Free Republic

The Triumph of the Therapeutic MindWhether it's budget deficits, teachers' pay, or delta smelts, the therapeutic mind refuses to count the cost. Beyond the political posturing over state and federal budgets, there looms an age-old philosophical divide over human nature, perhaps defined as the therapeutic versus the tragic view of our existence. The therapeutic view — thanks to the bounty and affluence brought about by modern technology — has largely triumphed. The tragic view is deemed the domain of the embittered, the selfish, and the downright mean. There are several tenets of the modern therapeutic view. In such a utopian...

[Meade] told me that just now, by phone. He got out, and is warning others not to go in. Obviously, it's a terrible fire hazard to make it so people cannot get out of the building easily. Presumably, protesters think it's a good idea to keep the police out, but it is dangerously stupid. ADDED: Meade called back to say, some of the doors are handcuffed shut and some are wide open. "ANYBODY CAN GET IN AND ANYBODY CAN BRING ANYTHING IN. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO SECURITY WHATEVER." AND: Meade — who just got home at 9 CT — says...

One day short of the three-week anniversary of their departure, Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller said it's time for Dems to come home and take the fight over collective bargaining rights to the ballot box. Miller, D-Monona, said it was "stunning" that Senate Republicans took less than 30 minutes to vote to end collective bargaining rights for public employees that have existed in Wisconsin for more than 50 years. He called it a disrespect to the people of Wisconsin that will not be forgotten, promising there will be political consequences. "It’s time for us to join the fight back in...

MARCH 7, 2011 Democrats to End Union Standoff By KRIS MAHER And AMY MERRICK Playing a game of political chicken, Democratic senators who fled Wisconsin to stymie restrictions on public-employee unions said Sunday they planned to come back from exile soon, betting that even though their return will allow the bill to pass, the curbs are so unpopular they'll taint the state's Republican governor and legislators. The Wisconsin standoff, which drew thousands of demonstrators to occupy the capitol in Madison for days at a time, has come to highlight efforts in other states to address budget problems in part by...

The leader of the 14 Wisconsin Senate Democrats who left the state last month to block legislation that would curb public-employee union rights said the senators plan to return "in the relatively near future," because negotiations with the governor have failed.

In a response to my piece entitled, “Taxeaters”, a reader who favored progressive income taxation posed this question back to me: why shouldn’t the top 50% of income earners pay 96% of the taxes? My answer: for the same reason that they shouldn’t have to pick up 96% of the state’s collective bar tab. All knowledge builds upon what you know. That evening, I pondered his question some more and was inspired while enjoying a pub meal that Michelle Obama would ban if she could. And here is the problem with progressive income tax theory played out a fictional place...

MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Thursday that he will issue layoff notices to 1,500 state workers on Friday if his proposal forcing them to pay more for benefits and taking away nearly all their collective bargaining rights isn't passed by then. Walker also said in an interview with The Associated Press that he is negotiating with Democrats who stymied passage of the bill by leaving the state for changes to the proposal that would get them to return. Walker said he won't compromise on the collective bargaining issue or anything that saves the state money. "I can't...

Barack Obama addressed the nation’s governors today with sympathy over budgetary crises, but a warning not to solve their shortfalls by infringing on the rights of public employees. He also scolded governors for vilifying and denigrating PEUs, which raises the question of whether Obama has bothered to look at the protests in Wisconsin and elsewhere. Besides, the governors in question are mainly fighting to limit collective bargaining rights to a standard that the federal government prohibits for its own employees.

What Is Government Collective Bargaining? * Legal Monopoly: Government collective bargaining gives unions a monopoly on the government’s workforce. The government must employ workers on the terms the union negotiates. It may not hire competing workers. * Private vs. Public-Sector: Unions operate differently in government than in the private sector. Private-sector unions bargain over limited profits. Competition from other businesses moderates wage demands. Governments earn no profits and have no competition. Government unions negotiate for more tax dollars. * Risking Public Services: When government unions strike, they can deprive citizens of essential services—such as education for children—until demands are met....

Presumptive answer to the question posed in the headline: “Ask anyone who’s worked with Rahm Emanuel.” The story of Gordon Hintz’s meltdown on the Wisconsin assembly floor broke yesterday via radio host Charlie Sykes; today, inevitably, comes the conservative media tour for Hintz’s target, GOP Rep. Michelle Litjens, to share what she’s learned about the Party Of Civility™. Three quickie points from the two clips below, one from Fox News and the other from Laura Ingraham’s radio show. First, as Litjens herself notes, although Hintz’s outburst happened several days ago, he didn’t get around to apologizing to her until Sykes...

