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I have been waiting for some adult behavior to arise from the political mess in Wisconsin. As of this date that appears to be unlikely. The most recent event is the signing of the legislation by Governor Walker followed by the numerous death threats issued by the union thugs and the out of control protestors. The magnificent turmoil now gripping Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and soon other states is only a prelude to future events. Only someone so completely ignorant of economic facts could carry on like the protesters in Wisconsin.
It’s difficult to determine who ranks higher on the ladder of idiocy – the protestors or the Democrat legislators who fled their home state. Copycats from other states are beginning to mimic Wisconsin’s fleeing senators. Can you imagine anything more juvenile than lawmakers who can’t get their way hiding in an undisclosed location and pouting until the governor says,” Gee, I’m sorry; now won’t you please come home so we can play nicely together.”
These protestors and legislators claim that Governor Scott Walker started all this nastiness by insisting that state workers contribute just a little more to their own pension and health care benefits. Even with these proposed changes, they would be paying far less than their peers in the private sector.
So why is mean old Governor Walker picking on these innocent souls? Two reasons: First the budget is in the red by billions of dollars and Wisconsin like more states cannot operate in a deficit. They do not have the luxury of building up billions or trillions of debt as does the Federal Government.
Secondly, this move by the governor should come as no surprise as this Republican leader based his campaign on promising to do exactly what he is doing. Probably what really galls these economic midgets is that he is not increasing taxes on businesses but doing just the opposite in order to create an environment friendly for business growth. They need to look only to their neighbor in Michigan to see what happens when a Democrat governor attempts to solve fiscal problems by increasing taxes.
These union workers remind me of a kid who is caught with his hands in the empty cookie jar and now throws a hissy fit because mommy didn’t put more cookies in for him to steal. After all, if she had no more ingredients to make cookies, she should steal some from the neighbors. You know, those neighbors who live on the hill and everyone knows they are filthy rich.
After two or three weeks of kindergarten antics, these protestors come crawling to the governor and say, “Okay, maybe we should pay a little more but no way can you take away our civil rights and union rights to collective bargain for benefits.” You see, Governor Walker is standing firm that the state employees can bargain for their wages but not benefits.
The reason this is part of the governor’s plan is easy to determine. The benefits package is where the cost to taxpayers has gotten completely out of hand. Many columns and reports have surfaced about wages and salaries for government workers being considerably higher compared to private industry. But where the comparison picture is absolutely ridiculous is on benefits - such as pensions, health benefits, vacation and other days off. In Wisconsin and many other states these servants to us all get better than 70 percent more.
The completely biased press likes to compare the union protests in Madison, Wisconsin to the rallies by Tea Party participants in the last two years. The comparisons are not even close. Officials in Madison who try to get to work are mobbed by these hooligans and only Fox News has the guts to show the true actions of these characters. This has never happened in a Tea Party rally.
Probably the most significant comparison is the behavior of the Tea Partiers where the respect for property and other citizens’ rights are respected. Tea partiers cleaned up their own trash before they disbursed. Reports from Madison show mountains of garbage and trash and damage to public property. Reports indicated the state spent over 7 million dollars cleaning up after these goons.
This whole dramatic episode has significance because it might well be a precursor to what will happen on the national level. The situation in Wisconsin and Ohio are very similar to recent near-riots in Spain, France and Italy. Once you start messing with entitlements, all hell breaks loose.
So what’s liable to occur on the national level as pertains to demonstrations and riots for entitlements? Well, take your pick of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, unemployment benefits, welfare payments, Obamacare and on and on.
As indicated by the Urban Institute who have studied these entitlements in depth, Medicare is the real killer. An average couple retiring this year can look forward to consuming Medicare benefits with a present value of $343,000. They will have paid Medicare taxes amounting to a present value of $109,000. Multiply that difference by the millions of couples and individuals of baby boomers age and the result is a staggering amount of deficits. To make it even worse the $109,000 is not available because the government has spent it all long ago. The government trust funds are a fraud.
What to do? As the Democrat candidate for our legislative district in Arkansas reportedly said, “Don’t worry about it, you and I will be dead before this all blows up.” Perhaps we should all join the fun and prepare for a massive rally on Main Street. The Tea Party will be around to clean up the mess.
******************
Don’t you just love the response, “All options are on the table.” This really means whoever is in charge has not the slightest idea how to proceed.
