Friday, February 18, 2011

The Wisconsin Showdown - Some thoughts

Wisconsin has now become ground zero in the battle of state budget shortfalls. Should Governor Scott Walker be successful, other states in even more desperate situations will follow suit.  Walker may even become the new Chris Christie for Republicans.


For Democrats and unions, this is an uphill battle against reality.  They are up against two stone walls. First, there simply isn't enough money. Second, the public has grown  very resentful for having to pay for lavish benefits and pension while they struggle mightily in this economy.  Unions know that if this battle is lost in Wisconsin it will likely be lost nationwide.  Democrats have no choice but to back the unions or risk watching one of the biggest supports lose strength nationwide.


I do feel some pity for the rank and file union worker.  Because of greedy union leaders and short sighted weak politicians, these folks were sold an impossible promise.  A promise that they built their futures on.  Now that the jig is up, they are going to be forced to deal with reality at a very difficult time in the economy.  On some level though, they all should have known it was too good to last forever.  It is no secret that they were getting much more than the very people who pay their salaries and that is a situation that sooner or later need to be corrected.

1 comment:

Lisa said...

My dad is a hard working guy. 25 years ago he got a job with a city municipality here in CA. The benefits are insane. He has quit that job and moved on but tries to stay in the public sector to continue growing his CalPers pension and benefits. He's no fool. And in general he is anti union but he was forced to pay dues and no doubt it has paid off. This is how they get them. It doesn't seem right to me. I'm praying Gov Walker is successful. I'm also going to write my CA representatives in Sacramento and tell them I expect the same here. Fat chance but they still need to hear from us.

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