Politics
I was going to title this "Scott Walker Vs. The World", but it wouldn't have been appropriate.
Wisconsin governor Scott Walker is going after Wisconsin's public employee unions. The part that most interests me is not the cap on raises or the attempts to weaken the collective bargaining power of the unions, but the changes to public employee health insurance. Walkers plan will double the employee contribution toward health care premiums. That might help with budgeting in the short-term, but if premiums keep rising, Walker's plan only limits the state government's exposure.
Walker and Wisconsin might benefit from offering public employees at the state and municipal level an optional HSA/catastrophic coverage option like in Indiana. It will save Wisconsin money (it saves Indiana 11% in health insurance costs.) It will save the public employees money. Such a program might be even more attractive to public employees after the increase in their share of premium payments.
While good for Wisconsin, it would also be good for America. Institutions create interests. Public employees with HSA/catastrophic coverage will have a stake in preventing their plans from becoming illegal under Obamacare. US health care politics is a race between those who want to centrally ration all care and those who want empowered consumers choosing between competing providers. Don't just go after the benefits of public employees. Restructure their benefits so that on one issue at least, they end up on the side of market-oriented reformism. We need all the help we can get.
I think the lesson here, when this is coupled with the story David is covering, is that conservatives are pushing change far beyond where they have public support – which creates an great opportunity for push back. In fact, while this may be an extreme case, most of the agenda is pretty unpopular. The lack of push back has made them arrogant. If you could create these sort of protests everywhere, I suspect the public would rise up against the TP. Question is, how do you create it?
Please rise up all over the country. Then maybe the Stupid State (California) that I live in will get the message and help themselves. I can only image (like John Lennon's song) that maybe one day California will no longer be the laughing stock of the nation.
Okay - just saw some pictures and videos of the protests by the Union Thugs in Wisconsin. Where is Scanlon - I would really love to hear his take on the incivility taking place there by the Obama's beloved unions. There are Hitler signs, signs with guns talking about reloading, etc, etc.
Scanlon - please enthall us with your acumen and dump truck load of links on this one. Can't wait.
It's time we addressed the elephant in the room:
Fact: persons of color often find opportunity in public service.
Fact: disenfranchising public servants disproportionately harms persons of color
Question: How do you spell KKK? GOP.
Mr. "Justice," you can take your "social justice" BS and file it under "high sounding crap that no longer works." The race card just no longer works as well as it did, and high time.
This is very simple -- no public sector worker should be allowed to unionize. Who are they organizing against? The "people," for crying out loud. To make matters much, much worse, these public sector employees have a guaranteed legal monopoly on their "industry." This is a recipe for abuse and ultimate system collapse, and we are beginning to see that system unravel.
So let 'em "push back." I'm thinking we can easily win this one, particularly if we frame the rhetoric correctly. I'm thinking the we begin to call taxpayers "milk cows" for the public unions, focus on the lousy job they do, and note how much better off they are than most working stiffs.
Governor Walker, show us the way!