Be a Democrat

My conservative controller friends need to pay attention to Wisconsin.

Obama joins Wisconsin's budget battle, opposing Republican anti-union bill


”Obama accused Scott Walker, the state's new Republican governor, of unleashing an "assault" on unions in pushing emergency legislation that would nullify collective-bargaining agreements that affect most public employees, including teachers.”

When the Republicans come after Federal workers (and they will) remember who is on your side. It’s the Democrats. Specifically, it’s this President. The Republicans won’t be your friends. They never have been and they never will be. Even when you’re dumb enough to endorse them.

Listen to what Wisconsin’s Republican Governor says at the end of the article and think about the implications.

”"Many of the companies I went by, like so many others across the state, don't have pensions, and the 401(k)s they have over the last year or two, they've had to suspend the employer contribution,"...”

Republicans want you to be on par with private industry’s workers (until private workers get ahead. Then they want private workers on par with you.) The very private industries that have shipped American’s jobs overseas, paid their CEOs record amounts while paying their workers declining wages and replaced worker’s pensions with 401ks. That would be the very same 401ks that they allowed the banksters to plunder. And now they don’t even want to contribute to those.

”...and the 401(k)s they have over the last year or two, they've had to suspend the employer contribution...

That is what is in store for you, dear conservative controller. What’s it going to take for you to start voting Democratic?

The facts are out there. All you have to do is ask yourself some intelligent questions and search for the answers. Curious about what a Wisconsin CEO earns? I was. It took less than a minute to find out.

”Average total compensation for a Wisconsin CEO last year: $2.8 million, although the men who led the state's 10 largest public companies fared much better. Their average pay hike was zero, but their average pay package was worth $7.8 million.”

And that was a bad year for CEOs.

”The biggest increase for a CEO who is still on the job went to Wausau Paper Corp.'s Thomas J. Howatt, whose pay package jumped to $4.75 million, an increase of more than 80%. More than $1.3 million of the increase came through stock awards and cash incentives.

Wausau Paper posted its best performance in more than a decade, largely because of a massive restructuring that resulted in the closing of two out-of-state plants and the lowering of employment rolls by about 1,000. The company, which now employs about 2,400 people, also froze wages for salaried employees last year.”

Wake up. Smell the coffee.

Giving the boss a raise while cutting jobs, though, makes some folks cringe, especially in Wisconsin, where nearly 130,000 jobs were lost last year and the average wage dipped slightly, falling to $37,752.

Lay off 130,000 Americans, cut/freeze their wages, pay yourself a multi-million dollar salary -- and then almost double it . That’s 130,000 less people to pay taxes and they now collect unemployment. Lower wage earners pay lower taxes. Stock options are taxed at a lower rate.

But the budget problem -- according to Republicans-- is that public employees make too much money. The average CEO making $7.8 million doesn’t make too much...YOU DO.

Don Brown
February 18, 2011