Scott Walker's Wisconsin Repeating History Breaking Treaty
80
1 - Setting The Stage
For those that don’t like to read and are not prepared for this lengthy truthful rant best not proceed any further – I’m longwinded. If however you have the courage to read this document I would appreciate your comment. Christians are soon going to be forced to choose between what’s best for the country and what’s best for their fellow man, and the philosophy that we can continue to serve mammon and the Creator will have to be disannulled. It’s time to get off the fence and choose a side – Your neighbor or your wealth.
We don’t often think of Union negotiations as being the same thing as pursuing a treaty, but it is. Throughout history, and especially in America, creating and breaking a treaty is as common and revered a pastime as baseball and apple pie. When a more powerful force wants to allow a peace to transpire, they will call the hunted and the demoralized to the negotiation table and offer them a paltry token to pacify any further uprisings. Then, the quarry, humbled, accepts the terms of peace because they really have no other choice anyway, and the more powerful figure can now quietly go about assimilating the enemy until another civil unrest explodes and the aggrieved can be blamed for their volatile demonstration. In other words – Peace – Peace – Peace – When there is no peace.
In Wisconsin, the new Governor, Scott Walker, finally encroached enough on the nation of the public workers to the point that the public workers rose up in a mass demonstration against it. The state has decided it conceded too much to these people and wants to take it back. How is that any different than the U.S. government deciding they gave the Indians too much valuable land and decided to take it back? By saying the state is broke and some sacrifices will have to be made, Scott Walker is justifying the destruction of a treaty the state has with its workforce. Whether the treaty or bargaining agreement is fair or not, is not the issue. Suddenly the one with the power and the wealth has decided they conceded too much and wants to change the arrangement – and in any language and any context that is wrong.
I think of the Albert Pujos affair in St. Louis and the CBA negotiations in the NFL and wonder why it is that the bottom line for everything in America is the almighty dollar.
Republican John Boehner (Ohio), when referring to the loss of thousands of workers jobs that are bound to happen because of the cutbacks he and his supporters want, recently said, “So be it. We’re broke.”
Obviously you are not broke enough to discontinue your pay. Members of Congress make a minimum of $174,000 a year. Obviously there is enough money in the coffers for the elected “servants” of the people to continue getting their salaries, accommodations and other expenses. Oh yeah, and let us not forget that the government is not broke enough to discontinue fighting a senseless war that is costing the country billions of dollars every day. How about using the same philosophy on that matter? How about saying, “We can’t afford to fight this war anymore. We’re broke.”?
If America is as stated in its Constitution, a government of the people, by the people, for the people, why is it then that the people to suffer first are the most vulnerable and the ones who have a contract with the state? If it is the representatives that created the system that is broke, why aren’t they the ones being made to pay for it? Why don’t the representatives – the servants of the state - suffer first? (I ask - in Christ, who was it that suffered for the failings of the law – for sin? Who was crucified? Selah.) I wonder how on earth a person making over $100,000 a year can justify ruining the lives of thousands of other people while their lifestyle remains untouched. I wonder why it is they can’t take a little less of the luxury in life instead of ruining completely the lives of others.
When politicians come out and start their discussions by telling their party member’s things like “If we are going to win this thing,” then what they are really saying is, “There is an enemy out there that must be defeated.” That is no different than saying there is a civil war – Republican vs. Democrat. It is ridiculous. And the thing is, in this political civil war, the bias party people on both sides have forgotten all about the people they represent. They have become the mouthpiece of their party and its agenda and nothing more. As individuals, they no longer speak for themselves as men and women of a higher power. They can’t do what is right by everyone because the higher power in their life is the money they receive for campaign contributions. As I will declare later – I am an individual in the body of Christ and not beholden to any of this nonsense.
When any politicians tells you that the bottom line is the economy and the budget, what they are really telling you is, this country serves mammon so its time to get out the knives and start delivering the lambs to slaughter; the money god has to be appeased – after all, we are in debt to him – we have sinned and must repay.
Romans 6:16 ‘Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey. . .’
Money is not my “god”.
What and who do you ultimately answer to on a daily basis? Creditors, bills, employers and bank notes? Are you more worried about appeasing them than your Creator?
++++
2 - Global Dictators
In today’s global economy, you must understand that corporations have become nations in a sense that they dictate much of what happens everywhere in the world. They influence prosperity and poverty. It is benign to believe that America really is a country anymore with its own interests. The Gulf War wasn’t about America but corporate interests needing protection in a volatile region of the world – and corporate interest is the only reason soldiers are still there. Government is merely a tool for corporation greed. “We the people” is a sham. The more business-minded people there are in Congress, the more efficiently they can wield that tool to make themselves rich. America and its people’s prosperity matter very little to a Board Directors and its Stock Holders when they have investments and interests all over the world. Get used to it – You are no different to them than the worker they hire in India. Whichever one of you is willing to take the least amount of money for the most work and least amount of complaining, is going to get the job. Taking away the people’s collective bargaining rights to seek better working conditions and job security is really third world thinking but what the ambitious will tell you, is that this is modern civilized economy at work – free market.
Have you ever asked yourself what a Union really is? A Union is a nation of people who as individuals realized they have no say in the government or the economy. They are the people who are concerned with making a good honest living right where they live. They don’t care about China or Iraq or Africa or even Europe. They have something of value to protect in their hometown – their families and their jobs.
When a global corporation begins to sniff around and encroach on American communities, they promise to open doors to global commerce and trade, but in the greater scheme of things they actually go about closing doors to the common individuals who want to do nothing more with their content lives than run a store, teach at a school, police their neighborhoods or combat fires when they occur, year after year. Competition is the war that begins, a turf war, a gang war. These big businesses didn’t want to help you or your community – they just wanted the right to compete with you – justify making you their enemy. And with bottomless global finances at their disposal they are going to crush you as sure as an army of gun-toting soldiers will crush a tribe armed with knives and bows. You don’t stand a chance. It is either be complicit with their desire and take a lower wage or move aside and find another job. If you want to work at a store from now on, it won’t be yours – Mom and Pop get out of the way. You’ll be checking at Walmart from now on or shelving boxes at Kmart.
Anyone who wishes to live the quiet life, the content life, the traditional ancestral ways of the land they were born on are labeled either savage or naïve. Those with all the weapons and the laws at their disposal will move across the plains destroying anyone and anything that doesn’t align themselves with the new global concept of civilization being forced on the world.
Scott Walker claims he wants to make things better for everyone. But to accomplish this better for everyone, things must get a lot worse for some people who already have a treaty saying they were protected from worse. And yet in these hard times when everyone must take a hit and suffer some, Scott Walker is protecting the rights of the rich through tax breaks. The economic conditions of the wealth won’t get worse but actually improve.
For the good of everyone everywhere, the public-Indians (I mean workers), will have to accept less than they were promised. According to Governor Walker, the rich and the wealthy need more money, more tax breaks and more benefits so they will be motivated to grow businesses in Wisconsin. In this equation, how does the little guy who is getting laid off, losing wages, suffering from foreclosure and going bankrupt, going to get a loan and open a new business? How is he going to do that making less money, or being put out of work? What bank is going to give a loan to a laid-off teacher or a firefighter wanting to start up a business?
+++
Everybody's Got Someone They Call Home
Lyrics - Home
Jim: Oh, God!
Californian Weirdo: Sole has no eyes.
Could be Jerusalem, or it could be Cairo
Could be Berlin, or it could be Prague
Could be Moscow, could be New York
Could be Llanelli, and it could be Warrington
Could be Warsaw, and it could be Moose Jaw
Could be Rome
Everybody got somewhere they call home
When they overrun the defences
A minor invasion put down to expenses
Will you go down to the airport lounge
Will you accept your second class status
A nation of waitresses and waiters
Will you mix their martinis
Will you stand still for it
Or will you take to the hills
It could be clay and it could be sand
Could be desert
Could be a tract of arable land
Could be a house, could be a corner shop
Could be a cabin by a bend in the river
Could be something your old man handed down
Could be something you built on your own
Everybody got something he calls home
When the cowboys and Arabs draw down
On each other at noon
In the cool dusty air of the city boardroom
Will you stand by a passive spectator
Of the market dictators
Will you discreetly withdraw
With your ear pressed to the boardroom door
Will you hear when the lion within you roars
Will you take to the hills
Will you stand, will you stand for it
Will you hear, ohhhh! ohhh! when the lion within you roars
Could be your father and it could be your mother
Could be your sister, could be your brother
Could be a foreigner, could be a Turk
Could be a cyclist out looking for work. Norman
Could be a king, could be the Aga khan
Could be a Vietnam vet with no arms and no legs
Could be a saint, could be a sinner
Could be a loser or it could be a winner
Could be a banker, could be a baker
Could be a Laker, could be Kareem Abdul Jabar
Could be a male voice choir
Could be a lover, could be a fighter
Could be a super heavyweight, or it could be
something lighter
Could be a cripple, could be a freak
Could be a wop, gook, geek
Could be a cop, could be a thief
Could be a family of ten living in one room on relief
Could be our leaders in their concrete tombs
With their tinned food and their silver spoons
Could be the pilot with God on his side
Could be the kid in the middle of the bomb sight
Could be a fanatic, could be a terrorist
Could be a dentist, could be a psychiatrist
Could be humble, could be proud
Could be a face in the crowd
Could be the soldier in the white cravat
Who turns the key in spite of the fact
That this is the end of the cat and mouse
Who dwelt in the house
Where the laughter rang and the tears were spilt
The house that Jack built
Where the laughter rang and the tears were spilt
The house that Jack built
Bang, bang, shoot, shoot
White gloved thumb, Lord thy will be done
He was always a good boy his mother said
He'll do his duty when he's grown, yeah
Everybody's got someone they call home
Think clearly on this. The truth is evident. Why in the world would the rich want to give you the chance to compete with them and take a piece of their prosperity? They have monopolies to protect. They don’t want you to prosper unless they are prospering from your work first. They want you working and serving them – as Roger Waters declared – A nation of waitresses and waiters (see the song Home). Business leaders want your loyalty to their global economic conglomerate that can pay you what it wants to pay you and work you however long it wants without any regulations or safety-policies. And that is freedom? How foolish are people to call that freedom?
