yup it will be another 2010, but in reverse. the repubs and the t-party people will be voted out in large numbers. people are pissed that they sat there and all but put this country over a cliff and that they have no vocabulary larger then the word no. and all the people that they attacked will not be forgotten. people ahve a very large memory especially women and the attack on women that also affects men was the nail in the coffin. they will pay a big price this fall

Cynthia, which unions are "confused?" Can you name them?

Do you imagine that everyone must be thrilled to have our state in the national news with the worst job losses in the U.S.? My heart didn't exactly swell with pride to see the article stating that Wisconsin alone lost jobs/shrank over the past 12 months (23,900 between March 2011 and March 2012, 17,800 from the public sector. No job cuts there, Scott Walker said. Funny that his budget called for 21,000+ public employees off the payroll). Walker keeps pointing out how bad Illinois is, but they rank 3rd (BEES) compared to Wisconsin at #42 (Ibid). Now that's confusing! ; )

Scott Walker is doing a fine job. He will fulfill his promise to "create" 250,000 new jobs in about 200 years at current rate. Despite the fact that "we're broke" and he filed a deficit with the federal government ("we balanced the budget!") Walker was still able to scrape up 3/4 of a million dollars to reward about 220 favored employees. And took $28 million from the mortgage settlement to fix his budgeting error. Impressive.

How many of the 23,900 people who lost jobs were among the 1,129,034 who voted for Scott Walker? Barrett lost by 124,680 votes I believe. How many of those unemployed blame Walker? Their families? Friends? How many may not have voted in 2010 but will vote in June?

Is this bad?

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/145814335.html

@Tom B

This is GOOD that Ed is exposing Walker on National TV--(but NOT for the people of Wisconsin to have to endure Walker's job losses!!)

Scott Walker Gets Ridiculed For Highest Job Losses in the Nation http://bit.ly/IiLcGb #wiunion #topprog #p2 @Jane_WI

By: Sarah Jones April 26, 2012

Here’s something you have to watch, just for the sheer deliciousness. Ed Schultz takes on Governor Scott Walker’s worst job losses in the country record. But the fun doesn’t stop there. He then brings on Governor Pat Quinn (D-IL) for a little job growth schadenfreude.

In case you block out most of what Scott Walker says, just a month ago Walker was mocking the Illinois Governor and “breaking his arm patting himself on the back” over his policies. But alas for poor Scott, today, the Wisconsin State Journal ran with this headline:

“Wisconsin job losses highest in nation for last 12 months, federal report says.” Oh. OH. Oh.

Job creators. Uh huh.

Watch Ed take down Scott Walker courtesy of MSNBC:

The Wisconsin State Journal reported that the job losses weren’t all public sector. Oh, no. Walker can kill jobs everywhere. Public, private, you name it, Scott Walker can kill it:

Wisconsin saw the largest percentage decrease in employment in the nation during the 12 months ending in March, a new report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said.....

...............
Tom Barrett

12:28 am on Thursday, April 26, 2012

Is this bad?

"It is an absolute that we will endorse in the general -- and it will not be for Scott Walker," he said. (Jim Palmer, executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association)

Funny barrett can't even run a city and you want him in charge of a State?? LOL

Metro Milwaukee accounted for most of the job losses in the state last month, according to estimates released Wednesday by the state Department of Workforce Development.

The four-county metro area lost an estimated 4,400 non-farm jobs in March from February. Of the state's 12 major metro areas, four registered job losses, with the deepest losses in metro Milwaukee, which includes Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties.

The estimated declines in metro Milwaukee nearly equal the total number of jobs lost in the whole state last month - computed at 4,500 in March from February in a separate report released last week.

Eight metro areas added jobs over the month on a seasonally adjusted basis, with the biggest gains in Madison, which added 1,000.

http://www.jsonline.com/business/metro-milwaukee-lost-4400-jobs-in-march-state-reports-q855m0a-148913245.html

barrett and falk are both failures... their job plan is to grow jobs by adding more public sector jobs... that means higher taxes....

Cynthia, tax rolls decrease when the number of unemployed rise. Are you blaming Milwaukee and Tom Barrett for the recession?

Funny to keep watching the liberal talking points change... throwing all the lies they can and see what sticks... they should inform their minions when they change them because it only makes them look more and more misinformed and confused.... /ha

Yep, pretty much. Were these the blast of talking points on the daily kos today? Send em out to the troops on the internet since we can no longer run the recall on ACT 10? Jason typed the exact same thing today. Funny he admits he is a democrat, you type the exact same bullet points, but are not a democrat? Who really is lying on the interweb.

