Governor Walker has already won in Wisconsin. It is all over but the shouting and the shouting is near the end. The fat lady may not be singing yet, but she is warming up in the wings. Notice how the Obama administration is trying to re-write history pretending they weren’t actively promoting the protestors:
The union bubble has burst and the collapse is going to be bigger than you can even imagine:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/49893_Page2.html
The unions will continue to put on a good show, because they have no other option. But sympathy demonstrations in New York and California aren’t going to have much impact on Wisconsin. The Governor is rock solid and so is the Republican legislature. It is really quite simple. Most of us, not employed by the state or federal government, have first-hand experience with the arrogance and incompetence of the bureaucracy. Combine that with the knowledge that they are making huge salaries, don’t have to pay for benefits, don’t have to contribute to their flush retirement accounts and can’t be fired and annoyance turns to resentment. Now fuel this with them calling in sick so they can scream and yell because they are being asked to accept a minimum cut in benefits, when a lost of people have been forced to cut their personal budget to the bone, and resentment turns to rage.
This was bound to happen. The union bubble was bigger than the housing bubble and it was just as economically unsustainable. The public sector unions thought this would last forever. They would just keep demanding more pay and benefits and their lackey politicians would just keep raising taxes. But the problem is that they ran out of people to tax. No one, and I mean no one, is even pretending that raising taxes is the solution to our financial problems. Even Governors like Brown are making significant cuts that would not have been considered just a few months ago. This is just like the housing bubble. Once you run out of buyers willing to pay inflated prices, the bubble will burst. Well state governments just stopped buying.
Senator Kohl, from Wisconsin is a liberal Democrat. He is also up for election in 2012. He did not exactly come out in support of the union protests. Instead he gave a marsh mellow middle of the road comment. Just a few months ago, Senator Kohl would have never risked losing union support. Now is he is at least equally concerned over being portrayed as too pro-union. It is a remarkable change of outlook.
Democratic politicians all over the country are questioning the value of the coveted union endorsement. Up until now, it was the only way to get elected in many states. By 2012, it may be the kiss of death. It is impossible to overstate the significance of the change. Not only are the unions rapidly losing political power, they are losing money. Prior to the Cheese State Rebellion unions could be counted on to pour millions of dollars into electing Democrats who supported their agenda. That worked for a long time. It even worked in California during the 2010 election. But, last summer the United States Supreme Court leveled the playing field by repealing portions of McCain – Feingold. Suddenly the business community had enough money available to fight back. This, in addition to the Tea Party involvement, is part of the reason for the amazing results of the 2010 mid-term elections.
So, just at a time when unions are taking it on the chin because of a declining economy, they are facing real competition from the Chamber of Commerce and the Tea Party; they get kicked to the curb by Governor Walker. For the public sector unions, this amounts to a perfect storm. We do not know the full amount of havoc that will result from this storm, but we know which way it is blowing and we know who is going to get hurt.
The Union bubble has burst. The decline will be more rapid and more complete than anyone thought possible. It’s a beautiful thing.
TDM
To all public emoleyeps, if you want your bennies, and pensions in full, go figure out how to sell all the bonded projects your elected leaders built thelast ten years or so at your expense. The lautenburg train depot, xanadu, SCC, prudential center, municipal grandstand buildings, etc, etc Illegally bonded projects to keep other unions happy for kick backs and such have to be paid somehow. No wonder tete is money for your interests. And the thing is since themajority of workers who receive their income via state/municipal union type contracts are the primary voters who religiously show up to vote for their immediate best interests. It us all yourown fault. Greedy selfish bastards.And don’t tell me how their spenders who keep the economy going, because generally, they’re the cheapest non american shoppers in the state.Goto the state government parking lots and public school parking lots and go see how many foreign cars they drive, they all shop at Walmart and would use cheap illegal labor rather than use a licensed and insured contractor who’s prices naturally have to be higher because if all the regulations they have to follow. Stop crying pussies, you made your bed, now lie in it, or lie on the unemployment line.
Maria. Good point. There is certainly a lot of hypocrisy here.
TDM