What the rich and wealthy want is what they have always wanted, and that is to destroy the nation of Unions because it stands in the way of their expanding their empire and making more money. Global companies are making billions already off non-unionized workers around the world. Americans are the disgruntled worker that expect too much. Americans mean nothing more to them then the treaty they are willing to break with you. The rich have taken hold of the government and want to use it to say that they must have ceded too much land to you in the last treaty and now they got to get some of that back. For the benefit of the whole society, it is better that these people take less, and go off and live in a swamp or something. And the rich get more breaks.
Are the people’s employees (a.k.a. politicians) going to move out of their mansions and take a cut in salary and take a hit like the other public workers are being asked to take? Why don’t they try to live on 30% less than they are making now? No, the politicians are not going to confuse themselves with the Indians in this war. They are not the savage and naïve common middle class but rather the civilized and the deserving. They have a job to do. They were elected by the well-to-do, to slaughter some sheep that cannot fight back and preserve their financial interests from the rest of the American body.
When government serves the interests of business, it has forgotten completely about the will of the people. And when the government begins to serve the interests of global businesses, it has actually begun to support domestic terrorism for global business is the real enemy of the common man – in every nation – not just America. A global company doesn’t care whose backyard it craps in. A global company doesn’t care whose workforce it abuses and misuses. A global company doesn’t care about the rights of any worker in any country.
If you want to stand up for your rights, a global company will take your job to some other country where the workers won’t stand up for their rights – because their too hungry and beaten to insist. The wealthy in America want Americans too scared and too hungry to speak up against their greed. They want Americans to be like the poor in Mexico and India and China – simply willing to do anything, for any amount of money – enough about your rights and safety.
When the white settlers, entrepreneurs and miners infringed and raided Indian Territory, they did so believing the people on that land were not making good enough use of it. They wanted to take it from them so it could be exploited properly. Whatever happened to the men, women and children was not of any importance. Growing the economy by running them off was all that mattered. Who cares that there were treaties and promises in place? We need to change things and the ones sitting on what we want must give it up – the unions must give up their rights. Hmmm – and what happens when you ask the rich to give up their wealth because what their sitting on is needed to right the ship? Why are their rights more valuable than the ones with the treaty?
Today, as it has always been, what happens to those the government wants to crucify is not of any importance. The ones unaffected go to the execution glad it’s not them.
When a politician supports a global corporation and their expansionist aspirations, they are fostering economic imperialism. They are not worried about the people of America who elected them into office – just the corporations of the world who are paying their bills. Politicians are concerned with giving the powerful conglomerates of the world an opportunity to continue expanding and growing at the expense of the people, their own people.
++++
3 - Sheep Won't Be Enough
We hear all too often Republican and Tea Party enthusiasts go on and on about the Union bosses coffers being filled with money from Union dues. They always say in a condescending manner, “The money these Unions receive is being used to grease politicians and curry favors.”
Well, no kidding. But why is this truth so feared?
As I stated at the beginning, corporations are nothing more than tiny nations. Many of these nations have nearly unlimited funds to grease politicians and curry favors and they do this every day of the week. All the big businesses have an army of lobbyists working hard every minute of every day to get financial subsidies and legislation passed that benefit their personal agenda. (Do you realize that many of the laws proffered, passed and enacted in Washington are actually written by the corporations lobbying for them and not by the politicians themselves?)
The last things these nations of business want, is the common man to have a voice that impedes their path to financial success. They know the common man alone doesn’t really have a voice or the resources to lobby anyone – basically helpless peons worth little more than a single vote every few years. Together, however, the Union raises money like a corporation, like a nation, to lobby for the protection of the government from these unregulated businesses that want to take away all their benefits, scale back their wages, and forsake previous treaties with their employees. They wouldn’t care if you were working for 20 cents an hour for 14 hours a day because they’ve done it before, and are stilling doing it in other countries. Don’t fool yourself – American businesses and businessmen are doing this to people in other countries saying this is what the market is – WHAT A LOUSY EXCUSE FOR EXPLOITING PEOPLE!!!
When white-Europeans overran lands the government said were to be exclusively set aside for the Native Americans, the Native Americans soon learned they had no voice, and the treaties they had made with the American government were worthless. They gave up everything in one treaty only to give up more in the next.
My friends, the government is proving time and time again that the rights of the people are secondary to the imperialist ambitions of global corporations. Be warned, you will continue to give up more and more thinking and believing this is what is best for the nation. The strong will continue to eat the weak, all the while telling the meek and humble, “We would never eat you.”
Believe me, when they run out of enough sheep to eat and their appetite continues to grow – you’ll be next.
Why, despite all their wealth do the rich get the tax breaks? Is this really to create more jobs in America? Will this benefit be used to grow new jobs in America? No. The wealthy aren’t as much concerned with how much they have as to how much they can make, and until they can drive the labor wages in this nation down to the bare minimums, they aren’t going to create anything new here. And they have both time and resources on their side. They are already prospering overseas and they can wait until you are starving and willing to accept anything and do anything for them. They aren’t going to grow jobs in America until the amount they can make off your labor is more than they can make off people in India, China and Mexico. They know people serve money, and eventually, without it, the majority of people will do homage to anything and anyone to get it.
Alexis de Tocqueville once noted about Americans during his travels out west that “to obtain money . . . (they were) prepared to trade in everything, even morality and religion.”
See, it all goes back to whom you choose to serve. America, like all countries, still serves mammon. What is moral and religious takes a backseat to the economic stability and necessity of the nation. Fleece and kill a few sheep so the masters don’t go hungry and cold. It’s pathetic. At the turn of the previous century, 1900, 14,000 children were working in Pennsylvania coal mines because they were cheaper to pay than adult males. This is where the”bottom-line-is-the-budget” people want to go back to. They don’t want to take wealth away from the rich but they will send poor kids, as well as millions of men and women into hazardous working conditions for “their” nation to survive.
I believe when the Constitution was enacted, foreign and domestic enemies were considered by the writers to be armed rebellions and invading forces scaling walls, beaches and borders. I don’t think they ever envisioned American corporations ever becoming so callous as to sell out their fellow Americans. Our enemies today are both foreign and domestic at the same time. He is a traitor unlike any other. He is the business man who chooses to lay-off a worker in America to hire a worker overseas so he can make more money – and still carry a flag and call himself American.
And until politicians that go to Washington understand that and do something to combat that enemy, then the savage protestors and naïve citizens who do all the grunt work, protect the streets, clean the cities, and teach the children, will be mistreated, devalued, and at times, darn near become extinct.
Oh well, as the egotistic self-righteous corporation-serving politician John Boehner said, “So be it. We’re broke.”
“He kept insisting – and history will remember him for it – that America is not really America unless the lowliest man feels sure in his bones that he has free and equal opportunity to get ahead.” – Clarence Darrow said this about W.J. Bryan
Madison, Wisconsin is full of people who don’t feel free or that they are getting an equal opportunity to get ahead. All across America there are millions not feeling free or convinced they are getting an equal opportunity.
When a government decides to take rights away from middle class and poor people and give tax breaks to the rich – what do you expect to happen?
+++
Four Minutes - What If That Was We Had Left?
4 - My Castle
Joshua 24:15 ‘. . . but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.’
And here is where I get religious. I want the reader to understand that I am not a mouthpiece for the Republican party or the Democratic party. I am not a mouthpiece for Union representation or for government law.
As a Christian, I am a mouthpiece of the One I serve – a mouthpiece of Christ. I am an individual in this world and I am not part of a company I work for or a corporation I buy from. I am only part of this nation and government in that I was born here – nothing more. If the business I work for does what is wrong, I will be the first one chiming up. I owe no loyalty to those who do what is evil and corrupt. If the borders I live within choose to do what is unsavory and unkind, I will say it without fear.
I am the king of my castle and in my house, all will serve Yahweh. For me, that is freedom.
The world today demands your loyalty; that you come out of your castle and sign contracts and be patriots of their charters and defend their corporate logos and flags.
My Creator didn’t make me to be a follower. He didn’t make you to be a follower. He made you to represent Him in this world – not a corporation and not a government.
When anyone tries to try to tell you that you cannot stand alone and have to get involved in all of this nonsense and wrangling to make change happen in this nation; look rather to Christ for advice and guidance.
In Him, I see He who did nothing in this world but heal, and yet was victimized and tortured for not adapting to the self-serving administration of the Pharisees and Romans. I see through Him that change is still only what the powerful decide to allow so they can continue to prosper. If you stop or prevent their prosperity – they will crucify you – and break any contract or treaty they have with you – and justify it in their eyes.
You have just as much freedom in America as they think they need to give you in order to keep you quiet.
“A democracy is but a mob. If we tolerate ours (our mob), that is because every year we can push our innovators out west.” - John Carroll who ended up being the last living signer of the Declaration of Independence
The Old West is gone. All of this pent up innovation, this drive to conquer and succeed in a democracy needs a release. The whole world is reeling now from the discontented ambition of American know-how. Our democratic mob is imposing its will on the world and everyone outside the government’s will is either savage or naïve – and needs to get civilized quick or exterminated.
While many common decent Americans still hold no opinion on the matter, and many others feel it is the patriotic thing to side with money and business, both of these states of belief are flawed. In either state they can enjoy their current prosperity and turn a blind eye to the broken treaties and annulled contracts – the poor and the impoverished. In either state they can still see a certain logic in destroying other people’s lives because it’s not their life that is being affected. In either state they can say with a clear conscience, “So what if a few Indians had to die, so what if a few Negroes had to be enslaved, so what if a few teachers had to lose their jobs, so what if there are a few more people made homeless and hungry by this budgetary move. We’re broke.” But they’re not broke.
