Strained States Turning to Laws to Curb Labor Unions

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

Faced with growing budget deficits and restive taxpayers, elected officials from Maine to Alabama, Ohio to Arizona, are pushing new legislation to limit the power of labor unions, particularly those representing government workers, in collective bargaining and politics.

State officials from both parties are wrestling with ways to curb the salaries and pensions of government employees, which typically make up a significant percentage of state budgets. On Wednesday, for example, New York’s new Democratic governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, is expected to call for a one-year salary freeze for state workers, a move that would save $200 million to $400 million and challenge labor’s traditional clout in Albany.

But in some cases — mostly in states with Republican governors and Republican statehouse majorities — officials are seeking more far-reaching, structural changes that would weaken the bargaining power and political influence of unions, including private sector ones.

For example, Republican lawmakers in Indiana, Maine, Missouri and seven other states plan to introduce legislation that would bar private sector unions from forcing workers they represent to pay dues or fees, reducing the flow of funds into union treasuries. In Ohio, the new Republican governor, following the precedent of many other states, wants to ban strikes by public school teachers.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/business/04labor.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

---

In my state (California) even Jerry Brown had to run on a platform of pension reform in order to appease voters (Brown is mentioned later in this article). This is America now: the wealthy get two more years of tax cuts, yet the working class gets kicked to the curb at every opportunity. How would you resolve the budget deficits instead if you were governor?

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. What needs to happen cannot politically

Tax hikes...especially for the top two percent...

The math just don't work, and they are setting the stage for dramatic civil unrest.

[cyclezealot]

2. activism I say

When Sarkozy tried to raise the retirement age 2 years.. a plague of national strikes shut down airspace. Refinery workers shut down gasoline supplies.. The Americans are just chumps.. If they let the politicians /business kick dirt in their faces without complaint- what do you expect

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. I know and it will happen

But first people need to break from deep social conditioning.

[Imajika]

8. Sarkozy succeeded in raising the retirement age...

The unions in France completely failed.

Your example leaves out the fact that the unions put it all on the line and lost - badly.

In fact, the unions in Europe have fought austerity all across the continent and basically lost everywhere. Perhaps US unions have read the writing on the wall, realize mass mobilization like that won't work at this time, and have chosen a different approach.

[rpannier]

3. We've about reached the point where that is the only thing that will get their attention

As has been pointed out by several people, nost legislation that gets passed that benefits the masses, gets passed when the political and economic elites are scared of the possibilities

[iamtechus]

5. Bring it on!

[Solly Mack]

6. k/r

[LawnKorn]

7. This about sums it up: "Republican statehouse majorities — officials are seeking more far-reaching"

The voters were stupid enough to vote in the Tea Party Republicans, against their own best interests, and now are going to suffer the consequences.

People just don't get it. Republicans are the party of the rich, for the rich, and sell their services to the highest bidder. Ordinary working people are much better off voting for a Democrat over a Republican any day.

:banghead:

[NeoConsSuck]

9. Strained States Turning to Laws to Curb Labor Unions

Source: NY Times

Faced with growing budget deficits and restive taxpayers, elected officials from Maine to Alabama, Ohio to Arizona, are pushing new legislation to limit the power of labor unions, particularly those representing government workers, in collective bargaining and politics.

State officials from both parties are wrestling with ways to curb the salaries and pensions of government employees, which typically make up a significant percentage of state budgets. On Wednesday, for example, New York’s new Democratic governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, is expected to call for a one-year salary freeze for state workers, a move that would save $200 million to $400 million and challenge labor’s traditional clout in Albany.

But in some cases — mostly in states with Republican governors and Republican statehouse majorities — officials are seeking more far-reaching, structural changes that would weaken the bargaining power and political influence of unions, including private sector ones.

For example, Republican lawmakers in Indiana, Maine, Missouri and seven other states plan to introduce legislation that would bar private sector unions from forcing workers they represent to pay dues or fees, reducing the flow of funds into union treasuries. In Ohio, the new Republican governor, following the precedent of many other states, wants to ban strikes by public school teachers.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/business/04labor.html?_r=1&hp

[sarcasmo]

10. It was never just about teachers and has always been about destroying the unions.

[defendandprotect]

40. Exactly ....in our town for decades they've been using lawyers to union bust ....

We also get into the Luddite kind of argument, as well, as people are replaced

by machines -- i.e., in our town, they've been attacking police and their union

for more than 20 years. Result is we have new traffic lights and fewer police.

