A Tiny Note of Sanity in Washington, DC: Republicans Who Get It!

Lest you think that I never side with Republicans... here is a letter that I applaud.

Click here to read the text of the letter!

 

 

 

In the letter, signed by U.S. Senators Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK), John McCain (R-AZ), Jim DeMint (R-SC), John Ensign (R-NV), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Rand Paul (R-KY), Mike Lee (R-UT) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) makes it clear that these Senators will not tolerate any more pork and unconstitutional bills.

Programs reviews and reasonable spending cuts are the key.

This is one part of this that I LOVE: All bills must be available to the public three full days before the bill is presented for a vote with a cost estimate from the CBO!

Finally, someone sets a tone in Congress that says, "We will not have unreasonable, un-reviewed bills shoved down our throats. You must prove to us that you need this bill before we will even try to vote on it!"

I propose that Governor Walker and his Republican minions in Madison sign the exact same commitment! Give the public time to review your bills and the Senators commit to allowing no bill or part of a bill that is not financially responsible!

(Recent Walker-schlock that has been passed or is offered that this letter would stop: selling state energy assets without bids, capital gains tax cuts with a massive deficit, tax cuts for businesses that relocate to Wisconsin with a huge deficit, eliminating/reducing existing earned income credit to families, who are paying for this huge deficit.)

Firefighters denied access to Capitol during emergency call - JSOnline

This is worth reading! Stupidity running Madison. And what if it were a fire or a medical call? Who would Scott Walker blame then... teachers from Superior.

Firefighters denied access to Capitol during emergency call - JSOnline

By Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel

March 3, 2011 2:59 p.m. |(35) Comments

Madison -- Security is so restrictive at the state Capitol that firefighters were denied access to the building during an emergency call Tuesday, one of the firefighters said Thursday.

Dave Trainor, a Madison firefighter, said he was part of a crew dispatched to the Capitol on a call that someone was trapped in an elevator. Firefighters were denied access at one of the building's entrances that is being guarded by police.

Firefighters then had to make their way through a crowd of protesters outside the building and drive their 100-foot ladder truck to the other side of the Capitol to get inside.

As it turned out, a police officer was trapped in an elevator. But at the time of the call, firefighters did not know if there was a medical emergency, Trainor said.

"We lost crucial time on a call we didn't know anything about," he said.

Among protesters at the Capitol have been firefighters in their gear. But Trainor said he did not believe police officers would have mistaken the crew for protesters because they were hauling equipment, carrying radios and had arrived in a firetruck.

"They don't just let us drive those up to the Capitol for fun," he said.

Trainor said he was to testify later Thursday in the ongoing court hearing on whether the Capitol needs to be more fully open to the public.

Repost: Wispolitics.com - Budget Blog

Paycheck mailed to Erpenbach

With the paychecks for Senate Democrats cut off until they return from their boycott, Sen. Jon Erpenbach got creative.

Erpenbach, D-Waunakee, appointed two of his staff members his power of attorney, which would allow them to collect his pay.

On Feb. 22, GOP leaders voted to require members pick up their paychecks in person on the Senate floor.

Erpenbach, who like his 13 Dem colleagues fled the state to stall a vote on the budget repair bill, is in Chicago.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald put the check in the mail instead of turning it over to the staffers.

"We confirmed with our attorneys and with the chief clerk that was proper," said Fitzgerald spokesman Andrew Welhouse.

-- By Greg Bump

Thanks to Wispolitics.com for this article

Open Letter to My Republican Legislator

Dear Mr. Lasee,

I am writing to ask you to remain independent during this time of extremely partisan battling.

In Governor Walker's Budget Repair Bill was a provision to sell Wisconsin's energy assets, not to the highest bidder, but to whomever the Governor and/or his appointees decide. That is not a Conservative value nor a Wisconsin way of doing business.

The Senators who have left the state have left using the closest thing to a filibuster we have in Wisconsin. They should be acknowledged for their tenacity and for standing up for what they believe is right.

The budget proposal is over-reaching and, Mr. Lasee, I know that you know that. The budget cuts to local governments makes sense, but the state should not then restrict local governments from doing what they feel is necessary to keep services available. If the federal government were to do the same thing, they would protests throughout Madison and the state.

We are in the fiscal mess we are in because too many people pandered to the loudest donor. They literally sold our state for the easy road. There is, however, difference between correcting course and running aground on your principles.

Mr. Lasee, please consider what is truly right for the people of Wisconsin, not just what is politically expedient for the moment. I am asking that you review this new budget objectively and honestly. That is a conservative ethic and the Wisconsin Way.

Thank you and God bless the great state of Wisconsin.

Bob Peryea

How Does It Really Compare?: Local Gov't. Wages v. Service Industry

In reading through the Governor's budget, I began to think: What percentage do other similar businesses pay for labor?

The business that came to mind was a hospital. They have a large labor force, don't actually make anything and provide a service with minimal materials.

