Governor Walker introduced a bill on Friday that plans to take away collective bargaining rights as well as pension and insurance benefits from public employees.
Based on the reading and class discussions, do you feel the state legislature should pass the bill?
If yes, explain why you feel the bill should pass, make sure to address issues of monetary as well as collective bargaining losses to the employees.
If no, explain why you feel the bill should be voted down, make sure to address other ways the governor could potentially lower the budget deficit.
Based on our class discussion and what was in the reading I would say that this bill should be passed. But, the reading seemed to be very one sided, not fully explaining Walkers reasoning on the bill. With that in consideration I think the bill should be passed. It seems to be that the reading stressed a poor me feeling for all the states public workers and union members, and that is not how these issues should be addressed. If you're going to debate this issue both sides need to have a fair shot to back themselves up. I will agree that it's a large cut in the incomes of the public workers salaries, but private workers have delt with things like this forever. The $4,000 the public workers will loose is just something they will have to factor in to their budget plans. It is no different than a private worker factoring in a chunk of their salary to go to retirement and pension because of their mediocre benefits. It may seem like a crap deal but it's a way to reverse the overspending and unnecessary generosity of the state. You stated that we should try making it better for everyone rather than worse for all, well that's a great idea. The objective here is to save money though, and if we made it nicer for everyone that would increase government spending. To take a quote from a popular economist Dave Ramsey "we need to live like no one else, so that we can live like no one else". That meaning that we may have to give up certain commodities we're used to in order to get our financial state back in order then we can possibly get back to where we were. On the subject of collective bargaining being lost within unions, it wasn't explaining why this is a propasal. Well it's possibly because these unions are abusing the power they have with them to increase benefits, vacation time, and salaries. If this is going on then yes it is possibly being thrown out as punishment and a means to stop it. It could possibly be being changed because research has been done and the research supports a theory that they don't need what the union provides any longer because the working system has improved so much.
ReplyDeleteYes i think they should pass the bill because it is a way for the government to cut spending. If it doesnt go that way they can always go back and give that money back. I dont like the way that Walker is going about and trying to do this but in general I think the bill should pass. Walker is making himself like shit because he is living in a big fancy mansion and living the rich classy life. The bill is not the worst idea I have heard I think Jeds got that one locked up, but I honestly think the bill should pass.
ReplyDeleteThis bill should be put on hold and serious revisions should be made. First of all it seems very unfair that the groups being targeted by this bill are the ones who opposed Scott Walker's election. While he is focusing on cutting benefits for teachers among others politicians and people like him who are in power are paying less than they have before. This is the kind of crooked politics that leads to a shrinking middle class. Saying that the money saved will go back to the people later is a lie. People like this in the past have used the saved money to better their situation instead of using it towards workers. Yesterday the point was brought up that increasing taxes on the top 2% would do much more for the situation than the current bill. Who do you think will miss the money more someone who goes from $40,000 a year to $36,000 or someone who goes from $50 million to $48 million. Also police officers and firefighters being exempt from the bill is unfair. We are told that crime will become a greater issue but look at how much unnecessary law enforcement we have nowadays. Is it really necessary for a town as small as Seymour to have as many officers as we do, as I assume is the case for many small towns like Seymour. The accusations of Scott Walker abusing his power to help his friends and punish his enemies are not far off. Why does he want no negotiation and the bill passed in six days? What other underlying things are in this bill that the public does not know about?
ReplyDeleteI don't think this bill should be passed. Of course we're in debt, but there are other ways to solve it. Just because the government spends their money on unneeded things, why should state employees lose their hard-earned benefits? He's only creating a protest from workers by rushing into a plan that will only take six days to go through.
ReplyDeleteScott Walker should take a little insight from Maine's Treasure Bruce Poliquin when he says, "Our goal should be to find a way to honor the retirement benefits of teachers and state workers, while also ensuring we can reduce our overall debt and properly fund core state services. It may to be difficult and painful, but we can do this."
Walker has been pissing off a lot of people and make false alternatives. It would be very illegal to cut 200,000 children from Medicaid and the state would lose their health care funding in that case. He should not mention things that aren't an option. The governor didn't even acknowledge whether or not that was legal before stating it.
If he really wants to take a safe approach to reducing the debt, he should start by raising Wisconsin's sales tax on certain items and even out the ratio for people who have to pay into their pensions. Make more money - pay a little more money.
On a final note; it is extremely unfair that the firefighters and policeman will still be receiving their benefits if this bill is passed. The fact that they will only be the servicemen who promoted Walker's election campaign -not all servicemen- is very unethical. These people are equal workers and should have to make sacrifices if need be.
