Meet the Press 2/27/2011 -- Wisconsin and unrest

Meet the Press with David Greogory put on a good show this morning, and Gregory did a fairly good job of asking some tough questions, although in his interview with Scott Walker he fell into a liberal habit of asking the same question over and over to obfuscate the answer. Gregory asked Walker at least four times why Walker didn't just accept the union's agreement to contribute to their benefits and drop the restrictions on collective bargaining -- Walker answered each time that the system needs to change or the contributions will be temporary and the same budget problems will return. Gregory either couldn't fathom this reply or had no reasonable objection to it, so he just kept asking the question. Walker came off as calm and reasonable and determined to get the public union problem in his state under control so that lay-offs won't be necessary.

Gregory interviewed John McCain, who is in Cairo, Egypt, regarding the Egyptian situation, Libya and the Mid-East unrest. McCain was cautious when he talked about the progress in Egypt toward elections -- McCain gave the impression that the situation is up in the air, which probably means forces un-friendly to America are making progress in their attempt to gain political power. McCain proposed more US military involvement in Libya through a no-fly zone and military support for an alternative government, but stopping short of sending in American troops. McCain was asked about Secretary Gates comments that no president going forward should be advised to maintain military presence in Asia or the Mid-east. McCain, of course, said there are times we have to act and then justified Adghanistan, but the question unasked is if we have to stay there for a decade, and if so, why? What has been accomplished after the first two years?

The roundtable discussion was stacked to the Left, with Richard Trumka, Lawrence O'Donnell and Emanuel Cleaver, the representative who heads the Black Caucus, were there on the Left, and Kim Strassel, a WSJ person was there from the middle, and Haley Barbour, Governor of Miss., was there on the Right. The conversation surrounded Wisconsin, and Trumka repeated the charge of Walker attempting to destroy the union, as did O'Donnel. Gregory asked about the public unions' rigged game of negotiating with officials the union got elected, but Trumka ignored any questions which could put unions in a bad light and turned it on Walker, the evil Republican governor.

Haley Barbour was the only one who talked about the fundamental solution of fixing the system by restricting collective bargaining. Gregory failed to bring up the underlying reason unions are so active across the country, and that is because their money flow is being threatened. If states give freedom to public workers to join unions and pay dues or not, then this could threaten the union's money supply and lessen their power to affect legislation and benefit increases. The bottom line, and what Trumka didn't have an answer for, is the broken system which needs to change. Trumka knows that unions can give back some of their benefit gains temporarily then come back strong later when the clouds blow over.

Emanuel Cleaver accused Republicans in general of wanting to cut too much, which means he's a staunch supporter of tax and spend policies, a progressive who favors the government "investment" position. O'Donnel wants to tax the top earners. Liberals and progressives have no new answers -- they are protecting the status quo and the system in place. Trumka, of course, wants only what increases union power regardless of the consequences. Strassel just piddled around the center of the issues. It's amazing that Haley Barbour, a politician with which I have many problems, was the only one addressing an unsustainable public union system which is helping to bankrupt states across the country. 

Look at the facts about Wisconsin

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/260629/wisconsin-myths-and-facts-matthew-shaffer

Matthew Shaffer look at the myths and the facts in Wisconsin regarding union claims and the facts of the matter. When more people learn the facts, they will realize that the Left is using deceit to promote their own economic interests. Scott Walker is being attacked by a rabid pack of liars. 

Morning Joe 2/24/2011 -- ideology

On Morning Joe today there was a rehash of the Wisconsin controversy between Gov Walker and the public service unions, along with a report about Psy Ops possibly being used against senators by the military. The Psy Ops story hasn't been confirmed or answered by the pentagon, so I'll talk in a general way about Wisconsin and the unions. Everyone should know the details by now, and the Morning Joe gang merely rehashed what has already been talked to death. No one appears to go deeper to ask the basic questions. The word "ideology" was thrown out over and over in reference to Walker as if this word alone is enough to marginalize his position. I mean, my God, Walker has a set of ideas regarding what he believes is best for his state. Outrageous! How dare the governor use ideas in this situation!

