"Never before have so few with so much promised to take away so much from so many and then laugh their asses off as the so many with so little vote for the so few with so much." A James Pence Quote
"American Politics, a sport for the rich and enslavement for the rest of us." A James Pence Quote
In a move so fitting for a hero of the modern Corporate Facist Republican Party Scott Walker today is having a hissy fit if he does not get his way. Yes, the Governor that started that state's budget problems with huge giveaways to Corporate America now wants his plan to make workers pay for it passed at all costs. Today he is refusing to compromise and threatening to axe 1500 jobs in a recession if he does not get his way. But of course Scott Walker has already been bought and paid for and has received his marching orders. Indeed, Walker has become a foot soldier for billionaires in the War on the Working Class and is relishing his new role as "warrior" for the greediest and least patriotic among us.
Yes, for those that argue that Republicans give a damn about anyone but themselves or any job that does not pay poverty wages, read 'em and weep:
As public workers across Wisconsin continue into a second week of protests against Republican plans to roll back their benefits and bargaining rights, Republican Gov. Scott Walker is warning that state employees could receive layoff notices as early as next week if they don't agree to the changes.
Walker has repeatedly said that as many as 1,500 workers could lose their jobs by July if his plan isn't enacted. In a statement to the Associated Press today, the governor said notices of layoffs could go out next week, though he said they would not take effect immediately. He did not say which workers would be targeted. "Hopefully we don't get to that point," the governor said.
And this despite the fact that public workers are more than willing to sacrifice to help in tough times, something that Walker's true constituents would never do willingly.
Ah, but you see he does not care about the budget or the people of Wisconsin.. The real objective?? Steal away the rights of hard-working Americans that were fought for and attained in his state and across the country for a reason:
In a press conference Monday, Walker acknowledged that union leaders have agreed to increase public employee contributions for pension benefits to 5 percent and health care to 12 percent. However, he insisted they must also give up collective bargaining rights, or else local governments will not be able to balance their own budgets, WisPolitics.com reports.
I mean, if he is working so hard for the people of Wisconsin they sure do not seem to think so:
A poll, commissioned by the AFL-CIO and conducted by Democratic polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, suggests Wisconsin voters agree. When asked about Walker's specific agenda, 52 percent of Wisconsin voters said they oppose the plan, according to the poll. Forty-two percent said they agreed with the plan.
When asked whether public workers should have their collective bargaining rights stripped, even if they agree to pay more for health care and retirement, 74 percent said no.
In fact one of the first things that Scott Walker did was give Corporate America and the wealthy elites within a bunch of his state's money:
Companies that relocate to Wisconsin won't have to pay income taxes for two years under a bill signed into law Monday by Gov. Scott Walker.
The measure joins three others Walker has signed in his first month in office that he said will send a message that Wisconsin is more business friendly. Walker, a Republican, has seen his legislative agenda speed through the Republican-controlled Legislature even though he has yet to explain how he'll pay for everything in light of the state's projected $3 billion budget shortfall.
Walker is expected to tout the early successes, and start talking about how he'll tackle the budget, in his first State of the State address on Tuesday night. Lawmakers were scheduled to be back at work on Wednesday voting on more Walker priorities.
And what did these people deserve to bankrupt the state of Wisconsin for?? Well, apparently nothing:
First off, the credit only applies to businesses that add 15 jobs in a year. What does Scott Walker have against small business? Nothing, but he knows that a credit that rewards them would cost the state a fortune, especially since the state is going to be adding jobs this year, regardless of public policy. The economy is recovering, albeit slowly.
$316. Let's put that into the most generous perspective possible. A minimum wage worker in Wisconsin makes $290 a week, or $15,080 a year. If the government offers an employer a tax break equal to 5.5 days of salary, is that employer going to hire a full-time employee for a year? Of course, an employer would definitely get far less than $316 for a minimum wage worker, since the tax credit is based on taxes withheld from payroll.
When you raise the stakes from creating jobs to creating good-paying jobs the legislation's futility becomes even more apparent. How many employers are going to be enticed to create 15 jobs with good salaries and benefits because of a $300 tax credit?
None.
