Post by Fig on Feb 18, 2011 11:52:38 GMT -8
So as most of you hopefully know, the newly elected Republican governer of Wisconsin is currently attempting to force a bill through the state legislature that will effectively make it illegal for workers in the state to have collective bargaining rights (among other assinine things).
He is doing this under the claim that there is going to be around a $150 million deficit in the budget, which there will be but this deficit was caused DIRECTLY by tax cuts and incentives he enacted immediately after election. Before he passed those, the state was looking to end the fiscal year with a fucking surplus.
Naturally, the workers of the state are going insane. If passed, over 175,000 people will lose their right to collectively bargain for their rights as employees. Tens of thousands have descended upon the capitol building and its quite a scene there, with people blocking the doors in the rotunda beating on drums, yelling and chanting, and some guy was even riding around on a Segway for some reason.
Either yesterday or the day before, the 13 or 14 democrats in the 33-person legislature fled the capitol and even the state in an effort to keep the measure from going to vote (which will surely pass given the Republican majority) in hopes of forcing a logical and intelligent dialouge regarding the bill.
Has anybody else noticed this recurring theme with the GOP? They all got elected claiming to be FISCAL CONSERVATIVES who were going to TAKE BACK AMERICA and get the budget under control, only to have them pass measure that greatly inflate the deficit (ie: Boehner and that fucking jet engine project that costs $3 billion, the Bush-era tax cuts which will increase the deficit by at least a trillion by 2020, etc etc). They then incite a great panic about the budget and use that political inertia to slash social programs and, as in Wisconsin, pass the burden onto the working class by denying them basic, fundamental rights to not be dicked over by their employer.
Heres a good article: tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/02/wisconsin-gov-walker-ginned-up-budget-shortfall-to-undercut-worker-rights.php
Also; sorry if politics are allowed to be discussed here, I know it can get ugly sometimes but this is just fucking enraging to me. Its painful to watch the GOP's largest consituent base constantly get fucked over by the people they elect and ravenously defend.
He is doing this under the claim that there is going to be around a $150 million deficit in the budget, which there will be but this deficit was caused DIRECTLY by tax cuts and incentives he enacted immediately after election. Before he passed those, the state was looking to end the fiscal year with a fucking surplus.
Naturally, the workers of the state are going insane. If passed, over 175,000 people will lose their right to collectively bargain for their rights as employees. Tens of thousands have descended upon the capitol building and its quite a scene there, with people blocking the doors in the rotunda beating on drums, yelling and chanting, and some guy was even riding around on a Segway for some reason.
Either yesterday or the day before, the 13 or 14 democrats in the 33-person legislature fled the capitol and even the state in an effort to keep the measure from going to vote (which will surely pass given the Republican majority) in hopes of forcing a logical and intelligent dialouge regarding the bill.
Has anybody else noticed this recurring theme with the GOP? They all got elected claiming to be FISCAL CONSERVATIVES who were going to TAKE BACK AMERICA and get the budget under control, only to have them pass measure that greatly inflate the deficit (ie: Boehner and that fucking jet engine project that costs $3 billion, the Bush-era tax cuts which will increase the deficit by at least a trillion by 2020, etc etc). They then incite a great panic about the budget and use that political inertia to slash social programs and, as in Wisconsin, pass the burden onto the working class by denying them basic, fundamental rights to not be dicked over by their employer.
Heres a good article: tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/02/wisconsin-gov-walker-ginned-up-budget-shortfall-to-undercut-worker-rights.php
Also; sorry if politics are allowed to be discussed here, I know it can get ugly sometimes but this is just fucking enraging to me. Its painful to watch the GOP's largest consituent base constantly get fucked over by the people they elect and ravenously defend.