And I warn you now that as each year passes, with each growing month, the invasion is coming towards your home. The frontier is closing in and moving your way and one day the all-powerful corporations will be on your doorstep wanting to take from you the rights and privileges you think you have in the Constitution. And believe me, at that time, if you don’t kow-tow to their wishes and accept less pay for more work, you will find yourself in the same place those demonstrators in Madison, Wisconsin are today. You’ll be discouraged, angry, and anxious. You’ll be wondering how anyone could justify taking away your benefits and lowering you pay while asking more hours of work from you. You will wonder why so few can have so much while so many can have so little. You’ll be on the outside looking in, the bottom looking up.
But of course, my words might not make much sense to you now. For some, only experience serves to teach. The inability to have empathy for the poor and the bankrupt, the disenfranchised and the homeless is a white-European philosophy of superiority that has lingered through the ages and has been passed down from generation to generation through wealth and brute force.
The superior can’t phantom how they could ever not be superior – the ultimate mantra of pride.
Only when both of those options are no longer available to them will they begin to realize we were all just human after all and ultimately, by the Creator’s bottom line, all responsible for the wellbeing of one another – our brother’s keepers - not the elected administrators of a cold financial budget empowering trade and commerce – serving the needs of money. Lord, help us. Lord, help Scott Walker and his supporters see the evil in their sacrificial offering of human life. The altars of Baal will run red like the creek at Wounded Knee, just one more broken treaty and one more massacre to accommodate the greed of expansionism and the exploitation of the innocent.
Just one more treaty broken.
Amen
The Tide Is Turning
Lyrics for The Tide Is Turning
I used to think the world was flat
Rarely threw my hat into the crowd
I felt I had used up my quota of yearning
Used to look in on the children at night
In the glow of their Donald Duck light
And frighten myself with the thought of my little ones burning
But, oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
The tide is turning
Satellite buzzing through the endless night
Exclusive to moonshots and world title fights
Jesus Christ, imagine what it must be earning
Who is the strongest
Who is the best
Who holds the aces
The East
Or the West
This is the crap our children are learning
But oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
The tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
Now the satellite's confused
'Cause on Saturday night
The airwaves were full of compassion and light
And his silicon heart
Warmed to the sight of a billion candles burning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
The tide is turning Billy
I'm not saying that the battle is won
But on Saturday night all those kids in the sun
Wrested technology's sword from the hand of the war lords
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
The tide is turning Sylvester
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
Videos from songs by Roger Waters and his 1987 album "Radio K.A.O.S.", a concept album about a handicap young man who highjacks a satellite and convinces the world that a nuclear holocaust is about to begin.
2/18/11 - 9:00 p.m.
In a final note: As I was finishing up this hub it was reported that Democrats of Wisconsin and the Unions are willing to concede on all the financial issues in the debate and the only thing they aren't willing to concede is their rights to collectively bargain. Gov. Scott Walker, who said this is about the money and saving the economy is not willing to accept this and get the money he wants. The only aim is destroy the rights the public workers have been promised by their treaty with the state.
+++
Some of my other hubs
- Modern America Fears The Authority of Revisionist History
It is amazing that when you are passionate for a course or belief, your zeal can almost leave you dumbfounded and at a loss for words. Thoughts race frantically and you cant get the word from pen to paper...
- America's Steel Wheels Roll On
My friends, we live inside the nuclei of a gigantic predatory steel ball with giant metal spikes. Yes, it all began innocently enough. Some religious immigrants abandoned Europe for a far off land. ...
- Sharing The Wealth Is A Christian Ethos
Jude 1:22 'And some have compassion, making a difference.' According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on October 30, 2009, 3B, The Country Executive Scott Walker had made plans to temporarily lay off...
As Noam Chomsky explains - Even the Democrats want Unions out of the way - It is class warfare - nothing else
vote upvote downshareprintflag
- Useful (3)
- Funny (1)
- Awesome (3)
- Beautiful (2)
- Interesting
CommentsLoading...
Awesomely beautiful AM. Will America EVER get off its knees to the rich? Will America EVER get off its knees to lawyers? Oh dear Lord! Someone needs to write a song, a hub, a book called GET OFF YOUR KNEES AMERICA!! We have so much false chicken-poop bravado! We have football- American football! Why it's MANLY! We have pickup trucks with gun-racks! These cowboys- why - why - they will get down on their knees for the repuking rich. I think the worst for me is to see full grown men who would have no problem kicking my behind but they are sissy coward dress wearers for kissing the feet of the rich. Their"jobs" to the masters depend on it. Everyone coming to America will be a slave in their way too. But it's around the entire Earth and America cannot GET IT! Sorry AM. I just can't put a reasonable comment together. I just think of world suffering, American suffering and I think of all the manly Americans who are cowardous to make ANY, ANY, ANY stand against the rich that is that 1%
Let's speak briefly of the heroes all through history who have made that ultimate sacrifice but the AVERAGE AMERICAN WILL NOT GET OFF THE SUPERBOWL COUCH! THE MARCH MADNESS COUCH. The average American will not boot Satan out of God's kingdom. But it Satan is to be defeated - Christians, Muslims, Catholics, etc. will have to ban together. Americans ARE NOT SMART ENOUGH OR BRAVE ENOUGH! AMERICANS ARE TOO COMFORTABLE! I apologize AM. I just do not see Americans growing a brain to figure this out!
nice hubs activiyt .folow
Tremendous Hub AM. The Republicans are now totally in bed with their moneyed interests which are the corporations. They themselves helped form the Tea Party (Dick Armey) to make the people feel the Democrats were stealing from them. Now Scott Walker has fired the first salvo to break the unions collective bargaining rights. This has been planned from the beginning. Cut off the Dems money sources while there sources balloon thanks to the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. Fight the good fight in Wisconsin. It's soon coming here in New Jersey via Gov. Christie. Soon it will spread to all states.
Democrats, Republicans, it’s all the same. Government and unions are greedy, so we’re ALL screwed. What good is collective bargaining if there is no money to pay the bill?
Before the Healthcare bill was passed, my employer paid 100% of my insurance premiums, but now I have to pay monthly premiums. Additionally, I now must pay taxes on my health benefits, (even if I don‘t see a doctor), we all do, that was in the bill too! Ok, I’m willing to do that, because if my employer can no longer afford to pay salary and benefits, then I and many of my co-workers could be out of a job. Hmmm, which is worse?
So, the Governor is asking for some compromise. If the unions choose to stand their ground, then other Wisconsin taxpayers will be footing the bill. Perhaps the Governor will have to take a different approach, maybe close a few schools and start busing students to other schools, or cut funding to various services like public hospitals and health clinics, law enforcement, or fire department expenditures. Maybe he’ll raise fees in the state, like driver’s license and tag fees, or building permits. Maybe he’ll increase the state sales tax or add additional fuel taxes? In the end, the money has to come from somewhere. Hmmm, which is worse, (and which would more adversely affect the most people of Wisconsin)? Spock had it right; the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
Allen, Kudos on a hub that you were truthful as to length! I find it amazing why few see what has come and like a cartoon space alien, or better the old movie "The Blob" just growing bigger these days "day to day" instead of the early years "little by little" I had just finished this:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Half-Price-Pipes
Very well put together, backing his interpretation with enough facts that it made this reading very effective as life has become a dot to dot connection game. The question of who are you going to serve? It must be painful for most to actually admit where their faith lays. I watch and read the answers I try to put them into an order that produces the coming end to a Nation who, best I can tell, has turned it's back on teachings of the New Testament of the Holy Scriptures. I'm a sinner and still find myself on the low road with actions that will put me through the wide gate. On has to battle the actions that lead there, some more than others, like the differences between your thoughts on certain subjects vs. mine. I hope you will take the freedom to send me a note of acception when you feel I may be off track. In nonsense land in a reply. Let me know what you think of the video above, Peace and blessings dusty
Oh Man, this truly IS epic!!
I clocked the first half of it in in total agreement; but I'll be back looking to see if I can find something to argue with you about in the second half. LOL!!
I will say that nflagator has a few good points.
I was a state worker for 26 years. In Texas, the state has been very gracious to pay the employee's or retiree's health insurance premiums. They continue to do so, which is very nice of them. But our public employees are not compensated like those of other states, and anyone who does get Teacher Retirement in Texas "ain't getting much" every month. That's because we don't have public sector labor unions.
By the way, I don't receive a pension from the state, nor will I. Long ago, I opted to pursue a different way.
In fact, Texas doesn't have much to do with labor unions. Their influence is very weak, if they are around at all.
I would not be surprised if eventually I have to pay something toward my monthly premiums for our group health insurance. We have already seen increases in the last seven years on our out-of-pocket costs and our prescription drug costs. The most recent increase was (big drum roll.....) two months after ObamaCare passed. (Who didn't see that coming?) Should draconian measures be necessary with our benefits package, there'd be nothing I could do.
Oh, and if a shortfall needs to be made up for, the governor simply enacts a hiring freeze. I've been through many of those in my time. In addition, and far more recently, state institutions just lay off workers. I hardly recognize my old workplace, for that very reason.
Yes, indeed, the money does have to come from somewhere.
Not saying that it's my place to tell Wisconsin what to do, you understand. But their teachers are not the only public employees in this country who have now/could have the potential to suffer economical fallout.
