START A RANT
SIGN UP / SIGN IN
GET PAID TO POST
FOLLOW ON TWITTER
START A RAVE
MY PROFILE
CONTACT US
ABOUT US
News & Politics

Rant

The Miscalculations of Governor Scott Walker

Posted 14 months ago|24 comments|2,279 views
Written by
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's political career is dropping faster than a brick from a second story window. His strategy to break the unions is crumbling right before the nation. The recent polls are showing that the American people are behind the protesters.

He should have taken the offer from the union workers and left collective bargaining on the table. This whole situation should have been resolved by now. There is no reason why people should not be able to negotiate on their jobs. It is obvious Walker's goal is to do away with the union workers. When have negotiating become such a nasty term Gov. Walker? I do not know who is advising Walker, but he is a very misguided man.

The latest polls shows that 60% of the voters in Wisconsin disapproved of Walker's performance and 48% strongly disapprove. The unions are winning the PR war. Many republican governors thinking of making these same moves better think twice. Over the past few days NJ and OH have begun protests in their states. See the latest Rasmussen poll for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_c...

I don't believe Walker's will ever recover from this big miscalculation of the unions in his state. He is coming across like a bully in a school yard. Walker is threatening the union workers with more layoffs if he does not get his way. The whole nation is watching Wisconsin and Governor Scott Walker is failing very early in his first term in office.
EMAIL|FLAG THIS POST
COMMENTS
14 months ago: Governor Walker is a puppet dictator put into place by massive corporate funding so he can do their bidding, just like how the American and European empire countries colonized Africa and elsewhere: the uppity indigenous peoples would only behave and extract their own natural resources to give to the empires if there was an empire-installed puppet dictator to rule over his own people but remain loyal to the crown. Walker is not working on behalf of his electorate, rather he is working on behalf of those who funded his campaign and those same power brokers who lobby him every minute of the day.

Indeed, Wlaker was a corporate shill/ spook all along, and he was foisted up into position as a guy to get the corporate interests rammed through.
14 months ago: I had an article accepted by Common Dreams on Monday, March 7 that expands greatly on the comment above -- here's the link:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03...

I would have posted it here at R&R, but frankly I'm worried only Box, TCG and RSG will be my only audience, and I was trying to reach out to a broader audience, and there's some 250,000 people that read that site.
14 months ago: Scott Walker should start looking into getting his old job back, because I think he has lost this one. No reelection for him....
14 months ago: Perhaps this is the first stage of revolt against the Plutocracy that our government has become. Once the masses begin to see these Plutocrats for what they are we may see a real change in the way government is run.
Altruist
Altruist
Eugene, OR
14 months ago: People may have buyers remorse but they are stuck with this radical for another 3 years 9 months. He will be able to do untold damage to the state during that time. The state will reapportion voting districts to insure that conservatives win the next election too.

This will be plenty of time for he and the rest of the Republicans to intentionally destroy the economy so Obama looks bad, but I think their main mistake is in thinking that people are stupid enough to overlook the facts that it is their misguided policies that caused the problems in the first place and that will delay the recovery in the future.

For example they campaigned on creating jobs, yet they have done absolutely nothing to create jobs and their budget will cause the loss of between 700,000 and a million jobs and slow down the economy .2%. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...
Altruist
Altruist
Eugene, OR
14 months ago: Just watched the gov on the tube blaming everything on Sen. Miller in response to a letter from him asking for negotiations near the border in Illinois.

The 14 agreed to most of Walkers demands that saved money and lowered the budget, but said collective bargaining had to be taken off the table. Walker said that issue was non negotiable.

A recent poll found 80% wanted the Repubs and Dems to negotiate and 62% in Wisconsin thought collective bargaining should not be taken away.

Who is it that is doing the will of the people?
14 months ago: The truth is the Unions gave in to almost all the demands before this whole mess started. They only thing left is Collective Bargaining. Take that away and the Union loses all its power to negotiate. When Walker was caught by a fake phone call from one of the Koch brothers it seems pretty clear who is running the show and pulling his strings.

