Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will be among friends today when he testifies before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Nearly half the Republican committee members receive funding from the notorious union-busters, Charles and David Koch. Three of the witnesses -- including Walker -- are supported by the Kochs.
Walker will present the fiction that he solved a budget problem by stripping government workers of their collective bargaining rights.
We've all heard Walker's fantasies before. They're an attempt to disguise the ugly reality that he's doing the bidding of the billionaires and CEOs who fund his political ambitions. They want two things: more for themselves and less for workers.
The truth is that Scott Walker doesn't have a clue how to create jobs, and he has no intention of doing it.
His fellow Koch-ticians are all in on the game. They won't ask Walker why Wisconsin was projected to have a budget surplus when he took office. It was only after Walker rammed through corporate tax breaks that the budget was projected to be in deficit.
The Koch-funded committee members sure won't ask him about killing 20,000 government jobs through his budget cuts -- or the 9,900 private sector jobs that will also be lost because of reduced economic activity in Wisconsin.
And they won't say a word about the high-speed rail project that Walker pulled the plug on, along with 15,000 jobs that go along with it.
Walker's attacks on workers put $47 million of federal transit funding at risk in Wisconsin because bus systems must maintain the collective bargaining rights in place when they first received federal funds.
He gave back $23 million to the federal government, money that was to expand high-speed Internet in Wisconsin. It would have been used in libraries and schools and to improve police, fire and hospital communications in rural areas.
Walker's testimony will be pure political theater, bought and paid for by the Koch brothers.
Follow James P. Hoffa on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TeamsterPower
I am a middle class private sector worker and know all public funds to pay public salaries come from taxation. Simply, the bigger the government the bigger the taxes we all pay. This in turn gives the people less money to spend and this in turn slows economic activity.
I know the private sector middle class is supposed to believe the wealthy will be taxed to pay for government cost, but reality is most of the cost is paid by the middle class.
The recession has decimated the private sector and caused the public sector to lose revenue, and public union resolve is to tax the private sector more.
I can only fight you with my vote.
The rank and file have no power and are too fearful to complain.
The article is a good one and factual. We need more like it.
And some of you people are defending this man. Where is your common sense? You would rather see 45 thousand people out of work, trying to scrounge around for food on the table and a roof over their kids head, than have a job with a paycheck. Are you kidding me. This is your Godly view of your neighbor and compassion for another human being. Whats mine is mine and whats yours will be mine to. Someday you will have to answer for your greed.
As you said: one wants everyone to have a living wage and the other wants all the wages of the living.
Your describe the fundamental difference perfectly. Thanks
Sorry, not buying that crap.
FriendofAthena:love your writing keep up the good work!
if republicans are "Knee deep" in Koch money!
then democrats are"toe deep" in Union money!
Clearly, Walker is a dirt bag, doing dirt bag moves. No honor. No integrity. Nothing I respect whatsoever.
All of the facts are clearly against Walkers argument.
Yet. Middle Class Americans will still claim that Unions are bad. It's outrageous.
The fact is if you earn less than 149,999 / yr. You are getting screwed.
205 Million voting Americans have been getting the shaft for 30 years.
They only want to break the unions so they can screw you harder.
Wake up brothers and sisters. You are being played.
It is an irrefutable fact.
Then these lobbyist write the legislation that their pet legislators propose....
Most of your premise is nonsensical talking points, the reason states have financial troubles is the shrinking revenue base due to unemployment and the housing bubble lowering the value of homes, while foreclosures lower the value of surrounding homes; on top of the corporate tax cuts, credits and benefits offered......
Walker was handed a surplus, that he gave away as tax breaks to his donors companies......
THIS IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!!!
Really? Because it seems like an subjective statement. If you're progressive, then you believe in the rights of the modern worker, don't you? Shouldn't you agree then that the average worker should have the choice to decide whether or not they want to belong to a union? That's what part of Walker's budget repair bill did, it allowed the freedom of the public worker to decide whether or not they want to join a union.
In effect, it makes the union leaders accountable for their actions in standing up for the worker. Whether you choose to believe it or not, there are union bosses who collect money and do nothing for the people working underneath them. When a worker feels the union no longer is in their best interest, they could leave. Is this not giving voice to the average American public union worker?