Communist Scum Shutting Down Wisconsin Because The People Are Coming For Them
- Thread starter hellblazer
- Start date
Unions don't strike, the people they represent do.
Unions inherit the abilities of their support base (numbers necessary for striking/votes).
Lobbyists inherit the power of their support base (dolla dolla bill y'all, incredibly powerful connections, influence in policymaking).
If lobbyists want the power to organize strikes they should trying representing the interests of more people, then that opportunity would become available to them.
Both of them are the same basic idea: Advocates for those that sign their checks. A basic method of representation in government. Everything else is their support base.
A public sector strike can cripple countries/states, politicians can't ignore them.
But they can ignore lobbyists. Lobbying is soft power.
Who does lobbying affect? Just the company paying the bills. As long as the politican makes the correct decision for the country/state, everything is OK.
Public sector unions use certain groups as pawns. They tell teachers to call in sick, impacting students and try and shift the blame for that on the employers/government.
The people lobbyists represent moving jobs can cripple countries/states, politicians can't ignore them. (And more importantly moving political donations next election season)
They can't get elected in the first place without lobbyists. It's to the point where lobbyists literally write bills and even participate in drafting. They're not underpowered in any way.
Everyone? Some of the strongest lobbies in the country are for the industries we're dumping most of our federal budget into. And they don't give a damn about you. They are taking your money from every direction.
Pharmaceuticals/Health
-Much of our federal budget via Medicare, so anything that caused a price drop would have a large effect.
-Negotiated with Obama Whitehouse to get a guaranteed veto over renegotiating for better pharma prices through Medicare. (Source)
-Enjoy a 20 year patent length, during which time they are sold for 2x-7x times the price in the states as they are elsewhere, even without government subsidy. After this expires, $200+ pills become $3. Before it, the vast of the budget is spent on advertising, not R&D. The US is one of few countries that allows them to advertise at all.
-One of the only products where prices can be set individually in every country according to what they can pay without experiencing a market correction. This is due to excessively strict import laws that would cause the prices to balance out.
-Liz Fowler of Wellpoint wrote the whitepaper the Baucus health care bill was based on, which would later evolve into Obama's healthcare bill.
Banking
-Ability to almost destroy our economy with zero arrests. Aside from Madoff, because he stole from rich people.
-0% Interest rate from government+Loans to the government with an interest rate=Backdoor bailout worth billions.
-SEC rendered completely useless.
The Defense Industry
-War in Iraq, Afghanistan. Bombings in Yemen. The costs here are astronomical, billions of dollars have disappeared into thin air, projects have massive budget overruns, there's rampant fraud, and no one really does anything about it.
-Airport Scanners, being sold by ex-bush DHS Security Michael Chertoff
-Budget has become damn near untouchable in Congress, even as they slash social programs and other insignificant programs that cost little comparatively.
-Boeing and others get to use US Embassies to negotiate on their behalf, and as such their interests are now involved in diplomatic decisions.
-We have arrangements with several nations where the aid we give them is then immediately used to buy weapons from us, working as a backdoor subsidy.
-We now have trouble cancelling a project the Pentagon says it doesn't want because the companies doing it don't want us to cancel it.
Really, pick an industry with strong lobbyists and I'll tell you how they're fucking you over and spending money we can't spend. Because of these industries the amount of money we need to cut from the budget essentially doesn't exist. The "untouchable" interests and subsidies dominate the budget, and yet it's the $150,000 programs that fall to budget cuts. Never the subsidies or bloat where corporations take advantage of the influence they have within government to get themselves obscene dealers that burn your money.
That is why you need to care about lobbying. In the Lobbyist vs anything battle, lobbyists are winning. If I spent more than a couple minutes on this, I could add dozens of bullet points to any of those.
Any politically influential group has pawns. It's part of influence. In the Union's case it's people willing to lend their smaller efforts to a larger cause. Nothing wrong with that at all.
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Is it just me, or whenever HB starts a stupid Political Rant thread, Shady shows up an totally obliterates some moron?
Hey Irish: I don't think you've got the kind of Lobbiest problem over there that we suffer daily here. Now would be a fine time to back out of the thread slowly...
Hey Irish: I don't think you've got the kind of Lobbiest problem over there that we suffer daily here. Now would be a fine time to back out of the thread slowly...
In Canada during the 1990s, there were massive strikes by federal employees because of budgets cuts put out by the liberal government.
The strikes failed in the end because nobody noticed that the workers went on strike...hah hah just kidding.
They got legislated back to work after a couple of weeks.
I'm trying to remember the last time a strike (private/public) in Canada actually ended in a victory for the union. No luck.
The strikes failed in the end because nobody noticed that the workers went on strike...hah hah just kidding.
They got legislated back to work after a couple of weeks.
I'm trying to remember the last time a strike (private/public) in Canada actually ended in a victory for the union. No luck.
Same thing. Those who sign their checks. Should've specified 'corporate lobbyists' as the counter example I suppose I suppose.
You know the thing is people should be tracking down Ted Thompson and anyone else who's served as Governor of Wisconsin in the last 12 years or so and beat them senseless. Scott Walker ran on the platform of responsible spending, and stopping Government bloat. He's doing just that, common sense, and he's getting crucified. People are retarded, protect themselves, and not care about what's best. Fuck them.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llEw5FmG_Qg&feature=relmfu]YouTube - Scott Walker Ad: "Saturn"[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUDvEen5Fyc&feature=relmfu]YouTube - Scott Walker Ad: "Salary"[/ame]
Dude doing, what a dude has to do. Probably one of the first politicizations in a long time.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUDvEen5Fyc&feature=relmfu]YouTube - Scott Walker Ad: "Salary"[/ame]
Dude doing, what a dude has to do. Probably one of the first politicizations in a long time.
Teachers who are walking out are bringing their students with to these protests, who admittedly have no idea what's going on. "Our teacher brought us here!"
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cufj2d8Co5A]YouTube - Wisc. High School Teachers Bring Students to Protest[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cufj2d8Co5A]YouTube - Wisc. High School Teachers Bring Students to Protest[/ame]
Wisconsin government workers currently pay 6% of their health care premiums, and 0% of their pensions.
Walker is asking them to pay 12% of their health care premiums and 5.6% of their pensions.
In contrast, in the private sector, roughly 59% of employers provide some form of health insurance for their employees- of those, on average the employee has to pay around 50% of their premiums. Pensions barely exist anymore but of those private sector employees who actually get a pension, they on average pay more than 10%.
Walker is asking them to pay 12% of their health care premiums and 5.6% of their pensions.
In contrast, in the private sector, roughly 59% of employers provide some form of health insurance for their employees- of those, on average the employee has to pay around 50% of their premiums. Pensions barely exist anymore but of those private sector employees who actually get a pension, they on average pay more than 10%.
Whats really funny is how Walker is going to exclude the unions that supported his campaign - Wisconsin State Troopers, the Milwaukee Police and Firefighters Associations, and the West Allis Professional Police. Thats a bit hypocritical. I voted for Walker and overall I support him but I think he is committing political suicide with this move.