If Walker can break the Teachers Union then he can also break any other public employee union he wants as well. Who are next Firefighters, Police? Walker's political career is over. Wisconsin needs a recall election so they stop the damage and get things back on track.
Altruist
Altruist
Eugene, OR
14 months ago: Here is a recall pledge. It already has 110,000 signatures.
http://unitedwisconsin.com/
BadCyborg
BadCyborg
San Antonio, TX
14 months ago: I personally support Gov. Walker. Sent him a fan letter snail mail just the other day.

As for what the American public thinks of him, it is utterly irrelevant. The only thing that matters is what the voters in WISCONSIN think of him.

Imminent thinker and well known Mage Cully Waggoner opined
"If Walker can break the Teachers Union then he can also break any other public employee union he wants as well."
Heavens to betsey I HOPE so! Are you folks aware that no less "progressive" statist than Leftist Saint Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the patron saint of the American labor movement, thought public sector unions were a very bed idea. In a little-known letter he wrote to the president of the National Federation of Federal Employees in 1937, Roosevelt wrote
" Meticulous attention should be paid to the special relationships and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the government. All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations ... The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for ... officials ... to bind the employer ... The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives ...

"Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of government employees. Upon employees in the federal service rests the obligation to serve the whole people ... This obligation is paramount ... A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent ... to prevent or obstruct ... Government ... Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government ... is unthinkable and intolerable."

Here is the entire text of the letter from 1937:
http://tinyurl.com/FDR-NFFE-letter

So, CW & Al, what do you think of THAT?? FDR considered public sector unions "unthinkable and intolerable. Was FDR wrong on that score?

Bad Cyborg X
14 months ago: Look at this way BadCyborg. When we get rid of the Unions we can be just like China and pay workers $8.00 an hour to work in the factories. Then maybe some of our jobs that we lost due to those big bad unions will come back, right?

Do you want $8.00 per hour teachers teaching our kids?
Do you want $8.00 per hour firemen putting out our fires?
Do you want $8.00 per hour policemen patrolling our streets?
Do you want $8.00 per hour pilots flying our planes?

If you break one Union you can break them all, where does it stop? Take away the Unions ability to bargain and they have nothing, no reason for workers to join. No Union means the employers can do what they want, how they want.
BadCyborg
BadCyborg
San Antonio, TX
14 months ago: So then are you saying that FDR was wrong? Remember, he wasn't against unions per se, only public sector unions.

Oh, and we do NOT have a teachers' union in Texas and I guarantee we pay them more than eight bucks an hour.

The people who would WORK for $8.00/hr wouldn't be able to get through the year of classes and the state licensing exam to BE a cop. (Although there are 100s of $multi-million buildings being guarded by Security Officers making around $8/hr)

Same for pilots. Getting a commercial pilot's ticket takes a SHED LOAD of time and money. They won't work for $8/hr either.

I think unions had a place once upon a time. I believe that time to be long past. I have seen nothing that unions have done that was good for as long as I have been observing. I remember back in '73, the unions tried to come into the State Hospital here (this was before the bleeding hearts turned our nations streets into the worlds largest open-air insane asylum) and in fact there were some management practices that collective bargaining could have helped. People started seriously looking into the union, management saw the handwriting on the wall and straightened up and things were fine. Then the union started talking about flexing its muscle. The workers told it to back off. The union managers - who BTW were NOT SASH workers - persisted. Everyone who had been looking into or had joined the union told them to FRACK OFF and quit the union Within TWO days they went from 80% to 0.

But I suppose my experience is atypical, coming as I do from a right-to-work state.

Now I ask you again. What to YOU think about FDR's opinion of PUBLIC SECTOR unions?

Bad Cyborg X
14 months ago: Are you sure $8 per hour workers cannot get into law enforcement?

