Thursday, February 17, 2011

Let them eat cheese.


As the wingnuts in Washington keep calling for more cuts, the states are now preparing to pass on those cuts to their citizens. In "cheese country" the natives are restless, and hard working union workers stormed Madison today demanding justice. The republi-clown governor is threatening to end 50 years of collective bargaining which protects Wisconsin workers, and as I write this post there are some dumbocratic state legislatures from Wisconsin on the run. (As long as they don't go to Pittsburgh they should be fine.)

At some point during this debate folks are going to have to start looking at the "haves" and their sacrifices. The only folks making a sacrifice right now are "have- nots" and the hard working folks in the middle. Americans seem to know it, but you would never hear about it in the press.

The new demons for wingnuts are public sector employees, such as school teachers, police officers, health- care workers, and firefighters. According to wingnuts, it is their pension plans and onerous salaries that are holding us down. They are the reason America can't rise out of this recession.------Not a war that was never paid for, tax breaks and shelters to major corporations, and tax cuts for the very wealthy among us who do nothing towards reinvesting in the economy. Not "hyper-speculation" on Wall Street which...well, we all know that story by now.

But the okie doke continues, and everyone of you are falling for it.

Here is an example:

Public sector employees are much better compensated than private sector employees. That might be true, but there is a reason for that: Public sector workers are older and better educated than private sector workers, so yes, it makes sense that they would make more in terms of pay.
Here is another myth:

Social security is going broke any day now, and it is imperative that we raise the age of retirement here in A-merry-ca. This, of course, is false, and it is just another wingnut talking point you all have been hoodwinked into believing. I have to co-sign with Robert Reich who writes that social security is not responsible for the federal deficit, and it took in more in payroll taxes than it paid out. -----BTW, it actually lends what it has left over to the...wait for it... federal government.

I could give you more, but I think you get the point.

As I watched those protesters in Madison I kept thinking about Tahrir Square. Could it happen here? People won't really protest, take to the streets, and call for a revolution unless they lose all hope. ("A hungry mob is an angry mob.") That's why all those tea party protesters were such a joke. After fighting Obama- power all day they went home to their leather sofas, flip flops, and tea by the pool. Those union workers are about to lose their jobs and their homes. They might be feeling something else in their gut.

I feel it too. But the thing is, most of the people in A-merry-ca are afraid of that feeling.




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