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Because the President of the United States called Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's attempt to bridge a $3 billion budget shortfall by proposing modest cuts in health care and pension benefits to state employees an "attack on unions," Barack Hussein Obama's activist organizing wing, Organizing for America, are playing an extensive role in exploiting the taxpayers with protests against the state government's crusade to avoid bankruptcy.
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Bused in members of the Service Employees International Union, (SEIU), the most influential union in national Democratic circles, have also joined the fray in opposition of Governor Walker's proposed budget cuts to save the state from insolvency.
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With regard to inheriting a $137 million deficit for this year alone, Governor Scott Walker commented on what led up to the economic crisis the people in Wisconsin are now facing:
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“Previous governors and legislatures from both parties took money from our tobacco settlement. They raided more than a billion dollars from the transportation fund and $200 million from the patients’ compensation fund. They increased taxes on the sick and set up shell games to draw down additional federal funds. They relied on one-time federal stimulus dollars as if the money would be there forever – but it’s already gone.”
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Urgently needed to balance the budget and save government jobs, along with 30 other states that are negotiating union cuts, and/or pay freezes, Governor Walker is asking government workers to make a 5.8% pension contribution (about the national average) and 12.6% health insurance contribution (about half the national average). Since benefits represent on average 46% of their total package, Governor Walker has also proposed the public sector unions give up their privilege to collectively bargain for benefits, but NOT their wages.
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"This is a statist uprising that is being fueled by leftist politicians and the leftist media.” “Wisconsin’s governor is proposing that state union workers should pay a little more of their health benefits (from 6% to 12%) and media calls this America’s Cairo moment?
This is outrageous.”
- - Grassfire Nation's Steve Elliott
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Union leaders are just as corrupt as the Obama administration. They use their workers/member's dues to further their own cause and get rich at the worker's expense. They work with the "progressives" in office because they are despicable enough to swindle the people, and they keep their re-election coffers filled. What should we expect? The "progressives" have sold their souls to the unions, as they regularly raise tens of millions of dollars for political campaigns. We see them for what they are: racketeers.
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Obama has also said:
"I don't think it does anybody any good when public employees are denigrated or vilified or their rights are infringed upon."
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Governor Walker’s office issued this statement:
“I’m sure the President knows that most federal employees do not have collective bargaining for wages and benefits while our plan allows it for base pay. And I’m sure the President knows that the average federal worker pays twice as much for health insurance as what we are asking for in Wisconsin. At least I would hope he knows these facts.“Furthermore, I’m sure the President knows that we have repeatedly praised the more than 300,000 government workers who come to work every day in Wisconsin.“I’m sure that President Obama simply misunderstands the issues in Wisconsin, and isn’t acting like the union bosses in saying one thing and doing another.”
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You'll be glad to know a couple more fine upstanding organizations are also supporting the union protesters along with Barack Hussein Obama:
Socialist Party USA
...are backing the public sector unions. In an article found on their website, written by Omar Mohamad, Socialist Party of South Central Wisconsin and Billy Wharton, co-chair Socialist Party USA they state:
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The mass protests led by public employees unions in Madison, Wisconsin have been presented by some mainstream commentators as a labor’s last stand. They are not. They are a spark, a spark with the potential to create a new protest movement capable of revitalizing our unions, radicalizing student organizing and creating a space for democratic socialist politics. As socialists, we stand steadfastly in solidarity with this protest movement. We pledge to support the immediate goal of blocking Governor Scott Walker’s reactionary and draconian anti-union legislation and the longer-term project of building a serious left-wing political movement in the US.
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Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA urges the widest possible solidarity with public workers all over our country.
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"I think we're focused on balancing our budget. It would be wise for the president and others in Washington to focus on balancing their budget, which they're a long ways from doing."
- - Governor Scott Walker
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Representing government employees has turned unions into determined supporters of tax increases and more government spending. They care not, that many states face unfunded liabilities that are simply unsustainable. Taxpayers now pay for unionized government jobs paying notably more, than those available in the private sector. Let's hope the voters will remember how the unions are blackmailing the taxpayers of Wisconsin.
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"Labor unions would have us believe that they transfer income from rich capitalists to poor workers. In fact, they mostly transfer income from the large number of non-union workers to a small number of relatively well-off union workers."
"Labor unions would have us believe that they transfer income from rich capitalists to poor workers. In fact, they mostly transfer income from the large number of non-union workers to a small number of relatively well-off union workers."
- - Robert E. Anderson