Nan, your coment went straight to the heart of the matter. It is ALL about the global economic empire they are trying to build. It is amazing to me how the Glenn Becks of the world can spew all this fear of one world order when they are the ones constantly out to supposedly "civilize" the world and create a democracy and free market everywhere. THAT IS A ONE WORLD ORDER. They just think it is a "nicer" one world order. Peace
Micky Dee, your comment is reasonable and true enough. As I said in my previous hub, sometimes we are so passionate about something it is difficult to get all the words out without sounding "crazy." It's just that we are crazy for the truth to come out, to put light to all this darkness. How they can constantly say someone has to take a hit, and people have to make concessions, and then give take breaks to the rich is beyond me. How is the world are the rich taking a hit or conceding anything in that? The truth is, the rich don't think this mess is their fault. They still think the poor created this and they have been and still are the ones in charge, the ones who orchestrated the collapses. If that top 1-3% took the kind of hit they are asking the middle class to take, this country's debt would be righted in a heartbeat. But to the rich, them making compensations is a handout. When the middle class and poor take a hit and make compensation, its just justice being done. Tragic. Peace
imranhaider, thanks for reading and commenting Peace
HSchneider, you are correct, it is the first salvo. This is a civil war that is not going to go away. The political partys in this nation have taken firm aim at one another and they are recruiting worked up people to both sides. When one side has no intention of conceding anything, the response will only make things worse. The union said they would waver on all the financial matters that would help the governor do monetarialy what he wants to do, but for Walker it is not enough. He wants their rights to collectively bargain taken away. And personally, I feel this is just Walkers first adventure towards wanting to make a run for the White House. Keep an eye on that. Peace
nflagator, how can it be compromise when the first couple of things he did in office was give tax breaks to the rich to insure they were not compromising anything but actually getting more? Ripping up contracts and treaties has always been the American way of dealing with situations. It is the idea that the wealthy suddenly notice they gave too much up in the last negotiations so they decide to just simply take it back. Like they said to the Native Americans - You don't need all that land we promised you - we are going to take some of it back because our interests need it more. The American government is saying the same thing now - we gave you too much - so now we got to take some of it back. Same old song and dance. Peace
Dusty, one of my favorite things to do when writing is connect the dots. In the end it is as you said, we are all sinners and all these sinners in the world are trying to tell everyone else how not to sin. This adventure comes through in law, in business, and in global investments that crush regional workers in every part of the world. And I loved the half-price-pipes video. I only watched it once but it sounded really good. I'll have to go back and watch it several more times, study it, and break it down. I've never put much thought into the 14th ammendment but maybe this will spur me into studying it and writing about it. You have tickled my brain once again old friend. Peace
WTS, looking forward to your return engagement! Peace
Sherry, true, the money has to come from somewhere, but the point is, America is doing business the same old way again. Those with the wealth first get tax breaks so they are not putting anything more into the state's economy - then the ones who got a legal contract are told the contract is being ripped up and annuled because people have to make compensations and every one has to take a hit. How are the wealthy taking a hit in that equation? And now, the union has said it is willing to work on the financial issues but that is not enough. How can getting the money he needs and wants not be enough? It's not enough because the money and financial issues were never the real issue. The real issue was trying to get at the heart of Democrat financial strength, to kill that party. Republicans know the more money they take from labor unions, the more difficult it will be for Democrats to run for office. Eventually there would be a one party system, or tyranny. As Christians, we must remember when Christ told the goats, when did we see YOU poor and hungry and needing help? And he answered, when you saw and did nothing for the least of these, you did nothing for ME. Those who have the least are represenative of Christ and every time we turn our backs to them, we turn our backs to Christ. Those who have the most are still unwilling to concede the most. Thanks for commenting. I know there is a big difference between Wisconsin and Texas in how they do business. Just think what it would be like if all those low=paid, mainly mexicanal laborers had unions to go to for rights and safety protocols in their workplaces in Texas. Most of them are living day by day. Peace
Look, this nation is fast becoming a third world nation, impoverished by Unions. I think $100,000 salary is good. As the liar Obama says, "we all have to make sacrifices" Except him, of course.
vrajavala, the top 1% in this nation own 34% of the wealth. The next 19% hold over 50%. Do you understand the immense discrepency in wealth distribution in this nation? 20% of Americans have 85% of the wealth. That leaves the other 80% of Americans with 15%. Yes, a $100,000 salary would be good but most Americans never see such a thing. MOST Americans take two to three years to see that kind of income and they are making sacrifices on their time and family relationships to do it. A third world nation is one where most of the people are poor and only a few have the wealth. Republicans cry for Obama to make sacrifices. What about the top 20% who just got more tax breaks??? Where is their sacrifice? Try taking the party line out of your reasoning for a moment and think about the reality of the situation. Peace
look, if you are a Christian, then you don't have to look any further the Parable of the Talents to see that socialism and redistribution of wealth are not condoned by Jesus.
the fact of the matter is, that people want what has not been given to them by God freely.
"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods."
Remember ???
Why do you think all the jobs go abroad? Because these entrepreneurs are taxed to death here.
vrajavala, like many, you have twisted that parable to serve mammon. You have to go back to the context that made Him speak the parable in the first place - and then - look at what He stated right afterwards.
Matthew 24:42 'Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.'
The following parables, including the parable of the talents is about Christ's return and being ready for that. And to be ready for that you need to read the verses after the talents parable which is the separation of the sheep and goats - the goats being the ones who did not see the Lord in the hungry, thirsty, sick and imprisoned. You can't take the Lord's words out of context to serve mammon.
Christ took the bread loaves and fishes and shared them with everyone, stating there is enough for everyone. Christ told the wealthy, especially the ones who despise the poor. that if they want treasure in heaven they need to sell, give to the poor, and then follow Him.
Coveting is not the same thing. There are plenty of rich people that covet every day what other rich people have. People having the basic rights of life taken from them by the top 20% is awful.
And the jobs go abroad because American workers have decent wages and good protections in place for themselves and their families. American business wants to go back to the days where people had to work more than 40 hours a week with no protections and no rights. If American businessmen will do that to a worker in India and China and Mexico to make money, they will do it here as well. It's got nothing to do with taxes and everything to do with exploitation. Business covets and acts upon it every day at the expense of the global commoner.
When 80% of the people has only 15% of the wealth, redistribution only frightens the minority - and that elite have always relied on law, treaty annulments and force to get their way. South Africa ring any bells? I'm guessing at least 60% (f not more) of that 80% at the bottom of the food chain knows how foolish Republican reason is. Peace
Well the Governor was elected to to do this by the majority I'd Wisconsins. Everyone has to learn to live within their means.
The "rich" are the ones who use their extra resources to create businesses and hire people. Sorry, but it doesn't sound like your Governor is asking too much. Maybe you should ask the "Royal Family" why they feel like they can take vacation after vacation, flying around on Air Force One.
.....so those with the money and power? I thought they were broke? I noticed the union leaders gave 170 million to Democrats last election? If they are so concerned about the people then put that money into their pensions and health care! I noticed the supporters that showed up Saturday were carrying signs that read sorry were late Scott but we had to WORK ALL WEEK! I took a 15% paycut last year, had to start paying all my health insurance but thank God I am still employed! I resent SERVANTS of the public screaming screw me! at the top of their lungs! All while lieing about sickness, and not taking care of my children with the job they CHOSE! Take them down Scotty!
vrajavla, I like that - elected to do this by the majority - but how do the Republicans respond to that argument when it comes to Obama and health care? He was elected by the majority to do that and yet all we hear is complaining about that. And the idea that the rich are the ones who use their resources to create jobs and hire people is the most insane part of the conservative argument. Everyone keeps talking about the banks being able to give the middle class the means and finances to start up their own businesses but then people come back with this argument about the rich being the business owners. And please get facts straight - Obama on vacation? He's taken only half as much as Bush did in his first year. And "Royal Family?" What do you call the Bush family? This family is steeped in political connections and have control over so much of the government, and have the wealth to back anything they want to do. Any Reps concerned about monarchy there? If it was a family of Obama's with that kind of influence we would never hear the end of it. Peace
AR, look at the whole hub. The money the unions raise is to give the individual workers who don't have a voice in government, a voice in government. Everyone talks about a single vote meaning so much but every one knows that is such a falasy. Republicans know the main source of the Democrat power is the unions and they are trying to destroy them. And you might resent the "servants of the public" but they have a treaty, a contract, and you can't just rip it up and say "We are not going to honor this anymore because everyone has to take a hit, everyone has to sacrifice." The only answer I ever see to why the rich don't have to sacrifice is because they make imaginary jobs. If the rich had to pay their fair share, then the money would be available and when the time comes to re-do the current bargaining agreement, they could address changing it then, for the good of the state. But to give the rich tax cuts now and destroy the agreeements now is strictly political motivated and has nothing to do with doing what is right or economically feasible. The contract politicians have with the rich is still more important to them than any other contract they have with the people. Peace
Obama is a con artist, elected on campaign promises he has not kept.
26 states have filed a lawsuit against Obamacare . I would say that it is a majority who don't want yo be "mandated" yo buy something they don't want. It's unconstitutional anyway.
vrajavala, your contradicting yourself. You said the majority elected Walker, so everyone should listen to Walker. Then you say the majority who elected Obama aren't the majority. And you are right, Obamacare might be unconstitutional, but so is ripping up a bargaining agreement simply because you don't like it anymore. The history of American government is to destroy treaties and contracts, and that is all that is being played out here. I'm still curious why the rich don't have to share in this sacrifce? Why is it they have successfully pitted one group of workers against another? Peace
Werner, if the truth be known Obama was elected by children and minorities, These groups to not contribute to the overal picture, yes he won but to the detriment of us all, If health care is so great why has he given out over 915 waivors to unions and democrat supporting buisinesses??? something not right about this picture!
