Are The Wild Teacher Protests In Wisconsin A Prelude To The Economic Riots Coming To America?

The Economic Collapse ^ | 02/19/2011 | Michael Snyder

[SeekAndFind]

Have you seen video of the teacher protests that are going on in Wisconsin? We haven't seen anything like this in America in quite some time. If you haven't seen video of the protests yet, some very good raw footage is posted below. On the one hand it is good to see Americans coming together and standing up for what they believe in, but on the other hand what these teachers are freaking out about shows just how much America has changed. These teachers are not protesting for liberty, freedom or to change the government. Rather, they are protesting because they want things to remain the same. They simply don't want anyone to mess with their pay. Well, the truth is that none of us ever wants to experience a pay cut. It is not a lot of fun. But sadly, states like Wisconsin are so broke that they have to find cuts somewhere. Someone is going to have to make a sacrifice. The teachers in Wisconsin just want to make sure that it is not them.

In the United States today, state and local governments are facing unprecedented budget crunches. Tax revenues are way down and expenses are way up. State and local government debt has reached at an all-time high of 22 percent of U.S. GDP, and many state and local governments are teetering on the brink of insolvency.

States like Wisconsin have to do something or else they will collapse financially. Wisconsin is facing a $3.6 billion budget deficit (which for that state is huge), and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the Republicans in the legislature are attempting to make some tough cuts.

In particular, they want public employees to pay a little more towards their health care premiums and pension programs. In fact, what the Republicans are proposing would still leave Wisconsin public employees contributing far less to health care and pensions than their private sector counterparts.

U.S. Representative Paul Ryan recently appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program and described what Governor Scott Walker is asking the teachers to do....

Scott and I are very close friends. We e-mail each other quite a bit... He's basically saying that state workers which have extremely generous benefits packages relative to their private sector counterparts, they contribute next to nothing to their pensions, very, very little in their health care packages.

He's asking that they contribute about 12 percent for their health care premiums, which is about half of the private sector average, and about 5.6 percent to their pensions. It's not asking a lot. It's still about half of what private sector pensions do and health care packages do.

So he's basically saying "I want you public workers half of what your private sector counterparts do" and he's getting riots. It's like Cairo has moved to Madison these days.

These proposed changes have caused a massive uproar in Wisconsin. Just check out the following raw video footage from the last few days....

But this is what we have come to as a nation. Almost everyone agrees that reducing government debt is a good thing "in theory", but whenever anyone starts to put forward some specific proposals to cut government spending it makes those that will be affected by the cuts extremely upset.

Just look at what is happening with the federal government. Republicans and Democrats are both frothing at the mouth over extremely small budget cuts that have been proposed. Virtually none of our national politicians are even willing to discuss budget cuts that would actually make a serious dent in our budget deficits.

But we have got to do something. Spending by the U.S. government is spinning wildly out of control. Back in 1970, the U.S. government only spent about 200 billion dollars for the whole year. Well, this year the federal government is going to spend somewhere around 3.6 trillion dollars, and Barack Obama's newest budget proposal calls for U.S. government spending to increase to 5.6 trillion dollars by the year 2021. If the government continues to spend money at such a rapid pace it is going to completely wipe out our entire economic system....

But it is not just the U.S. government that is spending like a drunken sailor. Most of our state governments are complete financial disaster zones at this point as well.

As I have written about previously, the state of Illinois is such a financial disaster zone that it is hard to even describe. According to 60 Minutes, the state of Illinois is six months behind on their bill payments. 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Croft asked Illinois state Comptroller Dan Hynes how many people and organizations are waiting to be paid by the state, and this is how Hynes responded....

"It's fair to say that there are tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people waiting to be paid by the state."

Something has got to be done about our national addiction to debt.

Government spending has to be dramatically cut. All of us are going to have to make sacrifices. We simply cannot continue to spend far, far, far more than we bring in.

But we are Americans - we do not like to make sacrifices.

Our founding fathers warned us about this. They warned that when the American people figured out that they could vote themselves money out of the U.S. Treasury it would greatly endanger our republic.