On Monday, Milwaukee AM 620 WTMJ radio host Charlie Sykes detailed an encounter between Democratic State Rep. Gordon Hintz, who had previously been busted in a prostitution sting, and Republican State Rep. Michelle Litjens, in which the rules of civility were completely ignored after a vote to “engross” a state budget repair bill. “After the vote to engross, he turns to a female conservative Republican, who is also from the Oshkosh area, looks at her and says, ‘You are f—ing dead,’” Sykes said. “He didn’t say ‘f—ing,’ he said the whole thing. He says to a female colleague, ‘You are...

<p>“I'm sure the President knows that most federal employees do not have collective bargaining for wages and benefits while our plan allows it for base pay. And I'm sure the President knows that the average federal worker pays twice as much for health insurance as what we are asking for in Wisconsin. At least I would hope he knows these facts.</p>

$7,000,000 in lobbying expenses for WEAC lobbying in Wisconsin's capital in Madison - 1999-2009. 2010 numbers not yet posted. It is safe to presume a minimum of $8,000,000 was spent including 2010, possibly as much as $9,000,000 Add in campaing contibutions and spending and the total amount of tax money (dues) spent by WEAC to lobby for teacher spending (collective bargaining) easily exceeds $20,000,000 in the past decade. This includes only WEAC and its wholly owned health insurance company (specified in many locally bargained contracts and sold for above-market markups.) WEAC is known to operate and contribute via surrogate organizations.

Richard Falknor of the Blue Ridge Forum has pulled together useful facts about government employee unions, their benefits and how Wisconsin is important to all of us. (scroll down for updates and links)Public-Employee Unions: Facts, Figures, Some History[W]hile less than 8 percent of private workers are covered by union contracts, union penetration in the public sector is 40 percent (and about 50 percent in Wisconsin). Government employees are now more than half of all remaining union members, and government unions increasingly dominate what is left of the organized labor movement–along with the politics of states that have granted them the...

Pulitzer Prize winning tax reporter, David Cay Johnston, has written a brilliant piece for tax.com exposing the truth about who really pays for the pension and benefits for public employees in Wisconsin. Gov. Scott Walker says he wants state workers covered by collective bargaining agreements to “contribute more” to their pension and health insurance plans. Accepting Gov. Walker’ s assertions as fact, and failing to check, creates the impression that somehow the workers are getting something extra, a gift from taxpayers. They are not. Out of every dollar that funds Wisconsin’ s pension and health insurance plans for state workers,...

Schooled in Wisconson! The truth behind the protests.

It worked well for the unions so long as Democrats controlled most state houses and governors' offices, but with the 2010 election producing huge gains for Republicans, the chickens are coming home to roost. In Wisconsin, newly elected Gov. Scott Walker wants teachers in the state to start contributing to their pensions and pay a larger share of their health insurance costs to help close a $3.6 billion budget deficit. But he also wants to rein in the power of the unions by limiting their collective bargaining rights and the state's obligation to collect union dues. A similar battle is...

The main reason why so many state and local governments are bankrupt, or on the verge of bankruptcy, is the combination of government-run monopolies and government-employee unions. Government-employee unions have vastly more power than do private-sector unions because the entities they work for are typically monopolies. When the employees of a grocery store, for example, go on strike and shut down the store, consumers can simply shop elsewhere, and the grocery-store management is perfectly free to hire replacement workers. In contrast, when a city teachers' or garbage-truck drivers' union goes on strike, there is no school and no garbage collection...

One way or another, government employees must be weaned from their exorbitant defined-benefit pension plans. Those plans should be closed completely to new employees and frozen for current employees. Already-vested benefits cannot be touched, but all retirement benefits going forward ought to be accrued within a defined-contribution plan requiring employee contributions. Without depriving employees of any benefits they have earned to date, governments have to be able to amend the terms on which future benefits are earned. Tens of millions of Americans working in the private sector—including many belonging to labor unions—know from first-hand experience that the terms and conditions...

Physician actions as reported unacceptable Statement attributable to Timothy Bartholow, MD, Senior Vice President of Member Services, Policy Planning and Physician Professional Development Madison, Wis. (February 21, 2011) – The Wisconsin Medical Society was notified during the weekend that physicians may have been writing work excuses for people attending rallies at the state Capitol in a manner that is not consistent with acceptable medical practices. If these reports are accurate, the Society does not condone these actions under any circumstances. We are aware that the Wisconsin Medical Examining Board, the entity that licenses and disciplines physicians, has received information about...