Wisconsin

Boo Hoo Wisconsin! Walker Wins and Unions Lose

wisconsin cheese landBoo Hoo Wisconsin! You did not remove one of the most inane, toxic governors out to destroy the middle class with nonsensical economic agendas. Regardless of party, Walker's attack on collective bargaining was simply an attack on working people. Yet somehow envy that some workers have managed to hang onto pensions and health care which won't send them into poverty enrages others who do not have wages, pensions and benefits. So angry Wisconsin, instead of demanding higher wages, pensions and better health care for themselves gave the very people was are out to destroy them, carte blanche, a mandate to continue to do just that!   Why not, let's destroy pensions, worker rights, wages and jobs, instead of being outraged that our financial livelihoods are under attack! Just today Republicans blocked a bill to address equal pay for women, yet will those Senators be recalled? Nope, and they probably won't lose their elections over it either.

How did this all happen? Back in March of last year, Wisconsin did the nasty against labor. Unions tried to stop it and literally Governor Walker sic'ed the state police on some state Democratic Senators who were trying to stop the railroading of workers.

Cheese Whiz Wisconsin - Do Over Comes Up Short

cheese whiz
Wisconsin Just Showed Us. You can call a do over on your reactionary votes from 2010. Hate your representative? Completely upset with the jobs crisis, now projected to continue ad infinitum?

Have a recall!

In the largest clustered recall ever, six Wisconsin State Senate Republicans faced a recall election and special interest money poured into the State:

Spending on the nine elections had reached $33 million, most of it from outside special interest groups. Interest group spending has far eclipsed the Wisconsin record of about $20 million set in 2008 elections that covered half the state Senate and all Assembly members.

The fight is over Governor Walker's war against organized labor in Wisconsin, along with his Tea party cohorts. His anti-labor legislation prompted a massive recall effort of State Senators who helped Walker push through his anti-labor agenda. The voter turnout is hitting Presidential election levels.

Saturday Reads Around The Internets - WaMu Executives, Courts, Judges & Debtor's Prison

shocknews
Welcome to the weekly roundup of great articles, facts and figures. These are the weekly finds that made our eyes pop.

This week a flurry of events happened that were obscured by the tragedy in Japan.

Debtor's Prison is Back!

Supposedly abolished 1833, Debtor's Prison is back with a vengeance. Did you know you can go to jail over some unscrupulous creditor trying to collect from you? O'Reilly? How come we can't lock up unscrupulous creditors trying to collect on services not rendered or 80% interest rates? The Wall Street Journal:

Some lawmakers, judges and regulators are trying to rein in the U.S. debt-collection industry's use of arrest warrants to recoup money owed by borrowers who are behind on credit-card payments, auto loans and other bills.

More than a third of all U.S. states allow borrowers who can't or won't pay to be jailed. Judges have signed off on more than 5,000 such warrants since the start of 2010 in nine counties with a total population of 13.6 million people, according to a tally by The Wall Street Journal of filings in those counties. Nationwide figures aren't known because many courts don't keep track of warrants by alleged offense. In interviews, 20 judges across the nation said the number of borrowers threatened with arrest in their courtrooms has surged since the financial crisis began.

Saturday Reads Around The Internets - Public Unions & Homeless Beauty Queens

shocknews
Welcome to the weekly roundup of great articles, facts and figures. These are the weekly finds that made our eyes pop.

Miss Colorado is Homeless

A sign of the times, our beauty queen is homeless.

Just months after receiving her crown, Miss Colorado USA Blair Griffith lost her home.

The 23-year-old, who will compete in the Miss USA pageant in June, was evicted, along with her mother, from their home last November. They have been living with a family friend ever since. Griffith is also scheduled to lose her job at Saks Fifth Avenue when the branch she works at closes its doors for good next month.

Jobs Being Created are Low Pay Ones

The NELP ran some numbers and discovered the new jobs are low paying ones.

Lower-wage industries constituted 23 percent of job loss, but fully 49 percent of recent growth. Mid-wage industries constituted 36 percent of job loss, and 37 percent of recent growth. Higher-wage industries constituted 40 percent of job loss, but only 14 percent of recent growth.

We're hearing a lot of spin on tech jobs and innovation lately. Realize those jobs have shrunk by 4.4% over the last decade. In other words, the sector is not even employing the U.S. workers who need a job and have the skills.

Economic Nonsense Reported As Fact