Thoughts on Wisconsin

I've been trying to follow the goings on in Wisconsin. I have a friend who published the salaries of the teachers in Wisconsin. They make a lot more than my husband (I have to admit, I'm a stay home mom, only because he also gets a military retirement check), who puts together dust collector equipment. Maybe it's hazard pay? I don't know what the schools are like in Wisconsin, maybe they need protection and it's like going into a de-militarized zone? I doubt it. I also saw what the garbage collector makes. My husband said he's in the wrong business. Times were, if you couldn't get any other job, you could be a garbage collector. It didn't require a high school diploma. Now they make a small fortune compared to us.

Here's the facts my friend sent me:

TEACHERS:


Milwaukee $86,297

Elmbrook $91,065

Germantown $83,818

Hartland Arrowhead $90,285 (highest teacher was $122,952-lowest was $64,942)

Men Falls $81,099

West Bend $82,153

Waukesha $92,902

Sussex $82,956

Mequon $95,297



Kettle Mor $87,676

Muskego $91,341


STAFF:

Arrowhead - Bus Mng - Kopecky - $169,525

Arrowhead - Principal - Wieczorek - $152,519

Grmtwn - Asst Princ - Dave Towers - $123,222

Elmbrk - Burliegh Elemetary - Principal Zahn- $142,315 (for a primary school!!)

Madison - Asst Principal - McGrath - $127,835



UNIVERSITY of WISCONSIN STAFF (2009) (salary alone):


Michael Knetter - Prof of Bus - $327,828

Carolyn Martin -Chancellor Mad- $437,000

Hector Deluca - Prof of Nutritional Science - $254,877 (really??)


source: Madison.com -as the UW removed salaries from being posted online in 2007- why if they are so low?)

How about some other "public servant job" ??? What do they make?



Madison Garbage men (2009) (salary only):


Garbageman, Mr. Nelson earned $159,258 in 2009, including $109,892 in overtime and other pay.

Garbageman, Greg Tatman, who earned $125,598

7 Madison garbage men made over $100,000

30 Madison garbage men made over $70,000

MILWAUKEE CITY BUS DRIVERS (salary only):

136 Drivers made more than $70,000

54 Drivers made more than $80,000


18 Drivers made more than $90,000

8 Drivers made more than $100,000


Top Driver made $117,000

(Source WTMJ)


(The average private bus driver makes $9-13 an hour (about 20,000 yr) with no pension, or healthcare.)





YET TWO THIRDS OF 8TH GRADERS IN WISONSON CANNOT PASS THE PROFICIANCY TESTS!!


AND WE ARE SUPPOSED TO CONTINUE PAYING 100% OF THEIR GENEROUS RETIREMENT ?
THEY HAVE SHUT DOWN SCHOOLS AS THEY DON'T WANT TO PAY 5.8% OF IT THEMSELVES ...REALLY?

_______________

Now I looked up my city's school teachers and it's not like that. Garland Independent School District workers make about $50,000 a year. Admittedly, that's a lot more than we do. I guess their union isn't as good at getting money out of the government as Wisconsin's is.

I heard a man shouting on one of the videos about every worker should unite, that this was about a decent pay for the job. Really? Now why would I, who doesn't even have a retirement plan, be behind someone who gets a really nice retirement package without paying into it? There are people in Wisconsin (at the minimum, don't know if it goes nation-wide) who are paying for the union's retirement and don't have one either. There are people who don't have health care (remember the president saying that?), and yet the unions are complaining that they are being asked to contribute 12% of the health care costs? So why did the president have to jam the health care bill through, and then exempt the union members from it? And yet declare it's not unconstitutional?

