So we just gonna ignore the Wisconsin labor protest
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(Reuters) - Wisconsin's new Republican governor on Friday proposed sharply curtailing the bargaining rights of public employee unions and other cost-saving measures to rein in the state's budget deficit.
Governor Scott Walker said he will ask the Republican-controlled legislature to pass his "budget repair bill" next week. He said it aims to bring stability to government finances and stave off employee layoffs.
"The last thing we need is any more people on unemployment," Walker said at a news conference.
The proposal drew criticism from Democrats in the state, which has a $137 million budget deficit in the fiscal year ending June 30 and larger deficits to come.
"If Republicans get their way, workers will no longer be able to negotiate over the hours they work, the safety conditions they labor under or the health insurance and retirement benefits they and their families depend on," Senate Democratic Leader Mark Miller said in a statement.
The proposal includes limiting state employee wage increases to the rate of inflation unless approved in a voter referendum. Public employees -- other than police, fire, and inspectors -- would lose many bargaining rights and could opt out of paying union dues after current contracts expire, with dues no longer collected automatically.
State workers will have to increase contributions to their pensions to 5.8 percent of salary, and double contributions to health insurance premiums to 12.6 percent of salary. Wisconsin's unfunded pension liability is $252.6 million, according to Moody's Investors Service.
The plan calls for raising appropriations for prisons and the Medicaid program, which is underfunded by $153 million, while making changes to the health insurance program for the poor. It also calls for selling the state's heating plants.
Walker's plan also would allow the state to push principal payments due March 15 on its general obligation bonds into future years to gain $165 million through a debt refinancing. That money would help cover a court-ordered payment to the Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund and payments under the state's tax reciprocity program with Minnesota.
SHARE THE PAIN
State employee unions made $100 million in concessions in December to ease the budgetary strain, said Bryan Kennedy, president of the state chapter of the American Federation of Teachers. But Walker's response has been "to eviscerate our most basic rights" and "end labor peace in Wisconsin."
Leading Republican lawmakers say workers have to share the pain of shoring up the state's unsustainable financial problems -- a projected $2.9 billion biennial budget deficit for fiscal 2012 and 2013. This year's budget totals $12.7 billion.
"Anything short of making the tough decisions that are necessary to balance our budget and rein in spending is going to leave our state bankrupt, and the livelihood and well-being of Wisconsin will depend on the swift and decisive action we'll be taking over the next week," state House Majority Leader Scott Suder said.
A growing number of deficit-ridden states have tried to curb expenses by going after public employee union contracts and pensions. Wall Street rating agencies and investors in the $2.8 trillion municipal bond market are increasingly focusing on the cost of employee benefits like pensions as they weigh the credit-worthiness of state and local government debt.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41644074/ns/us_news-life/?GT1=43001
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So we just gonna play the Fox News angle and completely ignore whats going on in Wisconsin. No doubt....it's only like 3 or 4 days later. I'm currently waiting on that change Obama wanted ppl to believe in. Maybe that'll show up when we find those WMD's.
Governor Scott Walker said he will ask the Republican-controlled legislature to pass his "budget repair bill" next week. He said it aims to bring stability to government finances and stave off employee layoffs.
"The last thing we need is any more people on unemployment," Walker said at a news conference.
The proposal drew criticism from Democrats in the state, which has a $137 million budget deficit in the fiscal year ending June 30 and larger deficits to come.
"If Republicans get their way, workers will no longer be able to negotiate over the hours they work, the safety conditions they labor under or the health insurance and retirement benefits they and their families depend on," Senate Democratic Leader Mark Miller said in a statement.
The proposal includes limiting state employee wage increases to the rate of inflation unless approved in a voter referendum. Public employees -- other than police, fire, and inspectors -- would lose many bargaining rights and could opt out of paying union dues after current contracts expire, with dues no longer collected automatically.
State workers will have to increase contributions to their pensions to 5.8 percent of salary, and double contributions to health insurance premiums to 12.6 percent of salary. Wisconsin's unfunded pension liability is $252.6 million, according to Moody's Investors Service.
