Wisconsin Is NOT About the Budget!

This morning I switched between  different news channels and caught Morning Joe on MSNBC, CNN’s normal 24/7 coverage, and a couple late night news shows on the major networks. All were telling the same story.  In Wisconsin, the unions, who don’t want to lose money and benefits, are protesting and the Governor, who wants to balance the budget, are resisting.  That is NOT true.  Wisconsin is NOT about the budget.  The governor is a Koch funded puppet following the Republican playbook to create the deficit himself and use it as an excuse to break the unions right to organize and bargain  collectively, so  that they will not have the financial means to oppose the US Chamber, the Koch brothers, etc. in future elections.  Even the counter protests in support of the government are astro-turfed events, funded by the Koch brothers.  When the unions offered to concede all Governor Walker’s financial cuts, if they could keep their right to collective bargaining.  If this were about the budget, Walker could have ended the standoff right there with a big win, but he said no, because the budget is just an excuse, not a reason.  Check it out.

The fight over a bill to slash collective bargaining for Wisconsin’s public workers came to a standstill on Friday, as Democratic state senators refused to appear at the Capitol, members of the State Assembly delayed a vote until next week and thousands of protesters, their numbers still growing, marched, screamed, sang and sat.

Will the governor’s war on public employees’ collective bargaining rights sweep the nation?

“We’re waiting until we can find a way to take these draconian measures off the table,” Chris Larson, one of 14 Democratic senators who left Wisconsin to prevent a vote from taking place, said in a telephone interview. So far, Mr. Larson said, there had been conversations between Republican lawmakers, who control both chambers of the State Legislature, and Democrats — but no compromise.

Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican who proposed the bill that would reduce public workers’ abilities to negotiate their contracts and would require them to pay more for their pensions and health care, showed no sign of retreat… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <NY Times>

Rachel covers the history of activism in Wisconsin and the Republican plan to undercut Democrats’ electoral power by using public policy to destroy unions.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Now here is how the Koch Brothers tie into the picture.

Wisconsin’s newly elected Republican Gov. Scott Walker is facing a growing backlash over his attempt to cut pay and eliminate collective bargaining rights for public employees in his state. Although Walker is claiming his power grab is an attempt to close a budget gap, the budget “crisis” was engineered by Walker as soon as he got into office. As Brian Beutler reported, half of the budget shortfall comes from Walker’s own tax cuts for businesses and other business giveaways enacted in January.

A number of the big business interests standing with Walker are beneficiaries of his administration’s tax giveaways. But the greatest ally to Walker is the dirty energy company Koch Industries. In response to the growing protests in Madison, Koch fronts are busing in Tea Party protesters to support Walker and his union-busting campaign. Last night, MSNBC’s Ed Schultz reported on the involvement of Club for Growth and the Koch-financed Americans for Prosperity [fascists delinked] in the pro-Walker protest scheduled tomorrow. Watch it:

 

Koch Industries is a major player in Wisconsin: Koch owns a coal company subsidiary with facilities in Green Bay, Manitowoc, Ashland and Sheboygan; six timber plants throughout the state; and a large network of pipelines in Wisconsin. While Koch controls much of the infrastructure in the state, they have laid off workers to boost profits. At a time when Koch Industries owners David and Charles Koch awarded themselves an extra $11 billion of income from the company, Koch slashed jobs [Faux Noise delinked] at their Green Bay plant:

Officials at Georgia-Pacific said the company is laying off 158 workers at its Day Street plant because out-of-date equipment at the facility is being replaced with newer, more-efficient equipment. The company said much of the new, papermaking equipment will be automated. […] Malach tells FOX 11 that the layoffs are not because of a drop in demand. In fact, Malach said demand is high for the bath tissue and napkins manufactured at the plant.

Koch Industries was one of the biggest contributors to Walker’s gubernatorial campaign, funneling $43,000 over the course of last year. In return, Koch front groups are closely guiding the Walker agenda. The American Legislative Exchange Council, another Koch-funded group, advised Walker and the GOP legislature on its anti-labor legislation and its first corporate tax cuts.

According to the EPA, Koch businesses are huge polluters, emitting thousands of pounds of toxic pollutants. As soon as he got into office Walker started cutting environmental regulations and appointed a Republican known for her disregard for environmental regulations to lead the Department of Natural Resources. In addition, Walker has stated his opposition to clean energy jobs policies that might draw workers away from Koch-owned interests…

Inserted from <Think Progress>

This could not be more clear.  Republicans do two things.  They use policy in partisan attempts to establish a 1,000 year Republican Regime of one party rule and they transfer our wealth to corporate criminals like the Kochs.  In Wisconsin, it’s about these things.  It was never about the budget.