I feel that they should pass the bill because governor Walkier is obviously doing something he feels would help Wisconsin get out of debt. Why would any governor want to do something bad for their state? People are only complaining because they don't want their pension and insurance benefits to be gone, which most other people don't even have. A lot of things you see on TV or read other places are always one sided. Everyone is just saying that Walker is going to get their money and he is rich and has more than anyone else, and that is why people are getting angry. Especially all these teachers that are getting mad. They only work half a year and get paid a full years salary and even have off weekends. I it is really that big of a problem that thery are getting a little bit of money taken from their salary, then why don't they just go and find a summer job and work a full year like everybody else has to. People also say that policeman and firefighters will be getting their benefits because they helped get Scott Walker elected, but i personally think they deserve those benefits more than teachers. When it comes down to it private workers have been dealing with this their entire lives, and now public workers have this FINALLY happen to them and they can't deal with it? Personally I think they should definitely pass the bill.
ReplyDeleteYes i think the bill should be passed. If the public employees are not funded to have their fancy vacations and giant bonuses, the rest of the economy could definatly prosper. With money to get the state and coiuntry out of debt, stress levels will greatly be reduced. All people need to give up something in order to move forward.
ReplyDeleteI think the bill should be passed. The state is in debt and needs to get out of it. It's understandable that the public workers are feeling targeted but they have to get the money from somewhere and i think it's smart that their taking it from the public workers because they have things that others don't. The state is taking something away that teachers don't need in the first place and it's going to save us a lot of money by doing so. Taking away collective bargaining is also smart because the teachers dont need it. Everyone else lives fine without so why do the teachers need it?
ReplyDeleteI think that they should pass the bill because this will save the state alot of money. I think the Doyle regime failed to do what the Walker regime will accomplish which is stop wasting money. We wonder why our country is broke all we have to do is stop spending so much. Collective bargaining is not a right that state workers have. No one pays for anyone elses retirement they don't need it. Finally there is someone out there who is smart enough to have a call to action and do the right thing. Of course people are going to be angry anyone would be when something is taken away. But its the right thing to do. The senators who decided to go hide, thats not democracy to go hide. However, it's time to make a change and finally someone with a backbone is willing to make that change. Pass the bill and give America a future that isn't filled with debt.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the bill should pass because state employees should have to pay for insurance and retirement like everybody else. The part about making unions illegal should be taken out tho.
ReplyDeleteI think that its mostly a good idea to pass the bill. The state is in debt and we need to take the money from somewhere. Collective bargaining should be taken away because its not really needed, no other group of people have it so i am sure that the public employees should be fine without it. Also by passing this bill it makes everyone in the job market more equal. Public employees have more benefits than others and i think that is unfair. Therefore in the long run it would overall be a good bill to pass.
ReplyDeleteYes I do believe that the bill should be passed. I believe that it is about time this is happening. This will save the government money. yes some people will have to ajust there lifestyles to make it work but everyone has to cut back at some point. this is about everyone not just the people that are getting directly affected by this. they should look at it through everyones perspective.
ReplyDeleteI dont think they should pass the bill till they change it so that both sides were to agree on the bill.
ReplyDeletei dont think they should take anything away or do anything differnt than how it was we were doing beter than we will be if sumthing doesnt change if they take it away there wont be anything good hapining and there will be unsatisfactory educational systems
ReplyDeleteI think they should pass the bill since our country is in so much debt. We need to start paying it all off somehow. I don't think it should be a problem for them to pay a little in since everybody else does.
ReplyDeleteI dont think they should pass the bill yet. They should wait until they can agree on something like to not completely take away unions just make necessary changes. I think its fair to say that teachers in unions obviously get better insurance and pensions than everyone who isnt teachers. They can still make changes that will still help teachers but at the same time not affect everyone not in unions.
ReplyDeleteYes. I think they should pass the bill. The country needs to cut spending. People have to adjust to this. NOT EVEYONE CAN BE HAPPY! suck it up. deal with it. farmers have to deal with shitty wheather conditions and low milk prices. teachers dnt. your job isnt that hard. lets try to improve the economy huh?
ReplyDeleteThe bill should be passed, because I don't think he's in office to make friends or be the guy that makes everyone happy. I believe that he's in office to get things back on track he said he would make changes and now that he's trying to people are upset with good reason. But I still think the bill is a god idea people in the private sector have been paying into their own benifits for years and now public employees will have to, it's not like the bill will put them in poverty they still get their benifits but they pay 12% instead of 6%.
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