The plan calls for raising appropriations for prisons and the Medicaid program, which is underfunded by $153 million, while making changes to the health insurance program for the poor. It also calls for selling the state's heating plants.
Walker's plan also would allow the state to push principal payments due March 15 on its general obligation bonds into future years to gain $165 million through a debt refinancing. That money would help cover a court-ordered payment to the Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund and payments under the state's tax reciprocity program with Minnesota.
SHARE THE PAIN
State employee unions made $100 million in concessions in December to ease the budgetary strain, said Bryan Kennedy, president of the state chapter of the American Federation of Teachers. But Walker's response has been "to eviscerate our most basic rights" and "end labor peace in Wisconsin."
Leading Republican lawmakers say workers have to share the pain of shoring up the state's unsustainable financial problems -- a projected $2.9 billion biennial budget deficit for fiscal 2012 and 2013. This year's budget totals $12.7 billion.
"Anything short of making the tough decisions that are necessary to balance our budget and rein in spending is going to leave our state bankrupt, and the livelihood and well-being of Wisconsin will depend on the swift and decisive action we'll be taking over the next week," state House Majority Leader Scott Suder said.
A growing number of deficit-ridden states have tried to curb expenses by going after public employee union contracts and pensions. Wall Street rating agencies and investors in the $2.8 trillion municipal bond market are increasingly focusing on the cost of employee benefits like pensions as they weigh the credit-worthiness of state and local government debt.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41644074/ns/us_news-life/?GT1=43001
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So we just gonna play the Fox News angle and completely ignore whats going on in Wisconsin. No doubt....it's only like 3 or 4 days later. I'm currently waiting on that change Obama wanted ppl to believe in. Maybe that'll show up when we find those WMD's.
Comments
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only in ic can people blame this mess on obama..
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only in ic can people blame this mess on obama..
Is Obama a friend to the working man?
Has he made any official public statement about what's happening in Wisconsin?
Or is he too busy helping Wall Street avoid paying their taxes? -
only in the ic...KTULU IS BACK wrote: »Is Obama a friend to the working man?
Has he made any official public statement about what's happening in Wisconsin?
Or is he too busy helping Wall Street avoid paying their taxes? -
only in the ic...
lol man I'll take it to the corner. What you mean only on the IC???
Only on the IC are people questioning our democratic president who doesn't stand up for basic democratic principles??? You sir are crazy and in denial.
MSNBC ran this story for like 3-4 days before anybody else picked it up. And then when Obama was asked about it he said some lame, not taking sides, but obviously calling out the governor ? . Obama plays the fence better than Willie Mays.
Honestly this should be one of the biggest stories in America right now. But nah...y'all prob know more about the all star game this weekend. -
lol man I'll take it to the corner. What you mean only on the IC???
Only on the IC are people questioning our democratic president who doesn't stand up for basic democratic principles??? You sir are crazy and in denial.
MSNBC ran this story for like 3-4 days before anybody else picked it up. And then when Obama was asked about it he said some lame, not taking sides, but obviously calling out the governor ? . Obama plays the fence better than Willie Mays.
Honestly this should be one of the biggest stories in America right now. But nah...y'all prob know more about the all star game this weekend.
well the obvious thing is that this while it sucks, it is not illegal. The president should not overstep his bounds , unless it's something that goes against the constitution(ie the Arizona immigration law) states have their own government for a reason. Wisconsin had a democratic governor for like 3 terms, and then got caught up in the taking back America hype. They got what they asked for -
well the obvious thing is that this while it sucks, it is not illegal. The president should not overstep his bounds , unless it's something that goes against the constitution(ie the Arizona immigration law) states have their own government for a reason. Wisconsin had a democratic governor for like 3 terms, and then got caught up in the taking back America hype. They got what they asked for
lol that's your response to your democratic president not backing up labor unions...."The state of Wisconsin got what they asked for."
And it's not even backing labor unions that's the problem. It's the democratic party as a WHOLE. Its sad that the real power of democrats come from liberal media outlets, not the elected officials. Democrats are ? .
