Thank you Wisconsin! (Madison, Kaukauna, Delavan: school districts, salaries, prices)

[artisan4]

In this country, liberals definitely need to be armed (and I think a lot or most of us are). As much as I respect peace activists for their bravery, it's best to be armed for self-protection when dealing with fascists.

[ccjarider]

Interesting comment Artisan4. In my experience, (and I have a lot with you folks) most liberals are anti-second amendment.
The ones I know that would take the time to "protest," would not know the butt from the barrel of a firearm.

It goes to the thought process of the liberal.
To the liberal, people fall into two camps:
1. People are evil (government needs to control evil people and their activities via regulation/limits) or,
2. People are stupid (government needs to provide support and assistance to stupid people to make it through life).

Glad you desire being armed though. Fully support your right to do so.

[susancruzs]

Boy, oh, boy what a thread. Interesting remarks about liberals, laughable, plus totally clueless.

[artisan4]

Originally Posted by ccjarider

Interesting comment Artisan4. In my experience, (and I have a lot with you folks) most liberals are anti-second amendment.
The ones I know that would take the time to "protest," would not know the butt from the barrel of a firearm.

It goes to the thought process of the liberal.
To the liberal, people fall into two camps:
1. People are evil (government needs to control evil people and their activities via regulation/limits) or,
2. People are stupid (government needs to provide support and assistance to stupid people to make it through life).

Glad you desire being armed though. Fully support your right to do so.

It's a basic philisophical difference: do you only care about feathering your own nest, or are you your brother's keeper? When it's a choice between Haiti and Sweden, Sweden wins hands down. People like Walker want our country to become Haiti, as long as they are in the master's house of course.

[TheCalifornianWriter]

Congratulations Wisconsin from aright-minded person in California!

[artisan4]

Here's what the Republicons are good at: producing poverty.


June 12, 2012

Pink Slips

The school district in Reading, Pa. — the nation’s poorest city — laid off 110 teachers last week, along with hundreds of other employees. As elementary students watched in shock, many of their favorite teachers were pulled out of an assembly one by one and given the bad news by district officials, The Reading Eagle reported.

The layoffs will mean larger classes and an end to public prekindergarten in the city. Many special-education students will lose their mentors. A city where only 8 percent of the residents have a bachelor’s degree (compared with the national average of 28 percent) will fall further behind, largely because Pennsylvania’s Republican governor, Tom Corbett, chose not to find state money to replace $900 million in federal aid that ran out after the stimulus expired. Instead, he further drained his public coffers by cutting business taxes by $250 million this year.

Across the country, many states like Pennsylvania that happily accepted stimulus money to pay for existing employees are laying off those workers now that Congress has turned off the spigot. Over the last three years, at least 700,000 state and local government employees have lost their jobs, including teachers, sanitation workers and public safety personnel, contributing a full percentage point to the unemployment rate.

That seems to be just fine with Mitt Romney, who, like many Republicans, does not consider a job to be economically significant unless it is in the private sector. Last week, he attacked President Obama for proposing to help states hire more teachers and other workers, saying the president doesn’t understand that Americans don’t want to hire “more firemen, more policemen, more teachers.” Only right-wing ideologues make that distinction; most Americans know driving a bus or picking up trash is just as important economically as working in a big-box store.

Mr. Romney tried to retreat from those comments on Monday, saying that local-government hiring was not a federal issue, but obviously it is. The federal government provided about 10 percent of K-12 education budgets before the stimulus, and that share increased in the last three years. The stimulus money helped save 400,000 education jobs. Since the stimulus began in 2009, Washington has provided more than a third of state budgets, supporting as many as half-a-million other jobs, but that wasn’t enough to prevent layoffs, which have only increased since the money began running out.

There have been at least 100,000 education employees laid off nationwide in the last three years; the White House puts the figure at 250,000. California has lost 32,000 teacher jobs — 11 percent of the work force. Pennsylvania laid off nearly 9,000 teachers and other school workers last year, largely because of Governor Corbett’s cuts.
In some cases, states have been forced to cut public employees because of unduly high pension benefits, and we have supported state efforts to reduce those pensions. But putting educators and others back to work ultimately depends on Congress, where Republicans are blocking vital legislation to bolster a faltering economy. For desperate cities like Reading, time is running out.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/13/op...gewanted=print

[ccjarider]

Originally Posted by artisan4

It's a basic philisophical difference: do you only care about feathering your own nest, or are you your brother's keeper? When it's a choice between Haiti and Sweden, Sweden wins hands down. People like Walker want our country to become Haiti, as long as they are in the master's house of course.