Wow AR, that might be the most racist comment I have ever received on a hub. First you called voting age young persons "children" and then you say minorities are not contributors to the overall picture which I can only gather you mean, the economic picture. When people bring up the racism in the Conservative ranks, this is exactly what they are talking about. There seems to be this belief that only the people who contribute "financially" to society, should have a say in society, and thus, the poor should just shut up, not vote, not speak up, and just accept their lot. Where is the give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses? The majority of Americans for the longest time were ignorant, un-educated, immigrants who despite their necessity and poverty, were born here and had a say (oh yeah except the slaves and the Native Americans and women). Yes, for the longest time, women were considered not good enough contributors to be worthy of a voice or vote. I'm not saying I agree with everything about the healthcare bill Obama has presented but why is resistance to that so patriotic and resistance to Walker is not? Is purely a political point-of-view and neither is more or less American even though both sides try to villify the other side. The great void between the two sides only goes to show how polarized the war is and how terrible this war is bound to get. And giving favors and benefits out to supporters??? Come on!!! What a terrible argument that shouldn't even be brought up in any political debate anymore. Both party's do it to such extreme extents its just the nature of the game now. To criticize it is pure hypocrisy because both partys do it. Scott Walker immediately got the tax breaks he promised for his friends and put people in places of high importance that he promised to elevate them too when elected. Why is there any surprise in this anymore? So Obama did it too. Like anyone didn't expect him too? What politician would get anything done or last in office if they didn't reward their inner circles? It's the greed inherent in the system - the crooked that can't be made straight. Sorry to rant, but I hope you seen how awful the beginning of your comment was. I'm sure there are millions of voting age minorities and "children" that have jobs, pay taxes, and would take great exception to your comment. Peace
Well, wealth will be lopsided no matter what. There are winners and losers in everything. I do not think that people want the losers to be totally at the bottom but if they so choose and not try to get out of their on their own with a little help then so be it. Collective Bargaining is not a permanent right to Unions. It is an amendment given to them 40 years ago which could have always been taken away. Scott Walker is trying to make it a level playing field as you say people should get but yet you do not like that. Well, life is not always fair. We are in a deficit and he is trying to do a permanent fix to help this State get back on a path of where people can live and survive for generations to come.
Walker has seen the Collective Bargaining at its worst in Milwaukee County with Tom Ament a short few years ago with tons of money going to a pension for people retiring by a certain date and draining Milwaukee County of all its money. Thats all the Unions are doing in this case too. Unions have outgrown their need. Work Conditions are governed and all decent now a days. Pay is top notch and we now this because States and Cities, and even Counties are going bankrupt all over this United States. The first and biggest cost to any company is its employees. Well for future needs one must contain those costs fairly and be reasonable. After that the company and same as the government they need to cut other areas. That might be letting the grass grow in the medians twice as long before cutting it. Letting employees go if they have to many or can eliminate a specific job. For the government it might be cutting services to the needy to. Money for the non profits may have to stop altogether.
I had heard one Democratic Senator from Wisconsin say if the private sector feels like they are short on benefits and pay compared to the public sector than they too should get a raise and more benefits. Well, how much do you really want to pay for that loaf of bread, gallon of gas, car repair, cable TV, or whatever you use. Prices will be through the roof. I personally cant afford that either. The best thing to do is first take away or make people equal and the best way is to reduce ones costs not give more. Then companies and government can see what their products can really cost to sell.
Unions and teachers have become worthless since they do not work for the people in the manner first provided for. Unions just want political power, teachers just want benefits and money. They say they choose the profession for the children and that is their love, but why do they constantly break the law and not show up to work - for their pay. NOT FOR THE CHILDREN. For THEMSELVES.
You think American Romance is racist. No, he's accurate.
This report was written by a black journalist
http://blackagendareport.com/content/new-black-pol
He states that African Americans are only interested in the prestige of a so-called" black family in the WH. The fact of the matter is that they have no taste (the Obamas that is)
guess what? Those kids won't vote for him again. They don't have any jobs.
vrajavala, there is a poll for everything and if you look hard enough to the right, you can find one to support a cause, and if you look hard enough to the left you can find one to support the other side. And since when in this land is decision-making about what the majority wants? Wouldn't that be a sort of socialism? The majority can often be wrong - dead wrong - hence slavery, women's suffrage and a host of other examples are out there. Wide is the way to destruction and many there be that go that way but narrow is the true path. And finding a black-Capitalist to support a white-Capitalist model doesn't justify quantifying a whole race of people as "noncontributors." Last time I looked, the Constitution didn't saying anything about people being contributors to society to have the right to vote - all they needed to be is a citizen, black or white, rich or poor, with a job or without. Adding that the Obamas don't have any "taste" doesn't even make any sense. What does that mean? And once again, refering to young elgible voters as "kids" is offensive to the system of government you yourself seem to revere. The system allows them to have the right to vote, thus they are adults and refering to them as children is disrespectful. Peace
ChristopherD, I am a Christian first and foremost and I don't believe in any system that promotes winning and losing when it comes to life and death, health and safety issues. You are right, collective bargaining is an amendment but you can't just step in and strip it away. It is currently a contract, a treaty of sorts, and you can't just annul it because you want too. That is how the Native Americans were treated, as the hub points out, over and over again. Those with "civilization" and "innovation" decide that the benefits and land, the rights they gave earlier, were too much now - so they rip up the treaty and take what they want. Your right - life's not fair. So why are so many worried about what is fair - overfair - for the rich and wealthy? I still am waiting for any good reason from anyone on why, when everyone is being asked to sacrifice, the rich are given more money and the option to be charitable and growers of the economy. If they choose not to be, no one seems to care. Why is this fairness only for them? The level playing field is for the workers and the workers should be in agreement, not fighting like this. The wealthy and the business owners have convinced the working class that they are not the enemy but the workers with good benefits are. They take jobs overseas to make more money but they are not the enemy. The gap between the extremely rich and poor has widened more and more the past few decades.
And I find it interesting when we talk about making all the workers equal. Supposedly re-distribution of wealth is communism but leveling the working class is not???
And the greed of teachers? Of my gosh. You talk about rising costs of bread, gas, cable and so on. Well that is greed! Why do they raise those prices? To offset costs? No! They have certain wages they are making at the top and they are not about to settle for less and because they are private businesses they feel completely justified in it - and every one seems to give them a pass at this. They're not greedy for wanting way more than every one else because they own the business but the teacher who wants a decent wage and benefits is? Constantly breaking the law? Constantly not working? This just started, nothing constant about that - and striking is a right of a union - a right owners don't like - but a right all the same - fair or unfair - as you said - but thats what it is. Seems the owners of business and the wealthy can always talk about life being unfair when it is someone else getting the screws put to them. You say the teachers are in it for themselves. Isn't that the whole point of your capitalist society. Maybe they're just doing what you said they should do - being good happy capitalist - wanting more.
As I said, I'm a Christian (much different than your average denominational christian I might add), and all this political foolishness is a mockery to the ideals of the Bible, to me. Any nation that puts economic necessity before the basic necessities of its people, good or bad, rich or poor, sick or healthy, has no spirit of goodness in it, and is just as tyrannical in its treatment of human life as any other. All the innovation doesn't matter if everyone doesn't have access to it. I believe in a Savior who healed with a word and forgave debt without holding people accountable to pay anything back. No country does that. None deserve my faith and respect. Peace
Sorry I think walker is correct and wish all unions get taken apart! they were needed many years ago and now went way too far and damaged our great country. why should the tax payers pay for 90-96% of their healthcare, and 100% of their pension when most others dont get this? you unions thugs are just greedy use the system fakes. I have some family and friends in these so called unions and they abuse the system. 6-8 weeks vacations, 15 sick days, 5 personal days. mat.leave for months etc... the party is over you ran the well dry! here in NY you have teachers that were busted for bad behavior and because of unions and not firing these creeps they have to report to a building and they sleep and play all day, it costs the tax payers millions of dollars for this scam. you can paint your one sided picture anyway you like but the truth is the truth. as far as the top 1% you conviently left out the top 1% pays 65% of the taxes! how nice of you. THIS IS AMERICA if you were hungry enough and put your time in and sacificed your time and energy you could be in the top 1%, but if you want to be a lazy azz and want handouts and a lot of playtime then you vote dem/socialist. believe it or not but the richest folks give the most to charity, very well proven. as far as our so-called president and vice president they gave the smallest amount of donations! again easy to verify!and just for the record im a registered democrat. The democrats were something totally different years ago, now they are socialist. I voted all republican in the last election because of the nonsense of nancy pelosi and reid,(we have to vote for it to see whats in it) food stamps is the biggest bang for the buck and will stimulate the economy) great lines! have you read obamas books? if your a halfway educated person you can not deny he is a socialist/anti-colonialism. all his own words and not even staing his associations. I voted wrong, will not happen again! not the change I thought!
A M Werner
It was reported that the President of the AFL-CIO goes to the white house 3 days a week and speaks to the Whitehouse, he said it on tape. The President’s action groups and the DNC funded and organized the protesters. Something is very wrong when a sitting President gets involved with state government activities. We are republic and not a socialist government yet as some in Washington would like to see happen.
LET’S NOT FORGET THAT BARAK OBAMA WAS A NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZER in Chicago before going to the top job in the country.
Here’s a quote for you and other hubbers who cannot decipher what the facts are regarding the truth.
A QUOTE
It is best to be silent for someone to think you are a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
If the shoe fits wear it,JUST A THOUGHT.
However, the truth is this. This is organized to stop Wisconsin from trying to balance it's budget and raise taxes. One must understand that the "STATE OF WISCONSIN " IS BY DEFINITION BANKRUPT. The Governor has no money ! He simply asked the Unions to pay into their retirement benefits package the same as most other American workers do ( as a matter of fact, not even as much, only 5.9%, most Americans pay 10% of their salaries for their 401k's ) and for that the Teachers walk out ?
The Unions for your information have broken Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and many other cities and states. The Unions are what caused General Motors to go under and seek Government bailout money. The Unions were invented ( go study your history on this one ) by a very nice fellow by the name of Carl Marx. Nine other states are about to do what is happening in Wisconsin. And more will follow. This is happening because of greed on the Unions part. They will not back off their demands and the tax payers are sick of it.
Their is your accuracy. The Unions will lose this one and Wisconsin will win. The Obama campaign people will go home beaten and bruised. It will be a great day for America....