@Steve
wise folks in WI are onto Walker's trickery.

Coffee Bean ‏ @CoffeeBean26

Gov Walker spokesman admits $3 billion deficit for WI this year AND next. http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/does-wisconsin-have-a-budget-deficit-4o3s9ro-137863973.html Gave 2.3 billion to corporations #WIunion

.....Madison - Gov. Scott Walker's administration has touted for months its efforts to balance the state budget, but now it also has acknowledged a significant way in which the budget isn't balanced.

To keep the possibility alive of making further cuts to state health programs, the Walker administration quietly certified to the federal government on Dec. 29 that the state had a deficit.

Federal law allows the state to drop tens of thousands of adults to save money on health care costs if the state can show it has a deficit. Walker has said he wants to cut health care spending in other ways, but hasn't ruled out dropping those 53,000 adults if the other methods aren't approved by the federal government.

To keep that option alive, state Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch wrote in a December letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that the state would have an undisclosed deficit from Jan. 1 of this year through June 30, 2013......

mourning mist will never admit that WI is better off today, she just keeps twisting the articles, reads her blogs, copy and pastes her opinion tweets. Can't even read an article correctly and does not understand that State, Assembly, Gov. Walker did a REPAIR bill which is a change to the doyle budget that was rated in the bottom of the Nations worst budgets. mourning mist has no clue as to what she copy and pastes.... One day maybe she will get a clue and start researching and checking out what she is posting first...

Our unemployment figures are so low is because people have dropped out of the market. Absolute numbers reveal jobs have been lost in this state in part because Walker has blown up the purchasing power of a significant number of people -- public employee unions.

Gov. Numbnutz doesn't realize that when wages go down, money is taken out of the economy.

@Keith

CPS is absolute numbers. They are not gathered from unemployment data. They contribute to unemployment data. They are collected by actually calling 60,000 households. If people say they are unemployed, they are counted as such.

In fact, as the boomers retire, their positions will often not be replaced. The jobs will be reduced, but unemployment will be unaffected. These stats are not to be confused with unemployment data gathered from those applying for unemployment..

Thats Keith - can't type without cynicism, name calling and ridicule. Absolutely no substance.

And this is based on what?

Remember when we went to school and the teachers taught 6-7 periods a day WITHOUT an assist? Remember when we used to learn to do Math in our heads and not depend on a calculator for general math? Remember when we had to know the dewy decimal system and be able to research in a library and handwritten essays and reports? My oh My to be a teacher or a student today....

Hey pal, if you want to be taken seriously, unlock you caps lock key, otherwise you come off like some screaming derelict on the street corner.

The bunch of people who don't care about nobody but themselves would be the Bircher Koch brothers and, oh yes, Scott Walker. If you think he cares about you, then keep your caps lock, locked.

Guess the problem with free bees is then you need a bee keeper outfit. Thanks for the amusement.

Waste is the word you wanted. Waist is where you wear your belt. The recalls do suck, but the fact that Walker was elected on false pretenses and now intends to dip into pensions from state workers, spoken by his mouth, after promising not to, is also super-sucky. Yes, yes, we all know politicians lie, but this much, and this blatant, at the public's expense? Perhaps changes needed to be made, but doing it with dishonesty and chopping block is dictatorship and tyranny. No one really understands what socialist means and that word is getting thrown around far too much without intelligent use. He will do what he wants, regardless of how it affects the people. No one is above it. But, yelling and calling people names and blaming vague groups of people doesn't address it either.

It's a nice theory and hopefully it'll pan out that way because I think we have years of this idiocy to look forward to, thanks to 2010's sore losers who've now lowered the bar several notches.

What also will help pay for recalls is to get the unpaid taxes from the people that signed the recalls......

Don't you know keith? Took funding money from his city to open a bookstore... failed and never paid back the loans...

@Cynthia
I do believe you have a reading comprehension problem or else you would not ask that question.

..................
Cynthia

10:37 am on Thursday, April 26, 2012

So mourning explain why you are against their rights...

I like union members. I just differ with them on some topics.

We are all just people.

