There is no signed Federal Budget. The destruction of Unions in Wisconsin will be complete in less than two weeks. It's a done deal. Get used to it. What happens afterwords though will be interesting. There will be layoffs. Walker will use his powers to lay off workers even with the new rules he said he needed so he wouldn't lay off anyone. Classroom sizes are going to get MUCH bigger. Students will do worse, but... we are forgetting all the other state workers.
DMV? state workers
HWY? State/city/county workers
Inspections? Infrastructure will not be inspected as often. Expect Hoan Bridge type problem to arise.
Ball parks, out buildings, parks in general will not get the upkeep they need. less manpower, and less funds for paint and supplies.
State campgrounds/Parks will have hours and days cut. Parts of the Parks will be shut down to use due to these problems.
Schools will see less care as the tap from the State is turned nearly off.
Pot holes, tarring cracks so water doesn't seep in and freeze causing more problems will be curtailed.
Workers are going to work s l o w e r. Disgruntled workers always do. Can't prove they are though, they won't have the needed supplies to do anything quickly.
The worst thing is if we stop paying on our debt. No budget, no debt payments. What happens when you don't pay on your house? Germany found out post WWI. It's what bred the anger that created WWII. Ounce of gold went from under 8 DM to over a MILLION DM in 14 months. A loaf of bread had the same inflation. You might want to do a little hoarding. You might want a three month supply of your meds if you need them. You might want some dry goods like beans/lentils/rice and canned meat.
Not laying blame, don't want to hear it. Just saying this is what we are headed for if we do not have a budget in time. If tomfoolery happens, and it doesn't get signed into law, the possibility of strange events finally happening go up exponentially. In other words, the other shoe will drop. When the shoe drops, this IS what is going to happen. You always end up paying the piper, and we've laid one hell of a tab at the bar. Even if it doesn't drop this time, this is our fate when it does.
Are you prepared?
Might be time to invest in Futurama's suicide booths: http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn6/orbscorbs/lgr30pS.gif
ReplyDeleteWhen the shit hits the fan, my plan is to join the roving hordes of pillagers and plunderers.
I don't mean to be flippant, but, in all honesty, I live in an apartment building on the south side where half the people are nice and half the people are animals, so what are my options? I've thought about getting a gun and loading up on ammo, but if it comes to that, I'd just be postponing the inevitable. Might just as well off myself.
ReplyDeleteIf the thin of veneer of civilization is ever completely stripped from our society, I expect all urban areas will be chaos. Nothing reduces us to animals quicker than mob mentality.
ARMAGEDDON
ReplyDeleteDecember 21, 2012. The date that the ancient Mayan calendar marked as the end of a 5,126-year era, resetting the date to 0 and signaling the end of an era, perhaps the end of humanity.
I always enjoy the fear mongering of idiots, as the normal system of checks and balances kicks in, to offset excess waste and corruption.
ReplyDeleteEducation Reform, I don't know if you are meaning the author of this piece, but I do not appreciate the name calling. This is not what this site is for. If you have something to say then please do so without name calling and personal attacks..
ReplyDeleteAmazing, a month ago we were concerned about too much snow falling.... Now the sky is falling. There needs to be a solution, but these tactics should be enough to make everyone, Republican, Democrat and Independent angry.
ReplyDeleteI saw a sign that said, "Public servant, not Public Enemy" My job is hard enough... now we are being blamed for the financial crisis of the state... not to mention the "high life" evidently I was supposedly living.
Take 18% of your income and call it gone. Do the math. How would you survive? This really isn't a joke. The money isn't the whole thing. Jobs are going to be cut. Walker stands up there acting like we've duped everyone.
The QEO capped raises to 3% for years and years for the public sector during "good times" and that was INVESTED into retirement and health benefits while the private sector enjoyed 7% dollar amount raises in good times. All of a sudden, whoosh... that investment is gone and all the mismanagement across the board is my greedy ass fault.
YOU spend 40 hours a week in a prison, at the DMV or in the schools for 20% less of your pay and have your working conditions at the mercy of no money left in the budget. In the last year, I've doubled the amount of work/kids I see every day. This is not the worker's fault and they shouldn't have to bear the sole burden.
Orbs, I know the feeling of vulnerability. We have no Animals on my block. We try to help each other out as the block is mostly single old ladies, and disabled old men. This block however is surrounded by low income and subsidized housing. It occasionally suffers from theft and burglaries that never seem to make the JT.
