Remember when public employees caused the great recession?

Yep, this just about sums things up. Despite the best efforts of conservatives to cast blame on public employees as the “enemy,” the facts are simple: the great recession wasn’t cause by public employees or their unions; it was caused by corporations and their CEOs that were motivated by one…

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Barack Obama’s broken promises

Tonight incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama will take to the stage at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina to accept his party’s nomination for president. No doubt President Obama will attempt to dazzle us all with lofty rhetoric about his accomplishments over the past 3+ years, and…

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Kal Penn: “Let’s keep fighting for a president who has never stopped fighting for us.”

Actor Kal Penn speaking last night at the 2012 DNC convention in Charlotte, North Carolina: “Let’s keep fighting for a president who has never stopped fighting for us.” Unless you’re a public employee in Wisconsin, in which case President Barack Obama never started fighting for us.

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Business Executives Want More Public-Sector Workers

Yes, that’s right.  The people who run America’s businesses want more state and local hiring to offset the slack in private demand.  I guess we’re all Keynesians now. Of those polled, 66% responded that a jobs bill wouldn’t be enough to offset the effects of global economic trends such as…

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First they came….

This was originally written by my wife in 2011 right before the passage of the anti-public employee Act 10, and I think it’s worth posting as we head into the home stretch of the recall election against Republican Gov. Scott Walker. You can’t blame me for trying. This is me,…

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There’s no depths some people won’t sink to…

On Sunday, customers who receive the Janesville Gazette found this in the newspaper tubes, along with their Sunday papers: What you’re looking at is a flier (purporting to be an advertisement in the Janesville Gazette) that lists the names and salaries of public school teachers who signed the recall petition…

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Want to stimulate Wisconsin’s economy? Stop with the war on public employees!

Many on the right have been arguing that the provisions of Wisconsin Act 10, the so-called “budget repair bill” that virtually eliminated all collective bargaining rights for public employees, haven’t really been a “bum deal” for public employees. Those making that argument have pointed to the fact that despite assertions…

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I beg to differ about President Obama

“The Obama campaign has always been here for us in Wisconsin.” So said Democratic Party of Wisconsin (DPW) Chairman Mike Tate last week. While Tate may be right in saying President Obama’s reelection campaign has “always been here for us in Wisconsin,” the candidate himself most certainly has not “always…

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State Senate candidate Pam Stevens supports anti-union Act 10

As part of an email exchange I had this with Republican State Senate candidate Pam Stevens, who’s challenging incumbent Democratic State Sen. Bob Wirch in the 22nd Senate district, I had an opportunity to ask Stevens if she supported the provisions of Wisconsin Act 10, the so-called “budget repair” bill…

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An open letter to Gov. Scott Walker pretty much sums up how I feel

From the Oshkosh Northwestern via Jake’s Economic TA Funhouse: An Open Letter to Governor Walker, I have received your letter requesting funds for your recall election effort. Sadly, I am an employee of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. About a year or so ago my wages were cut due to increases…

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