Why are you against their personal freedoms and choice? Do you think 100% want to be FORCED to be unionized? If you do please start asking and researching. Do you think they do NOT deserve the freedom of choice to belong or NOT belong? There is a movement of freedom from unions Nationwide. Open your eyes... many see how corrupt the unions have become and do NOT speak for their best interests.

@Cynthia
I will throw back at you the typical Right Wing Response --if you do not like where you work then change jobs. Yes, your side does say that a lot.

But you also need to do some research on unions and wages and how they life up wages across the board for everyone. Lets try to lift up all groups instead of dividing and demeaning certain groups of workers.

That aside, over the years, I have interacted and know countless families--good citizens who use the schools, pay taxes and work--who join state jobs or city jobs because of the benefits. Most of these jobs are not the ideal they had dreams of when they were younger but they do provide an honest living and importantly, saving for the future (pensions)--something the Right Wing is always harping about. The groups you and others that constantly cut down also include public health aids and nurses and prisons--most of who work shift work and weekends. Lets stop the demonizing these groups and and other hard working people and families.

..................
Cynthia

9:53 am on Thursday, April 26, 2012

Why are you against their personal freedoms and choice? Do you think 100% want to be FORCED to be unionized? If you do please start asking and researching. Do you think they do NOT deserve the freedom of choice to belong or NOT belong?...........

So mourning explain why you are against their rights...

I think the real problem is that the "haves" in our state don't like the fact that the "have nots" might have better benefits and retirement then them with the state of our economy (due to poor business planning and the mortgage loan scandals which had nothing to do with state employees). The Republicans seem to have a real feeling of entitlement. The fact is that the unions had already agreed to pay more for their benefits and retirement. The governor just decided to wield his conservative sword to make an ideological statement and destroy collective bargaining. He has aspirations for higher office (God help us all).

If the 'unions had already agreed to pay more for their benefits and retirement', then why did the teacher union in Milwaukee recently refuse to reopen their contract to actually have them pay more for their benefits and retirement?

The fact of the matter is that the unions didn't actually agree to pay more toward their benefits and retirement. Marty Beil has even gone on record stating that he wouldn't make any of the concessions the Walker wanted.

It's not a matter of anyone being 'greedy and evil', nor is it a matter of one group having better benefits than another. It's a matter of sharing the sacrifices that those of us in the private sector have had to make during the economic downturn. It doesn't seem fair to have taxes go up when our wages are shrinking so that public employees can continue to pay little to nothing toward the rising costs of their own benefits. The amounts that public employees are having to contribute are still far below what the average person in the private sector is contributing.

Since I'm not a member of the Milwaukee teacher's union and neither are you @cowdung, I'm not privy to what is going on with their negotiations. I can only guess that they'd like to wait until Walker is recalled and a more reasonable governor is in office. You want the state employees to share in your misery. Since I'm pretty sure that you're one of the "haves" living in Shorewood, I don't think that you have any first hand knowledge of the state employees sacrifices. You need to explore the facts beyond the "right wing" propaganda.

Vicki:

What 'facts' have you actually explored outside of the Lefty propaganda that you tend to spew?

When the average person in the private sector is paying 20-30% of their health benefit cost, why is it so unreasonable to have the public sector employee pay 12% of theirs? When more people 'share in the misery', then the average person's share of that misery becomes smaller and more bearable. It seems unreasonable to have to pay higher taxes in order to keep public sector employees immune from the negative effects of the economic downturn.

Ignoring Milwaukee's faiures again Vicki?

They rushed contracts in with the unions while Act 10 was hung up in court. They choose to side with the union which proved fatal. Now they have to lay off teachers and close schools

Just today MPS plans 400 full-time position cuts, eight school closures for 2012-13

"MPS has an existing contract with teachers and has been unable to get the union to voluntarily accept making the healthcare and pension contributions."

Instead of following Walker's lead like most other districts did, MPS chose the union over teachers once again. Now who really cares about public workers?
Same can be said about Kenosha, this isn't secret information either.

As I stated before, I'm not privy to MPS contract negotiations. I've never professed to be the expert that @cowdung thinks he is. I just know that everything he says is straight off of conservative talk radio or Fox News. I am having a hard time believing that our country has slipped so far to the right. Racism, sexism, anti-education, etc. all roll of the tongues of the right. We have a civil war going on in Wisconsin. If I have to choose sides, I choose the left because I can live with their humanism and values.

Do you ever read the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Vicki? You might be surprised by the amount of information they share about MPS, unions and contracts...