This is an open and shut case when it comes to who is right and who is wrong. And for the record, why don't Americans understand that what happens in another state can and will affect you. Its a common fact that when most states bring up new laws, they use existing cases as proof of its effectiveness. It's like a trial and error thing. -
That's all the president can do, out side of calling the governor some really bad names.
We all know whats right and wrong, but sadly what is wrong is not illegal, therefor there's really nothing a democratic minority can do out side of say, "this is really bad" and try to convince some of the less Conservative republicans to change their minds(which is going on). -
Obama's a wolf in sheep clothing on these economic issues.
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Obama needs to stand with these people, instead of playing the fence. The progressives are who got him into the office and now he let the republikkkans play him like a fiddle. Support the same people who got you where you are and stop worrying about being a one-termer.
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Hmm is there any news feed or good articles on this i want to be informed
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That's all the president can do, out side of calling the governor some really bad names.
We all know whats right and wrong, but sadly what is wrong is not illegal, therefor there's really nothing a democratic minority can do out side of say, "this is really bad" and try to convince some of the less Conservative republicans to change their minds(which is going on).
That's pretty sad. It should be illegal to lie by omission. For example, the reason Wisconsin is in problems economically is because their governor gave tax breaks that accounted for 150 million dollars. But of course nobody reports on this.
I don't want anybody to lean on the wrong vs right angle of this story. Politicians/the media need to focus on truth vs perception. But instead we find ourselves in a cultural war AGAIN that blocks the true argument AGAIN. -
supersajinfo wrote: »Hmm is there any news feed or good articles on this i want to be informed
yeah I got you.....
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/02/20/ravitch.teachers.blamed/index.html?hpt=T2
Why America's teachers are enraged
(CNN) -- Thousands of teachers, nurses, firefighters and other public sector workers have camped out at the Wisconsin Capitol, protesting Republican Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to reduce their take-home pay -- by increasing their contribution to their pension plans and health care benefits -- and restrict their collective bargaining rights.
Republicans control the state Legislature, and initially it seemed certain that Walker's proposal would pass easily. But then the Democrats in the Legislature went into hiding, leaving that body one vote shy of a quorum. As of this writing, the Legislature was at a standstill as state police searched high and low for the missing lawmakers.
Like other conservative Republican governors, including Chris Christie of New Jersey, John Kasich of Ohio, Mitch Daniels of Indiana and Rick Scott of Florida, the Wisconsin governor wants to sap the power of public employee unions, especially the teachers' union, since public education is the single biggest expenditure for every state.
Public schools in Madison and a dozen other districts in Wisconsin closed as teachers joined the protest. Although Walker claims he was forced to impose cutbacks because the state is broke, teachers noticed that he offered generous tax breaks to businesses that were equivalent to the value of their givebacks.
The uprising in Madison is symptomatic of a simmering rage among the nation's teachers. They have grown angry and demoralized over the past two years as attacks on their profession escalated.
The much-publicized film "Waiting for Superman" made the specious claim that "bad teachers" caused low student test scores. A Newsweek cover last year proposed that the key to saving American education was firing bad teachers.
Teachers across the nation reacted with alarm when the leaders of the Central Falls district in Rhode Island threatened to fire the entire staff of the small town's only high school. What got their attention was that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and President Obama thought this was a fine idea, even though no one at the high school had been evaluated.
The Obama administration's Race to the Top program intensified the demonizing of teachers, because it encouraged states to evaluate teachers in relation to student scores. There are many reasons why students do well or poorly on tests, and teachers felt they were being unfairly blamed when students got low scores, while the crucial role of families and the students themselves was overlooked.
Teachers' despair deepened last August when The Los Angeles Times rated 6,000 teachers in Los Angeles as effective or ineffective, based on their students' test scores, and posted these ratings online. Testing experts warn that such ratings are likely to be both inaccurate and unstable, but the Times stood by its analysis.
