Wisconsin labor protests it's like Cairo has moved to Madison these days

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  • Thread starter Greg Bernhardt
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In summary, the Wisconsin Senate blocked passage of a sweeping anti-union bill Thursday by leaving the state to force Republicans to negotiate over the proposal. The group of Wisconsin lawmakers disappeared from the Capitol hours later, and one of them told The Associated Press that the group had left Wisconsin.
  • #351


BobG said:
In one sense, it's the more honest solution. Everyone knows what the state or company is paying for and everyone knows the risks.

On the other hand, it's a worse deal for employees since governments are seen as more reliable than private companies when it comes to pensions.

The latter relies on some assumptions that might be a little shaky if the government is running high deficits on a routine basis. Just like with Social Security, you're relying on future voters choosing to honor those commitments by continuing to pay higher and higher taxes.

It's nice to say the government is legally and morally bound to honor the promises it made, but I tend to be just a little bit afraid that all of the young people in the nation might not see themselves morally bound to fulfill promises I made to myself (or at least promises the government I elected made to me).

You should be concerned, we don't.
 
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  • #352


BobG said:
There is a responsibility to only promise what the state is likely able to deliver on. It's tough to plan a retirement if the pension turns out to be less than what was promised.
Even more grating to public employees, their benefits are negotiated, and they are underpaid compared to private-sector employees. So to have their pensions and health benefits cut after years of service is a real slap in the face. I have been a party to contract negotiations, and labor traditionally has to look at their compensation as a package. Give up some wages in return for better retirement benefits and health-care? That is standard operating procedure. Now after years of making those compromises to try to ensure a secure retirement, LePage roars in wanting to take back those benefits.

A NYT/CBS poll published Tuesday shows that US citizens oppose weakening public unions and taking back negotiated benefits by a margin of about 2:1.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/us/01poll.html
 
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  • #353


Lets be clear... this is not a group of idiots. Our budgets are disasters because of entitlements, and defense.

This is just sticking it to the poor, which is like a comedian ripping on the Amish... very little feedback that matters. Why is it wise to go after unions and teachers, but it's a mortal sin to tax the crap out of the obscenely wealthy?... answer: Who has the voice?

Everything is corrupt, consider unions the working man's check, and voice. What a shock there is an attempt to eviscerate them.
 
  • #354


State officials said Thursday that damage to the marble inside and out the State Capitol would cost an estimated $7.5 million.

Much of the damage apparently has come from tape used to put up signs and placards at the Capitol.

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/117340918.html


Would anyone like to comment on this estimate. $7.5m to remove tape from marble?
 
  • #355


Greg Bernhardt said:
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/117340918.html


Would anyone like to comment on this estimate. $7.5m to remove tape from marble?

I think the issue is that it's a "historical" building, thus bound to certain cleaning. Frankly, it smells like everything else coming out of Wisconsin lately... the southbound end of a northbound cow.

I'm mortally tired of these games, this rhetorical nonsense... this is union busting, and the people doing the busting don't have the balls to admit they're just Pinkerton 2.0

On the bright side, it's always fun to watch people like Walker self-destruct.
 
  • #356


Greg Bernhardt said:
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/117340918.html


Would anyone like to comment on this estimate. $7.5m to remove tape from marble?
If the governor's brother is going to clean up the tape residue, I'd say that the estimate is low. Tax-payers had better bend over and brace for impact.
 
  • #357


turbo-1 said:
If the governor's brother is going to clean up the tape residue, I'd say that the estimate is low. Tax-payers had better bend over and brace for impact.

*southern draw* Yessir, going to be like runnin' backwards though a cornfield, nekkid.


The protesters are peacefully leaving by the way, because a judge ruled that during business hours, they cannot legally keep them out, even in droves.

Poor Walker... he's the brick sinking his party in WI, and now Gingrich is back? :smile:

Obama must be laughing his nuts off.
 
  • #358


Greg Bernhardt said:
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/117340918.html


Would anyone like to comment on this estimate. $7.5m to remove tape from marble?
I'd like to ask the question that no one's asking - perhaps I'm just being intensely dense in not getting this.

From the article: "...estimates of damage to marble includes $6 million to repair damaged marble inside the Capitol, $1 million for damage outside and $500,000 for costs to supervise the damage."

What exactly does that last bit mean? What does supervision of damage involve?
 
  • #359


Gokul43201 said:
From the article: "...estimates of damage to marble includes $6 million to repair damaged marble inside the Capitol, $1 million for damage outside and $500,000 for costs to supervise the damage."

I will volunteer to watch people remove tape from marble for $500k!
 
  • #360


Greg Bernhardt said:
I will volunteer to watch people remove tape from marble for $500k!
Can I sub-contract the watching? I would gladly drive out there and camp in my Forester for a share of that! I can supervise tape-adhesive removal with the best of them!
 
  • #361


Greg Bernhardt said:
I will volunteer to watch people remove tape from marble for $500k!

I'll take that job for $499k! :-p
 
  • #362


lisab said:
I'll take that job for $499k! :-p
BIDDING WAR!

I'll do it for a dollar less than you, as long as I can make the trip and pretend to fulfill the contract.
 
  • #363


I'll do it for the fun of watching people justify that kind of baksheesh to scrub MARBLE. :smile:
 
  • #364


i will do the entire job as an independent contractor for only $5 mil
 
  • #365


Can I still watch? :biggrin:
 
  • #366
When I want entertainment, I just look to see what legislative actions our Government is working hard on. For instance, I found out today, that a pair of WI Republicans are proposing to ban prank calls: http://badgerherald.com/news/2011/02/28/bill_circulating_in_.php
Although representatives deny any connection to the recent prank call on the governor, two legislators began circulating a bill Monday that would ban making trick calls masking the caller’s true identity.