Deputy Shoots at Hubby Over Cell Phone
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Deput...
BadCyborg
BadCyborg
San Antonio, TX
14 months ago: 1st off, Cully, that was from Florida. I said nothing about Florida. I was referring to licensing requirements in Texas.

2nd off, Cully, what does an action by a jealous spouse have to do with how much the Deputy Sheriff is paid? I seriously doubt Sheriff Deputies - excuse me, Corrections Officers which are NOT the same as Sheriff's Deputies - in Palm Beach county are paid anything nearly so low as $8.00/hr. I would be seriously surprised if they are not members of the union that represents the SDs in that county and thus suspect they are paid a LOT more than $8.00/hr. BTW, Correctional Officers are NOT Law Enforcement Officers. They are part of the Criminal Justice system but they are not LEOs.

Weren't you already aware of that? Or did you simply ASSUME that all armed officers working for a County Sheriff are automatically LEOs? Surely such a wise, knowledgeable, educated (according to a VP at NPR) leftist such as yourself knows that? I am a mere conservative and I knew it?

Or was it your purpose to deliberately obfuscate by publishing a link that, while ostensibly supporting your meme, in fact had nothing to do with it? Are you so bereft of actual facts that you must resort to obfuscation and deceit?
14 months ago: Well Cyborg you did not clarify Texas or Florida and it is merely a question of semantics between Police Officers and Corrections Officers. Both are trained and issued badges and guns by the County/State.

I was not trying to confuse anybody, but you did say

"The people who would WORK for $8.00/hr wouldn't be able to get through the year of classes and the state licensing exam to BE a cop."

Your comment seems to imply a certain level of intelligence needed to become a cop. While I was pointing out that we have some stupid people that can and do get into the system, this was just one example in a recent story.

Perhaps I should have dug up the old story of the Hialeah Police Officers that were breaking into businesses while on duty and then "responding" to the Burglary Call. In either case I think proved my case that there are people that have no business having a gun, let alone being issued one by the State in a comfy government job.

I was also not aware that a VP at NPR thought I was a

"wise, knowledgeable, educated leftist"

I'd like to know which one so I can thank them properly. You might as well have said Rachel Maddow sends me love letters and wants to have my baby, which would have been funnier.

I was not aware I had a particular meme, but then again I guess all of us on RantRave do, as that is exactly what this site propagates every day.

Back on topic, Gov. Scott Walker got paid by the Koch brothers to do what they wanted him to do. So I guess Walker does not care about a second term or even a political carreer, as I'm sure they have a nice paying lobbyist job for Koch Industries in his future.

What the Republicans like Walker don't seem to understand is that you can only screw over the Middle Class so many times before they fight back. The fight in Wisconsin was just the opening salvo, just wait until the next Republican Governor wants to do the same thing in their State.

All it means is that the Democrats should win in a landslide nationwide in 2012. There is only 2% of rich people and it's the other 98% like us that VOTE.


BadCyborg
BadCyborg
San Antonio, TX
14 months ago: Cully Wagoner:
"it is merely a question of semantics between Police Officers and Corrections Officers"
NOt al all. BIIIIIGGGGGG difference. As I wrote earlier, a law enforcement officer and a corrections officer are two completely different jobs. COs have no more arrest power than any private citizen - at least here in Texas. Here a citizen may only arrest w/o warrant for a felony in view or a misdemeanor violation of the public peace in view. LEOs can arrest on suspicion. But then you knew that, didn't you. You're just testing me - you sly dog you. {wink}
"Your comment seems to imply a certain level of intelligence needed to become a cop. "
Perhaps not in Florida but it bleeding well does here! Police work isn't rocket science but dumbbells need not sit for the TCLEOSE exam. Also, I was not aware that most county COs worked armed. They don't here to the best of my knowledge. Too much chance it will be taken away from the officer and used on them. The story you referenced said nothing about the CO using her work sidearm.