Sweden has moved towards free market solutions over the last decade as the country woke up to the fact that there is no free lunch provided by gov't.
Sweden and the Nordic countries are moving towards free market solutions while USA is moving away from them.

Haiti is not an example of free market, limited government practice. Haiti is just corrupt government, nothing more.

In the long term, government cannot be adept at being "your brother's keeper".

[mrs.cool]

Originally Posted by artisan4

Here's what the Republicons are good at: producing poverty.


June 12, 2012

Pink Slips

The school district in Reading, Pa. — the nation’s poorest city — laid off 110 teachers last week, along with hundreds of other employees. As elementary students watched in shock, many of their favorite teachers were pulled out of an assembly one by one and given the bad news by district officials, The Reading Eagle reported.

The layoffs will mean larger classes and an end to public prekindergarten in the city. Many special-education students will lose their mentors. A city where only 8 percent of the residents have a bachelor’s degree (compared with the national average of 28 percent) will fall further behind, largely because Pennsylvania’s Republican governor, Tom Corbett, chose not to find state money to replace $900 million in federal aid that ran out after the stimulus expired. Instead, he further drained his public coffers by cutting business taxes by $250 million this year.

Across the country, many states like Pennsylvania that happily accepted stimulus money to pay for existing employees are laying off those workers now that Congress has turned off the spigot. Over the last three years, at least 700,000 state and local government employees have lost their jobs, including teachers, sanitation workers and public safety personnel, contributing a full percentage point to the unemployment rate.

That seems to be just fine with Mitt Romney, who, like many Republicans, does not consider a job to be economically significant unless it is in the private sector. Last week, he attacked President Obama for proposing to help states hire more teachers and other workers, saying the president doesn’t understand that Americans don’t want to hire “more firemen, more policemen, more teachers.” Only right-wing ideologues make that distinction; most Americans know driving a bus or picking up trash is just as important economically as working in a big-box store.

Mr. Romney tried to retreat from those comments on Monday, saying that local-government hiring was not a federal issue, but obviously it is. The federal government provided about 10 percent of K-12 education budgets before the stimulus, and that share increased in the last three years. The stimulus money helped save 400,000 education jobs. Since the stimulus began in 2009, Washington has provided more than a third of state budgets, supporting as many as half-a-million other jobs, but that wasn’t enough to prevent layoffs, which have only increased since the money began running out.

There have been at least 100,000 education employees laid off nationwide in the last three years; the White House puts the figure at 250,000. California has lost 32,000 teacher jobs — 11 percent of the work force. Pennsylvania laid off nearly 9,000 teachers and other school workers last year, largely because of Governor Corbett’s cuts.
In some cases, states have been forced to cut public employees because of unduly high pension benefits, and we have supported state efforts to reduce those pensions. But putting educators and others back to work ultimately depends on Congress, where Republicans are blocking vital legislation to bolster a faltering economy. For desperate cities like Reading, time is running out.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/13/op...gewanted=print

And what does this have to do with Wisconsin? The only lay off of teachers that happened here were in school districts who rushed to sign contracts with their teachers union before Act 10 went into effect. Those districts that didn't were able to save money because they no longer had to use the health insurance provided by the company owned by the union at highly inflated prices. One small town south east of Madison was even able to give their teachers a bonus.
Back to the original question, which was whether the state will be able to heal now, I had expressed my doubt that things were going to change much, i.e. the way the liberal demonstrators and most of the Democratic legislators acted. And I was right. Governor Walker held a get-together last night for all legislators, spouses, and two staffers each. A number of Democrats refused the invitation, AND there were protesters outside the gates. Like I predicted, they have not changed their "stripes".

[ccjarider]

Kaukauna school district moved out of debt to a surplus and was able to provide some merit $ to certain teachers.
I guess that is still a bad thing.

[Merkin]

California has lost 32,000 teacher jobs — 11 percent of the work force.

Yup, excellent dem system at work.

If CA had Walker's ACT10 bill to work with, none of them would be laid off because the budget would be more balanced.