There was also talk from a Teacher's Union leader about fairness and how the unions need a voice regarding workplace conditions, class size and what's best for the teachers. As far as I know Walker is not taking any power away from the union to fight for better conditions or to influence rules and regulations or anything affecting their jobs, except the ability to bully for benefits. But let's talk about fairness. There needs to be a debate about coercion in general and whether it's fair for one side in a negotiation to have a coercive advantage. All legislation which gives one side or the other an unfair advantage should be changed so that fair negotiation is possible going forward. Also it's not fair to force any government worker into a union and force them to pay dues. Fairness comes down to a lack of coercive power on either side. They need to look at the whole relationship between unions and the State and local employers, then create an equal bargaining situation in which neither side has an unfair advantage.

But any employer has to have the ability to refuse certain demands, or the employer/employee relationship is meaningless. There is a lack of common sense driving this debate, and if unions somehow maintain the power to influence legislators to get their way on an ongoing basis, the unions are destined for eradication, because the government system can't withstand it, and tax-payers will rebel. So far, the unions have gotten more in benefits than the tax-payers can afford. This has to change. Simply agreeing to give some of the gains back will be temporary if the rules aren't changed to prevent this from happening again.

If everyone would concentrate on creating a fair bargaining system, the problem would be resolved, but the unions aren't willing to give up the power they've gained over their employers. Everyone knows this, but they are blaming Walker by accusing him of breaking the union. The unions blame Walker for being ideological, but the union is being unreasonable and clouding the situation with emotional appeals to "think about the children", "fight for the middle class" -- I'll take a set of clear ideas over phony emotional appeals any day.

Update on Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 08:35AM by M. Farmer

I don't know what happened to the formatting, but I don't have time to fix it.

Morning Joe 2/23/2011 -- Systemic failure

I thought there might be hope for the Morning Joe gang as reality gathers it forces to convince even the most obstinate defenders of the dysfunctional State, but it appears now that all hope is lost. It's not that they don't recognize the problem of systemic failure within our government -- the problem is that they continue to support government as the solution -- a broken system will not fix itself. So, the particular views of the regulars and most guests on Morning Joe are no longer interesting, except as they relate to a national failure to understand the difference between symptomatic solutions and fundamental solutions. Morning Joe is a reflection of a national failure.

Scott Walker, a guest yesterday, is an exception, and he presented partial fundamental solutions by insisting that the system of collective bargaining has to be tweaked enough to avoid huge lay offs of public workers. Yet, Walker is accused of breaking the union. Again, this morning, Joe Scarborough was leaning toward Mika's view that Walker is breaking the union and cutting taxes on top earning business owners. The Morning Joe crew give the impression that Walker is doing away with collective bargaining and favoring businesses, therefore it is an ideological battle of Republicans and Big Business against Democrats and teachers, firemen and police. This is so dishonest it's difficult to know where to start. Walker is trying to prevent collective bargaining in a limited way that has to do with benefits, not wages, and he's doing this because of the balkanized union situation in Wisconsin which has too much power at the local state levels, and the current benefits are sustainable. Mika and Joe kept saying the union has agreed to pay some on their pensions and healthcare, but this would have to be decided between all the various local players, and just because a few union people have made statements to the press doesn't mean anything until all the negotiations would take place, and this is the problem -- the Governor knows what would happen if he doesn't change the system -- the same union manipulation of the local officials will happen as it has always happened in this broken system -- then the state will continue to spiral down until public workers lose their jobs.

But, it does no good to explain this because hardly anyone on the Left is listening. Mort Zuckerman was on the show and the conversation shifted to Libya and our dependence on oil. Joe and Zuckerman were bemoaning the fact that the US can no longer make big decisions on things like energy policy, and that it's a shame we're still dependent on insane dictators in North Africa and the Mid-east because of our oil dependence. Yes, yes, yes -- it's systemic failure. Yet, Joe and others can't see that their own failure to support fundamental solutions in Wisconsin reflect this national problem they bemoan. As long as we're looking for political solutions, and we're frozen in the middle by competing political pressures, there will be no fundamental solutions, and our fundamental problems will grow worse. Our government has not allowed the private sector to freely develop energy solutions to our energy demands for decades, and now Joe is saying our government ought to be like China and just deal with the problem, but government has been the problem. Government intervention is the reason we are dependent on foreign oil, and it is political pressures that have us frozen in the middle unable to make decisions. 