I never said that an NPR VP referred to you personally at all. But an NPR VP _DID_ very much say that leftists are wiser, more intelligent and better educated.

If you have any EVIDENCE indicating that Gov. Walker ways paid by ANYONE - including the Koch Bros - please present it or a link to it. Or is this just another base, leftist canard intended to be repeated often until it is perceived by the general public as truth?

Gov. Walker was not trying to "screw the middle class". He was trying to balance the state budget by limiting the power of the public sector unions to extort money from the taxpayers to use to fund their lobbying operations. There is something terribly inequitable about using funds extorted from the public to further one's efforts to extort even MORE money from the public. They taxpayers of Wisconsin are being forced to pay for someone to RAPE them.
14 months ago: Cully that has already happend I got a job today after 2+ years with 20 years experiance 7.25 a hour partime the economy has lower the wages empolyers are willing to pay. I get to live off 180 a week, now if I get another job I can afford to pay my light gas and my mortgage But with out unions everyone is going to get screwed.. Walked has a year and I'm sure he will be recalled with the rest of them.
Altruist
Altruist
Eugene, OR
14 months ago: Just having unions around helps everyone.

I used to work in a non union shop and management paid us about 20% less than other shops. After appealing to management for parity we were told to essentially quit if we didn't like it.

So we went to the AFLCIO and began to organize. That scared management so much they acquiesced and gave us raises, so we dropped the union effort.

When Unions win, it raises all boats, and when they loose, it hurts us all.

Instead of tearing down unions we should all be working to get decent health insurance and decent pensions for all.
BadCyborg
BadCyborg
San Antonio, TX
14 months ago: I notice no one is touching the FACT of FDR's being against public sector unions. Typical leftist trick. Simply ignore the inconvenient facts. Repeat the meme - that Gov Walker wants to destroy unions in general. And try to drum up support for a loosing cause.

There is no evidence Governor Walker wants to destroy all unions in Wisconsin (although I would send him another fan letter if he did). He just wants to make the public sector union members pay a bit more for their own pensions and healthcare. Sounds terribly insidious to me.

Al, you are a flat-out, admitted socialist/communist. You think government is the answer to everything. Cully seems to be of the same stripe.

Unfortunately there a few million of us who are NOT. And we are prepared to take action to stop it. No one would rise up in revolt hastily but if sufficient numbers perceive that things are sufficiently far gone that they have no other course to preserve the liberty of their families and themselves then they will do so. You have no need to fear offensive action from me. I am too old and stove up to take part in any such activity. But I WILL defend my family. And I have the wherewithall to take out - permanently - even body-armored personnel.

If this nation continues its headlong plunge down the path towards the Soviet-style you seem so to desire, Al, I guarantee it will result in civil war eventually.

Bad Cyborg X
14 months ago: Look, Badcyborg, time has passed and no one is interested in communism or soviet style anything: people just want to live lives free as there own without have to launder their persons through the corporations for survival, and those who do are laboring/consuming in their tred mill are mostly unhappy with it: ask KQM about his striking it rich for $7/hr.

Today the landscape has changed, no longer are we fighting the power brokers with mass soviet style communism, instead we are going to be doing something different...wait one moment, and I'll tell you just what that is...

Badcyborg, I will definitely be shooting from the same trench as you and Box, but I will not be aiming at my poor and working brothers and sisters wanting some parity in their lives -- no, I will be capping their bosses.

We really need to work this out because the little people should not be fighting amongst themselves!
14 months ago: Well BadCyborg, let's look at what FDR wrote.

"The desire of Government employees for fair and adequate pay, reasonable hours of work, safe and suitable working conditions, development of opportunities for advancement, facilities for fair and impartial consideration and review of grievances, and other objectives of a proper employee relations policy, is basically no different from that of employees in private industry."

FDR thinks unions are fine for the private sector, just not for government employees, that seems to be a double standard.

"All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations."


FDR makes only a vague as to why unions for government employees should not be allowed, why does collective bargaining work for the private sector but not public?

"Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of Government employees. Upon employees in the Federal service rests the obligation to serve the whole people, whose interests and welfare require orderliness and continuity in the conduct of Government activities."

FDR does not want the government to go on strike or shutdown, I agree but they could still have a union and work while negotiating.

Working in the public sector can be just as bad, maybe worse as working in the private sector. In each, you can have a boss that hates you and does what they want to make your job harder. In each you can have a boss that plays favorites and promotes people they like. In each you can work for a boss that manages through intimidation because they don't think anybody will stand up to them.

That's why people organize and form Unions, to protect the workers and negotiate for better, safer working conditions and fair and just compensation. Without collective bargaining the Unions have no leverage to negotiate. Without collective bargaining nobody would want to join a Union. Without Unions the workers get screwed.

BadCyborg
BadCyborg
San Antonio, TX
14 months ago: Keep drinking that cool-aide, Cully m'boy. See what the unions do for you when the SHTF.

Me? I'll be with my family riding out the storm and fighting off bandits and would-be warlords.

We'll see then, won't we?
14 months ago: Except it is not drinking the Kool-Aid when it is true. I have never been a member of a Union nor worked in a job that had a Union represent it, although my father was a member of the TWU for many years. Without Unions, companies will push the rules to favor themselves, not the employees.

Case in point. I worked for five years at Tiger Direct and originally I was paid Hourly. When I was "promoted" to another department, I was then classified as Exempt. Exempt meant that my fellow Exempt employees and I had to work FREE OVERTIME. I was paid the same rate as I was Hourly, but Hourly employees only work 40 hours per week while Exempt employees work a minimum of 45 to 55 depending upon department.

The Exempt employees are forced to work 260 to 520 Hours a year more, or 10.83 to 21.66 DAYS a year more for FREE! Almost all of the hundreds of Exempt employees could not be classified as Exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act ruling. We were "Managers" in name only, we managed no other employees at all. There were No Unions to stop them. So Tiger Direct exploited their employees.

Most employees just gave up and quit. Still others knowing the employment market sucks choose to stay in a job they truly despise. As for me I know my rights and I filed an FLSA Lawsuit. We settled out of Court for an undisclosed sum. When I filed my lawsuit other former Tiger Direct employees also filed lawsuits.

That's why we have Unions to protect workers rights. So now Walker can smile as he signs the Bill into Law as he slowly screws over the teachers of Wisconsin. The only question is who will Walker screw over next.
BadCyborg
BadCyborg
San Antonio, TX
14 months ago: Keep drinking the cool-aid. Cully. I wouldn't want you to have any chance of even getting a line on a clue.
14 months ago: Well Cyborg I think I have a better line on things than you do. Don't worry though, when YOUR employer starts screwing with YOU I will be glad to tell you how the system works.

A former General Manager at Tiger Direct told me that he knew of a lot of former employees that wanted to sue Tiger Direct for the wrongs they did against them and others. I even used to hear people say what they would do to settle the score, and yet none of them ever did, until I filed my lawsuit.

I know my rights and I know the laws. I'm the ONLY person that ever worked at Tiger Direct that ever told the VP of Sales to fire them. He refused to fire me then, because he knew I was right and I worked nearly two more years for them.

The way I see it you can be a Lemming and follow the others off the cliff or you can take a stand and fight for what is right. The people of Wisconsin showed the rest of us that they are not Lemmings.

Post a Comment
Sign in or sign up to post a comment.
All Categories | Arts & Entertainment  |  Culture & Lifestyle  |  Economy  |  Food  |  Health  |  News & Politics  |  Offbeat  |  People  |  Products  |  Science & Technology  |  Sports  |  Travel

Frequently Asked Questions  |  Community Guidelines  |  Editorial Reviews  |  Get Paid to Post  |  Privacy Policy  |  Terms of Use  |  Contact Us  |  Sitemap  |  Report Spam/Abuse

©2012 RantRave