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Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Wisconsin's REAL cheese

OK so in case you've been living in your car like lots of foreclosed former-homeowners, you've heard something about some stuff going on in Wisconsin. You've probably also heard about how it's all because of those greedy, shiftless state workers and those manipulative, duty-shirking Democrats all cohooting to try to bring the state to its knees. (to what end, we're not really sure, but that's not really important - all that really matters is that Glenn Beck can draw a chalk line from a librarian in Wisconsin to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt so they must be really bad)
So - here's what I see.  There are two really big, histrionic charges hurled routinely at the left from the right.  First, that lefties are all about enabling the lazy and unwilling to take personal responsibility for the consequences of their actions. And second, that the left aims to bring democracy crashing down and replace it with a socialist nightmare where everyone has to share the same pool of government-told-ya stuff. All backed up with "fiscal responsibility" banners.
Let's now look very briefly at the bottom line of the dispute in Wisconsin.  Leaving aside the fact that none of the arguments are legitimate because the "budget crisis" was caused in large part by Governor Walker and the GOP granting huge tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy and that the actual goal is just elimination of collective bargaining, it comes down to one major rallying cry: the state is "broke" (see the post called "Government is NOT a Business") and can't afford its pension plan or benefits for workers. 

Putting those two together, we get this -
1) the right is the side of personal responsibility, the left wants no consequences for anyone's actions.  Well folks, the pension fund is a little short because the government of the state failed to fulfill its obligations to invest and protect the money that was put in the fund by the employees by way of deferred compensation. This means that part of the 'salary' of every state worker was $X that would be paid later - that's how WI pension works. So the state dropped the ball and borrowed money from the pension funds, and now that they're busy cutting everything and everyone in sight, state workers are choosing to retire rather than get screwed by this short-sighted blame-mongering. So suddenly what we're seeing is that the workers didn't fail - the state government did.  The consequence of that should be the political fallout of having to raise taxes (at least on the wealthy) to pay for THEIR OWN mistakes. So what is the GOP doing in the face of facing personal responsibility? Shifting blame to the people who've worked for the government for 30+ years instead of 2.  Klassy folks. Way to stay on message.
and
2) the right is the defender of democracy, where everyone succeeds or fails on their own, the left is the side of pooled resources and socialism and everyone having to depend on the government for everything.  And yet, again, because of government mismanagement, the GOP is fighting tooth and nail to hang the workers out to dry, demanding that they balance the budget for everyone else by surrendering their rights to negotiate in the marketplace in order to pass on the aforementioned tax cuts to the rich.  And, well, to everyone, since apparently the entire future of all of Wisconsin hangs in the balance, depending on state workers to sacrifice for the benefit of everyone else. Wait - if I knew how to make a head-shaking emoticon, I would put one here.  So..... the workers who bargained for their free-market compensation should graciously take a dive so that you can give more money to someone else, but it's the LEFT that's all about socialism?  These people work for their money, bargain for their benefits, and yet are being villainized for not putting more money into someone else's pocket? Once again - way to stay on message.

Hardly revolutionary news, but the GOP are lying to America's face and they aren't even really bothering to try to do it well anymore. Kind of like the guy who comes home with a hooker and says he's completely faithful.  What actually concerns me is how many Americans are saying "well OK then, your sister can stay a few weeks, just til she gets on her feet."