Check Out the Scumbag Dem's In WI

[bhunter]

Originally Posted by finnbow

A recent poll shows some public support for the unions is Wisconsin.



The resolution of this could prove interesting. The bullheadedness of the Gov. looks like it may result in him losing both the battle and the war.

IMHO, it may well be a battle that needs to be fought, but the GOP's general seems like a real doofus.

Do you have a a link to the bill? What percentage of Wi's population is union? The battle needs to be fought, but I do not find Walker particularly clever. I still find the protesters to be too aggressive and in-your-face for my tastes. They look pissed, then again, if I lived in frigid Wi I'd be perpetually pissed or drunk or both.

[BlueStreak]

Of course they "look pissed". My bet is they are pissed and that it has nothing to do with the weather.

Dave

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Back to Wisconsin and the plight of the unions and their Governor. Here's an interesting graph that shows that the tremendous pension obligation shortfalls are a direct result of the economic cataclysm of the past several years.* In effect, the states' investments with their pensions funds goes tits up and their employees get to suffer as a result of the malfeasance and fraud of those who caused the housing market collapse (who we bailed out, BTW). Maybe the big, bailed-out Wall Street firms should kick in a trillion or so to bail out the mess they helped create now that they're solvent and insanely profitable again.



* http://www.cepr.net/documents/public...ns-2011-02.pdf

Precisely. The budget shortfalls are due to the condition of the current economy, not because of pensions that have existed for decades. The whole notion is bogus and the actions of the governor are opportunistic at best. Employee benefits, public or private, have absolutely nothing to do with why this recession occurred. Decreasing compensation for the most populous section of our society, the working class, only damages their purchasing power and leads to further problems down the road. It makes as much sense as laying millions off, outsourcing their jobs and then complaining about "weak sales". No kidding? Who'da thought having millions of unemployed people would have a negative effect on the sales of swimming pools and Cadillacs? Unbelieveable. Are we really this stupid? Apparently so.

Dave

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by bhunter

I still find the protesters to be too aggressive and in-your-face for my tastes. They look pissed, then again, if I lived in frigid Wi I'd be perpetually pissed or drunk or both.

Actually, they're actually quite civil in response to what their governor is planning. If you've spent any time in the upper midwest (WI, MN), the people are nice to a fault. In these states, in-your-face belligerence is all but unknown. In fact, they've coined a term Minnesota nice to describe it. It's quite apt in my experience.

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

Precisely. The budget shortfalls are due to the condition of the current economy, not because of pensions that have existed for decades. The whole notion is bogus and the actions of the governor are opportunistic at best. Employee benefits, public or private, have absolutely nothing to do with why this recession occurred. Decreasing compensation for the most populous section of our society, the working class, only damages their purchasing power and leads to further problems down the road. It makes as much sense as laying millions off, outsourcing their jobs and then complaining about "weak sales". No kidding? Who'da thought having millions of unemployed people would have a negative effect on the sales of swimming pools and Cadillacs? Unbelieveable. Are we really this stupid? Apparently so.

Dave

Not all of us, just the dimwits on Mahogany Row. Shows what an MBA from Harvard will do, as Dorothy Parker said "You can always tell a Harvard man, you just can't tell him very much."

[bhunter]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

Precisely. The budget shortfalls are due to the condition of the current economy, not because of pensions that have existed for decades. The whole notion is bogus and the actions of the governor are opportunistic at best. Employee benefits, public or private, have absolutely nothing to do with why this recession occurred. Decreasing compensation for the most populous section of our society, the working class, only damages their purchasing power and leads to further problems down the road. It makes as much sense as laying millions off, outsourcing their jobs and then complaining about "weak sales". No kidding? Who'da thought having millions of unemployed people would have a negative effect on the sales of swimming pools and Cadillacs? Unbelieveable. Are we really this stupid? Apparently so.

Dave

Meanwhile, Fannie and Freddie are still there. Barney is still in office and no one seems to care. That fat pompous ass even has the nerve to act as though he had no part in the debacle. There is plenty of blame on both sides of the aisle wrt to the economic debacle of 2008. IMHO, the future does not look particularly good for our economy. Come to think of it, I heard something about a student loan debacle. That big post WWII bulge is currently entering into their retirement years which is sure to put stress on scarce resources, namely, health.

Comparative advantage only works when all players in "free trade" play fair. Gee, I'm sounding like a union member supporting tariffs and industrial protection mechanisms.

Was it consumer electronics that first made inroads for Japan here in the US, then followed by automobiles in the late 1960s and early 1970s?

[merrylander]

The mortgage system here was designed by thieves for thieves, what free marketers love to call "moral hazard". The miracle is that it took so long to blow up.

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by bhunter

Comparative advantage only works when all players in "free trade" play fair. Gee, I'm sounding like a union member supporting tariffs and industrial protection mechanisms.

Was it consumer electronics that first made inroads for Japan here in the US, then followed by automobiles in the late 1960s and early 1970s?

So? Is what we're doing working? No.

And then steel in the mid-seventies. Then the "tech bubble" burst and went over seas, telemarketing, IT...............what's next?

And the brilliant answer is to drive Americans to their knees and reduce them to the sad level of their competition?
Really? Is that what we really want? Oh, that's right, it's the "patriotic" thing to do, "real men" and "Great Americans" just shut up and take their lumps. Yeah. Okay. Think about that for a minute or two.

Dave

[piece-itpete]

I worked in a steel warehouse in the 80s, a big one.

Domestic steel, we had to mic every coil or bundle on a truckload to be sure it was within spec. Jap steel, we only had to mic one to be sure they got the order right.

Sad but true.

I am fully for 100% reciprosity regarding trade. It's time particularly for the Yuan to float.

Pete

[djv8ga]

WOW...the R's pulled a Dem style maneuver. It's awesome to see democracy back in WI. Now the Gov needs to lay off some union thugs to get back some of what he gave up to make this brilliant piece of governing doable...Let Them Eat Cheese!