Now conservative governors and mayors want to abolish teachers' right to due process, their seniority, and -- in some states -- their collective bargaining rights. Right-to-work states do not have higher scores than states with strong unions. Actually, the states with the highest performance on national tests are Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Vermont, and New Hampshire, where teachers belong to unions that bargain collectively for their members.
Unions actively lobby to increase education funding and reduce class size, so conservative governors who want to slash education spending feel the need to reduce their clout. This silences the best organized opposition to education cuts.
There has recently been a national furor about school reform. One must wonder how it is possible to talk of improving schools while cutting funding, demoralizing teachers, cutting scholarships to college, and increasing class sizes.
The real story in Madison is not just about unions trying to protect their members' hard-won rights. It is about teachers who are fed up with attacks on their profession. A large group of National Board Certified teachers -- teachers from many states who have passed rigorous examinations by an independent national board -- is organizing a march on Washington in July. The events in Madison are sure to multiply their numbers.
As the attacks on teachers increase and as layoffs grow, there are likely to be more protests like the one that has mobilized teachers and their allies and immobilized the Wisconsin Legislature. -
supersajinfo wrote: »Hmm is there any news feed or good articles on this i want to be informed
And this one completely breaks it down.....
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/02/18/6081693-wisconsin-how-we-got-here?ocid=twitter
Wisconsin: How we got here
From NBC's John Bailey
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) Budget Repair Bill, and the ongoing fight over its provisions, was prompted by a large, looming state budget deficit. Wisconsin has an immediate budget shortfall of $137 million, projected to grow to $3.6 billion by mid-2013. The lion’s share of the blame for Wisconsin’s budget woes falls on the receding economy, but other factors such as tax cuts, rising health care costs, and expiring federal aid have contributed as well.
Wisconsin's budget problems
-- Falling tax revenue resulting from the recession is the greatest culprit of Wisconsin’s budget woes -- between 2008 and 2009, state tax revenues fell over 7%.
-- Since July 2009, there has been an estimated dip in revenues of $200 million annually; the state saw little growth in tax revenues in 2010.
-- Unemployment rose more than 4 percentage points between 2007 and 2010, forcing more Wisconsin residents on Medicaid and causing state Medicaid costs to rise.
-- A series of tax cuts passed since 2003 that cumulatively represent $3.7 billion and, by 2013, make up a $800 million-per-year reduction in tax revenues.
-- In addition, this year agency budget requests will rise $2.9 billion -- nearly two-thirds of which is for Medicaid, with much of that amount associated with replacing one-time federal Medicaid revenues the state received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
What is the real budget gap?
-- Walker's Democratic predecessor, Jim Doyle, estimated that in June of 2011, Wisconsin would still have a $10 million surplus, but Walker has said the state is facing a $137 million deficit today. Why the discrepancy?
-- Walker made a number of adjustments to Doyle’s estimates, mainly accounting for higher-than-expected Medicaid costs.
-- Walker also pushed through three tax cut bills negatively impacting projected tax revenues by $117 million -- the tax cuts went toward health savings accounts, deductions for relocated businesses, and exclusions for hiring new employees.
Wisconsin’s pensions
-- The pension system in Wisconsin is actually quite healthy. In fact, it was one of only four states (FL WA, and NY are the others) that entered 2008 fully funded.
-- State employees do not pay into their pensions.
Gov. Walker’s Budget Repair Bill
-- Pensions: Requires employees who pay into the Wisconsin Retirement System to contribute 50% of their annual pension payment an estimated 5.8% of salary; currently, employers make all pension contributions.
-- Health insurance: Requires state employees to pay at least 12.6% of the average cost of annual premiums—about double what they pay now.
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-- On collective bargaining, it:
1) removes rights to bargain collectively for most of 175,00 state employees;
2) exempts most law enforcement, firefighters, and Wisconsin State Patrol;
3) does not allow employers to collect union dues in paychecks.
Political power in Wisconsin
-- State House is Republican controlled 57-38-1
-- State Senate is Republican controlled 19-14 -
supersajinfo wrote: »Hmm is there any news feed or good articles on this i want to be informed
here a video that explains it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmsXa0986dI