Traffic thru town is slow as molasses.

[RandomThoughts]

11. It seems they really don't like unions.

If they think unions are corrupt, they should do legal procedures. It seems they don't like the concept of unions.

What is the 'concept' of unions that they don't like.

Organized people?


I seen a few successful strikes. So it can't be only a claim of corruption, and if it was they should take a legal route not a subversive route.

I think it is about trying to control the labor force. And just be able to set wages by edict, I think that is there goal.

[RKP5637]

13. Same thoughts here ... it's about complete denomination and control of the entire

labor force of the US, and bringing all wages down to the lowest global common denominator wage. As you said, "And just be able to set wages by edict."

[mrmpa]

60. letter to editor/published this past Sunday

this is a link to a letter I had published on Sunday union and global wages

http://blogs.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/opinion/open-letters/24181-have-decent-working-conditions-thank-unions

[RKP5637]

68. Great letter! I think many Americans today have absolutely no idea that

what benefits they have were brought to them by the unions many of them disdain.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

73. It's just as much about cutting off funding for the left. nt

[RKP5637]

75. Yep!!! n/t

[xchrom]

12. recommend

[hayu_lol]

14. Lets attack instead...

all bankers, investment bankers, stockbrokers, CEOs of all corporations for the outlandish bonuses they pay themselves.

Working people have a right to a living wage.

[whathehell]

15. "Working People have a Right to a Living Wage"..Yes..it's the key to a Middle Class

and a Middle Class has always had to be fought for.

The era of strong unions in this country just happens to coincide with the era of the LARGEST Middle Class the world has ever seen...Want a "two tier society" instead of a strong middle class? Eliminate Unions.

[quaker bill]

16. Yes, it is coming

but it will help no one. The point of diminishing returns was reached long ago, if there were ever any returns on this notion at all. At this point, making more people somewhat poorer will do the expected, create a more impoverished society.

Salaries, pensions, and benefits, public or private, were never the cause of the problem, to the extent a problem ever existed. Causing public and private compensation and benefits to fall through free trade and union busting has brought about the decline we are currently attempting to live through.

With the well known productivity increases over the last 40 years, there is no inherent reason why a single income should not be sufficient to support a household, as it was in the 1950s. The reason is that the additional wealth created by increased productivity does not leave the board room and is no longer shared with the workers who produce it.

Taxes, regulation, salaries, and benefits have nothing to do with any of the economic problems, and changes to this end of the equation will provide no economic gains. They are simply no longer a large enough factor to impact business decisions, all rumors to the contrary aside. Raising the wage scale for all jobs, public and private, on the other hand would cause the economy to take off like a rocket. It might be slightly inflationary, but there are copious unused monetary tools available to deal with this should it arise. A bit of inflation would be a good thing, and the only path to get back to anything approaching full employment this decade.

[primavera]

35. +1

[old mark]

17. The right hates all unions because we traditionally support the left

throughout our history. Unions raised mailions of dollars for Democratic candidates in '08 and again in '10, and the GOP ls seizing high unemployment to break ALL unions.

It is all a grab for power and a move to further split the Democratic party and what remains of the left in the US.

It has NOTHING to do with jobs or rights - it is about money and power.

K&R

Mark
Former AFSCME Steward

[Yupster]

44. I think you have it right

Unions are the footsoldiers of the Democratic election machine and a good portion of its bankroll too.

Unions are very partisan each election and make no bones about it.

I don't think there's a lot of surprise that they will be targeted should the other side ever win -- and who would have thought -- the other side won.

[old mark]

58. Yeah, who would have thought - they got tons of money from the PACS

and from foreigners to do it, too...


mark

[Swagman]

18. my union convener grandfather always said fight, fight ,fight

and never give up the fight because they will always try and take away the gains. Always.

[RoccoR5955]

19. We need unions ESPECIALLY now...

and the Corporatists want to get rid of them, so that they can treat their workers more like shit!

[postalanthrax]

20. The Race To The Bottom.

When both political party's harm the private work-force's ability to organize.

When both political party's collude with corporations to ship jobs overseas that pay a living wage.

When the private workforce is left with menial jobs that pay starvation wages.

This is what you get. Internecene class warfare and a race to the bottom.

NAFTA and all its other alphabet soup scams that benefit the investor class and destroy the middle class are what's killing this country.

I wonder if the elites in the US understand how this all ends. When people are desperate, they do desperate things.

