Why EVERYONE has an interest in what is happening in Wisconsin

[loves2read]

American have been going out of the country for medical proceedures that are too expensive to have here with or without insurance and in fact SOME insurance companies are helping them do it...
Medical Tourism Statistics & Facts. Info about Health Care Abroad.
Medical Tourism: The Insurance Debate - BusinessWeek
Health Insurance Companies Promoting Medical Tourism

[sterpetron]

Originally Posted by loves2read

If you think that the people who want to squash collective bargaining in public unions DON"T want to do the same with private ones--you have not been reading/hearing anything except Republican / conservative produced media

You clearly have no clue as to what you are talking about. I am very much FOR the right to form private sector unions - and am TOTALLY, UNEQUIVOCABLY AGAINST public sector ones.

and if you don't understand why taking collective bargaining away from ANY group of workers in an economy is dangerous to the greater group of residents of that economy then you don't have much knowledge of history or economics...

The primary function of government is to provide certain fundamental services at the lowest possible cost, i.e., in taxes charged to the populace. Public union employees operate in opposition to that concept, where they seek to extract ever higher wages and benefits while reducing their work load, i.e, services the government provides.

Further, the very nature of collective bargaining works in opposition to my point above regarding government services, as it increases the costs to provide these services. The proof is all around us - public union employee benefits and salaries are bankrupting states all over the country.

there has NEVER been a great nation that was also a true democracy/republic where the workers did not have an equal voice in the workplace or the statehouse--

A rational, knowledgeable person will not conflagrate public and private sector unions.

RE: the rest of your post, this is merely the first step towards bringing some sanity back to the balance sheet of wealth.

If you think that those of us who are looking to weaken the power of the public unions will not next move towards empowering private sector workers - and especially shareholders with respect to executives and their salaries, you are sadly mistaken.

[loves2read]

my post was directed to the poster "kerrymac" who said This has nothing to do with the private sector,I love when I see all the "private" sector union people marching,dopes.
Best part of all this is ..the private union people are marching with the people who are sucking there wallets dry lolol.

I don't think taking away collective bargaining rights of public sector indicates any desire to empower the union or non-union workers in private sector--
sorry if that offends you--but I view it as the first wedge in beating down the ability of workers vs owners--
totally agree that the spread between executive salary/perks vs employees' salaries desperately needs adjusting--
but I think most stockholder in companies are actually pretty powerless to do that because of the way voting stock is spread out and how much power is centralized in the board of directors vs the general stockholders
Certainly wish you luck with that and getting some "average" stockholders on boards of companies so you can have a fair voice in how that company is run...

Why aren't people jumping on the backs of the county/city boards who agreed to all these egregious union demands--
if they were so bad and so dangerous why agree to them--

[kerrymac]

Originally Posted by loves2read

It's the Inequality, Stupid | Mother Jones

If you think that the people who want to squash collective bargaining in public unions DON"T want to do the same with private ones--you have not been reading/hearing anything except Republican / conservative produced media

and if you don't understand why taking collective bargaining away from ANY group of workers in an economy is dangerous to the greater group of residents of that economy then you don't have much knowledge of history or economics...
there has NEVER been a great nation that was also a true democracy/republic where the workers did not have an equal voice in the workplace or the statehouse--

One of Hitler's first moves on taking power in Germany as a dictator was to disband ALL unions--
May 1933: Hitler Abolishes Unions | NEWS JUNKIE POST

Of course there are millions of people who DON'T have any accurate knowledge of history or economics--
who apparently think that creating an uber-wealthy level of society--which has been growing and growing in this country since the 80s when Reagan initiated trickle-down economic (a truly dumb idea)--will benefit them --
Most of the people in country who work for a salary have seen very little true income growth--because of the spread of taxation in various forms and often on the paychecks of those making less than 100K a year...and inflation
Alan Greenspan's reign was a true bane to the working class and actually most of the middle class because in keeping inflation low--interest rates close to zero--he effectively also made it necessary to cap salary increases and the minimum wage--Republicans loved that and so did business interests...
But the salaries of CEOs and executives in most profitable companies began to surge well beyond what the average employee in those companies made--
rampant greed drove those compensations packages--and companies would cut employment costs by moving jobs overseas--and yet still have astronomical executive salaries and perks--
there was little effort to be fair in the workplace in many companies have very successful earnings--
so I don't put lot of faith in the notion that companies will treat employees fairly out of the goodness of their hearts or even the forces of the market place--

Somehow the people in this country have been brainwashed into believing that what is good for Big Business and the Uber-rich is also good for them...
IT IS NOT--
the period of time in the US when the balance of wealth was spread over more income groups with more equality was during the 50s when the tax rates on the wealthy people were the highest--really high--
and yet they still managed to stay solvent
and it is interesting to note that in many ways countries like Egypt are actually MORE equal than here in the US--

Inequality In America Is Worse Than In Egypt, Tunisia Or Yemen → Washington's Blog

check the map/chart

The people in the US have allowed themselves to be distracted from the true problems in this country--the inequality of wealth and the rise of the military/industrial/special interest groups with issues like Voter ID and gay marriage and abortion rights

Are you kidding me?
Your comparing this to Hitler and whats going on in the middle east,give me a break.

1st off those loser Dem. politicians in WI should be kick out of office...What a bunch of little whining babies. Like the Dems said 2 yrs agao..."We won"...Well shoes on the other foot now you worms
2nd, the teachers unions across this country are out of control..They could give 2 sh*ts about the students.
3rd...again, all those fools in the private sector unions protesting with the public union people are idiots. Do they realize they are marching with th e same people that are causing there taxes to go through the roof!

[jimhcom]

There is a fundamental difference between a public and a private union.
The public union is representing government workers who negotiating with another government body.
Government by its nature supports its own growth at the expense of the tax payers.
They are both on the same side!
Neither of them represents the best interests of the taxpayers who have to pay the taxes amassed by the government’s unethical agreements with itself.
A public union without an advocate for the taxpayer involved in the process is a recipe for abuse, and that is exactly what we have now.
I would be all for retaining public unions if we also had an advocate for the taxpayers involved in the process that looked at all government compensation and lobbied for the best deal for taxpayers.
Of course government would never do that, because the vast majority of them would be looking at pay cuts, or complete loss of their positions.

[TKramar]

I wouldn't care if I didn't have relatives in Wisconsin constantly talking about it....