Madison, Egypt

[kalm]

Why do police, fire, and inspectors avoid the axe? What a pussy.

(Reuters) - Wisconsin's new Republican governor on Friday proposed sharply curtailing the bargaining rights of public employee unions and other cost-saving measures to rein in the state's budget deficit.

The proposal includes limiting state employee wage increases to the rate of inflation unless approved in a voter referendum. Public employees -- other than police, fire, and inspectors -- would lose many bargaining rights and could opt out of paying union dues after current contracts expire, with dues no longer collected automatically.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/ ... FP20110211" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Apparently the governor has alerted Wisconsin National Guard to prepare for civil unrest.

[Bronco]

The country is broke and getting more broke by the minute. Lots of things will have to change. These folks actually have it easy compared to what other states will face.


==
How Public Unions Took Taxpayers Hostage The looming public-pension crisis that threatens to bankrupt city, county and state governments

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... rialPage_h" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

==


Florida Cities Are Drowning In Pension Debt : The Sunshine State follows the Golden State
Business Insider ^ | 02/14/2011 | Grace Wyler

==
Kentucky Senate Votes To End Guaranteed Pensions
The Business Insider ^ | 2-14-2011 | John Ellis

The Kentucky state Senate passed a bill Friday that would end guaranteed pensions for new state and local government employees. The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that the bill was designed to address the public pension funds' growing liability. The paper reports:

[Skjellyfetti]

I love Bronco's unique article posting style.

[D1B]

Public employees can go fuck themselves.

He's your typical conk asshole/criminal for not including the lazyass cops and lazyass firefighters, whose unions contributed heavily to his campaign.

[Grizalltheway]

The country is broke and getting more broke by the minute. Lots of things will have to change. These folks actually have it easy compared to what other states will face.


==
How Public Unions Took Taxpayers Hostage The looming public-pension crisis that threatens to bankrupt city, county and state governments

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... rialPage_h" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

==


Florida Cities Are Drowning In Pension Debt : The Sunshine State follows the Golden State
Business Insider ^ | 02/14/2011 | Grace Wyler

==
Kentucky Senate Votes To End Guaranteed Pensions
The Business Insider ^ | 2-14-2011 | John Ellis

The Kentucky state Senate passed a bill Friday that would end guaranteed pensions for new state and local government employees. The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that the bill was designed to address the public pension funds' growing liability. The paper reports:

How does any of this change the fact that a select few public employees are exempt from the cuts?

[Baldy]

Eh, its Wisconsin.
Nobody of any importance lives there anyway.
i say we trade Wisconsin and Minnesota to Canada for a case of Labatts, Elisha Cuthbert and Malin Ackerman.

[Grizalltheway]

Eh, its Wisconsin.
Nobody of any importance lives there anyway.
i say we trade Wisconsin and Minnesota to Canada for a case of Labatts, Elisha Cuthbert and Malin Ackerman.

Make it Kokanee instead of Labatts and it's a deal.

[ALPHAGRIZ1]

Public employees can go fuck themselves.

He's your typical conk asshole/criminal for not including the lazyass cops and lazyass firefighters, whose unions contributed heavily to his campaign.

Yeah, those unions really support the GOP........I am glad your GF is getting an abortion, dummy no need kids to run around and brake stuff like rocks.

[TwinTownBisonFan]

Eh, its Wisconsin.
Nobody of any importance lives there anyway.
i say we trade Wisconsin and Minnesota to Canada for a case of Labatts, Elisha Cuthbert and Malin Ackerman.

sold... provided we also get the Atlanta Thrashers and Phoenix Coyotes hockey teams for Milwaukee and Winnipeg.

now i can run for parliment... awesome... michele bachmann will have to move... or never get elected to anything again... wow... this canada idea is starting to sound pretty good...

[D1B]

Public employees can go fuck themselves.

He's your typical conk asshole/criminal for not including the lazyass cops and lazyass firefighters, whose unions contributed heavily to his campaign.

Yeah, those unions really support the GOP........I am glad your GF is getting an abortion, dummy no need kids to run around and brake stuff like rocks.

You don't know what the fuck you're talking bout, methhead. Blow me.

http://www.nbc15.com/election/headlines ... 56548.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[D1B]

Eh, its Wisconsin.
Nobody of any importance lives there anyway.
i say we trade Wisconsin and Minnesota to Canada for a case of Labatts, Elisha Cuthbert and Malin Ackerman.

sold... provided we also get the Atlanta Thrashers and Phoenix Coyotes hockey teams for Milwaukee and Winnipeg.

now i can run for parliment... awesome... michele bachmann will have to move... or never get elected to anything again... wow... this canada idea is starting to sound pretty good...

Hell yes. Canada is light years better than Amorica.

[youngterrier]

sold... provided we also get the Atlanta Thrashers and Phoenix Coyotes hockey teams for Milwaukee and Winnipeg.

now i can run for parliment... awesome... michele bachmann will have to move... or never get elected to anything again... wow... this canada idea is starting to sound pretty good...