[Blue_Tires]

76. welcome to the site!

[Still a Democrat]

21. Democrats are rightfully joining the call for shared sacrifice

Unions are a good thing, but there's also the concept of shared sacrifice.

If we attempt to totally isolate public workers from the economic downturn, that will ultimately breed resentment and undermine the concept of public unions. Political support for them would wane. In many cases, the unions have wisely cooperated.

[w4rma]

23. I'll agree when the very wealthy and the very large corporations are sharing the sacrifice.

Because right now all of this looks like a con game designed to help them loot and steal from the rest of us.

[blackspade]

31. So, to share the 'sacrifice'..

Public employees should fall on their swords?
The average public employee doesn't make jack crap.
The managers and division heads are the ones that make the most money, and that is not a whole lot compared to the equivilent private sector job.
Having been in both the public and private sector job market, I'll tell you that the money and benefits that state workers get has severely eroded in the last 20 years.
The media memo that public employees are living high on the hog is a lie.

[defendandprotect]

33. ... Obama "joined the call for shared sacrifice" by pushing tax cuts for the rich?

Public understands need to tax the rich --

and to begin to limit the military -- we can save 28% of our military budget

immediately by merging the services.

It is not labor and its unionization which should be taken down, it is the

elite desire to harvest slave labor all over the planet --

[Capitalocracy]

48. And in other news, two wrongs now make a right.

Shared sacrifice my ass. Why is it shared sacrifice when we all get screwed, but the rich just keep getting richer?

If we isolate unions from the economic downturn, it will prove that people will be better off if they unionize. Of course, if they capitulate, it will prove the contrary, and lead to further public resentment against them. A lot of people don't like unions because they think they're corrupt and don't actually fight for the workers.

We need to make sure as many workers as possible are earning a living wage. If you are willing to throw union workers under the bus just so that they join the rest of us in our general slide into abject poverty, you're going the wrong way.

[liberation]

53. "Joining a call" is easy, it is the "joining the sacrifice" that is the hard part...

it seems you are claiming that it is OK to play with people's livelihoods in order cater to politics.

[tomg]

57. "Shared sacrifice" =

the corporatists sacrifice the middle class and the poor and then they share with each other what they steal.

[Name removed]

69. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Populist_Prole]

22. This is more of a corporate media stunt by the NYT

While labor, especially organized labor is hated by the GOP and disdained by many Dems, and it's popular for teabaggers to rail against government employees now during budgetary crises, this piece is reaching. Reaching in that they're implying an organized alliance of like minded types to enact some sort of program aimed at unions.

I think this is a case of the NYT "priming the pump" by being corporate/ anti-labor shills by implying this in an effort to embolden the plutocracy...jump on a bandwagon of the corporate media's making.

[Iggo]

24. Gawd forbid they tax the rich. (n/t)

[EnviroBat]

25. God forbid these morons tax anybody.

Here in Ohio, the repukes are already soiling themselves over the "difficult decisions" that must be made to balance the 8 - 10 billion $ defect. The truth is, they can't WAIT to fire as many State employees as they can conceivably get away with. Rather than raise taxes a bit, they would rather see millions more unemployed. They operate under some really fucked up logic. I am seeing them as "the enemy", now more than ever.

[Iggo]

34. It's 'cause they don't work for us anymore.

Tragically simple logic, actually.

[femrap]

45. Also here in

Dumfukistan, the former state of Ohio....I found it so true to the repugnant ideals that Kasich wouldn't allow the 14,000 of Child Care workers and Home Aides to the elderly to unionize.

As far as I'm concerned the work that these people provide to the future generation and to the generation who has worked and now requires a helping hand should be valued higher than that of a heartless banker. PRIORITIES. And let's be realistic as well, most of the Child Care workers and Home Aides are pink collar....so naturally Kasich believes their value is LESS.

I detest this waste of human flesh...Kasich is a mere shell of a human.

And now that he refuses to live in the Governor's Mansion, we, the pathetic taxpayer, have to pay for all his security details and installed equipment at his home by Hoover Dam.

All I gotta say is I hope we can get the Child Care workers and Home Aides out to his house for a nice Protest. Aren't all these pro-life idiots wanting these children to be cared for....or was their care only for fetuses? And the elderly....don't they deserve a Care Giver who has a living wage?

We are a 3rd World Nation.

And it has been the STATES who have NOT funded these Pensions. Why? Because Wall Street put them in horrid investments....that's why.