ReplyDeleteI've thought about a gun purchase myself. Just don't want oblivion a mere click away. Always been a survivor though. Owning a gun is a touch decision.
SER, I'm not into Armageddon, or the Inca Calender of doom. Tying in Judea and Mayan religions to portend the end of the world in one big thunder clap has me telling those hand wringers to give me their crap before they leave. I'll hold it for them. Never get any takers though. Oh. before I forget, you missed the May 21 doomsday prediction.
Education reform, please try to keep that sort of post over at the JT site. I agree with RWWStu. If you can't debate civilly, you will be deleted. Disaster kits are pushed by a Federal website. The website was put into place during the Bush administration. Great site, great advice, and the brain child of Conservatives.
Why not, Thank you
Hey wait!! the world is going to end on May 21st????!!! now I'm pissed I would have never spent so much money on tickets home if I knew that!!!
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Mayans the beginning of time was August 8, 3114 BC. They said the end of their 'Calendar' was December 12, 2012. Actually the Mayans didn't say it..it just ended there. Issac Newton said the end of the world is 2060.
ReplyDeleteWell, I don't buy the 2012 doomsday nonsense at all. I get a lot of questions about that since so many of the scenarios involve some astronomically based disaster (a rogue planet, solar flares, "galactic alignment", etc) and every one of the scenarios is laughable and demonstrably false
ReplyDeleteBesides, there is a small Christian group that now claims the world will end on May 21st,2011!
I have survived the "End of the World" dozens of times in my life that I am aware of (and probably quite a few more that I didn't even know about...it's hard to find a comprehensive list of failed doomsday predictions). The world won't end for another 5 billion years or so when the Sun becomes a red giant (and even then its not clear if Earth will be destroyed...that depends on the mass rate loss of the Sun and right now our models show its almost too close to call, although all live will cease on Earth long before that).
If humanity ends in the next few years, it will be self inflicted. There is nothing external coming our way.
Change (the unknown) is always greeted with trepidation (fear), but in a dysfunctional bureaucracy it must occur. Your choice is victim or initiator.
ReplyDeleteInitiator:
ReplyDeleteTo set going by taking the first step; one who begins
Victim:
a person who suffers from a destructive or injurious action or agency
Democracy:
a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them
Dictator:
a person exercising absolute power, especially a ruler who has absolute, unrestricted control in a government
One can only initiate when there is dialog, a willingness to listen and the potential for compromise.
I should have said, you have the choice to "perceive" yourself as victim or initiator. Change has not yet actually occurred and the nature of the change not yet known. Keep the faith.....education needs "good" teachers.
ReplyDeleteThis is where I’m at; the politicians ruined the budget and the public was naive enough to let them do it!
ReplyDeleteI know something has to be done to “START” to correct the problem but taking away ‘rights’ is not the answer.
We have all heard percentage number tossed out there, 13% 18%, 20% reduction in real take home wages.
Lets assume you work in one of these targeted position and are making $35,000 a year; now your take home pay is reduce. Will someone explain to me why I should spend 4 to 5 years going to college to make $35,000 when I can go to Home Depot or Menards and maybe Walmart and make that type of money now?
You can bet your sweet ass the ‘top dogs’ in Racine Unified are going to cover their ass to maintain their $80,000 to $150,000 dollar jobs! Isn’t that Shaw?
(Reuters) - Thousands of people rallied in cities across the United States on Saturday to express solidarity with Wisconsin public sector unions fighting a proposal to curb their power.
ReplyDeleteLabor protests beyond Wisconsin draw thousands
I don't mean to dig in my heels, ed. It has been a rough couple of weeks. It is easy to be down in the dumps or touchy when you pour your heart into what you believe in, and people who have no clue the impact and the consequences of what is proposed, start talking "smack" about how greedy, spoiled and overpaid you are.
ReplyDeleteGood, hard working people are going to lose their jobs. Some good people are going to lose their homes. This will have an impact on all children in education.
It also worries me when mass numbers of people are being "bulldozed" without any consideration and our house representatives are not being allowed to have their voice or cast their votes.