@CowDung, I agree with a lot of what you are saying. Numbers are being slung around, names are being called, money is being spent and the State has been put in limbo with family and friends keeping distances all because of what? Recallers need to get back to WHY this recall was started. The ISSUE IS was it right for Governor Walker to "take away" public workers collective bargaining rights. I think it was a smart decision and a fair one. I still have not been convinced that it is fair, for one group of state residents to have more power than the rest of us over decision making, on issues that involve them, but directly EFFECTS ALL OF US. Yes, they pay taxes too and so do the rest of us. If there is a serious concern over the way they are being treated or are poorly compensated, that would be huge, and should be put to a public vote. Recallers act as though Scott Walker fought to become the Governor, just to tick them off and shoot himself in the foot. I give him a lot of credit for what he has had to put up with. And egad! Teachers, of all people, acting like spoiled brats that are not getting their way. Families of teachers shunning friends who do not totally agree that their babies are being maliciously mistreated by Scott Walker. Good grief! All common sense has gone out the window!

►I'm not privy to what is going on with their negotiations.◄

Yeah you are, it's public information. If you actually 1) don't lie about what you have herd or 2) actually read/watch the news. I just told you what they factually did and the consequences from it. Get your google machine working

We (private sector) work very hard as well. But we can not go to our boss and demand that the taxpayers give us a raise.

NOPE he didn't.... guess he figures he was entitled to that money...

@ Fred and Cynthia, Why is it, that you know so much about another commentors personal business?

@ The Patch, Why are you allowing such comments?

Pam maybe we know because we do read the Patch and they ran articles on it... obviously you do NOT read the Patch...

@Cynthia, Oh I wasn't aware that because you READ the patch it is OK to speak of anothers personal business on articles, that have nothing to do with THEIR PERSONAL BUSINESS. I did READ once where one of the Patch contributors was upset that their personal business was brought up in comments and that was frowned upon.

@Pete

I am wondering if you are a recent immigrant from a Spanish speaking country and do the know the translation for the word "unionistas"??

Also your claim of average salaries for teachers is wrong:

......The figures vary across districts, according to tallies from the Department of Public Instruction. The average total compensation ranged from just over $55,000 in the Linn Joint 6 School District in Lake Geneva near the Wisconsin-Illinois border to just over $103,000 in the Nicolet district in suburban Milwaukee.

Time for the Truth-O-Meter.

Paul said twice on national television that the average public school teacher in Wisconsin "is making $89,000 a year." We’re assuming his figure isn’t just for salary, in which case his number would be too high by $40,000. But even if he meant salary plus benefits, his figure is too high by $14,000.

We rate Paul’s statement False.

Editor’s note: On March 8, 2011, this item was changed to correct an error in information provided by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. In 2009-2010, public school teachers in Wisconsin earned an average of $49,816 in salary (not $49,093), plus $25,325 in benefits (not $25,750), for a total of $75,141 (not $74,843).

http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/mar/04/rand-paul/us-sen-rand-paul-says-average-public-school-teache/

Pete -- Please check out this link: http://dpi.wi.gov/lbstat/newasr.html this is the dept. of public instruction website -- it lists salary and fringes as well as number of days worked, among other things for every district in Wisconsin. My estimate is average days worked is 260 - and salaries begin in mid-30s ranging up to mid 70s plus fringes in the high teens to high twenties...so high five figures to low six figures. So...is this fair for people who hold a four year college degree minimum and many of whom hold master's degrees or run an entire school? I think yes -- especially since the master's are the ones earning more (seems fair). I know for a fact that peers in prvate sector jobs that require 4-8 years of college easily make that and often much more (adjusting for the 10 week's less time worked differential of course). When you consider lawyers, doctors, therapists make at least this much and have comparable degrees (in the case of those with master's degrees) I think it's more than fair. Nothing I've done in my profession compares with spending your day teaching a room full of kids -- it's demanding, challenging work that IMHO is worth paying for. You get what you pay for -- personally I'm happy to pay for top quality teachers - it's an investment in my kids and our society. Respectfully offered...

