Collective bargaining rights restricted (credit, homebuyer, wage)

[Milleka]

Originally Posted by jmking

In very simplistic terms, it seems pay and benefits paid out by Federal and state governments is what many workers would have expected to acquire in their working lives both private and public. However, it seems the private sector, by and large, can not compensate employees at a decent level any longer and is falling behind each year. Many see state governments as out of control when in-fact it really is business as usual. It seems those in power want to see a level field, or the dumbing down of state compensation to appear to match those in the private sector who are getting the big squeeze. Tax revenue is dropping because of the greed States also played in the housing bubble. However, it's quite OK for the Fed to now increase its spending on another war with a price tag of $100,000,000 a week and climbing, and thats just for war number 3, not 1 and 2.

Don't EVEN get my started on all this ridiculous war spending.

Again- it comes down to desparation. Everyone is feeling the crunch and thinks the grass is greener on the other side. If I can't have you what you have, then I will make it to where you can't have it either.

[Milleka]

Originally Posted by Floyd_Davidson

Those are very valid desires. There is no reason at all that Alaskas should stand by and willingly allow Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and all those other Right-To-Work states be higher than Alaska on the list states with totally depressed economies. We too could reduce our standard of living, not to mention our education system, to be in virtually every way measurable as close to the bottom of the barrel as possible.

If it doesn't appear to be happening fast enough, I suppose the best course of action for Glitch and other proponents would be to get the f* out of Dodge and move themselves to Mississippi.

Sooo true. Oklahoma is a "Right to Work" state and just check out our stats in drop-outs, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, and domestic crime.

Anybody else around here know about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs? When your basic needs aren't met- safety, shelter, health- then higher order functioning cannot occur. Keep 'em poor so they can't concentrate on anything other than survival.

[bortstc37]

i still don't get it.
why would anybody want to take benefits away from people who are already underpaid?
why aren't these same people asking instead that the politicians themselves stop wasting money on useless trips or on putting up an alaska-themed attraction in las vegas?

we (your friends and neighbors) are not the ones weighing down the budgets.

[Milleka]

Originally Posted by bortstc37

i still don't get it.
why would anybody want to take benefits away from people who are already underpaid?
why aren't these same people asking instead that the politicians themselves stop wasting money on useless trips or on putting up an alaska-themed attraction in las vegas?

we (your friends and neighbors) are not the ones weighing down the budgets.

It is designed. They are behaving and believing exactly in the way that the politicians want them too.

[Frostnip]

Originally Posted by tigre79

Public employees also often have much higher job security, as evidenced by the difficulty of firing bad teachers, cops, court clerks, DMV agents, etc.

I can't speak to all these areas, but teaching contracts are generally pretty "breakable." The reason districts claim it's so difficult to get rid of subpar teachers is that you have to have documentation of their shortcomings, or the firing/non-renewal can be contested and the teacher will likely win. In order to have that documentation, administrators have to - wait for it - actually be in the classrooms on a regular basis and file observation notes, etc. They're supposed to be doing that anyway on all teachers and paras - providing regular feedback - but in reality, in many schools there isn't much day-to-day interaction with the higher-ups.

I wouldn't be surprised if the situation is similar with other jobs.

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by bortstc37

i still don't get it.
why would anybody want to take benefits away from people who are already underpaid?

Especially the teacher who will educate their children!

It would be stupid, but maybe a little more understandable, if they said it should only be where other people's kids go to school.

But I may be seeing a thread that connects all of this... somebody just pointed out that private schools pay teachers less than public schools. Aren't the folks advocating this stuff also saying they went to private schools? Or even less well paid, to home schools?

Maybe it's just a vicious cycle demonstrating what a lack of a sound education by well paid qualified teachers can do?

Hmmm... sounds like part of the right wingnut crowd again!

[freezengirl]

This is the big mystery that I cannot understand: how can the Republican/Libertarian types keep insisting that they are fiscal conservatives blah, blah, blah and scream socialism at anyone left of hard right when their policies are completely contrary to the laws of mathmatics. Why is undemocratic to say it is NOT okay to give more and more tax breaks to corporations and big businesses while putting all of the burden of these tax breaks on the 98 percent of this country that is not rich? In state after state where they are making draconian cuts to education, state infra-structural communal spending then turning around and giving it back in tax cuts to people that don't need it?

[bortstc37]

it seems to me that most of america (no matter the party affiliation) understands that the government is run by big business (no matter who happens to be in office at the time).
as long as we keep doing nothing, politicians will keep making it easy for their contributors to keep more money while squeezing every last drop out of the general public. that is an oligarchy, not a democracy...

[gobrien]

It seems the American dream is no more, you can spend your life doing all the right things but never have a chance to feel comfortable unless you are an executive of a huge corporation and paid for personality and ruthlessness.

[galtsgulch]

47% of Americans already don't pay federal income tax. And the US has the second highest corporate tax rate in the world at over 37%.

Also, note that the top 10% of earners pay 73% of the tax burden. In addition, public employees in 41 states now earn more in pay and benefits than private sector workers.

Nearly half of US households escape fed income tax - Yahoo! Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Nearly-half-of-US-households-apf-1105567323.html?x=0&.v=1 - broken link)

Wisconsin one of 41 states where public workers earn more - USATODAY.com

Just keep attacking the few remaining producers in this country. Why don't we all just go work for the state??