Hey, Wisconsin, you won. There has been no ceremony, there has been no applause yet, there has been no formal surrender ceremony—but I am telling you, you have won. Congratulations, Wisconsin.
After 22 days of protests in the state that is the cradle of the rights of Americans who work for a living, after 22 days of protests against Republican Governor Scott Walker‘s efforts to strip union rights in Wisconsin, the governor has started to crumble. The governor started to cave.
Rachel Maddow like many MSNBC "talent" she plays a liberal on TV
Wisconsin governor to sign anti-union bill soon
By James Kelleher
MADISON, Wis (Reuters) – Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was expected to sign into law on Friday sweeping new limits on collective bargaining for public sector workers that have sparked a national debate over labor relations.
In a major setback for organized labor, the state Assembly on Thursday voted 53-42 to approve the controversial bill, which has triggered the biggest demonstrations in the Wisconsin capital since the Vietnam War. The state Senate had earlier approved the measure despite a boycott of Democratic senators.
http://news.yahoo.com/...
This is my estimation of the Walker/Wisconsin situation. It is a freeroll (a gamble or risk that you cannot lose capital only win if fortunate) for the Republicans. If Walker wins and this legislation stands, it may be the final death knell for the middle class in this country. The unions will have been broken in their keep of the latent citadel (Wisconsin) of union/progressive history and activity.
If Walker loses and Obama ever gives more than a vaguely worded tepid declaration of support for any union’s cause, the Republican operatives might be able to manipulate the situation into Obama being labor’s lackey for the 2012 election which will just amplify their current bellow of him being an un-American socialist. Even if Obama does not fall for the Beltway media “trap” of actually following through on one of his campaign promises, the Republican framing device might work. At worst, they will have footage of dirty hippies and be able to use the scare tactic of "mob" rule to stoke voter enthusiasm for their supporters in 2012. No matter the ultimate outcome, Walker and the Wisconsin Republicans secured all the concessions. The public unions capitulated on all the monetary negotiations. The only sticking point seemed to be the collective bargaining issue, and other issues meant to defund and destabilize the union.
This is very disturbing, because everyone in the media seems to not be able to understand (or it is in their economic or long term career interest to ignore) that whatever "victory" the unions get will be a Pyrrhic one at best, unless there is a sea change in national attitudes and organization of labor and progressive interests in the U.S. from this point forward. I have not heard one pundit on TV or one columnist write one article addressing this point. It has been constant pleading to show how compliant the union has been to Walker's draconian demands with no analysis of how weak and feeble these supposedly all powerful public unions really are at this juncture in our country’s history.
I find the whole situation to be profoundly depressing. For the past three decades the middle class and working poor of this country have been under constant attack from a wealth and power grab by the nation’s monied elite with minimal checks on this incremental putsch. The unbalanced accumulation of that wealth in so few individuals for a supposed constitutional republic is unhealthy for the nation, and it is much of the reason the country is as dysfunctional as it is in addressing its current actual as opposed to wedge manufactured problems.
In my lifetime these are some of the major setbacks for U.S. labor unions:
1. The failure of the Labor Reform Act of 1978 to pass which would have strengthened the regulatory power of the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) with Democratic control of the Senate (61 seats) and White House.
2. Reagan’s 1981 firing of PATCO (Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization) employees following a strike (technically illegal under Taft-Hartley but rarely enforced) which resulted in their eventual decertification.
3. The rise of the Sun Belt from the late 1960s onward where unions were non-existent or weak compared to the industrial North and Mid-west.
4. The passage of NAFTA (which I supported at the time) and the rise of outsourcing of domestic jobs.
5. The growth of the service industry as a poor substitute for the loss of manufacturing jobs.
The Democrats and Republicans over the past 3 decades have played this shell game with variants of the good cop/bad cop technique to wring more and more out of the vast majority of Americans. On the Federal and State level, there is a real or perceived problem or crisis (often manufactured to some extent). The Far Right/Republicans suggest some radical solution to the Democrats initially counter with a basically centrist counterproposal. Almost on cue, the partners switch places from time to time in initiating this flim flam fandango. There is a “compromise” or sometimes total capitulation on one side, but usually the result is either at best a centrist or more often a right center solution. Occasionally, the “compromise” is far right legislation. Perhaps rarely, a left of center piece of legislation sneaks into law. At the moment, I can’t think of a single piece of legislation in the past two decades outside of possibly HIPAA (1996) which seemed like a boondoggle for contractors. I can’t think of a “far left” piece of legislation that has passed in the past three decades (at least on the Federal level).