Sen. Mary Lazich, R-Waukesha, and Rep. Mark Honadel, R-Milwaukee, authored a bill that would prohibit tricking the call’s recipient into believing the caller is someone they are not for malicious purposes.
For the record, I do not find the actual content of the bill as funny as I find the thought that it was likely written in reaction to Walker's enprankment.
 
  • #367
Gokul43201 said:
When I want entertainment, I just look to see what legislative actions our Government is working hard on. For instance, I found out today, that a pair of WI Republicans are proposing to ban prank calls: http://badgerherald.com/news/2011/02/28/bill_circulating_in_.php
For the record, I do not find the actual content of the bill as funny as I find the thought that it was likely written in reaction to Walker's enprankment.

:smile:

I'm so torn between amusement, apathy, and extreme hatred.

edit: Oh, and what about the senate resoluton to have the "absentees" aressted? The head of the police union called it, "insane", and the R spoke said it was a non-binding resolution. What a bunch of miserable hacks... they can't even decieve well..

May they all be afflicted with a variety of lethal diseases.
 
  • #368


nismaratwork said:
May they all be afflicted with a variety of lethal diseases.

If we are going to curse, let's curse well.

How about my ol' favorite: May they be consumed by a tidal wave of diarrhea.:smile:
 
  • #369


nismaratwork said:
Can I still watch? :biggrin:

i will install a webcam.
 
  • #371


WhoWee said:
Must be a union job?

What are you doing in insurance when your true calling is clearly stand-up comedy? :smile:
 
  • #373


nismaratwork said:
I'm mortally tired of these games, this rhetorical nonsense... this is union busting, and the people doing the busting don't have the balls to admit they're just Pinkerton 2.0
Are you aware that the second part of that sentence contradicts the first? Was that on purpose? Kind of like saying that you just can't stand people who just let their sentences trail off without...

PERSONALLY, I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE TYPE IN ALL CAPS! :smile:
 
  • #374


Norman said:
If we are going to curse, let's curse well.

How about my ol' favorite: May they be consumed by a tidal wave of diarrhea.:smile:

"May your armpits be infested by the fleas of a thousand camels" classic.

Yes... I like yours! :smile:

@Al68: It's not contradictory, it's simply demonstrative. :smile:
 
  • #375


nismaratwork said:
Hmmmm

http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/03/wisconsin.budget/index.html?hpt=T1

Ammo found outside the capital... and now Walker is threatening... again... to lay of 1500 workers. My view is that would be political suicide.

How so? It isn't his fault the Democrats fled the capital to stop the vote. Also, at that point, Walker will not have a choice. He is stretching this out as long as possible until he has no other option. If he caves to the unions, IMO that will be political suicide, as he will lose all credibility. He has to ride this out to the end.
 
  • #376


CAC1001 said:
How so? It isn't his fault the Democrats fled the capital to stop the vote. Also, at that point, Walker will not have a choice. He is stretching this out as long as possible until he has no other option. If he caves to the unions, IMO that will be political suicide, as he will lose all credibility. He has to ride this out to the end.

Yes, it will be political suicide, but so is riding this out; he's already on a ballistic trajectory.


Oh, and images like this aren't going to help:
http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/local/Wisconsin-Rep-Nick-Milroy-Tackled-By-Capitol-Police--117400318.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLLR2QCkcB4

Walker is done, was done the moment the democrats left the state; unions were FORMED in the face of harsher actions than this.
 
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  • #377


How will it be political suicide if he has no other choice? Again, it is the Democrats who left the state who are leading him to this. Also, the public's view will probably be positive once the budget is repaired.
 
  • #378


CAC1001 said:
How will it be political suicide if he has no other choice? Again, it is the Democrats who left the state who are leading him to this. Also, the public's view will probably be positive once the budget is repaired.

He's placed himself between Scylla and Charibdis.
 
  • #381


Once the bill passes (assuming it passes), and the budget is repaired and the public sees the world doesn't collapse for the public-sector workers, I think Walker will be fine.

Also I think it is that he has no choice. If he gives in, he loses. If he rides it out, he could lose, or score big. What will need to be watched is the public opinion within Wisconsin as the budget there is repaired, provided the bill passes.
 
  • #382


Char. Limit said:
This is starting to scare me. I mean, what the hell is going on when police are tackling people for trying to enter a building? And Scott Walker is blackmailing the Democrats?

What has US politics become?

How is Scott Walker blackmailing the Democrats? They are the ones who fled into hiding, then will try to blame him when layoffs start having to be issued. I'd say they are the ones blackmailing him.
 
  • #383


CAC1001 said:
How is Scott Walker blackmailing the Democrats? They are the ones who fled into hiding, then will try to blame him when layoffs start having to be issued. I'd say they are the ones blackmailing him.
They recuse themselves to deny the GOP majority a quorum. If you don't like that, please argue the facts, not the headlines.
 
  • #384


turbo-1 said:
They recuse themselves to deny the GOP majority a quorum. If you don't like that, please argue the facts, not the headlines.

Then they should return any money I am paying to their salary for them to do their job. And they did flee and hide. We didn't find out where they went for a couple days after they went missing.
 
  • #385


CAC1001 said:
How is Scott Walker blackmailing the Democrats? They are the ones who fled into hiding, then will try to blame him when layoffs start having to be issued. I'd say they are the ones blackmailing him.

Here's how I see it. Democrats leave so that unions don't get busted. Republican governor threatens to lay off employees unless the Democrats return. That's blackmail, clear and simple.
 

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