Everyone except public union (emphasis on "public") members should stand with Scott Walker. Public union members currently tend to get better benefits and pensions at taxpayer expense than most of the private sector can even dream of.
So you prefer people who give rich people tax breaks and then balance the budget by screwing over people who aren't. Are the teachers of that state for example so much better off that they don't have to buy materials to supplement what they're not getting via the schools which are chronically underfunded?
It's interesting to watch people try to frame this as rich versus poor. A more accurate description would be public sector union entities, and to a lesser degree the public sector union members, versus everyone who pays for them. Membership in those unions has dropped by about 2/3 since mandatory membership ended last year. *Edited to correct a typo. I'm writing on a Blackberry.
Since you mentioned teachers, I'll mention that while the union may or may not be good at representing the actual teachers, they made huge money from the Wisconsin school boards by forcing all health insurance to be purchased through the union's vendor without competition.
Public sector employees often make a fraction of what their private sector counterparts make and to trade job security and decent benefits for straight salaries.
And in the cases where public sector employees do make more it's usually in jobs like administrative assistants and paper pushers that then drive the wages and benefits in the private sector up to livable wages.
NO ONE in a standard public sector job is getting rich.
They’re richer than their equivalent peers in the private sector, and they want to stay that way. I understand why they’re voting for the recall, I just don’t understand why anyone else would vote for the recall.
"Because non-union wages have been plummeting since 1970 and unions have the last semi-adequate jobs, and wouldn't a semi-adequate job be nice" is, I believe, the main argument. In the mean time, Walker is attempting to destroy the last vestiges of the non-rich and make them all poor, redistributing their limited wealth into the hands of the already-rich, and that's bad.
Y'know, your blog is the main reason I wish LJ had a "Like" button, despite their virulent ubiquity across the web. Because so often I find myself commenting, then realise all I'm saying can be summed up as "Fuck yes".
They’re richer than their equivalent peers in the private sector,
That is a patent oversimplification. At most levels the private sector gets paid much more than the public sector. It's only when you get down to the lower middle class jobs like admin assistants and sometimes occasionally teachers where public sector employees tend to make more than private sector employees.
I just don’t understand why anyone else would vote for the recall.
Because the mere presence of unions is why the middle class has access to a 5 day work week, and paid overtime, and paid sick time and paid vacation time. and anything close to health benefits, and why a pay rate is anywhere close to livable wages. Without collective bargaining those things will go away faster than healthy fish in the Gulf.
The middle class private sector benefits indirectly even if they are in a job that actually does get paid less in public sector. The private sector has to compete with public sector for jobs. That's why the moguls like the Koch brothers are so desperate to break the unions. Anyone who doesn't see that is incredibly short sighted.
Anti-Abortion, ever. Abstinence-only sex ed Pro pharmacists being assholes on religious grounds Anti healthcare for the poor Anti-contraception Anti-gay marriage Major cuts to education
Walker may be all those things (and I don't agree with any of them for what that's worth). It is completely irrelevant. Follow the money, the recall is about public sector unions and nothing else.
The twin pillars of Republican politics of resentment and self-interest made manifest: If someone else has a decent wage and benefits, his reaction is not to better his own situation by figuring out how to ensure he gets decent wages and benefits, but to work to fuck the other guy over. This grotesque devotion to unenlightened self interest fuels the race to the bottom that is destroying a once great nation.
I've decided that I actually like labels like this. "I stand with Scott Walker", "Ron Paul for President", and "ROMNEY" all tell me that the person displaying them is: - rich and evil - middle-class and currently financially stable and complacent and paranoid and deluded - middle-class and financially unstable and deluded - poor and delusional
In any case, THEY ARE PEOPLE TO AVOID. And their horrible stickers and yard signs are BIG NEON SIGNS that scream AVOID AVOID AVOID.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-05 01:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-05 01:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-05 02:08 pm (UTC)*Edited to correct a typo. I'm writing on a Blackberry.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-05 02:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-05 03:58 pm (UTC)And in the cases where public sector employees do make more it's usually in jobs like administrative assistants and paper pushers that then drive the wages and benefits in the private sector up to livable wages.
NO ONE in a standard public sector job is getting rich.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-06 12:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-06 01:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-06 05:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-09 12:44 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-06 12:42 pm (UTC)That is a patent oversimplification. At most levels the private sector gets paid much more than the public sector. It's only when you get down to the lower middle class jobs like admin assistants and sometimes occasionally teachers where public sector employees tend to make more than private sector employees.
I just don’t understand why anyone else would vote for the recall.
Because the mere presence of unions is why the middle class has access to a 5 day work week, and paid overtime, and paid sick time and paid vacation time. and anything close to health benefits, and why a pay rate is anywhere close to livable wages. Without collective bargaining those things will go away faster than healthy fish in the Gulf.
The middle class private sector benefits indirectly even if they are in a job that actually does get paid less in public sector. The private sector has to compete with public sector for jobs. That's why the moguls like the Koch brothers are so desperate to break the unions. Anyone who doesn't see that is incredibly short sighted.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-05 06:41 pm (UTC)Anti-Abortion, ever.
Abstinence-only sex ed
Pro pharmacists being assholes on religious grounds
Anti healthcare for the poor
Anti-contraception
Anti-gay marriage
Major cuts to education
All signs point to "douchebag".
(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-05 07:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-05 11:34 pm (UTC)Oh yes, I forgot that unions are the only ones spending campaign money.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-05 11:45 pm (UTC)You're the only one is this conversation saying such a silly thing.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-05 11:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-06 12:43 am (UTC)It doesn't matter what you or I think. The polls close in 15 minutes.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-06 01:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-06 04:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-05 11:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-06 01:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-05 04:30 pm (UTC)A+ for penmanship.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-06 01:42 pm (UTC)- rich and evil
- middle-class and currently financially stable and complacent and paranoid and deluded
- middle-class and financially unstable and deluded
- poor and delusional
In any case, THEY ARE PEOPLE TO AVOID. And their horrible stickers and yard signs are BIG NEON SIGNS that scream AVOID AVOID AVOID.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-06 05:19 pm (UTC)Read a great article on it once, promptly forgot where it was located.