As an example, in the negotiations that eventually became PPACA (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) the recent reform of healthcare [i]coverage[/i], the Democrats should have proposed tax payer funded transgender adoptions, abortions for all (even those women that wanted to keep their fetus), and sex surrogates. While the Republicans spin doctors freaked out and dealt with their supporters going apoplectic (no time to concoct death panel B.S. as the Democrats allow their inner socialist freak on), the Democrats could have counter offered to accept Universal healthcare that covered mental health and dental care. Even in my preposterous scenario, I envision the Democrats would eventually capitulate by accepting the public option. In reality, the public insurance option was their pie in the sky demand. It was jettisoned before Republicans took their first hostage, even though it had majority approval in public polling.
The gruel passed out for the Right is the gradual restriction of abortion rights for women and on the Left the gradual allowance of a [i]few[/i] civil rights for homosexuals. While the left and right fight over cultural issues, both parties gut regulations, while doling out tax breaks and subsidies to corporations and the extremely wealthy. This bait and switch tactic has worked well for both parties the past three decades.
The insidiousness of this fraudulent Kabuki on the American people is that it has been almost a continual lurch to the current plutocratic oligarchy de facto government. For every two to four starboard tacks under Republican leadership or control of the government, there has been a feeble “correction” of a half or one full port tack back to the center when Democrats had the reigns of governmental power. The media portrays these unequal actions as falsely equivalent. A fraudulent narrative emerges that the metaphorical ship of state is a little off course in this new century or at worst lost listlessly. When a truer picture is the country (or at least a vast majority of its citizens) is listlessly being steered over Niagara Falls or the bridge to the 21st century leads to the end of the 19th century and the worst excesses of the Gilded Age.
To paraphrase Dean Wormer from Animal House, “Fat, distracted, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.” Unfortunately, too many of the American population fits that description and to be fair I include myself in that group. We are distracted by static like Charlie Sheen's antics or Lindsey Lohan's tribulations which do not actually impact our daily lives.
However, something like the following event never makes it into the national discussion:
The first U.S. billionaire of prominence to pass away this year was Houston oilman Dan L. Duncan. He died at age 77 in March leaving behind a fortune we estimated at $9.8 billion—more than eight times our view of Steinbrenner’s net worth. His heirs likely saved more than $4 billion in estate taxes.
Estate Tax
Good hard working government employees are demonized for making a decent median income or heaven forbid having a comfortable lifestyle. It is seen as perfectly acceptable, even encouraged to excoriate this group of workers for their "absurd" prosperity while others less fortunate are forced to pay for these vile public servants’ lavish lifestyle. While at the same time, it is considered blasphemous to suggest that millionaires and billionaires be asked to pay any tax on frankly obscene inherited windfalls of wealth.
It is the modern equivalent of Rome’s bread and circuses designed to superficially satiate the public while a tiny elite amass more and more. We are the proverbial frog being boiled alive, yet too many of us don’t seem to care or are actively cheering on the water’s attempt to reach a boil.
A public union employee, a tea party activist, and a CEO are sitting at a table with a plate of a dozen cookies in the middle of it. The CEO takes 11 of the cookies, turns to the tea partier and says, 'Watch out for that union guy. He wants a piece of your cookie.
I thought I saw the preceding attributed to former Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, but I am unable to locate the source. I apologize if the attribution is incorrect. It succinctly symbolizes this country’s wealthy elites distract and divide tactics while they seemingly confuse us into giving them more of our cookies. The top 1% can have their multiple cookies, but the Tea Party member and the rest of us deserve a few too. Rachel Maddow should refrain from yelping obscenely premature victory congratulations before Wisconsin union members wrangle a single cookie crumb off the floor.