Wisconsin Greed and MSNBC grandstanding

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.