Unfortunately that is exactly what is happening today. The vast majority of government spending on both the national and state levels consists of direct payments to individuals of one sort or another.

The American people have become addicted to the bread crumbs that they receive from the hand of their master.

This is not what our republic was supposed to look like.

As the U.S. economy continues to decline, we are going to see a lot more riots like we have seen in Wisconsin. Once the American people realize that the "good times" are over, all hell is going to break loose.

Already the anger and the frustration of the American people is starting to boil over. Unfortunately, that anger and frustration is focused in 1000 different directions. The ruling elite and the establishment media are constantly encouraging us to hate one another. I recently wrote about this phenomenon in an article on another website....

The truth is that the "establishment" is constantly trying to divide us and get us fighting with one another. They pit the Republicans against the Democrats (even as though control both sides). They pit one race against another. They pit one gender against another. We are told that the rich are against the poor, the north is against the south, urban is against rural and that there are even "generational battles" going on. Frustration and hate are rapidly growing in the United States today, and a lot of that frustration and hate is unfortunately aimed at the targets that the mainstream media has programmed all of us to hate. Meanwhile, those at the top of the pyramid who are controlling the whole game love it when we are divided because we can never become united and challenge their control.

Unfortunately, America is more divided today than ever. Our extreme affluence has kept the thin veneer of civilization that we all take for granted from disappearing so far, but once our affluence is gone all of the hate and frustration in society is going to come bubbling to the surface and it is going to be horrifying to behold.

Once the economic collapse happens, most Americans are not going to take it sitting down. Most Americans are going to want someone to blame. Most Americans are going to want to lash out somehow.

America today is like a big, fat spoiled baby that is about to have its favorite pacifier permanently taken away. America is going to whine and cry and complain like there is no tomorrow.

For decades the financial "gloom and doomers" have been warning about what would happen to this country if we didn't get our house in order, but nobody wanted to listen. Everyone just kept piling up more debt as if it would never be a problem.

Well, now our entire country is covered in red ink. Large numbers of state and local governments across the country are on the verge of defaulting on their debts, and they are hoping that the federal government will bail them out. The federal government has already accumulated the biggest pile of debt the world has ever seen and continues to behave as if we can just keep borrowing and spending massive amounts of money forever.

There is no way out of this nightmare under the current system. Taxing people more is not going to solve our problems. Taxing people less is not going to solve our problems.

We have gotten to the point where it is inevitable that the debt bubble that we have created is going to burst. Our politicians can try to delay it for a while, but in the end the whole house of cards is going to come crashing down.

When the U.S. economy does totally collapse, it is going to make the riots that we have seen in Egypt and throughout the Middle East this year seem tame by comparison.

What we are witnessing right now in Wisconsin are just the "birth pains". The American people don't want to "tighten their belts". In fact, most Americans have absolutely no idea what "hard times" would even look like. When things go from bad to worse we are going to see temper tantrums in this country like we have never seen before.

So get ready. Unless there is some kind of dramatic transformation in this country, in the years ahead we are going to see some horrific economic riots.

It would be nice if we had a brighter future to look forward to, but we don't do ourselves any favors by living in denial.

[MinuteGal]

Well, I wouldn't want to see a collapse, but I was thinking the same thing about those balconies caving in under the weight of the union sardines jampacked there.

If the Rev-rund Al Sharpton walked in and the mob all started stamping at once, he'd be the Rev-rund Flatton in a New York minute.

Where the heck is the fire inspector? Is he on "sick leave", too?

Leni

[MarDav]

And who do you suppose they will be rioting against? Shop owners, people with homes (cars in the driveway), business people (whichever ones remain solvent) on their way to work. I mean, they’ll be looking for food, water, money, means, right? Won’t find that in the tenement down the block.

It will be the Rodney King riots quadrupled.

[Cyber Liberty]

It's like Cairo has moved to Madison these days.

I think it's more like the riots in Greece.

[TexasFreeper2009]

nope just democratic astro turf.

[blau993]

It is good that there is so much “raw footage.” It will document the presence of the obviously healthy teachers who called in sick that day. Good grounds for dismissal.