Pete -- pardon me, I just noticed a mistake on my part. The first spread sheet I looked at showed 260 days worked -- and that was for primarily administrators and principals who work year-round. The same for the salary estimates-they were for administrators and principals. The teacher spreadsheet showed average 187 days work and the salaries start in the 30s (few 20s) ranging up to high 70s with fringes ranging from 5K to upper 20s. Again, mid five figures to low six figures. The most compelling aspect of this (to me) is that this is it. If you work 30 years -- the BEST you can hope for - even with a master's degree is low six figures. That's not the case in the private sector -- one's salary is dependent on many things--merit for one, it would be marvelous to see great teachers rewarded with great salaries...in my experience I know lots of college degreed people making much more than teachers - for far less important work than educating children. Again, respectfully submitted.

@Rachel Holley Sciortino "personally I'm happy to pay for top quality teachers - it's an investment in my kids and our society."

Would that it were so! Unfortunately, the monopoly public school model with union work rules does not do a good job of retaining quality teachers. High quality applicants are soon beat down by the not so subtle pressure to keep it simple, dumb it down and just work contract hours. Why do you think test scores have been flat for 30 years (while standardized tests are easier than ever.)

There are so many flavors of the month imposed on a classroom teacher's time by self-aggrandizing administrators that take valuable time away from the core mission of actually teaching that quality teachers simply walk away. The lifers get pay raises based on how long they've been warming a seat, not how well they can actually teach and it's depressingly easy to simply push the little dears through to the next grade. The children suffer by learning nothing.

It's a bad system but it won't change until the incentives change. Parents should have a choice in public education and benefit from the innovation that only comes from competition. Right now it's all about riding the gravy train; just tell parents and the school board what they want to hear and the dollars keep on flowing. We can have public education without public schools -- we can do much better than this.

Adam W --Maybe that's the situation where you live. In our district teachers care and they work hard. The administration respects them and works with them -- so they stay and they are happy. Last year they began paying into their own fringes (without compalint) and they're self-insured so no WEAC, they also lost their retirement health coverage. Our test scores are awesome -- best in the county and highly ranked in the state. Parents care, they are engaged and the administration includes parents, business and staff in their decision making. AND we have money to build additions on two school due to increasing enrollment without a referendum. Nothing is so black and white -- but respect goes a long way to smoothing the sharp edges of discord that much of the rhetoric here (and elsewhere) has created. If teachers have it so great -- I wonder why more of the people who think teachers are overpaid, lazy so and sos doing an easy job aren't rushing to join the teaching ranks... If anyone has ever spent more than ten minutes in a class room helping with their child's class -- they'd think differently. I'll take my desk job anyday over managing 25-30+ individual personalities, learning styles, abilities, dispositions, medical cases, personal quirks and bad/silly/angry moods for 8 hours a day, every day.

Walker also did what he did not say he would do.

He dropped the bomb on one group of workers.

Perhaps that had something to do with Beil stating that he would not negotiate or make the concessions Walker wanted. Walker had no other choice but to limit collective bargaining...

mourning I have to wonder why weac knew what Gov. Walker was going to do and it WAS in the papers yet you missed it and who's fault is that?

"Our members oppose taking away their rights to collective bargaining, so they would definitely raise their voices against it," Christina Brey, speaking for the Wisconsin Education Association Council, said of Walker's plan.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/101771723.html

morninmist, exactly what was that "bomb" that Governor Walker dropped. They have to pay a little bit towards pension and health care. That they lost a little bit of salary to pay for that? You know what, most lost little or nothing since they moved up the pay scale anyways. My take home pay went down for YEARS because health care premiums went up way faster than pay increases. And I fared better than many in my company.

Keep crying. The sky has not fallen. It just means that most teachers will have to wait another year or two before they can buy that lake cottage.

Why should they be forced to leave ALEC?? There is nothing wrong with ALEC... it's just a boogyman that the left has created and you all fall for it.... More thug action from the left... DO WHAT I SAY OR ESLE!!

The sky has been falling for a really long time now. When will it ever reach us?!

Special Ed should stick to beating his wife and shooting his hunting dogs, glad to see you use him as a resource Mikey. Unemployment is 6.8% in Wisconsin, one of the lowest in the nation, no one really cares about the number of lost government jobs, that is a good thing and should be celebrated, less wood ticks on the backs of the working. Keep it up Mike, I enjoy mocking you and I look forward crushing you again when Walker wins.

Mike maybe you should read the Patch more often......

Thank you,again and again and again Babs i was hoping some thinking person would nail this issue perfectly,.. as you just did!!! There are many of us out here who are like minded, and the truth will be apparent after the elections.However the old saying goes "There are none so blind as those that will not see, and none so deaf as those that will not hear!!! Thank goodness they are the minority.

