Posted on 02/23/2011 8:15:00 AM PST by opentalk
Everyone has priorities. During the past week Barack Obama has found no time to condemn the attacks that Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi has launched on the Libyan people. But he did find time to be interviewed by a Wisconsin television station and weigh in on the dispute between Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the state's public employee unions. Walker was staging "an assault on unions," he said, and added that "public employee unions make enormous contributions to our states and our citizens."
Enormous contributions, yes -- to the Democratic Party and the Obama campaign. Unions, most of whose members are public employees, gave Democrats some $400 million in the 2008 election cycle. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the biggest public employee union, gave Democrats $90 million in the 2010 cycle.
Follow the money, Washington reporters like to say. The money in this case comes from taxpayers, present and future, who are the source of every penny of dues paid to public employee unions, who in turn spend much of that money on politics, almost all of it for Democrats. In effect, public employee unions are a mechanism by which every taxpayer is forced to fund the Democratic Party.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Unions are a legal “privileged class” to Democrats (our founders envisioned NO royalty of any kind!). Public employee unions were invented by Democrat “progressives”... as a permanent public money cash cow! We ordinary folks are told we must sacrifice, tighten our belts and pay higher taxes because the morbidly obese “1,000lb man” (public sector) can NEVER be asked to go on a diet! They are the WORST kind of greedy, they want MORE, MORE, MORE and want you to have LESS, LESS, LESS! Methinks now their cover be blown?
Anyone who supports this administration is an enemy of the state, IMO.
But at least campaign funds originating from private sector unions come from products willingly purchased, not forced on the consumer at gunpoint.
it pisses me off the gop in ALL states don’t go after public unions more. They’re using tax dollars to fund your opposition
We need to send this story to all our state lawmakers and demand that these unions be legislated out of existence.
This should become a MAJOR talking point for ANY Republican who is interviewed about this issue!
“They’re using tax dollars to fund your opposition”
That’s the main reason I won’t join the union (Federal worker in the FAA and I’m NOT a leach, dmv) because half the monthly dues go the AFL-CIO and they spend 95% on demorat candidates.
So why would I want to pay into something that is trying to defeat a conservative candidate.
...”Anyone who supports this administration is an enemy of the state, IMO.”....
I agree...
Private sector unions are legitimate unless they get Gov't bailouts like at GM and Chrysler. They push it too far and they lose their jobs because their employer moves or goes out of business
In WI, here is one example of union waste of 1/2 billion taxpayer dollars. How much went to the DP?
Here is a report from 2000 that shows the waste of WEAC of at least $ 50 million a year times 10+ years === 1/2 billion dollars.
This problem has been documented and known for a long time and the union refused to do anything..
There is a need to summarize the significant past problems in dealing with WEAC (teachers union). Everyone knows that the DP supports wholeheartly the teachers union and gives away taxpayer money to them. The union has an unfair power/leverage that increases taxpayer costs. Another issue is the unfair process of mediation/arbitration.
Here is a report from 2000 stating that WEAC controls 85% of the teacher’s health insurance without competition.
http://www.wpri.org/Reports/Volume13/Vol13no8.pdf page 20
The market for teachers’health insurance in Wisconsin is characterized by several traits. The health insurance is
determined through the collective bargaining process. The health insurance plans provided by the districts are rarely
put out to bid.37 The WEAInsurance Corporation, an entity affiliated with the state’s largest teachers union, provides
insurance coverage to roughly 85% of the districts. The peculiarities of this market suggest that competition between
insurers to write health insurance coverage is severely limited in most districts.
The current study reports the results of a statistical analysis that tested whether the WEAInsurance Corporation
charges more for health insurance coverage than other insurers. The analysis controlled for various factors believed
to be associated with the price of insurance coverage. The results suggest that the WEA Insurance Corporation does
charge more for its insurance product than other insurers. Possible explanations for this finding are that the WEA
Insurance Corporation provides more extensive insurance protection to those it insures, that it provides a higher level
of service to its customers, and that it derives market power from its affiliation with the WEA.
Reform that would foster competition in the market for teachers’ health insurance would serve the interests of
Wisconsin’s taxpayers and teachers. A model for reform is the health insurance pool for state employees. This is
administered by the Department of Employee Trust Funds (ETF), as is a similar pool available to Wisconsin public
employers. On a statewide basis, savings that could accrue to school districts through participation in the state
employee health insurance pool are estimated to be approximately $50,000,000 per year. If the savings were passed
to Wisconsin’s teachers, the average teacher in the state would receive a pay increase of $875.
Unions consistently commit treason on the level of releasing the Pentagon Papers, Wikileaks, and Saddam Hussein. Why are union members treated by so many conservatives as respectable people we can disagree with? Why are we not treating them as the enemies of the state that they are, and sponsoring leaders who will permanently shut down the unions by any means necessary?
marker
This can be fixed in any state by passing Paycheck Protection - requiring unions to get explicit permission annually from members to use union dues for politics.
Arnold tried to get this done his 1st year in California with the special election proposition. It was crushed by the Nurses Union and Teachers Union drumming up opposition by the voters. What a shame. California would already have Paycheck Protection if this had passed, and the Democratic Party stranglehold would be severely weakened in California.
This needs to be raised again and PASSED.
No public employee unions, no Democratic party, quoting
JB Williams’ recent article at News With Views.
Just how did they drum up opposition? Did people still
have so much regard for teachers? For the nurses’ union,
see the Diastat video (Radley Balko’s IIRC)
I’m ashamed I didn’t quite realize the full implications
of 1. public employee unions 2. paycheck deduction and
3. sustaining the Democrats until recently.
It helps explain why Obama is pushing for TSA to be unionized. The system is getting rigged against the average citizen to fund their agenda (IMO). It is also disturbing that union leaders were involved with Egypt in the recent revolt.
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