Unions are really running scared. Teachers, on the other hand, are being driven to the point of hysteria with fear mongering of many kinds. The reason I commented here.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you think I was fear mongering Ed. I didn't see it as fear mongering as much as a prediction. I see the Republicans will steam roller every bill and cause they put out. They will not compromise because they don't need to. There is no diplomacy, merely dictating.
ReplyDeleteScott Walker's history of screwing the pooch and causing more damage than good is well documented. I doubt he even bothers changing the oil in his car. He has no concept of preventive maintenance. Scott must have been the kind of kid that made his own rules for baseball and if you didn't play be his rules, he took his ball and bat home.
Knowing this and becoming familiar with the conservative mindset, it isn't rocket science to have a good idea how this is going to play out. It's like being in a room with a lunatic that is playing Russian roulette with a hand grenade. If he pulls the pin he will kill everyone in the room, but he don't care. You can't reason with him. All you can do is duck and cover and hope she shrapnel doesn't injure you too badly.
That is what my post is about. It's time to duck and cover because it's going to hit the fan. You can't fail to notice how the deck is stacked. The damage over the next 18 months is going to be written about in history books. We can't start a recall until January, and the ballot won't be ready until June 2012. That is a hugely long time to sink the ship.
I'm sorry Ed, your choice of words just rubs me the wrong way.
ReplyDeleteI have yet to meet a hysterical teacher... many very angry teachers, but none that are hysterical. Instead of buying into some "fear mongering", most are extremely well versed and can tell you exactly the dollar figure this will represent to them, individually.
The larger concern will be the number of those laid off when the second part of the plan is put in place: the cuts to individual local districts, the per pupil reduction. This throws the onus on local government... something the state has done time and time again.
These already stated reductions will force cuts in staff to occur, and without union support, this can be done without any regard/consequence to years of service or rules set in place as to classroom size, special education needs, etc. That is the part of "no collective bargaining" that most are protesting.
Those who work in education know the mentality of what is often proposed by districts/administration and what the unions have constantly had to fight for: to bring about the best educational process possible under difficult circumstances.
We shouldn't forget that teachers have always been the strongest advocates for the children.
"screwing the pooch", "doesn't change his oil", "dictator"....doesn't sound like civil discourse to me!
ReplyDeleteEd, Screwing the pooch is civil compared to Fucks everything he touches, and how are his actions not dictatorial?
ReplyDeleteCivil is not calling those that follow him in lockstep retards. Not attacking the posters, not attacking you with slurs. Civil is allowing other debate without running down the poster him/herself.
Now, tell me how your first post weighed in. Curious if you find it civil. If you can't debate the issues without attacking the poster versus the post/idea presented, you need to do a time out and learn how to play well with others.
People are really, really pissed off about this. The strife in Madison mirrors our nation. Polarization everywhere.
ReplyDeleteI didn't write the definitions... they were strictly taken from online dictionaries... and I didn't equate anything with anyone. Funny how the brain works.
ReplyDeletesometimes wish I could push like on certain comments like you can on Facebook..
ReplyDeleteRepublicans, Democrats, unbelievable; they are supposedly educated people which is why we voted them into office; but now all they do is fight like little kids; they should be ashamed of themselves!
ReplyDeleteWe need to get rid of both of those parties and get the “Right Party” into office; a group of individuals who want to do right for the people and the state!
I’m hoping the people of Racine have enough fortitude to vote AGAINST the up and coming $83.5 million building referendum. That is only the start of giving Unified “trick-or-treat” money to play with!
Could they be asking the community for money at a worse time? When you are "broke" you hunker down. You don't build new buildings, you don't move to Surgitek, you don't fund new projects.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe they would allow this story to be published at this time! Don't you think their referendum would have been tweaked to accommodate the issues occurring at state level?
RUSD is looking at HUGE funding cuts from the state: Loss of staff, potential doubling up of class sizes, reductions in Special Education services (for behavioral, troubled, medically compromised/diagnosed students...students who need extra help to be in regular classrooms) Loss of programs, music, librarians, sports.... If they have the gumption to ask for money, wouldn't it be for something that would cover the loss of funds they need to operate safely and effectively?
These decision makers are the ones who will have TOTAL say over education once there are no checks and balances of the workers voice in how education is delivered. While I most certainly see my job going by the wayside, what is almost more concerning is whether or not good people will stay in a system with bizarre leadership and no voice. What I really, really, really worry about are the kids who can't walk away.