Looking at Wisconsin Governor Walker Posted to Fatihful Progressive blog

The comment below was posted to a criticism of the efforts of WI Governor Walker to address fiscal crisis by asking state employees to help fund their own pensions and pay for a portion of their own health benefits. I read the post as typical partisan class warfare. I agree that this does  impact one segment of the population, government workers more directly than others. My suspicion it is not the last straw and the solution appears to be directly tied to the source of the problem, paying more than we ( yes I am a WI taxpayer) can  afford for public sector jobs, their benefits and retirements.
Solution seems pragmatic. Class warfare argument falls a little flat when you take into account that the well - to - do are already paying, and will continue to pay, a higher portion of whatever salary and benefits government employees end up retaining through high income and property taxes.

There is also a collective bargaining issue involved with which I am not completely familiar. I am, however, very suspicious of coleective bargaining for  government workers for several reasons. The primary reason is that I believe that the interests of taxpayers is significantly underrepresented at the bargaining table. Union officials sitting across the bargaining table from politicians (or their administration representaives) who have either been endorsed or hoped to be endorsed  in the next election is not a balanced negoitiation. the politician is more intersted in how the negotiations play out politically. The price of labor peace is just added to tax bills.
One only need to look at the situation in Chicago/Cook County/Illinos ( Yes, I have the privlege of paying taxes in IL as well) where the benevolent dictator (Machine master and Mayor) has orchestrated labor peace for years. what has he to show for it (besides some of the highest sales taxes in the country)? A loyal cadre of unions and employees who  fall into line and vote for him and any of his friends (Say thank you now Mr. President) in huge numbers.  Taxpayer get to pay for this puchased loyalty. ( It would be be interesting to see what unions dues levels are like for public employees in Chicago/Cook County vs other locations). Should WI workers or any state workers have to pay some unregulated entity for the privilege of having access to a government  job?  Don't the U.S. and state constitions and public laws and human resource manuals protect employees from discriminatory treatment at the hands of the state? I have been a state employee in two states where there were significant processes for addressing  grievenances.  As a public official  the last thing I wanted was one or more of my staff members crying out that hey were being mistreated, to the point where there was almost no variation in pay between good and poor performers.

Education! Let's save that for another day. Needless to say my believe is that it is not really "all about our children"

  COMMENT

Somewhere along the way we have to reckon with the fact that we have overpayed for public service jobs(and retirees) and we can no longer afford to catch up with the shortfalls that our tough economic times have higlighted. The answer can not always be tax increases. Partisan politics has gotten  us into this mess. It is not likely to get us out with a sustainable solution. The simplistic solutions of class warfare will always lead us to the pendulum swing to the side of the more powerful "class" (read prevailing political party).
It swings back when they over play their hand. The problem for all of us is that there are too few times when the true states persons come to the for and lead us to pragmatic solutions that can endure. We must work to stop the name calling and the labelling and get to work at finding ways to fix things without trying to get one group or the other to pay and inordinate share of the costs. Democrat and Republican politicians postioning their respective parties for the next election cycle is not a good way to govern. An American population which continues to follow like sheep behind these banners(republican/democrat) deserves the mess it finds itself in and will continue to endure it until more of us wake up and start demanding pragmatic solutions instead of political bullying.

Time is Running Out.

With each passing day it becomes more apparent to me that having faith in our government to find real solutions to the significant challenges we face in this country is misplaced at best, dangerous at worst. The poiticians of our two party system definitely seem to be more interested in how the party will be perceived at the next election than they are about helping fix the mess we are in. W need  pragmatic solutions not political ones. We can't count on the political apparatus in Washington to harm their chances of reelection by making real hard choices. And, unfortunately to many of our "think tanks" seem to have chosen sides and can not be counted on to stand above politics and advance well researched solutions that can work for the good of the country and its citizens.  While I am not a policy wonk I have spent a number of years working in the public policy arena. Good solutions are never simple or easy. Someone's ox is always gored at least a little.
Would like to use this space as a place where pragmatic solutions to domestic problems can be explored in an apolitical way. What do we do about the budget mess? What about health care costs? What about Education? Bankrupt states? How do you get anyone in Washington to listen?