The Banksters deserve Jail!

[dotymed]

26. Mr. Obvious.

It is the wealthy who have bought the legislators and have been allowed to not pay their share of taxes, that is the problem.
Obama said one of his main goals was to increase the availability of Unions to all employees....
Union members not paying dues? Get real. Unions can not exist without funding, think they know that? Welcome to total serfdom 3.0......all for the wealthy, nothing for the worker (slave).

[Nordmadr]

27. Our leaders have decided to go with the China government

structure. It just takes time to implement.

[femrap]

47. I did read yesterday that

the Chinese gov't raised the minimum wage in Beijing 20.8%! The peasants are getting restless. Food prices have skyrocketed in China and many a Bubble exists.

Workers of the World Unite!

[sulphurdunn]

28. Public employee fat cats

“We can no longer live in a society where the public employees are the haves and taxpayers who foot the bills are the have-nots,”

Everyone knows that public employees comprise the wealthiest 1% of the population. They were the bejeweled guests at George W. Bush's inaugural ball, the people he refereed to as "...the haves and the have mores, My base".

They are the greedy incompetents who run Wall Street and control Washington, and they are apparently out to get themselves.

[Odin2005]

29. Fuck.

Grr:

[blackspade]

30. The whole point is...

To destroy unions, period.
Unions are the counterbalance to out of control politicians and their corporate masters.
Unions provide a platform for workers to collectively have the same clout and power as the monied interests in this country.
Unfortunately, over the last 40 years, the media and their corporate owners along with bought and paid for politicians have pushed a message that unions are corrupt, and do not actually represent the workers of this nation.
In other words, a blatant lie.

The rethugs especially, along with their Democratic enablers have systematically isolated the American worker, creating a situation that promotes fear and distrust for fellow employees.
This undermines collective bargaining and create tension between employment sectors.
I for one will always honor picket lines and support strikes even if it means some pain on my part because a successful strike ultimately benefits all workers.

[defendandprotect]

32. "All that does harm to labor is treason" -- Abe Lincoln

[SteppingRazor]

36. Modern unions need to start taking some lessons from their forebearers.

When the labor movement started, workers had no right to strike. They did it anyway. They occupied offices and factories and would not leave until they got what they wanted. If the unions take these changes lying down, they deserve everything they get.

[defendandprotect]

41. Agree -- except no one deserves to be enslaved or dominated by anyone else ....

[SteppingRazor]

43. Granted. But to quote Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven:

"Deserve's got nothing to do with it."

Labor was not given everything they have today by magnanimous business owners. The workers took what was rightfully theirs. I agree no one deserves to be exploited -- my previous post overreached a bit -- but I also think it's pretty tough to feel sympathy for folks who eat the shit sandwiches handed down to them, no questions asked.

[defendandprotect]

54. Well, that's simply more "blame the victim" ---

The attacks on unions were done over decades -- not only by corrupt US government

but by using lawyers to delay and undermine union regulations, demands -- and

by using MAFIA to infiltrate and corrupt unions and to destroy them.

Granted, Americans still seem to be naive about all of this -- and they do need their

BS meters turned up waaaay higher.

But capitalism is suicidal in its exploitations of nature and humans -- that's where

our problems lie --

Many men have accepted situations -- as many women have -- they wouldn't have dreamed

of accepting -- but have done it to keep their families going.

[SteppingRazor]

65. I really agree with your assessment, both of the status quo and capitalism in general.

I guess I'm just saying that, at some point, you've got to stop letting the bosses have their way.

[defendandprotect]

70. ... but at what point ... when losing your job means YOUR family doesn't eat ....

or when you're telling the guy next to you to face down the boss

and Oops! the next week his family isn't eating?

FDR said this ... "you can't sell democracy to necessitous people" --



Necessitous | Define Necessitous at Dictionary.com
–adjective 1. destitute or impoverished; needy; indigent: to aid a necessitous young mother. 2. being essential or unavoidable: a necessitous discharge of ...
dictionary.reference.com/browse/necessitous - Cached

necessitous - Definition of necessitous at YourDictionary.com
adjective. in great need; destitute; needy; that is necessary or essential; calling for action; urgent
www.yourdictionary.com/necessitous - Cached

Necessitous Synonyms, Necessitous Antonyms | Thesaurus.com
adjective: poor. Synonyms: bad off, bankrupt, beggared, beggarly, behind eight ball ... adjective: down and out; wanting. Synonyms: bankrupt, beggared, bereft ...
thesaurus.com/browse/necessitous - Cached

[SteppingRazor]

74. But by your logic, fear stops anyone from doing anything, and we all remain cogs in a system...

bent on our exploitation.

