themselves on the back and claiming they are the most patriotic and most Christian--Hypocrisy knows NO bounds to blinded vanity. Seems that is a similarity the Nazis used against the Jews, name calling of socialism and the Nazis were Fascists and later committed the most in-humane atrocities claiming them in the name of GOD!
---------------------------------------Psalm 82:3-4 (NKJV)---------------------------------------
3) Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
4) Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
Would the Christ make such cuts against GOOD programs for the poor, needy, fatherless for the sake of the wealthy?
Hugh Blumenfeld - Long-Haired Radical Socialist Jew
My fave song about Jesus ever!
These cuts hurt children who will be our leaders one day...we are teaching them to see education and public service as a burden... ...the rich will rule and we will regress as a country.............land of the free not land of the rich....we need to stop this bullying or our children and grandchildren will pay.......yes there are things in union contracts that I don't agree with (like tenured teachers) but we can talk and compromise....model for students and compromise....(I am a teacher)...
Don't forget the future and what we are modeling for our children. How do leaders ...lead ?????? not by bullying! A scary time in America!