Mike, ya blaming Scott Walker for Briggs trimming their salaried workforce? The Milwaukee Public School system is a mess, had been a mess for a very long time and will continue to be so, until someone with a good head on their shoulders gets in there to undo all the wrongs. Are you blaming Scott Walker for that too?

MPS

The FY 2013 budget presents several interesting scenarios for Milwaukee Public Schools. Over 400 staff positions will be reduced, but there are also over 400 staff openings that will keep many of these teachers in classrooms across the city. These teachers are due for a 5.5 percent raise, on average, despite an overall funding decrease of 1.7 percent from the previous year.

Do you realize that when you compare the school surveys over the past decade that the class sizes are smaller? Wonder why weac was trying to hide all the past surveys...

Your child wouldn't have to go to a private school Mike. They would just need to stay out of Milwaukee and Kenosha. And, why does your child go to a private school? Don't you pay taxes that pay these wonderful teachers salaries? Doyle threw more and more money at education...and, that helped the kids how??? I know who it did help. Mary Bell, Marty Beil......

When you rob Peter to pay Paul....Paul will always (Vote for you ) be on your side.

I'm sorry, was the ALEC union stripping bill put to a vote? No, it wasn't. But it's a good question. Why wasn't it put to a vote? Based on what happened in Ohio, when more than a million residents used state law to repeal their ALEC governor's version of the union stripping bill, it's unlikely the Walker administration would dare doing so for fear of the result.

I'm just surprised by how many people were snookered by the unjustified anti-union political/super PAC attack on public workers that began in early February 2011. I didn't think so many people (especially those who paid attention during history class) would be so susceptible.

Jill, you have presented hearsay. Where is your supporting documentation that the Manpower relocation had $0 impact on the economy. Or that Kohls saw Milwaukee as a negative (don't remember seeing that in the Business Journal).

There is a recession. That might impact some job growth, and companies that want their executives to have good schools, etc., for their families might hesitate to come here. The hollowed out county bus system might keep others away. And of course Walker turned down the rail project. That might have convinced some companies along the route to increase/establish a Milwaukee presence.

But you choose to support Scott Walker and his "Open for Business" success story of 250,000 new jobs in 200 years at current rates. Sorry, but I find your logic questionable.

I'm guessing that they will step up the John Doe witch hunt...

If Walker stays and enough of his sycophantic rubber stampers are recalled, the ALEC agenda will at least be slowed down.

There's no public evidence other than Scott Walker's hiring of a criminal defense team to suggest that he is involved in the John Doe investigation.

Walker said there will be more jobs after the recall election. Will Lord Walker give the command to start hiring? What a joke he is. And it is the citizens of WI that remember that on June 5.

It's not about Walking 'giving a command' to start the hiring. The reality is that the continuous election cycle we have been in will finally be ending, and returning the state back to a condition of stability and predictable direction.

There's no way Walker can change the job situation in Wisconsin without significant help from the federal government. He turned away stimulus money. He cuts the take home pay of 200,000+ employees, cuts tax credits for low income people, BadgerCare, etc. How many additional people has all this affected? Spouses trying to run a small business, etc. No new hires there, probably.

And with so many companies walking away from ALEC, vendors, etc., would probably hesitate to embrace ALEC governor #1, Scott Walker.

Walker might actually be right about more jobs after the recall election--after he leaves.

Welcome to the real world, Nadine.

Yes, Nadine, unfortunately public workers have been targeted as the cause of economic ills in our state (and other ALEC states) much as the pr strategists of pre-WWII Germany targeted certain groups as being the cause of that country's woes after WWI. Then, as now, low information voters went along with this bullying tactic because they didn't want to admit to their own contributions to the situation.

Nice Nazi inference, Bren.

Then as now the low information voters were leftists who regarded capitalist society as unjust and promoted a collectivist doctrine in which all means were justified by their imaginary utopian ends. What could be more emotionally satisfying than casting the evil 1 percent as responsible for your not having done as well?

Nazism was indistinguishable from the leftism of its day. Hitler was more identifiable as a social progressive than a racist or nationalist; in most ways he would be a mainstream progressive today promising to defend the little guy from capitalism while despising the rich, the jews and the christian church.

Is that tin foil hat (ALEC) getting a little tight, Bren?