Here's how they stack up:

From page 38 of the Governor's budget:

From "Trends in the Use of Contract Labor in Hospital" by American Hospital Directory, Inc:

The winner is LOCAL GOVERNMENT! Local government pays 43%, hospitals pay 52.4%! Apparently we are getting a deal! And, oh yeah, hospitals are mostly profitable.

The "Budget in Brief" and Some Initial Observations, Part 1

This is the Governor's Budget in Brief (77 pages!). The truth is in here.


bib1113.pdf (application/pdf Object)

I am not really clear if the Department of Administration that prepared this budget is supposed to be non-partisan, but the language that starts the summary out sounds like something from a Fox News host. "These last two years have shown us that we cannot tax and spend our way to economic vitality." Agree or not, that does not sound non-partisan. The problem is that the function of this department is

"The purposes of this chapter are to conserve the state’s resources by
coordinating management services and providing effective aid to
agencies of the state government; to present clearly defined alternatives
and objectives of state programs and policies so that the
state’s agencies, the governor and the legislature may plan cooperatively
and finance the services which the state will provide for its
citizens;..." Chapter 16 ss 1(16.001) WSC

It will very difficult to advise the governor and/or the legislature if the information is presented in accordance with the ruling parties perspective. No one group or person is 100% correct. Advisers should be able and willing to dissent as is best for the state. This does not appear to start out with any dissension. Based on the way that the "Budget Repair Bill" has been handed, Governor Walker is not a man willing to suffer dissent.

The next point to address is the question: What is a 'structural deficit?'

"Structural balance, structural deficit – The difference between ongoing revenues and on-going expenditures during a fiscal year. If on-going expenditures exceed on-going revenues, the state is in a structural deficit. The state can have a structural deficit but still have a constitutionally-balanced budget because of an adequate beginning fund balance to absorb the difference, or because of the use of fund transfers or other temporary revenues." http://www.marylandpolicy.org/html/research/BudgetGlossary.htm

I am not sure that helps. It would appear that what the Governor is saying is that our on-going expenditures are only slightly higher than our on-going revenues. Or at least they claim that it is closer than it has been in a vary long time. I am not sure that that really explains anything.

"One-quarter of the budget goes for state operations, primarily the Department of Corrections and the University of Wisconsin." 2011-2013 Budget, p. 2

During his speech the Governor mentioned eliminating the "early release program." If the Department of Corrections costs this much money and Gov. Walker wants to save money, why would you want to eliminate this program? According to an article from the Wisconsin State Journal, as of March 1, 2011, 391 non-violent inmates had earned their way out of prison. Of those, 2 had been rearrested. That is a 0.0051% recidivism rate. Not bad for something that could save the taxpayers millions, if not billions of dollars. How much could we save if this program were followed through upon? How many people would be given a second chance to fix their lives?

"Rather than compromise services to our citizens, public sector workers need to contribute more toward their benefits. We must bring the share of benefits paid by employees in line with the private sector." 2011-2013 Budget, p. 3. Fortunately for Governor Walker, the unionized public sector employees, that this budget calls "second-to-none" have already made these concessions, so he can check this step off his list.

(Aside: If a local union does not want to go along with the changes necessary to assist with expenses of running the schools in their district, LAY THEM OFF! You don't need a Howitzer to kill a mosquito. Lay off the teachers or local union members that won't help the local governments get the money in line. Simple! See: no protests, no sit ins, no runaways Senators and nightly press conference/infomercials about this piece of legislation.)

More observations to follow in the coming days.

Unfinished Business is the Linchpin to Gov. Walker's Budget

During his address to a joint session of the State Legislature, Governor Scott Walker repeated several times that the "tools" provided by the Budget Repair Bill will be necessary for local governments to balance out the cuts proposed in his biennial budget.

The problem is that the Budget Repair Bill has not passed and soon will be a moot point.

According to Governor Walker, the changes to collective bargaining provided by the Budget Repair Bill would allow local governments to not only compensate for the cuts in state aid, but allow them a surplus that they can apply to other parts of our childrens' education.

At the same time, he proposes freeing the UW Madison and UW Milwaukee from the constraints of answering to the state. He also proposes the creation of charter schools all over the state and parents' choice in the Milwaukee area as well.

In this one man's opinion today, that is a lot to promise while cutting the budget significantly.

It remains to read in the budget what parts will work and which ones won't.

The Greatest Failing of American Education

A very good friend of mine, with very different political views, got me to thinking about something that I have believed since college.

The lack of philosophical education has destroyed critical thinking. Lack of critical thinking causes us to choose leaders who are 'pretty,' not leaders who are wise.

Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer by Rembrandt

If one does not know history, one is doomed to repeat it. Everyone know this axiom, but know actually does anything about it.

Witness the small minded ideas of people who use the public school system to enforce their point of view. Text books that minimized slave trade, ones that don't mention the excesses of union, one that emphasize the contributions of one group or another.