(Jerry Jackson of Heber Springs writes his “conservative viewpoint” column each Wednesday)
I have been waiting for some adult behavior to arise from the political mess in Wisconsin. As of this date that appears to be unlikely. The most recent event is the signing of the legislation by Governor Walker followed by the numerous death threats issued by the union thugs and the out of control protestors. The magnificent turmoil now gripping Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and soon other states is only a prelude to future events. Only someone so completely ignorant of economic facts could carry on like the protesters in Wisconsin.
It’s difficult to determine who ranks higher on the ladder of idiocy – the protestors or the Democrat legislators who fled their home state. Copycats from other states are beginning to mimic Wisconsin’s fleeing senators. Can you imagine anything more juvenile than lawmakers who can’t get their way hiding in an undisclosed location and pouting until the governor says,” Gee, I’m sorry; now won’t you please come home so we can play nicely together.”
These protestors and legislators claim that Governor Scott Walker started all this nastiness by insisting that state workers contribute just a little more to their own pension and health care benefits. Even with these proposed changes, they would be paying far less than their peers in the private sector.
So why is mean old Governor Walker picking on these innocent souls? Two reasons: First the budget is in the red by billions of dollars and Wisconsin like more states cannot operate in a deficit. They do not have the luxury of building up billions or trillions of debt as does the Federal Government.
Secondly, this move by the governor should come as no surprise as this Republican leader based his campaign on promising to do exactly what he is doing. Probably what really galls these economic midgets is that he is not increasing taxes on businesses but doing just the opposite in order to create an environment friendly for business growth. They need to look only to their neighbor in Michigan to see what happens when a Democrat governor attempts to solve fiscal problems by increasing taxes.
These union workers remind me of a kid who is caught with his hands in the empty cookie jar and now throws a hissy fit because mommy didn’t put more cookies in for him to steal. After all, if she had no more ingredients to make cookies, she should steal some from the neighbors. You know, those neighbors who live on the hill and everyone knows they are filthy rich.
After two or three weeks of kindergarten antics, these protestors come crawling to the governor and say, “Okay, maybe we should pay a little more but no way can you take away our civil rights and union rights to collective bargain for benefits.” You see, Governor Walker is standing firm that the state employees can bargain for their wages but not benefits.
The reason this is part of the governor’s plan is easy to determine. The benefits package is where the cost to taxpayers has gotten completely out of hand. Many columns and reports have surfaced about wages and salaries for government workers being considerably higher compared to private industry. But where the comparison picture is absolutely ridiculous is on benefits - such as pensions, health benefits, vacation and other days off. In Wisconsin and many other states these servants to us all get better than 70 percent more.
The completely biased press likes to compare the union protests in Madison, Wisconsin to the rallies by Tea Party participants in the last two years. The comparisons are not even close. Officials in Madison who try to get to work are mobbed by these hooligans and only Fox News has the guts to show the true actions of these characters. This has never happened in a Tea Party rally.
Probably the most significant comparison is the behavior of the Tea Partiers where the respect for property and other citizens’ rights are respected. Tea partiers cleaned up their own trash before they disbursed. Reports from Madison show mountains of garbage and trash and damage to public property. Reports indicated the state spent over 7 million dollars cleaning up after these goons.
This whole dramatic episode has significance because it might well be a precursor to what will happen on the national level. The situation in Wisconsin and Ohio are very similar to recent near-riots in Spain, France and Italy. Once you start messing with entitlements, all hell breaks loose.
So what’s liable to occur on the national level as pertains to demonstrations and riots for entitlements? Well, take your pick of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, unemployment benefits, welfare payments, Obamacare and on and on.
As indicated by the Urban Institute who have studied these entitlements in depth, Medicare is the real killer. An average couple retiring this year can look forward to consuming Medicare benefits with a present value of $343,000. They will have paid Medicare taxes amounting to a present value of $109,000. Multiply that difference by the millions of couples and individuals of baby boomers age and the result is a staggering amount of deficits. To make it even worse the $109,000 is not available because the government has spent it all long ago. The government trust funds are a fraud.
What to do? As the Democrat candidate for our legislative district in Arkansas reportedly said, “Don’t worry about it, you and I will be dead before this all blows up.” Perhaps we should all join the fun and prepare for a massive rally on Main Street. The Tea Party will be around to clean up the mess.
******************
Don’t you just love the response, “All options are on the table.” This really means whoever is in charge has not the slightest idea how to proceed.
(Jerry Jackson of Heber Springs writes his “conservative viewpoint” column each Wednesday)