[EBH]

I looked at the screen last night and saw the folks in Wisconsin and couldn’t help but think that Obama had reached the acme of his profession: rabble-rouser. This is all he can do. This is all he’s ever been any good at: stirring up trouble on the streets, step back and derive power from the menacing mob as he goes in behind the doors to wrest concessions from the intimidated.

Nec audiendi qui solent dicere, Vox populi, vox Dei, quum tumultuositas vulgi sempre insaniae proximi sit Alculin c.735-804: Works(1863)letter 164

And to those ends...how is this rabble rousing... representative democracy?

[griswold3]

To become competitive, Ohio must become a ‘Right to Work’ State.

[in the wind]

That’s because they they know they could be fired for any reason and at any moment. One of the drawbacks in ‘right to work’ and ‘at will’ employment.

[Graybeard58]

Yes, when people don't have and can't buy food, we'll see some real riots.

Stock up and arm yourself.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

If the unions in Wisconsin won't negotiate start firing. I'm sure there are plenty of people that have been looking for jobs for a long time that would be happy to take those jobs with the benefits Scott Walker is offering.

Exactly... Today people think you have to have 20 kids or less in a classroom. Back in the day, I grew up with 40 kids in a class, learned how to read and write, and went on to college.

[screaminsunshine]

Whoa!. I am 62. Just retiring from the Merchant Marine. I am going to go out like I came in. Having Fun. Don’t trust the Federals. You need to work at the State and local level. If we can get 34 states to have a con-con we can wipe them out. No change will come from Washington DC and the Republicans up there. Just lip service. They hope to turn the Tea Party in to their version of Black America. Never believe anything you see on TV.

[MarDav]

I submitted a very negative, reactionary, apocalyptic post previously and I want to say here and now I HOPE I’M WRONG!. In fact, I hope that, after all is said and done, after we figure out a way to manage ourselves through this, that we see a new birth of freedom in our country.

That being said, it will take the right people [horses] a good deal of time to straighten out the mess. We have a lot of work to do to reclaim our country.

[Eska]

I remember the 60's race riots, but that was just the ghetto inhabitants burning their own communities to the ground; never to rebound.

I remember the anti-war fervor and violence, but that short circuited with the US departure from Vietnam.

I find it hard to envision, or should I say realize things would have to get much worse than we have ever witnessed or they are now to incite upheaval. If that ever occurs, look out because you will see them tar & feathering our elected thieves or worse. Nobody wants to see Americans killing Americans by the tens of thousands across our Country and all the vigilantism that would ensue. If it ever starts, govt will not be able to stop it until so much damage has been wrought, our Country could effectively cease to exist.

I hope as Americans, we are above that scenario. As sensible Americans, everybody should be prepared for all possibilities.

[rbmillerjr]

The best comparison is that these teacher union and govt. employee unionists are the Mubarak goons in the early days of Egyptian revolts.

Goons protecting their personal interests and they will violate children to do it.

[devistate one four]

School resumes Monday Am with subs and replacemnents, new hires, etc. ef the scumbag deserters!

[radioone]

The Wisconsin Unions just want a “fair deal” and get bailed out with some of that “Obama Stash” just like the UAW(GM/Chrysler). sarc/off

[MarDav]

“And those people should not be listened to who keep saying the voice of the people is the voice of God, since the riotousness of the crowd is always very close to madness”

(Had to look it up—Very good!)

The “mob” has rallyed around their “prophet” and determined that by their “gathering” they can usher in the new day of the [false] messiah. And Obama uses this to his political advantage.

Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians ICo 2:9-16:

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

For those who know God, the Spirit is given so that one can distinguish the false prophet from the true. Were America a truly Christian nation, she would discern the voice of the Charlatan in Chief and from whence it comes.

Sadly, though...

[Yardstick]

LOL — perfect!

[kbennkc]

People who have compensation packages of $100,000.00 rioting, will cause others to riot, only if the Governor and legislature of the great state of Wisconsin loses to them.

[Irish Queen]

I was a school teacher for many years. I don’t consider those people who abandoned their students to be teachers. Teachers teach. These people are merely government workers.