Wisconsin: The First Stop in An American Uprising?

[Dan Moadus]

We don't have to Dennis, we sent our representatives last November.

[irishbobcat]

when thousands of your neo-con friends show up in Columbus to support SB 5....call me.....

[Dan Moadus]

You must have overlooked the million conservatives who marched in D.C. in 2009, and the hundreds of thousands there last year. Apparently you missed the message sent last November as well. Stay tuned though.

[irishbobcat]

tell that to the 70,000 rallying in Wisconsin....and the thousands that will be in Columbus....

[Dan Moadus]

Sorry Dennis, but the old "Neo Cons are just a bunch of greedy mean people" refrain has been run into the ground. People easily see though it. That's why your bankrupt leftist philosophy has been rejected by the voters and taxpayers.

[irishbobcat]

But Dan, you want to destroy the middle class lifestyle for public employees.....

instead of helping people, you want to hurt them.....the GOP neo-con Mantra......

[Dan Moadus]

Dennis while there are many people in the private sector who are not able to live a middle class life style, I have yet to meet a single public sector employee who doesn't.

[irishbobcat]

Again, Dan, you support the lifestyles of the rich......

yet you refuse to allow middle class union members lead a middle class lifestyle....

Bet you even said "let them eat cake" in another life.....

[Dan Moadus]

You know Dennis, when I worked at Lordstown our union reps used to like to do just what you're trying to do. They constantly reminded us that the CEO made a hundred times what we made. It occurred to me though, that the CEO of General Motors actually knew what he was worth because his job was open to the market. At any time, he could be fired if the company found someone who could do his job as good, for less. We, on the other hand, would never think of opening up our jobs to the market place, so we never could say that we were being paid what we were worth in the eyes of the company.

[irishbobcat]

You call that high off the hog? Please.....

Again,  what about your greedy Neo-con CEO's lifestyles, perks, and benefits?

Talk about Hog Heaven......

[Dan Moadus]

They don't? Let's see, 5 weeks vacation, 15 paid sick days, 4 personal days off.  Saying that you're retiring, so that you can collect your pension while your still working. Retiring at 50 years old. Not too shabby I'd say.

[irishbobcat]

Public employees have never lived high off the hog, Dan.....

only in your dreams.....

Only your neo-con CEO's truely live high off the hog......

[Dan Moadus]

Are these people idiots or what? "The uprising that swept Tunisia, Egypt, and parts of Europe is showing signs of blossoming across the United States." Can you imagine that they actually are trying to draw comparisons to life here in the United States to life in Egypt. 

These Marxist groups had better wake up before they really provoke the ire of the taxpayers.  It doesn't occur to these nut jobs that the only people in an uproar are the public employees, and their unions. No one else is being affected by the proposed actions of these Republican governors. Most people recognize that the public employees have been living pretty high on the hog for many years, and have just about picked the taxpayers dry.

I'm sure thousands of Americans are going to take to the streets because the poor teachers are going to have to pay 10 percent of their heathcare. The very same people who for the most part have no pensions, but are being asked to contribute more to those who do. What a hoot.

This doesn't surprise me though. These people are the same anti war anti American crowds that tried to stir up a revolution in the sixties. They'd be better off dusting off their bongs for a few tokes, and forgetting about it.

[irishbobcat]

Wisconsin: The First Stop in An American Uprising?
Friday 18 February 2011

by: Sarah van Gelder  |  Yes! Magazine

The uprising that swept Tunisia, Egypt, and parts of Europe is showing signs of blossoming across the United States.
In Wisconsin, public employees and their supporters are drawing the line at Governor Scott Walker's plan to eliminate collective bargaining and unilaterally cut benefits. School teachers, university students, firefighters, and others descended on the capital in the tens of thousands, and even the Superbowl champion Green Bay Packers have weighed in against the bill. Protests against similar anti-union measures are ramping up in Ohio.
Meanwhile, another protest movement aimed at protecting the poor and middle class is in the works. Cities around the country are preparing for a February 26 Day of Action, "targeting corporate tax dodgers."
Learning from the UK
The strategy picks up on the UK Uncut campaign, begun when  a group at a London pub—a firefighter, a nurse, a student, and others—came up with an idea that is part flash mob, part sit-in. In an article published in the Nation, reporter Johann Hari tells the story of the group's frustration about government cutbacks. If Vodafone, one corporation with a huge back-tax bill, paid up, the cutbacks wouldn't be needed. The group spread the word over social media, and held loud, impolite demonstrations. The idea quickly went viral, and flash mobs/sit-ins materialized at retail outlets across Britain, shutting many of them down.
Now, a US Uncut group has formed and announced a February 26 Day of Action here to coincide with UK Uncut's planned protests on the same day. Already, a dozen local events are planned. Some groups are keeping quiet about their targets, but several are targeting Bank of America. The goal, according to a statement on the US Uncut website, is "to draw attention to the fact that Bank of America received $45 billion in government bailout funds while funneling its tax dollars into 115 offshore tax havens [...] And to highlight the fact that the poor and middle class are now paying for this largess through drastic government cuts."
The Politics of Class Warfare
Across the country, the poor and middle class have suffered from the economic collapse: jobs disappeared, mortgages sank underneath debt, and opportunities for a college education evaporated. Much of the bailout that was supposed to fix the economy went to the very institutions that caused the collapse. Many of these institutions are now using tax loopholes and offshore tax shelters to avoid paying taxes.
The poor and middle class, those who didn't cause the collapse but have felt the most pain from the poor economy, are now being asked to sacrifice again.It took some time for a political response to coalesce. The Tea Party movement was able to direct discontent away from the Wall Street titans who brought the economy to its knees. Funding from the Koch brothers' petro-fortune along with fawning attention from Fox News helped get the libertarian movement off the ground. But progressives remained fragmented and few built active, organized bases. Many waited for President Obama to act.
The tide may now be turning. Inspired by people-power movements around the world, people in the United States are beginning push back. The poor and middle class, those who didn't cause the collapse but have felt the most pain from the poor economy, are now being asked to sacrifice again.
Politicians are scurrying to cut spending, but fewer than one in five Americans say the federal  budget deficit is their chief worry about the economy, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center; 44 percent say they're most worried about jobs. Polls show that Americans also want spending for education, investment in infrastructure, and environmental protection. Yet spending in all these areas is up for drastic cuts in state and federal budgets.
Likewise, on the tax side, 59 percent of Americans opposed extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest, according to a Bloomberg poll. Congress cut the taxes anyway, and the package will cost $800 billion over just two years.
Until now, polls have been one of the few places where anger at government policies that favor the rich while cutting service to the middle-class has been visible. But the crowds in Madison and the momentum of US Uncut tell us that may be about to change.
As a statement on the US Uncut website puts it: "We demand that before the hard-working, tax-paying families of this country are once again forced to sacrifice, the corporations who have so richly profited from our labor, our patronage, and our bailouts be compelled to pay their taxes and contribute their fair share to the continued prosperity of our nation. We will organize, we will mobilize, and we will NOT be quiet!"