The point of a union is collective action. You're looking at class struggle on an individual basis, but it makes no sense on that basis. The point is not whether one person or another will risk his or her job to maintain and even expand the rights of workers. The point is whether most workers will stand together in a struggle against the lampreys at the top.

You'll hear people dismiss such a notion as "class warfare," but, as long as we're quoting folks, I'd point out the words of Warren Buffett, who said in a NY Times article a couple of years ago, "There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

There is already a war on the poor and the middle class. Doing nothing only means that, in the long run, the poor and middle class lose. It's tantamount to standing in an open battlefield before a machine gun nest.

(Also, there's really no need to supply me with the definition of "necessitous." Words are my trade.)

[defendandprotect]

77. Just caught this late ... but think we're pretty much in agreement ....

Love "Norma Rae" -- and I thought a very fair depiction of what it all means

on the individual basis -- both trying to unionize and living without unions.

And what it means to the multiple families when they do succeed.

Looking back we can see the ill effects of working conditions in creating stress

and ill health -- and here we are again today moving backwards in many ways into

those conditions, while so many have no health care coverage.

Nice post ... and do get all your points ---

FDR made the comment about fear -- and it meant a great deal to people at the time --

to AAs and to Jews in a broader sense -- and he offered protection to those who were

trying to unionize.

All I was trying to say is that there is a certain responsibility that has to be in

play in recognizing what it means to get fired for trying to unionize a factory. How much

it helps to be in this position with other workers -- in fact, with having community support

for unionizing. And remembering what it means to be jobless.

And, truly, elites/corporates count on FEAR being effective.

Essentially, I agree with you overall. :)


PS:

And just came to recognize this as I was typing those comments about "community" --

Oddly enough, I think that "community support" is one of the first things that the elites

saw they had to work on -- and disconnected. Don't know how the first attacks on it began,

but always the "digs" about having to pay for the right to work. By the time we got to the

CONTROLLERS' strike, however, they had fairly well undermined public support for strikes!

And the controller's were striking for safety regulations, if I recall correctl y?





But by your logic, fear stops anyone from doing anything, and we all remain cogs in a system...
Posted by SteppingRazor
bent on our exploitation.

The point of a union is collective action. You're looking at class struggle on an individual basis, but it makes no sense on that basis. The point is not whether one person or another will risk his or her job to maintain and even expand the rights of workers. The point is whether most workers will stand together in a struggle against the lampreys at the top.

You'll hear people dismiss such a notion as "class warfare," but, as long as we're quoting folks, I'd point out the words of Warren Buffett, who said in a NY Times article a couple of years ago, "There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

There is already a war on the poor and the middle class. Doing nothing only means that, in the long run, the poor and middle class lose. It's tantamount to standing in an open battlefield before a machine gun nest.

(Also, there's really no need to supply me with the definition of "necessitous." Words are my trade.)

[certainot]

37. the local limbaugh megastations will lead the attack and i have

no idea why labor unions and progressive groups allow those stations to attack them and lie about them all day long without a single protest or complaint to their local sponsors.

OK, maybe there was one protest at a CA RW radio station that i heard of where a latino group's protest led to a retreat by repub politicians on some regressive legislation. it worked. it should be happening all over the country- those are the GOP power centers- where the heavy lifting repetition is done on all their obstruction and misinformation.

[Speciesamused]

38. Too bad "We the people" cannot afford a lobbyist.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_35L759gCLTI/SwTm8f4VNwI/AAAAAAAABWY/rzcKinrSlL0/s1600/typical+american+politician.gif

[blondeatlast]

64. I've often thought of starting a campaign of single dollar contributions to buy a lobbyist.

How far would $250 million go in DC?

Okay, maybe $5... (siiiiigh...)

[grahamhgreen]

39. This is so ass-backwards. Decreasing wages means a decrease in tax revenues.

[mikeburetta]

42. the missing media piece

Has anyone noticed in all this clamor about "government workers" and "unions" that the missing piece in news about unemployment is that private sector jobs continue to grow but public sector jobs continue to drop. From the sounds of panic in the media about all this you would figure that government hiring n spending would be going bonkos. States ARE cutting back, the fed is cutting back yet the mantra of "spoiled government workers that are taking your money" keeps getting the air waves. Rather than stand for everyone getting a decent wage n compensation the divide and conqueror strategy continues prodding the policy of less is better for public sector workers all-ways. How long will it be before the new mantra is over payed us workers in general are "destroying our economy" and the only way to compete in a global economy is to make all our wages equivalent to the most underdeveloped country in the world.

