Why Wisconsin Is Attacking State Employee Benefits

Wisconsin is slashing union benefits including salaries, retirement and medical for 170,000 public employees and is destroying their right to collectively bargain to make it nearly impossible to get those benefits back.

In Ohio, 400,000 public employees face a similar potential fate and more than 40 other states, including the U.S.'s biggest state, California are or will be confronting similar issues. Why is this happening? Because most states (and many counties and cities) are broke. Some could go bankrupt or default on their bonds, which would hit mutual funds, retirement accounts and fixed income retirees en masse.

But my friend and webmaster Jon Barnes disagrees: "Wisconsin just cut corporate taxes by the same amount they would recover from cutting state workers benefits...and the unions agreed to reduced pay packages. The reason to attack unions is to cut off the only organizations that helps elect Democrats. It is purely for this reason that state unions are under attack. Of the top 10 organizations that put money into elections, 7 of 10 (Chamber of Commerce, etc.) support the GOP, and the 3 that support Dems, all unions."

In any case, public employees were long a place for politicians to buy votes by giving away enormous benefits to millions of them. And they did it largely invisible to the taxpayers, but now they are taking those benefits back. Worse yet, many of the retirement plans aren't fully funded, putting a huge liability on taxpayers.

My heart goes out to the teachers, firefighters, police officers, social workers and many others who offer such valuable services. It is sickening to think the needy, including homeless children and the physically limited and the elderly may find their vital services cut.

But I also care for the small business owners who work crazy hours, sometimes six or seven days a week, rarely take vacations and employ millions of people. Many small businesses are now struggling to make a profit and to pay their taxes.

Yet despite all this, the military industrial complex is showered with funding. But unlike the U.S. government, states can't print money. They must make tough choices. If you have better ideas or like Jon, have a different perspective, please speak up.

Dick

Note: In the interest of "public safety," Wisconsin eased their pursuit of police and firefighter benefits.