Wisconsin Scene Is Turning Public Against Gov. Unions

CaptainObvious · Feb 25, 2011

Quote from Lucrum:

Is it your contention that all corporations are bad/evil or just the one(s) that screwed you?

Thanks for making me spit out my coffee.

It's my contention that if people are going to say that Unions have too much influence in politics, then they must say that corporations have too much influence as well. That is unless one just can't get past their political bias.

CaptainObvious · Feb 25, 2011

Quote from Hello:

This is true, none of these politicians on either side are representing the people anymore....... Its not like the dems have been saints in defending left wing principles either.

Agreed!

fhl · Feb 25, 2011

bigarrow · Feb 25, 2011

Quote from CaptainObvious:

Just want to make sure I understand the republican positions.

Who was the president that gave amnesty to illegals? Reagan! Who did nothing for 8 years to curb the illegal invasion? Bush!
Bailouts for those that packaged and sold those mortgages? Good, very good. Bailout their victims? Bad, very bad!
Legislating from the bench for issues that favor liberals? Bad! Terrible! Unconstitutional!
Legislating from bench to overturn Health-care? Good! Great! Fantastic!
Unions have too much power and influence in politics. Bad, really bad.
Corporations now able to contribute unlimited amounts to political campaigns? Woo-Hoo, it's a party. God Bless America!

+1

Gabfly1 · Feb 25, 2011

Quote from Hello:

This is a terrible argument, find me a self respecting conservative who supported Bush's lackadaisical approach to immigration, or the bailouts of the banks. I will promise you in advance you wont find a single conservative on this site who wanted either of those. That was actually one of the major factors which led to the start of the Tea Party because the government continued to govern against the will of the people.

But they managed to wait until he was out of of office before raining down on the government? How did they manage to contain all that pent up rage for so many years before finally letting loose at around the time he was gone?

cgroupman · Feb 25, 2011

Quote from AAAintheBeltway:

Things that are popular with voters:

1. Cracking down on illegal immigration.

2. Cutting back government employee benefits.

3. Reining in union power.

Things that are unpopular with voters:

1. amnesty for illegal immigrants.

2. Bailouts for underwater mortgage borrowers.

3. Gay marriage.

Obama is on the wrong side of every issue, but so is the mainstream media.

Oh, just thought I would chime in on this. Pretty slow trading today I guess.

Most voters want to see some progress with illegal immigration. Many use that as an excuse for higher unemployment instead of realizing much of the job loss is simply the advance of technology. Many jobs will just plain never come back, regardless of the economy or immigration issues. Reagan gave them all Amnesty - not sure where that fits in, but seems to stop a lot of conversations.

Cutting back on government employee benefits? Sure, might get an argument with Soldiers, FBI etc. on that one.

Reining in Union power? Not so sure it's a popular issue as much as a practical one. In either event, I have to go along with the balance of power thing, makes some sense. I am not a big fan of unions, but everyone should have the right to collective bargaining.

Bad to bailout underwater mortgage holders? Ok to bail out Mortgage banks? Need to think this one through. If we have more homes foreclosed upon, vacant, ruining property values and all that, is that a good thing?

Gay marriage? Any marriage does not need the Federal government's intervention in my opinion. Almost a who cares with so many real issues at stake. This is more of religious issue to begin with. It starts with religion, and we offer choice of religion and protection of, so why again is the government involved anyway?

You've always been a good thinker AAA, but you do seem to have become a little more narrow in your views over the years. We all change, and change should be good, but don't lose sight of your ability to view the big picture. That has been good in the past threads over the years..

c

Hello · Feb 25, 2011

Quote from Gabfly1:

But they managed to wait until he was out of of office before raining down on the government? How did they manage to contain all that pent up rage for so many years before finally letting loose at around the time he was gone?

It probably didnt have anything to do with the fact that 1.5 trillion was wasted in the course of 4 months, or that people lost their entire retirement plan, their job, and their house, or that the government all of a sudden tripled the deficit........Nahh.... it couldnt possibly have had anything to do with the fact that EVERYTHING people had was lost in the course of about 6 months.....

It must have been because Obama is black......

Your thought process on this one is completely irrational.

cgroupman · Feb 25, 2011

In keeping with my attempt to see both sides of most equations, I thought I would render this. I'm not sure that I agree that public employees, who we, as US citizens, hire, need to have those same hires form a Union to charge them, which is US, dues to come up with compensation plans between the same US.

Not sure if that makes any sense, but if we simply set up fair compensation plans for employees then we might eliminate the need for unions in the public sector. The key word is, of course, fair.

Do we pay our military enough? Are they taken well enough care of in their retirement, disability time? I'm not so sure.

Then, if we just mandate what salaries will be, and what compensation packages will be, then, yes, accusations of Socialism. This can be a tough one.

Other thoughts?

c

Lucrum · Feb 25, 2011

Quote from CaptainObvious:

Thanks for making me spit out my coffee. It's my contention that if people are going to say that Unions have too much influence in politics, then they must say that corporations have too much influence as well.

I'm perfectly willing to say they BOTH have too much influence.

Gabfly1 · Feb 25, 2011

Quote from Hello:

It probably didnt have anything to do with the fact that 1.5 trillion was wasted in the course of 4 months, or that people lost their entire retirement plan, their job, and their house, or that the government all of a sudden tripled the deficit........Nahh.... it couldnt possibly have had anything to do with the fact that EVERYTHING people had was lost in the course of about 6 months.....

It must have been because Obama is black......

Your thought process on this one is completely irrational.

You are aware, of course, that Obama inherited a $1.3 Trillion budget deficit when he took office, right? The one left to him by Bush, against whom the outrage was surprisingly calm, mild and sedate (I didn't even notice it; I must have blinked)?

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-m...obama-inherited-deficits-bush-administration/

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.co...obama-12-times-the-deficit-under-republicans/

Interesting how some people are pointing fingers at the guy who was left holding the bag after the fiscal orgy came to its inevitable conclusion and whose job it is to clean up the 8-year mess that took place outside his watch. How shameful that he didn't do so with immediate effect and on a shoestring, eh?