The State of Wisconsin is gaining the national spotlights with their efforts to reduce governmental costs by lowering wages and or benefits of governmental workers. They are also trying to reduce the strength of their unions.
Progressives are outraged. They view this as a terrible attack. The Huffington Post article is typical of their views.
Click Here for the Progressive View
And Here
The conservatives are also outraged.
Click Here for the Conservative View
And Here
The pundits have a vested interest in stirring the pot and getting everyone agitated so that they, the pundits, will get better ratings and more money. So in general you should recognize that and not get too angry about the situation.
Progressives are outraged. They view this as a terrible attack. The Huffington Post article is typical of their views.
Click Here for the Progressive View
And Here
The conservatives are also outraged.
Click Here for the Conservative View
And Here
The pundits have a vested interest in stirring the pot and getting everyone agitated so that they, the pundits, will get better ratings and more money. So in general you should recognize that and not get too angry about the situation.
My Moderate View
This is a pretty straight forward contests between the Conservatives who want to lower government costs, and the Progressives who want to keep benefits for their constituents which includes government employees. No surprise there.
It all depends on your viewpoint. If you were a government employee in Wisconsin, you would be on the Progressive side of the argument. If you were a Wisconsin tax payer, you would likely prefer the Conservative side of the argument.
It is interesting to note that the Conservatives are working on local government employees not including Police and Fire services. Police and Fire service folks have the highest benefit package in local government, but they are popular with Conservatives and in general supportive of conservatives, so their benefits and salary have not been targeted.
In the past government employees were paid less then the private sector. But several wrenching recessions have lowered real wages for the private sector, while government has continued to grant raises and more benefits to governmental workers. It is clear and obvious that private workers would resent this.
And of course as a resident of Illinois next to Wisconsin and a Chicago Bears fan still hurting after the Cheese Head Packers beat us, I say a pox on them. May their cheese curdle.
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