Danny, I couldn't convinently forget the amount the top 1% pay because they are part of the ones getting the tax breaks even though they need it the least. If they have 80% of the wealth then they should pay 80% of the taxes. And be real, how much is too much in a crisis? No millionaire is going to be hurt like an average working family, even if they are made to give up most of their wealth. There is this hidden principle thing going on here, like it is unreasonable and unamerican to for the rich to sacrifice. Take a person making $10 million and drop them down to $2 million and they still won't know sacrifice like the person making $55,000 who loses their retirement benefits and healthcare benefits. This is America - and the truth is, if you're hungry enough, corporations can take advantage of you. Haven't you read any history? You see the Astors, the Rockefellers and the rest of their lot and wave the flag thinking we can all be like them. In the end however, you forget about the countless million faces they exploited to get the American dream. They broke laws, fixed laws, set unsafe labor practices in place and exploited everyone they could exploit. American corporations took American jobs overseas because American businessmen are still doing the same thing - just to people in Mexico, India and China. If you think they are treating those people over there fairly and giving them any rights, you don't really see. Business is business and it is all about exploitation. You can't bring up donations in a discussion about government accountability, and especially since, as Christ said, "these give from their abundance but the poor give from their want." Honestly, the rich don't really know what it is to give charitably because it is always what they can afford. They never give on faith knowing that they might not have enough after giving. They know there will always be plenty more where that came from. I think it is also time that people realize there is nothing in the Constitution preventing a socialist system from existing in this country. Those founding documents in Washington are supposed to be about the rights of the people, not the rights of businesses and corporations. How sad so many greedy people have been able to empower the will business above the will of the people - and the rights of the people. Remember, for two hundreds years, corporations, despite the call for equality in America, forced people to go on strike and fight for their rights. You must have this dream that the rich are much more civilized people now and wouldn't dare exploit people again. They haven't outlived their usefullness. They might have gotten to big for their britches, but to tear them down all the way is a foolishness with serious repurcussions to the future.
As far as your second comment goes, okay - so Wisconsin is broke - so why was the first thing the governor did was give tax breaks to the rich when that income was really needed??? And Wisconsin is not the only state screaming they are broke and many of those other states don't have collectively bargaining. What do they start attacking? Social Secutity, unemployment insurance or Medicare? The mess is a lot bigger than unions. Union are being made the scapegoats for private business run amuk - private businesses where the real greed is. Time to stop thinking that workers who actually have some rights are the enemy. Peace
Jon, Scott Walker's chief cry has been that this is a budgetary crisis and the state is broke. If that is true, why make the first acts in office, ones that give tax breaks to the rich and actually bring in less money for the state? Every president surrounds themselves with henchmen and advisors, both Bushs' did, as did Clinton, Reagan and the rest. There is nothing preventing a socialist system in America. Many states and cities have had socialist governments in the past. Right here in Milwaukee, Frank Zeidler served from 1948-1960, and the city flourished under his reign. The Unions are being made the scapegoats. Who do you blame for the states where there is no public-union organization. Many of those states have gone broke as well. What will they make be the enemy now? It has always been about the greed of private business. Private business (not all) but many, especially the globally minded ones, can't help but exploit to supposedly compete with corporations in other countries that already exploit their workers. Instead of taking the high road and making those other nations and their businesses bring up the standard of living for their workers, America took the low road and joined them on this profit-making adventure. Owners, and their boards of directors and stockholders make millions while average citizens can't hardly save for their children's future. Anthony Earl, another former governor of Wisconsin recently sent an editorial to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He had a message for Mr. Walker. He said that now that Mr. Walker has been elected, he represents more than the people who put him there. He represents the people who didn't vote for him as well. If he, and any other politicians, continue to use their victories to strike out and retaliate against their opposition, interncine warfare will escalate. Mr. Walker is trying to tear down in a matter of days something that took 80 or so years to build. That is a violent effort and to expect people to just bow down and take the blow is foolish. What would happen if a bill were introduced for the good of the country and state, simply saying the rich have to give up 75% of their wealth? Remember, there is a crisis. We all know their would be huge protests, people not going to work, people doing everything they can to save what they have worked so hard to get. Well, that's what is happening right now. Fair or unfair, the public-union has a contract, and it shows a lack of integrity, honesty and compassion, not to try to negotiate it, rather than rip it up and scrap it. Peace
A M Werner
STOP LIVING IN THE PAST, today, the problems between the state and the union are the union’s demands in the 15 months of negotiating .Apparently the collective bargaining didn't work with the negotiation process. You keep inferring that the state is the big business who wants to break the union. Wise up and try to get the true facts of the situation, meaning there is a right and a wrong to overcome by the people (State of Wisconsin).
The state of Wisconsin is the employer and the state is a public entity supposedly in business not to make profit. When the state raises taxes to run the state who do you think pay, the taxpayers. If the state pays more than the state takes money ( taxes ) in, it’s call a deficit.
Any private sector business run like the state goes out of business. When that happens employees get the pink slip ( LOSE THEIR JOBS ) or the company goes bankrupt.
Wake up and recognize that union labor demands are the problem.
Do you really understand what the fight is all about when they are making 20% more than the people working to pay them. Union solidarity signs and other union members marching for a cause.
Money to support the protester is coming from the Democrat National Committee, President Obama’s action committees and other special interest including the AFL-CIO . Interfering with state business from outsiders sounds like a conspiracy of some kind, un-American if one wants justice to be served.
Those 14 senators who skipped out on the state believe that they are for the union demands. They better wake up and remember that there are more private citizens in Wisconsin than union members.
Jon, if you think paying college-educated teachers and nurses and other department workers an average of $50,000 a year - about $75,000 a year with benefits is too much - than something is wrong. Everyone cries for higher education standards and yet, as the private businesses say, you get what you pay for. How much lower, how much less do these people deserve? There are plenty of states that don't have public-unions like Wisconsin and they are in the same financial straits. What are they going to attack? And even doing what Walker wants to do isn't going to be enough. He has already eluded to going after the healthcare benefits for the poor. I wonder, are you this emphatic to protect Obama and his healthcare plan. He too was elected by a majority of voters in this nation. Should this nation just do everything he wants to do? There is a strong, legitimate voice being shouted when people can be roused as they are, and protest as they are. People that willing to step out and risk so much deserve to be heard and their thoughts addressed. You bring up "outsiders" as a type of conspiracy and unAmerican, but how American is global corporations hiring and building factories overseas? Yes, there maybe more private citizens than union members but in the long run, the corporations want the old days where everyone is a private worker to be exploited, where weekends can disappear, benefits and vacation days can evaporate, and people can be made to work 60 hour weeks or fear losing their jobs. Everyone will be left in the hands of business, and history - yes the past - shows us that they aren't anymore honest than government, and in fact, they are often darn right incredibly more greedy. Peace
Hmmm.... I'm continuing to follow this discussion, and I don't want to get into the Wisconsin protests again, but since you raised some thoughts about the rich, here goes.
I would have to distinguish the "wealthy" into different categories. Some very wealthy individuals engage in philanthropy for individual reasons. They have pet charities -- some of them are worthwhile, and some aren't, depending on your perspective. A few very rich families have done immeasurable good with some of their causes. Despite the many problems within the Kennedy family -- and they appear to have spiritual problems that only the Lord knows -- that family was responsible for founding the Special Olympics, which is pretty wonderful and awesome.
Some of these rich are giving to get their tax deductions and for other, dubious reasons. Heck, even Jerry Jones arranged to give money regularly to a church back in Arkansas, and there are very few people around here who appreciate Jerry, as you know! But I can't judge his motives, since I don't know him.
No, I'd say that if the wealthy people are Christians, they ponder very carefully where the Lord can best use their increase. It's true that the Lord does ask us to examine our motives for giving, and He sees the spirit in which the money is given. But I cannot say that it takes less faith for the well-off to give. Not at all. My cousin was recently widowed, and she has been less affected by this recession than most, which is a blessing. She has seriously been trying to help her step-daughter, but not without reservations. I think the difference here is that my cousin is not thinking of short-term harm for her finances, but rather long-term. I felt the same way on a personal matter of my own a couple of years ago, except the person in question was not a step-daughter. I always think long-term. As I said, it's a difference in perspective, and it requires a lot of prayer to decide what to do about financial matters. Some of that is more intense prayer than you can imagine.
I know my sister-in-law looks around and sometimes says that she sees other people getting financially blessed above what she is, and she wonders why, even though she is a child of God. I would not for one instant attend or support a prosperity-based church, and I think you know that about me. However, to my sister-in-law, I would say (but DIDN'T say) that God blesses our giving as he sees fit. What He gives back is based on whether He thinks we can handle it. And I do believe that you cannot outgive God. The measures that you take will be measured out to you in blessings, whether they are financial or another kind.
As for big companies, I will call them out individually when I see them doing harm to people (as happened to my friend recently), but not all of them are bad. I recall just a few years ago, that one of my librarian friends said that she was so pleased with the salary and benefits she received working for a rather large corporation in Dallas. I don't like that company, but at least they are to be commended in one way! Because librarians would not be expected to receive ample compensation!
Please don't be hesitant to chime in anytime you want. I always truly respect your opinion. None of us sees life from the same angle and our walks with Christ are indeed different. Truly, together, our shared interest in approaching Him can give a dimensional picture we could not possibly obtain alone.
I didn't mean to sound as if all companies and businesses are evil and corrupt. I just take issue with any American company that wears the American flag, while taking an American job overseas because they can make more money over there. For me, that displays a lack of integrity and committment to the workforce here. America should insist that other countries bring their standards up closer to our level before dealing with them. The more we sink to their level, the easier it will be to stay at that level.
And when it comes to personal judgement concerning how people give to charity, I would never judge. I speak only as a messenger from another Kingdom, the Kingdom I am a citizen of. As Yahshua states in John 8:28 '. . . I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things.'
When speaking about the poor widow who put in the two mites, Yahshua states plainly that she gave more - which means the actual amount of money given and how much good it can accomplish really isn't important. It is the fact that she gave from her want, from all her living; while the others were giving from their abundance.
Now, none of us can sit in judgement of one another in regards to this, but, by simply talking about this situation from our own personal perspectives, I can only see this meaning that all wonderful money very wealthy people contribute to charity comes from their abundance and not really an act of faith challenging to their daily existence. I would have to believe, just by his daily income and all the things he owns, a man like Jerry Jones could probably give away nearly every cash asset he has and still make enough to live quite comfortably with anyway. In the Lord's truth, I don't think there is any reason for him to have that much when so many others have basic needs today. And then to take away benefits and rights from the people who have that middle class type income - that $35,000 - $100,000 a year income - seems insane.
