Scott Walker is right about collective bargaining

After I watched this morning's Meet The Press, [who watches MSNBC anyway, right Walker?!?], he and I do agree on one thing.  By eliminating collective bargaining, municipalities and schools will have an easier time handling the billions of dollars of cut that are coming tomorrow.  By eliminating hundreds of discussions at the local level, we can be more efficient in dealing with the budget loss.

Walker further argues that over the last twelve days, multiple unions have negotiated unsustainable contracts.  He strengthens his position by concluding that these unions cannot be trusted.  Of course, many people that have paid attention to Walker's doublespeak don't trust him either.

Greed and defending your turf, these two things are human nature.  We look to our government to keep these things in check, and at a time that trust in government [Congress, in particular] is at an all time low, it is fair from a bipartisian perspective to question if Government is acting in the best interests of the people.  I conclude that this general distrust is what has led to the events in Madison.

Assuming Bill 11 passes as is, after the dust settles, hundreds of millions of dollar will be removed from local economies and instead be redirected to funding ETF.  This is sure to have a negative effect on local business as more will look to megachains for bare necessities.

As municipalities and school districts increase healthcare premiums to deal with the loss of state aid [estimated to be over $1 Billion total], more Wisconsinites will be without healthcare and even more money will be removed from the local economy, making the local business situation much worse.  I believe that this will create a vicious cycle where income tax revenues drop, necessitating the need for further and further cuts since Governor Walker is strongly opposed to corporate taxes.

Choosing between paying union dues vs having a roof and food -will- eliminate the unions by no later than 2014.  This is when I believe the real fun will begin, but more on that in another post.

The elimination of collective bargaining will make the budget cuts easier to administer, I plan to continue to protest against the Bill so that there is more time for discourse, because I believe this bill is not "laser focused" on budget repair, and its implementation, as is, will put Wisconsin on a race to the bottom.

America United

To the people that have already lost their jobs or benefits and are upset that teachers have a better salary and any benefits at all; Why are you so hellbent on taking your fellow Americans down?  Did your former employer ship jobs overseas or reduce your benefits so that you had to choose between feeding your children, putting a roof over your head, or providing them healthcare?

Do you think they did this because the teachers make too much to prepare the next generation of America?  Do you really believe in a American where 90% of us struggle to feed our children, put roofs over our heads, and provide them healthcare?

Is that the kind of America you want to live in?  Why do you not insist on a better life for yourselves instead?

It's easy to make a scapegoat of someone you can see, but consider perhaps the path we are being taken down is controlled by something that is much harder to visualize.  Not something you can see out your window, in your neighborhood, or maybe even in your state.

PS, I'm not a teacher, but I am one of those evil state workers.  I am on call 24x7 so that those attending and working at our public universities have a working internet.

edit: Shortly after publishing this post, I changed the title from America Divided to America United.  I believe much of what has gone wrong in our country is due to people pitting themselves into a "us vs them" battle for which there will be no winners.