[patrice]

51. All as the private=protected hiring hegemony grows stronger built on the backs of those doing

the actual value-adding work, and more of it with less resources.

Just ask any administrative assistant.

:hi: Welcome to DU mikeburetta! :hi:

[Capitalocracy]

46. OK, you can ban unions from requiring dues.

You also have to ban corporations from requiring buying stock to be considered a voting member of the corporation.

[blondeatlast]

66. What's good for the goose--yup. nt

[midnight]

49. The laws to curb banking misconduct should of been kept in place,

and not laws to curb labor unions.... Faulty thinking.....

[Jefferson23]

50. The kill the union brigade. n/t

[newspeak]

52. some of these states are "right to work states"

has nothing to do with unions. These "right to work" states are also in trouble. It's more about the housing bubble, deregulating wallstreet, and some states' governments, like Florida, screwing with their pension fund. Remember Florida investing in Enron?

So, now they're using labor as the newest excuse for corruption. How many Americans are going to buy into the shite and attack their own when we know who is really to blame? And, those who have greatly contributed to this mess have major influence in our government still. How many are making economic decisions who have a direct link to Goldman Sachs?

[blondeatlast]

67. Yep, AZ's been a RTBe Ripped Off state for as long as I can remember and we are hurting badly. nt

[HardWorkingDem]

55. Here's a dirty secret about some people in unions....

Some people in unions actually HATE them and would gladly like a law enacted where they did not have to pay dues.

It is a sad fact some of these people would cut their noses off to spite their faces and fail to see the good things being in a union does and refuse to acknowledge things like the 8hr work day or the wages and benefits they get from these organizations. Sometimes you wish they still had to buy crap from the company store so they'd get the idea.

[newspeak]

56. yeah, well hubby worked as a manager in one of those "right to work states"

Limpballs listening, I've got mine, anti-union employees until the corporation was going to shaft those loyal workers--the "union" workers in the corporation in the other states were getting their increase, but not those loyal anti-union employees. They voted to join union very quickly.

[radhika]

59. It's really about enslaving the masses economically....

I am fascinated how everyday Americans jump on the UNIONS as the reason they face a declining standard of life. They are clearly ready to fix the blame for the disastrous economy on an organized group of workers, peers, public workers and neighbors just because they are part of a movement that lets them stand firm against the wage drain of global corporations, outsourced production and the new debt economy. They have actually come to view Wall Street billionaires and equity holders and the solution - and the workers as the problem.

I think we need a 12-Step program for Reality Avoiding Serf-aholics Anonymous. Only slightly kidding.

[Xicano]

61. TAKE NOTICE!

I know I'm preaching to the choir on this, but just a reminder. Remember folks this action by members of the government shows conspicuously who they represent. Notice that instead of taking action to tax corporate America or the top 5% where the vast majority of the wealth is concentrated, instead, they continue to attack working folks who have little to nothing. They're showing they have no problem reducing you from having to eat 99¢ chicken pot pies to dumpster diving to preserve the top 5% from having to pay anything close to their fair share.

Remember that next time when they want your vote, or your contribution, or your time to help them campaign.

n/t

[qb]

62. I wish I could change the laws when I have trouble meeting my financial obligations.

Unethical bastards.

Take it from me, a public employee: We're not overpaid.

[alp227]

63. dupe - i posted this story 3 hours before you, but an important story n/t

[KillCapitalism]

71. Yeah, union busting is the answer to balancing budgets.

:sarcasm:

Mismanagement of funds and spending like drunken sailors got the states into their economic woes. As recently as 2007, my state had a $60,000,000 budget surplus, now they are at least $500,000,000 in the red. How could that happen?

One thing is that a lot of states invested heavily into those Goldman Sachs funds tied to mortgage debt derivatives. They just didn't realize those funds were no better than a Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme.

[sweetapogee]

72. my company

My company has a facility in CA. I'm thinking about moving there from PA. Housing looks to be a problem though. Hard to give up 4 acres in the country for LA County. But, PA is fast becoming puke city and looking down the road I see no relief in sight. I just don't know what to do.