There are so many questions that don't seem to get answered. How come every time I see coverage on the situation in Wisconsin, it's from FoxNews? Has no one else the balls to record the hate spewing out of these union members? Maybe they're not the average Union worker, I don't know. I belonged to a union one time, when I worked in a shop that made suits for men. I had no choice, I had to belong to the union if I wanted to work there. I had no say at that time, where my union dues went. I couldn't say, no, I don't want to belong to the union, because they would have just said "Bu-bye." And how come the TeaPartiers aren't so filled with hate? And yet, they were a threat to national security. These Union thugs who cross the street to get in someone's face and try to start a fight are having a peaceful demonstration? These women who say the tea partiers are on the plantation of the governor? Can you imagine if a conservative said that? I remember someone else calling black conservatives "Porch Negroes..." Now who was that? Oh, I think it was Van Jones. But because he was black and liberal, that wasn't a racist remark. I didn't know the term, and had to look it up. It basically means the slaves who worked inside the house, and were treated better than the ones in the field. The implication was that they didn't mind being slaves, because they were comfortable, and therefore didn't fight for freedom. Then there was the comment about President Obama being a "light skinned Negro."

I have friends of all nationalities. I have a friend from Columbia (here LEGALLY), my son plays with kids whose parents are from Nigeria. My sister-in-law is from the Netherlands (got a work visa through all the proper channels). I have numerous black friends. I don't dislike President Obama because he's black. He has a white half, too, doesn't he? I don't like that half either. It's his policies. It's the way he lies to you - and you can tell he's lying because his lips go thin, and he gets that tone of voice like he's scolding a child. It's the way it's ok for him to jam things through with out half the congress, but we have to compromise when he's out-numbered.

So, will the Union thugs cause this to spread across the country? And why isn't the President condemning their behavior? Is it possible that it works into his plans, so he's going to encourage it? I still think, and I've said it for almost 2 years, the President needs a disruption so he can declare martial law. I will be really surprised if we even HAVE elections in 2012. It doesn't match what Obama is doing. He will have found a way to declare martial law because of the outbreaks. He couldn't stir up the tea partiers, so he's going after the union.

I know people don't want to hear it, but it's like Glenn says. Preach peace, but prepare for war.

Wisconsin Dr.'s part of the problem

I know everyone has heard of the troubles in Wisconsin. I have to admit, I've been a little distracted with my medical treatments, but I've been trying to follow it. At first, I heard from the lame stream media, and thought well, maybe they're right. Why would they need to cut everything if they're not really in financial distress? For those who only have network news, you have got to realize now that they DON'T tell you all of the truth. Pictures don't lie. I've seen video of the protests. You can't tell me there are that many communists in Wisconsin! Most are carrying signs or wearing red for communism. I'm sorry, but I fought communism during the cold war, and I know it when I see it.

So, the communists see us in trouble and come out of the woodwork. Now, am I saying the Unions are communists? No. But they lie to their people, too. Do you want teachers able to just walk out in your state? Are you a 2 paycheck family? Then which one of you is going to stay home with your child/ren because the teachers are on strike? I went through this in Illinois several years back, possibly around 1992-3. My son (who is handicapped) was 2 or 3 years old and was in early intervention. All the schools went on strike and he was out of school for a while. I don't remember the amount of time, because luckily I was a stay home mom at the time and it didn't affect my income. But missing a week of school because your kids don't have childcare? Or trying to find childcare for the whole day instead of just after school? I'd be pi$$ed!

The Governor is asking (and I looked this up - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704171004576149003027310600.html) for them to pay for half their pension and 12.6% of their health care. I don't personally know anyone who gets most of their retirement for free except the military. I think they deserve it for keeping us safe. And you don't get it unless you put at least 20 years in, if I'm not mistaken. I'll have to ask my husband. I don't get any retirement after 4 years. As for health care, who else do you know that only pays 5%? I have military health care, and the government reimburses at 19%. I haven't figured out what I actually pay, but we have it pretty good. Not as good as the Unions, and I'm sure if the President had his way, he'd cut us out and leave the unions getting the sweet deal.