I don't judge the opinions of these other commentors from a personal viewpoint. I believe emphatically that they have every right in the world to have those opinions. (I do get upset a bit about certain insulting comments that can be construed as racist and bias - just human nature I guess).
In the end of it all, I have no savings plan in place for retirement, nothing to lean back on. My family lives paycheck to paycheck but from where we are in our walk now - that's okay with us. And we wouldn't expect anyone else to do this just because we said so, or just to feel like they have to live up to some standard we set. No, all things must be done in faith, and until a person is convicted in the Lord to step out and do it, failure will surely follow. And by failure I don't mean not having any money or no job. I don't think a person is a failure if they have no money and no job. In the Lord, I don't think that matters at all.
I believe in the word "blessed" meaning "How Happy!" Right now, as I write this, I am blessed! I am happy! I have absolutely no idea what tomorrow will bring and I'm am completely fine with that. My salvation is the most important thing to me and as long as I keep that hope and believe I have that, I can suffer as Job did, if the Lord so choose, and not let the world (or three dingbat friends, as Job had) bring me down. I can remain happy - content with as little or as much as the Lord sees fit to provide - in all things. I know many consider my walk naive, but I assure it is not. It has taken a lot of hard lessons, a lot of learning, patience, and steps out on faith, to reach this point.
I'll never understand why some people have to have so much when so many have little to nothing. And then to watch those with so much try to take even more from those who simply have a decent lifestyle saddens me to the depths of my heart. And all I can do is keep preaching what I know of the Word, from my perspective.
Sorry, kind of wrote another hub, didn't I. Be well Sherry. Allen Peace
A M Werner
I AM VERY FAMILAR with teachers and nurses pay situations.My oldest son teaches and my oldest daughter is a nurse.She is working her buns off to pay for her 4 college boys studying for the heathcare profession.
I recently wrote this comment, if you don't mind.
The people of Wisconsin support their Governor and Government. It’s not union busting, it’s only trying to level the playing field with the people (taxpayers )taking back control.
All those people protesting ( union style ) aren’t being told the truth on how the unions don’t have a leg to stand on when it comes to collective bargaining for PUBLIC sector workers. Collective bargaining was meant to protect workers in the Private sector. The federal government does not allow collective bargaining because the government is the people. The State of Wisconsin represent the will of the people. The state employs workers similar to the US Government. Politicians who are elected to serve the people have a judiciary responsibility to spend the peoples money in a responsible way. It is a fact that the unions spent $millions of the membership’s dues ( indirectly taxpayers money ) to support Democrat candidates.
The State of Wisconsin received $700 million of Stimulus money when the past governor and the Democrats were in majority control of the government. It was reported that $ 600 million of the money went to bolster State Union Pension Funds. There is no doubt that the good people in the unions would not be supporting the events of today if they were told the truth.
Those 14 Democrat bummers remind me of when Senator Obama was in the Illinois Senate. Senator Obama voted PRESENT more times than a yea or nay.
Jon, such loyalty and patriotism always amazes me. The rhetoric still expresses party politics. You can support Walker because he was rightfully elected to do what he is doing but then condemn Obama who was also rightly elected to do what he is doing. One minute it is about the majority, the next it is not. Private unions hardly exists anymore and the public-based unions are basically the last bastion and that is why these people are fighting so hard, being so vocal.
I find your wording interesting. "Level the playing field." Sounds like a socialist agenda to me, but of course, in this situation its not, is it. Right now, it is the wealthy (especially the Republican Party) trying to convince the private paid middle class they need a level playing field with the public paid middle class, and that the benefits and rights they still have because of their unions, which the privatized free market corporations destroyed, are to blame for the state and nations economic woes. It's a ridiculous argument. The problem is where the dues go, as you pointed out. Republicans don't like that money going into Democratic coffers and it has nothing to do with the budget. If we really want to talk about "leveling the playing field" then start with the rich, the super rich, the ones who just got tax breaks. But no, that's not a discussion to be had because that kind of leveling is socialism. If it is such a crisis, then the rich should share in that crisis, and with their wealth, the problems of the budget could be wiped out quite handily. But the truth is, the crisis is not really that bad otherwise that option would be on the table as well.
Perhaps Republicans need to do what they preached when Bush was in office. When people protested against Bush and the war, the Reps said people needed to at least respect the office by supporting the president. Now they call him every name in the book and deride his agenda, and have no respect for the office because of the man in it. Sounds like a lot of hypocrisy - on both sides of the aisle.
My Christian faith tells me one thing, and that is the least among us represent Christ. And if we are going to treat the least in this nation wrong and give all the breaks to the rich because the economy and budget are more important than the future of the middle class and poor, than that is not a nation under "God." Of couse, I never thought it was in the first place, just one that feigns it for political motivation. Peace
A M Werner
You said '' Right now, it is the wealthy (especially the Republican Party) trying to convince the private paid middle class they need a level playing field with the public paid middle class,''
The wealthy big business is nowhere in the conflict, try to understand it’s about the government ( who were elected by the people ), in this case a public employer and the unions ( who represent the employees).Prior to the election of Governor Walker and newly elected Republicans, the Democrat Governor and the Democrat majority have been in collective bargaining negotiations for the past 15 months.
The genie being let out of the bottle now exposed the past Democrat led government and the unions as to the generous cost to the people of Wisconsin. There is no jobs and there is no money to pay generous sums of money to public sector workers. Anyone in business paying someone 20% more than the private sector are not spending the peoples money in a responsible way. It is now clear the the Democrats supported by union monies do not care about the people who elected them to office.
Those 14 Democrat legislators are making a mockery of a elected democratic government by their actions.
Federal government union workers do not have collective bargaining rights. The governor and elected officials because of the existing deficits in the state are being forced to rectify the problems with the unions.
In the real world, the workers don’t tell the employers how to run the so called business of the state. The state is the people . The people pay taxes to fund the money to pay the union employees. It’s not big business who the unions are fighting.
High employment develops when there is no business operating in the state. High taxes on businesses will force business to leave the state and relocate. Hence higher unemployment, less money coming into the state . You apparently either don’t understand the equation or the process on how an economy works.
JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED.
Walker Explodes Union Lies on 'Meet the Press'
By Newsmax Wires
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says he won't cave in to union and Democratic demands that he compromise on his effort to curb employee benefit programs. He also vows he won't "kick the can down the street" when it comes to dealing with his state's fiscal woes.
Appearing Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" with David Gregory, Walker laid out his plan to save his state from fiscal bankruptcy while destroying several false claims about his legislation, which Senate Democrats are delaying by refusing to appear for a final vote.
Among the significant issues covered during his "Meet the Press" interview, Walker:
Denied he is destroying public employee unions.
His proposed law still allows public employee unions to exist and engage in collective bargaining for their wages. The state denies the unions the use of collective bargaining to seek pension and health benefits.
Claimed that unions are not acting in good faith.
Public employee unions have been claiming they will accept cutbacks in their benefits, but Walker says they can't be trusted and have been rushing through contracts that give their members extravagant benefit packages.
Walker told Gregory: "We [have] seen that actions speak louder than words. For us to balance the $3.6 billion deficit we have — but not only now, but to ensure we can continue to do that in the future so our kids don't inherit these same dire consequences — we've got to have assurances. And over the past two weeks, even after they made those promises, we've seen local union after local union rush to their school boards, their city councils, their technical school boards and rush through contracts in the past two weeks that had no contributions to the pension and no contribution to health care. And, in fact, in one case in Janesville, they actually were pushing through a pay increase. Actions do speak louder than words."
Explained that the law helps local governments curb union demands.
Walker said: "This bill precisely helps local governments, and it's effective once it passes. In fact, we're, we're facing a $3.6 billion deficit. Like nearly every other state across the country, we're going to have to cut more than a billion dollars from our schools and local governments. You know, in New York and California, where there are Democrats for governors, they're doing that. The difference here is, with this budget repair bill, we give those schools and local governments more — almost a billion and a half dollars worth of savings. So the savings they get from our budget repair bill exceed the amount."
Said public employee unions are making unusual demands on taxpayers.
Walker said: "In Wisconsin, a great example of that is, we have, in many of our school districts, a requirement through collective bargaining contracts that they have to buy their health insurance from a company that's owned by our state teacher's union, WA Trust. Because of that, it costs them up to $68 million more than if they could just buy it from the state employee healthcare plan. Those are real costs about putting real money in the classroom instead of into these collective bargaining agreements."
Pointed out his new plan is consistent with how the federal government handles many employees.
Walker explained: "Well, our proposal is less restrictive than the federal government is today. Under Barack Obama, he presides over a federal government where most federal employees do not have collective bargaining for, for benefits, nor for pay. So what we're asking for is something less restrictive than what the federal government has."
Explained why police and firemen are exempt from his new law.
Walker said: "We saw two weeks ago, when this debate first started, teachers here in Madison walked off the job for three days. Now, that was an inconvenience for a lot of parents. I know I've got two public — kids in public school. Anytime you have a disturbance like that, it's an inconvenience. But that, contrasted to the fact that even if there was one jurisdiction across the state where firefighters or police officers weren't on the job in full force, I can't afford to have a fire or crime committed where there's a gap in service. And it ultimately just boils down to public safety."
Walker concluded by telling Gregory that he stands by his statement, "This is our moment, this is our time to change the course of history."
Walker told Gregory: "It's one of those where, for year after year after year, not just the last governor, but governors before, legislatures before, have kicked the can. They've taken one-time fixes to push the budget problems off into the future. We can't do that. We're broke. Like nearly every other state across the country, we're broke. And it's about time somebody stood up and told the truth in this state and said, 'Here's our problem. Here's the solution,' and acted on it. Because, if we don't, we fail to make a commitment to the future. Our children will face even more dire consequences than what we face today."
