Wisconsin Greed and MSNBC grandstanding

[howeird]

Been watching MSNBC's cam-pain to make the greed of Wisconsin public employees appear to be a Noble Cause. The governor and most of the legislature was voted in on a platform to end public employee unions' choke hold on the state budget. The employees currently have a fully funded retirement program and pay NOTHING for health insurance. The bill they are protesting would have them pay a measly 12% of their health care and 5% of their retirement. That's basically about a 10% cut in take-home pay, because the money is all pre-tax, and the retirement part is deferred pay.

To put this in perspective, my last full time job paid nothing into my retirement, they merely set up a 401K program into which I could put my own pre-tax dollars. For health care (I found out when I went on COBRA) I paid 33% of the premiums. In other words, I would love to have the deal the folks are being offered in Madison.

One side thing, despite the Superbowl win by a Wisconsin team, I saw no Packers green being worn by protesters - but a lot of UW Badgers red. Losers.

Watching Ed Schultz last night rousing the rabble in front of the state house a la Glenn Beck, I was thoroughly disgusted. He's supposed to be covering and commenting on events, not making them.

Comments

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

You would love to take a ten per cent cut in your after-tax salary? Your after-tax salary as a government employee?

If someone had offered us, back when we were government employees, a deal like that, we would have been UNABLE to take it, would have been forced to protest the bill, because a ten per cent cut in our take home pay then would have meant we could not survive. That's not "greed," that's irreducible minima. I don't know what actual money they get in Wisconsin, but I do know percentages never tell the whole story.

Perspective. Yes indeed, it can be useful.

[howeird]

I'll answer with references tomorrow (have an appointment today) but long story short, including benefits, Wisconsin's average teacher salary is $78,000 per year, which is one of the highest in the US. Base salary there for a starting teacher is the 2nd lowest in the country, but 20th out of 50 for teachers who hve worked for 10 years or more. It's more complicated than that, because each county has its own schedule. In California last year, teachers negotiated a series of unpaid days off which resulted in about an 18% cut in take-home pay.

Bottom line: Wisconsin public employees can afford to pay what the new law would require. They won't starve or lose their homes (unless they were losing them already thanks to the greedy banks).