Saturday, December 10, 2011

The Jobs Session

We have finally gotten to a jobs bill in the legislative jobs session. This would be the rewrite of mining laws except that it isn't. This rewrite applies to only iron mines of which there is one. This is similar to the legislature rewriting wetland rules for one company. I keep hearing that companies need certainty in regulations otherwise they will go somewhere else where there is certainty. How exactly does having to go to the legislature to have the rules changed for your business produce certainty other than to make it certain that you need donate and lobby to the legislature? This is crazy and kind of makes Wisconsin look like a banana republic.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Manitowoc Crane

Manitowoc Crane machinists have gone on strike and the Wisconsin State Journal doesn't cover it. The situation is exactly reversed from what Governor Walker said about State employees. Manitowoc Crane CEO said that since the public sector unions have to recertify each year so should the private sector. They also wouldn't collect dues. The members voted 180 to 2 to reject this contract. Now they are on strike and injuries are up in the plant. How much is that costing the company? A company whose sales are up, profits are up, and wages are down. Just another example of the race to the bottom.

The Walker School Board Ad

Karin says in the new Walker school ad that the Governor has given us (the school boards) the tools to reduce our biggest costs. Just what exactly are the biggest costs? The cost of labor. Why doesn't Karin come out and say that? What could she be afraid of? This is what the people voted for, isn't it? We should extend these tools to all of the private sector as well.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

The Other 98%

There was a letter in today's Wisconsin State Journal about the other 98% who work hard and play by the rules. The letter writer clearly believes in the promise of America the problem is that if he paid attention reality would intrude. Over the last 4 years the other 98% have seen wages stagnate or decline. Over the last 4 years the other 98% have seen benefits (health care and pensions, retirement) decline, cost more, or be eliminated. Over the last 4 years the other 98% have watched as the wealthiest 1% have seen their salaries continue to rise to a point where the gap between the richest 2% and the other 98% is greater than at any time in US history. The letter writer talks about the occupy protesters as buying into the President's class envy and class warfare. Unfortunately, this is not class envy this is reality.

He also mentions accountability in regards to people who made poor spending decisions and he's right. But, no discussion of accountability can be complete without discussing the people who cooked up the derivatives, sold worthless paper, and deceived the other 98% into spending their hard earned money on worthless investments. Where is the accountability ever mentioned for those people? No they were able to walk away and save their companies with another $7 trillion dollars from the very people that they already robbed.

Where is the accountability for the corporation that moves all of their manufacturing overseas eliminating thousands of jobs here?

There is class warfare happening and the other 98% have already lost.

The War on Protest

This week it was announced that there were new rules for Wisconsin State Capitol protests. There should be no rules for protests otherwise they are not protests. This idea of having to get permits and pay for police (I doubt that any protest group want a police presence) amounts to an infringement of the right of peaceable assembly and the right to petition your government for redress of grievances. Maybe the founders should have written the first amendment more like the second with the infringement clause.