Jon, I understand the equation and the process. By removing the wealthy big business, as you have done at the start of your comment, you divert attention from the catalyst. Like a good catalyst, the rich stimulate the energy to make all this warring go on while they remain unaffected. There is no getting around the fact that a good federal government would never let American coporations take American jobs overseas and enjoy making profits. Rectifying the problem of union-state-employees pensions, benefits and pay is a pittance compared to the real budget problems.
When the wealthy big businesses are the first things the governor rewards with tax breaks, it makes them part of the equation. A crisis means everyone needs to chip in and sacrifice but still, where is "sacrifice" on the part of the wealthy? I'm not talking about creating jobs, making profits etc . . . I'm talking about doing what Scott Walker is calling average people to do - and that is "sacrifice." Sacrifice involves losing something. What are the rich and wealthy losing?
If their standard of living has to come down, so the majority of civil servants can enjoy a decent life - what is wrong with that? It's not like they are going to starve. But its still that principle thing.
Are those 14 Democrats making a mockery of the system? Oh yes, they are - and I - a non-voting individual - think it is almost hilarious beyond words. I sadly feel the system has been a joke for a long, long time. Every year if costs more and more for people to run for office. And who does that favor? And whose agenda will be progressed? And who will get screwed? The people don't have represenatives in Washington, Madison or anywhere else. The rich do. And now, thanks to the Supreme Court, corporations will have more representation than the people.
In the real, money is more important than people. I understand that equation and process perfectly. Thankfully I am not a represenative of that world. As Christ said in John 15:19, His followers have been chosen out of the world. And now, being outside this system of greed, we can speak boldly. You are right. Justice will be served for those who kept back the world's riches for themselves while so many were in hardship. Peace
I'm not one to disapprove of comments, even blatant advertisements like "Walker For President" posted here. All I can say is, I never doubted that was Walker's aim in the first place. He wants to show the Republican Party he has what it takes to be the next Reagan - Jacksonianism! I love the line that Walker says the unions are not acting in good faith. What kind of verbage is that? How should one act when everything you spent decades building are being torn down? And how can Walker say he is acting in good faith when he rewarded the rich with tax breaks during a so-called crisis? If that's presidental material, I'm glad I don't vote. I always the thought the will of the people had some respect for civil servants. Crabs in a barrel. The private-employees lost their unions and their benefits and now their letting the ones who took their unions and benefits away convince them the civil servants are the enemy. Crabs in a barrel. Peace
A M Werner
You said ‘’government would never let American coporations take American jobs overseas and enjoy making profits. Rectifying the problem of union-state-employees pensions, benefits and pay is a pittance compared to the real budget problems.’’
THE BENEFITS ARE NOT A PITTANCE.
American jobs go overseas because of high wages, high government taxes and government regulations ,that’s a fact. As I have written before’’ profits are good’’ simply because the government receives 35% of the profit to fill the treasury. The fact is that the government ( the people )are not losing out. The real losers are the workers because the jobs are gone. Remember the ‘’ made in America’’ and ‘’buy American’’ mottos. Americans don’t buy American, they buy the lower priced commodity.
The situation in Wisconsin is a battle between the unions and the people ( the government) not big business. Businesses leaving Wisconsin for states that have lower taxes doesn’t help the employment picture in Wisconsin. If one doesn’t have a job they don’t pay taxes, right. The equation means that paying for state labor employees wages will need to be cut. The wages aren’t being cut, what the state is proposing that benefits be inline with private sector employees. Doesn’t that sound fair to all the taxpayers who pay taxes in the state?
The Democrats always talk about taking from the rich and giving to the poor. In the case of the public employee is that they are actually taking from the poor and the middle class , sounds like just the opposite in what the Democrats preach.
‘’When the wealthy big businesses are the first things the governor rewards with tax breaks, it makes them part of the equation. ’’
No business, No jobs and No income, it’s not hard to figure out. When you come to think about it, it’s almost like the US Government spending taxpayer money ( $ 825 billion), giving money to states to keep public union workers on the job ( Obama created or saved ) and plowed $Millions into union unfunded pensions. The unions seem to have a friend in the Whitehouse and Congress. The private sector unions and workers didn’t get much of the help. The shovel ready jobs promised by President Obama was nowhere in sight even as we write today. Governor Walker is not busting the union, the unions are showing their true colors. Read the signs and TRY TO RECOGNIZE who is carrying them.
Government of, by the people and for the people, unions aren‘t mentioned in the phrase. Really.
A good debate, different opinions is what makes the world go around.
Jon, I agree - great debate! I don't write anything to purposefully get on anyone's bad side or to offend anyone. I'm not naive enough to believe the world is suddenly going to change and become an Eden where everyone is taken care of and no one suffers. But as a Christian, I believe it is my duty in Christ to make money itself secondary to the needs of the people. When the glut of the resources and wealth are in the hands of a few, it leaves the few to be just and righteous, and history shows that doesn't happen - be it a monarchy, democracy, socialist society or feudal state. For me, our democratic-republic just justifies greed by law. You are correct, government of the people doesn't say anything about unions, but it also didn't forsee the problem with those who can donate a million dollars to a cause becoming a bigger voice alone, than a million voices. If a politican has to please a wealthy contributor, or a thousand people who give little to nothing to his election, he or she is going to see to the interests of the wealthy person. Unions are a way of pooling all those discounted voices into one unified voice that demands to be heard.
And businesses leaving for greener pastures shows that, unlike people, it is easy for them to pull up stakes and move on when things get rough. Here in Milwaukee, Harley Davidson has been a fixture of the city. But now that things are rough for them, they forget about the millions and billions they have made over the years. The ownership and stockholders demand the same levels of profit even in a bad economy, so the incentive to move on somewhere else is stronger than saying - "Hey, we have to be loyal to the people who got us here. They are going through a hard time, so we will go through it with them."
And most of the wealthy don't necessarily own businesses or run corporations that create jobs. Many of them are simply in high offices making really good money. Their extra funds go to second or third homes, vacations and other luxuries. If this is a financial crisis and everyone has to "tighten their belts," why can't they?
Peace
A M Werner
You said ''Their extra funds go to second or third homes, vacations and other luxuries. If this is a financial crisis and everyone has to "tighten their belts," why can't they?''
When they spend their money that's good, somewhere along the line they helped someone to have a job. Let's not be envious of those who have more. Let’s not judge them for being wealthy. The lord said '' give to Caesar what is Caesar’s ''. The wealthy in many ways have been blessed. They will be judged to a higher standard than the poor. If one follows the commandments, to the best of their ability, he/she will attain heaven. If you believe in god. the problems in our world today is that evil, money and greed has a stronghold on today's society.
EVERYDAY, THANK GOD for all he has given. The feeling of his love is peace.
So Jon, what you're saying is, when there is a financial crisis, its okay for the middle class to have a level playing field, even a sinking playing field, but the wealthy don't have to sacrifice anything because their job is to spend money on themselves? And somehow this behavior is Christian?
It is not envy or judging to say the rich should not get a tax break in a time of economic crisis.
And I am sorry but I've heard this twisting of scripture used before. You say, "The wealthy in this land have been blessed. They will be judged to a higher standard than the poor." I'm going to have to make that one into a hub. That is so off-base. Money has absolutely nothing to do with blessings from the Creator. Money is nothing more than a reward for playing wisely or cheating accordingly the current rules in the worldly system of wealth. No one is judged to a higher standard because of the amount of money they have. People like to read that into the tale of the talents in Matthew 25 but that is a misconception. Everything Biblically goes back to that which the Lord judges to be valuable. In 1Corinthians 12, we are told what these "talents" are that He gives us to work with.
1Cornithians 12:7-11 'But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge, by the same Spirit. To another faith, by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing . . . miracles . . . prophecy, to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and that selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will.'
Money should never ever be confused as a blessing from the Creator. He gave us gifts of the Holy Spirit and it is by those gifts we will be judged if we profited Him or not. The hardest part for people with money to understand about that equation is success in sacrifice, success in giving everything without losing anything.
The cure for greed is written a little further down in 1Corinthians 12:25-26. If everyone does not suffer together, the schism or class warfare will continue to tear the country apart. When the majority of people are poor (or filled with cancer as the rich might like to call them), what will the minority of wealthy people do to rid themselves of their right to speak up and be heard? What will they do to make sure the cancer of their poverty doesn't spread? It's happened all around the world in nearly every nation. By force, they will pay to silence them. The rich say they are not the problem but every day there are more and more voices saying otherwise - more and more people going into bankruptcy and joblessness. Of course the whites in South Africa never thought they were the problem either. Either everyone suffers together, or those who are suffering will eventually make it very difficult for the those who are not, to enjoy themselves. Most people are not Christian, and most are not going to turn the other cheek for very long. I think the wealthy need to thank their lucky stars they've had it this good this long and do something more to keep it before it all explodes. There are many poor out there who are just as greedy as the rich and when the time comes to fight for it, they will. I pray cooler heads will prevail before then. Peace
Scott Walker
Scott Walker
Scott Walker
Scott Walker
Scott Walker
Scott Walker
Scott Walker
Scott Walker
Scott Walker
Scott Walker
Scott Walker
So, by assuming his name and repeating it over and over, you'll channel his dark energies and make the Unions go away? Just guessing here since you didn't give me much else to go on. Peace
Nan 15 months ago
Your representatives (Democrats) are in Rockford, IL. It's all about keeping the poor powerless. Thanks for telling the truth. Global economy is what it's all about, and I believe that God does render justice. It's stupid to try and decertify the union, and there will be no winners if they continue. Bringing down wages will mean that people will not have money to purchase any manufactured goods. They are shooting themselves in the foot. The rich got rich from poor people who labored, unless they inherited the money from ancestors, so there was no effort on their part in earning the money. It looks like they are trying to turn this country into a dictatorship, or communist, by taking the citizens rights. Keep up the fight.