Hell yes. Canada is light years better than Amorica.

then move there

[Baldy]

Eh, its Wisconsin.
Nobody of any importance lives there anyway.
i say we trade Wisconsin and Minnesota to Canada for a case of Labatts, Elisha Cuthbert and Malin Ackerman.

sold... provided we also get the Atlanta Thrashers and Phoenix Coyotes hockey teams for Milwaukee and Winnipeg.

now i can run for parliment... awesome... michele bachmann will have to move... or never get elected to anything again... wow... this canada idea is starting to sound pretty good...

Deal, and I will support your benevolent dictatorship.

[kalm]

Maybe this will deflate wages to the point where manufacturing jobs will start returning.

[SuperHornet]

We'll see what D1B says as his house burns while the shrunk-by-half fire department is completely busy with another fire and a heart attack across town.

Public safety should be exempt from this budgetary axe-fest.

[Appaholic]

We'll see what D1B says as his house burns while the shrunk-by-half fire department is completely busy with another fire and a heart attack across town.

Public safety should be exempt from this budgetary axe-fest.

No, it shouldn't...there is waste in all aspects of government & all should feel the pain so there is incentive to elminate the fluff to keep the good employees just that.....But I will concede that Dept's of Education should be cut well before Public Safety...

[HI54UNI]

We'll see what D1B says as his house burns while the shrunk-by-half fire department is completely busy with another fire and a heart attack across town.

Public safety should be exempt from this budgetary axe-fest.

No, it shouldn't...there is waste in all aspects of government & all should feel the pain so there is incentive to elminate the fluff to keep the good employees just that.....But I will concede that Dept's of Education should be cut well before Public Safety...

Agreed. Sometimes I think Public Safety should be analyzed first. Many PD and FD have too many bureaucrats and that money could be better spent elsewhere.

[D1B]

We'll see what D1B says as his house burns while the shrunk-by-half fire department is completely busy with another fire and a heart attack across town.

Public safety should be exempt from this budgetary axe-fest.

One of these day's you'll realize that I'm always right. We all do eventually.

Keep pluggin away though Dummy.

Same goes for you Alphajizz.

[ALPHAGRIZ1]

Yeah, those unions really support the GOP........I am glad your GF is getting an abortion, dummy no need kids to run around and brake stuff like rocks.

You don't know what the fuck you're talking bout, methhead. Blow me.

http://www.nbc15.com/election/headlines ... 56548.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I know exactly what your trying to say, but your failing miserably......again.

It OK DB1 we gots U a Valentines Day garbage can for you and your family.

[houndawg]

No, it shouldn't...there is waste in all aspects of government & all should feel the pain so there is incentive to elminate the fluff to keep the good employees just that.....But I will concede that Dept's of Education should be cut well before Public Safety...

Agreed. Sometimes I think Public Safety should be analyzed first. Many PD and FD have too many bureaucrats and that money could be better spent elsewhere.

Firefighting is soft. Waaaaaaay overpaid. With the exception of major metro areas all fire depts. should be volunteer, mostly all they do is polish the truck and save the occasional foundation.

[CID1990]

I will never get back the 5 minutes I spent reading this total fvcking dud of a thread. I'll never get those minutes back.



I think I lost some IQ points in the process, too.

Next time put a warning in the thread title or something.

Fvck.

[bluehenbillk]

This situation is another example of what is wrong with America. Most of the states are way in the red financially and our facing substantial widespread service cuts, if not eliminations, of some programs. But god forbid we raise revenues like increasing taxes, whether they be income taxes, wage taxes, or property taxes on people. Yes, governments waste $$ and have wasted $$ at every level of government for decades, if not longer, which needs to cease. But you can't continue to get something for nothing. When our grandparents worked they had pensions to retire on. Most of America doesn't have that any longer, and before long, we might end up in a scenario where nobody does. Protest all you want, it's a free country, but you're going to have to pick your poison at some point in time...

[UNI88]

Editorial from the Chicago Tribune ...
This is not labor versus management. This is labor versus the common good.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opin ... 7108.story" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But how proud are they that the children of Madison, Wis., have missed school the last two days because so many of their teachers abandoned their classrooms and joined a mass demonstration? Joined a mass demonstration to intimidate the members of the Wisconsin Legislature, who are trying to close a $3 billion deficit they face over the next two years?

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has demanded that state workers contribute roughly 5.8 percent of their wages toward their retirement. He wants them to pay for 12 percent of their health-care premiums. Those modest employee contributions would be the envy of many workers in the private sector.

It might surprise the protesters in Madison to know that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt counseled against public-sector unions because "militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of government employees." Even the late AFL-CIO President George Meany expressed reservations.

Something is happening. Something is changing. In Madison, we see public servants in mass protest to preserve a status quo that has pushed the state toward insolvency. This is not labor versus management. This is labor versus the common good.

[JohnStOnge]

I don't know why certain groups are excluded. They shouldn't be.

The State should be free to offer whatever it wants to offer in terms of salary and benefits for any State position. Then if somebody doesn't think that's enough they don't have to take the position or remain in it.

It's pretty simple.