BUT, let me ask you this: do you think there will be repercussions from Doctors writing false notes? What happens when this is all over in Wisconsin, and a child gets sick? Will the teachers say, well, you just got the doctor to write that note, because they did it for me when I was on strike, so I don't believe you. Especially if the child has parents that are conservative. I personally think every one of these doctors ought to be fired and have their license revoked.

And as the Senators who ran to Illinois. Ever wonder why they chose Chicago? Anyway... I think they ought to immediately hold special elections and replace every single one for dereliction of duty. Or have them take their salary, divide it by 365 to get a daily amount, and deduct that amount for every day they are gone while the congress is in session. They owe that amount back to the people of Wisconsin. How much does a state congressman make? How long have how many of them been gone? That should help the budget a little bit. Bet it would get them to come home in a hurry.

Raising the Debt Ceiling?

First let me start off with a personal note from my own experience.

I have had no balance on my discover card for over 10 years. I recently ran into a bit of need, and paid the minimum balance a couple months in a row. Now, you have to realize, we use our Discover card for EVERYTHING, so we routinely put on between $1500 to $3000 a month. The average is around $2000. We do it for the cash back. I recently applied $150 to my credit card balance. They don't like us because we pay it off in full each month. So they are losing money on us. Well, they were. They changed their policy and they now have two different interest rates. It used to be, if you paid off your credit card in full, you didn't get charged interest. You only got charged if you carried a balance forward to the next month. Not anymore.

But I'm getting distracted. We paid the minimum a couple months and ran up a balance of about $1800. I still had it in my bank account, because I thought I was going to need it for something. Turns out I didn't need it, but more on that in a minute. While I had the balance, I got a letter from Discover. Due to my great ability to manage my account, they were going to raise my credit limit! All the times I was responsible, over the past 10 years, and didn't carry a balance forward to the next month, wasn't being responsible in their eyes. It was when I started making them money by carrying a debt was I considered responsible. Isn't that funny?

And to mention something even funnier, shortly after receiving that letter, I got a similiar one from my other bank, Navy Federal Credit Union. They were raising the limit on our VISA with them. I guess it was from Discover's decision, becuase we don't use that card very often.

So my question is: Did they want to encourage us to spend more? Did they want us to not pay the debt because now we COULD spend more? I guess I'll never know, because I paid off the card. I had acrued a bit more in interest than I had anticipated and it took me 2 or 3 months to pay it off, but now we're back to paying it off every month.

So, how is this similiar to the United States? The US owes money to China (basically our bank now). China buys our debt, so they're like a credit card company. They see us going into debt further and further. What does a credit card company do when you default on your credit card? I don't really know for sure, because it's never happened to me. I have, however, been forced to declare bankruptcy once (about 15 years ago). When you do that, they come and seize all but essential assets. Is China waiting in the wings to do just that? Let's encourage them to spend more, so they will never be able to pay it off, and then come seize their assets. What is America's assets? Our land. Perhaps the President is doing land grabs so that he can give land in trade for debt?

We, as Americans, have to be against the raising of the debt ceiling. We also have to push for the government to balance the budget and pay down some of that debt. It is never easy as a household to pay down your debt. It means giving up some things that you are used to having. It means not eating out as much, maybe cutting corners by shopping at the thrift store, not going to all the sporting events, maybe your kids don't get to do the extra-curricular events because the stuff you need to buy to do it is out of your budget. It means an overhaul of your budget to determine what you are currently spending money on. Maybe it means only going grocery shopping once a week instead of everytime you run out of something, in order to save gas. Maybe it means lowering your thermostat a couple degrees in the winter (or raising it in the summer) in order to pay less in heating/cooling bills. Has our nation done that? No. Every program is off limits.

It's like a household deciding that they need to cut back, so they don't buy caviar. Everything else is left alone. So what if they only have caviar once a year? And therefore, they never get better, they keep going further and further into debt.

That's what our country is doing. We have to stop the madness.

Lori Ann Smith