This evening on NBC Nightly News they interviewed the head of Intel who said that our lack of investment in education will be our downfall (I'm paraphrasing). He was speaking specifically of math and science, but I would argue that philosophy and literature are the subjects that give reason to the former.

How many of our students leave high school or even college understanding the centuries long exploration of human rights, political systems, economics, and our relationship to the universe? How many understand the Copernican Revolution, let alone the Kantian Revolution?

In short, the best way to keep America at the top of world, strong and wealthy, we must educate our children in every subject, not just the ones that will earn them a great starting salary. In the end, the salary is just the start, life comes sometime after that.

Getting Back to Work

I was reading a blog posting by David Leonhardt about putting people back to work.

He made the point that the government is not really trying... I agree. I also think that placing some controls on the economic markets would be a great help.

There is a lot that the government, federal and state can do to help people get back to work. One of the major lessons of the post-World War II era was that education can give us a huge wave to ride. The GI Bill educated an entire generation. That generation, the so-called Greatest Generation, built the America of the 1950's and 60's. Education was the one of the largest contributors to the improvement of our economy.

There is no real effort to stop the Bank of England calls the "doom loop." Like a house that gets shaken by enough earthquakes, eventually it will fall and not get back up. What we need is some logical regulation of Wall Street. The Great Crash of 1929 was caused by Wall Street speculators and led to a real loss of wealth. The current rise in gas prices, that might cripple our recovery, is caused by speculators panicking. We need to stop the rampant speculation on necessities. Let Wall Street bet on Nascar or football. They need to stop betting on derivatives of  derivatives of imaginary markets.

Ayn Rand believed that free markets, truly free markets, would help make everyone richer. She didn't count on Bernie Madoff that same way the Bolsheviks didn't count on Stalin.

Our economy is on the upswing, things are getting better. Now is the time to stop the rabid gambling and thoughtless capitalism that got us into the situation that we are in now. A little logically placed controls run by someone other than the people who created these false markets might stop this destructive cycle.

Read more here: Economix

How Much of Our Fiscal Problems Will Be Solved By a Better Economy?

In this article by Simon Johnson, he talks about the real reasons for our current economic state and how we can get out of it.

The truth is:

• The deficit was not caused primarily by the stimulus, but by significantly decreased tax revenues.
• The Obama administration is continuing the time honored standard of pandering to the banking industry (and most other industries for that matter).
• Only bipartisan cooperation and vision can help us get out of this.

Check this article out.

I think you'll find it interesting.

Also, look on the lower right hand corner at the economic indicators. Things are looking up in almost all sectors, except new homes.

Scott Walker is a Socialist (in Reverse)

"Typically, socialism is concerned with both the social and economic system in a country. Property and wealth are shared, and their distribution are subject to the control of the people, who exert equal control of the government. The community or state owns all the things used for work production, called the means of production, and thus may also decide what is produced and how to distribute as evenly as possible the moneys paid for things produced."  Link here.

Governor Scott Walker is a reverse socialist. Socialism can be denied as taking from the status quo (right now, in America, the rich) and giving to everyone. It involves leveling the playing field, using the community resources for the entire community. What Gov. Walker and the new far-right of the Republican party want to do is take from those who have fought for, bargained for, or asked for and been given and bring them down to 'the rest of us.'

The collective bargaining agreement that was made between the State of Wisconsin and its public workers unions were negotiated agreements. It was an agreement, signed and certified. Governor Walker simply wants to take away their gains.

He is like a kid in high school who comes home from school complaining that everyone else has a car. Rather than working for his own car (dealing with a public sector job where you are vilified), negotiating his own price (collective bargaining) and pay his own auto loan ($100,000+ in education loans for a $25,000 a year job), Scotty wants to slash the tires on everyone else's car.

There is a simple solution to the idea that the public workers get too much through their collective bargaining, join a union. If everyone made as much as (people claim) public sector workers make, then we would be able to eliminate the deficit through an increase in tax revenues.

The next argument is that this would be bad for business. A couple of things to note: 1) In a down economy, thousands of companies are posting record profits (including Walker's paymasters, the Koch Brothers). 2) Most of the world is unionized (and the parts that aren't are starting to - notice the workers' rights movements in China and India).

By Governor Walker's logic, the next bill will be to restrict Wisconsin wages to $2,200 a year, the average wage in Shanghai in 2009. We must be competitive after all.

The American Way is not to take from those who have so they don't have any more. It is to try to give more opportunity to earn to everyone.

Isn't that the American Dream, the hope of every Horatio Alger, Jr. reader?

The sneaky part of this movement by the governor and other far-right Republicans is that the want to do it the old-fashioned way, on the backs of the working man and woman. Any student of history knows that that is how most of the great wealth was made in America prior to the idyllic 1950's (when America had the highest percentage of unionized workers).

Stay tuned for an observation of the abuses of the unions and where they went wrong.