The situation in Wisconsin is the same situation. Both moderates and liberals believe that the solution is to compromise, allow the unions to give a little back, but let them keep all the power they've gained, much of the power coming through legislation which gives them coercive power. If the public union retains their advantage in "negotiating" power, any short-term tweaks to improve the financial situation will shortly dissappear once the heat is off of the unions. This problem requires a fundamental solution, just as our energy problems require fundamental solutions. Fundamental solutions are systemic solutions -- if our system of statist government is not changed, then our problems grow worse. But, everyone wants to deal with symptoms and leave the system intact -- this won't work.

The only hope we have is through innovative fundamental solutions which can only arise in a private sector in which everyone is actively involved. The public has been too apathetic -- the public has turned too much over to local, state and national government, and the public has asked too much from government. Now the public is paying attention and realzing that the economy is collapsing, but if there's not a demand to make systemic changes, the same things that have happened will continue to happen.

We can praise teachers and other public employees all day long and feel good about our righteousness, but if the ugly truth about a government system which has been manipulated to gain unrealistic benefits which taxpayers can't afford to fund is avoided due to political pressures, then the consequences will be dire. Also, we can complain about gas prices and wonder why something isn't being done, but if we ignore the government system which has prevented energy development, then we're headed for economic disaster.

I don't think, individually, there's the will or understanding to change our statist system. As bad as it will be, it appears that collapse is the only teacher left.

Morning Joe 2/22/2011 -- Walker 45 -- Trumka 0

On Morning Joe today, the discussion again surrounded Wisconsin and Governor Walker. Jeffrey Sachs, a progressive, was on, and I have a feeling that Joe Scarborough would rather Sachs not come back on -- it was obvious that Sachs' progressive whining about the wealthy in the America, his incessant calls for more taxes from top earners, and his repeated claims that Gov Walker immediately lowered corporate taxes when coming into office, was getting on Joe S.'s last nerve and embarrassing Joe, because while Joe will make similar muted points, surely when he feels he's on the side of a conspiracy freak like Sachs, it has to make him uncomfortable -- it's one thing to be moderate and play both sides, but to find yourself too closely aligned with a rabid anti-capitalist like Sachs is, no doubt, too much.

Others on Morning Joe, like Mika, repeated the charge that Walker immediately lowered corporate taxes before then demanding union sacrifices. Barnicle said that people will rebel when it becomes "unfair", and everyone nodded, because surely it's unfair to lower taxes on corporations while taking money from poor teachers.  Chuckie Schumer jumped on the anti-Walker bandwagon, calling him a union buster and accusing him of not sharing the sacrifice at the top. Yes, that was the silver bullet, along with taking away the ability to collectively bargain. No one on the Morning Show, apparently, researched the facts, and if they did then they didn't state the facts. The facts are that Walker did not immediately lower corporate taxes. Yes, that's right -- he DID NOT lower corporate taxes. Walker was interviewed, and he said he wishes he had lowered corporate taxes, but he didn't. Whoops. Plus, Walker is not eliminating all collective bargaining rights, and the Morning Joe crew knew this, because it was discussed on other shows. There were many factual errors propagated by Morning Show regulars and guests, and none of them apologized for the misrepresentations. They simply had Richard Trumka come on immediately following Walker to demagogue further. Trumka came across as a dark, corrupt, mistake of the past, and Walker came across as a bright, articulate, courageous solution for the future. Walker might turn out to be a crack-head, panty-sniffer, but right now he's a hero. 

There was much hand-wringing on Morning Joe regarding the middle class, and Sachs made the claim at least three times that the Koch Brothers and other billionaires are conspiring to destroy the middle class. To Joe S.'s credit, he resisted this looniness and tried to keep a sane thread going in the converstation. Lately, many on the left have made this claim, that the Koch Brothers and their ilk are out to get the middle class. This adolescent conspiracy theory is not backed by any evidence. The question to ask is why would the rich want to destroy the middle class? The answer is that the rich benefit from a healthy, prosperous middle class -- the State, union leaders, and, unintentionally, the middle class itself have created the problems which have hurt the middle class. Later today I will write a post explaining what I mean by this.

Today's Morning Joe discussion was a fantastic example of why we have difficulty understanding the problems we face in America -- too many demagogues protecting turf, and too few mature government officals dealing with fundamental problems -- Trumka is the former, and Walker is the latter.