Most of the jobs that will be created over the next year will have nothing to do with this job credit, and most businesses that create jobs will not be eligible to benefit from it anyway. Republicans know this, which is why they made the bill just expensive enough to state government to annoy Democrats but cheap enough to avoid gravely exacerbating the already herculean headache that balancing the state budget will prove to be.
But that is just the point. You see, Scott Walker does not work for or care about the people of Wisconsin. He has been hired lock, stock and barrel to fight for the greediest and least patriotic among us. His real job?? Steal the rights of the working-class as he enriches billionaires and does their bidding. Billionaires that do not even have a stake in Wisconsin:
State records also show that Koch Industries, their energy and consumer products conglomerate based in Wichita, Kan., was one of the biggest contributors to the election campaign of Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, a Republican who has championed the proposed cuts.
Even before the new governor was sworn in last month, executives from the Koch-backed group had worked behind the scenes to try to encourage a union showdown, Mr. Phillips said in an interview on Monday.
A spokesman for Koch Industries, as well as Mr. Phillips, scoffed at that accusation. The companies owned by Koch (pronounced Coke) - which include the Georgia-Pacific Corporation and the Koch Pipeline Company - have no direct stake in the union debate, they said. The company has about 3,000 employees in Wisconsin, including workers at a toilet paper factory and gasoline supply terminals. The pending legislation would not directly affect its bottom line.
And this despite the simple fact that Wisconsin's public workers have already sacrificed to serve their communities and country, something that the Corporate fascists Scott Walker really works for would never dream of doing:
The campaign against state and local workers is often justified with claims that they are privileged relative to their private-sector peers or have somehow been cushioned from the effects of the recent recession and slow recovery. These claims are clearly false.
In Wisconsin, which has become a focal point in this debate, public servants already take a pretty hefty pay cut just for the opportunity to serve their communities (Keefe 2010).
The figure below shows that when comparing the total compensation (which includes non-wage benefits such as health care and pensions) of workers with similar education, public-sector workers consistently make less than their private-sector peers. Workers with a bachelor's degree or more-which constitute nearly 60% of the state and local workforce in Wisconsin-are compensated between $20,000 less (if they just have a bachelor's degree) to over $82,000 a year less (if they have a professional degree, such as in law or medicine).
It is necessary for making true apples-to-apples comparisons to control for worker characteristics such as education in order to best measure a worker's potential earnings in a different sector or industry. Controlling for a larger range of earnings predictors-including not just education but also age, experience, gender, race, etc., Wisconsin public-sector workers face an annual compensation penalty of 11%. Adjusting for the slightly fewer hours worked per week on average, these public workers still face a compensation penalty of 5% for choosing to work in the public sector.
The deficit that Wisconsin faces is caused by the current economic downturn and the recent tax cut package. It has nothing to do with the compensation of the people that educate our children, keep the streets safe and clean, keep dangerous chemicals out of our water, and keep insurance companies from taking advantage of us. These public servants are already paid less than those in the private sector, and nationally, this gap has actually been increasing over the past few decades (Bender and Heywood). Instead of opportunistically using these hard times to target workers who-because of their public service-already take a substantial pay cut, Wisconsin politicians should focus on creating jobs and boosting the incomes of all workers.
However, this is just the fruition of policies long in place to starve the government of money and to give all the wealth away to the very few. They have long funded a slick propaganda campaign designed to cause workers forced to work for less with no benefits to turn against fellow workers who have attained such rights. Scott Walker is nothing more than the ass kisser at work who stabs his fellow workers in the back to work less and still climb the ladder. Yes, we all know that person.
Americans have a simple choice here. Like Scott Walker we can sell our souls, our neighbors and the American way out to enrich greedy billionaires or we can stand and fight for our rights. We can say in one voice that our fellow hard-working Americans making middle-class wages and benefits that are the problem, it is that far too many Americans do not. We can finally extract sacrifice from the true culprits of our economic woes and demand that Corporate America and the very rich sacrifice for the no-risk investments they had over the last thirty years or we can turn upon each other as they watch and laugh at our stupidity.
This is not merely an assault on Wisconsin's public workers but an affront on all Americans who work and expect a fair day's wage for a fair day's work. Make no mistake this in an all out assault on an average American's chance at achieving the American dream and if we lose this time our country will never be the land of the truly free ever again. Let's stand together and support real patriotic Americans. When we do we are standing for our own lives and families too.
