How bad can it get?
...Illinois’s comptroller, Daniel W. Hynes, faces an ugly balance sheet. Precisely how ugly becomes clear when he beckons you into his office to examine his daily briefing memo.
He picks the papers off his desk and points to a figure in red: $5.01 billion.
“This is what the state owes right now to schools, rehabilitation centers, child care, the state university — and it’s getting worse every single day,” he says...--quoted at Legal InsurrectionAt the end of the current budget cycle, Wisconsin will have an 'overdraft' of ~$3 billion. Scott Walker will have a hard job.
But if he needs support, pitchforks, ropes, and hot tar are easily available. There ARE cures for the (D) malady.
23 comments:
Um, how do you explain Milwaukee County's nearly $1 billion hole? If Walker is governor, if he maintained the same policies as now, would be about $45 million.
So much for fiscal conservatism.
Oh, and did I mention the other side costs, rapes and death?
How do you explain the Milwaukee County budget hole?
1) Public Sector unions and their fantabulous bennies and pensions
2) Lee Holloway and the other useful idiots that think that the County Government is nothing more than a jobs program for Public Sector unions
3) Add in the other useful idiots that think its far too important to keep funding leaking swimming and golf courses instead of closing some "green space" to fund what the county should be funding.
4) Sky-high property taxes and higher sales taxes for crappy schools and roads.
5) All of the above driving folks to the surrounding counties driving the tax base ever lower.
Maybe there wouldn't be as many side costs like death and rape if some other useful idiots would believe that putting animals that destroy other lives in prison is a better solution than trying to understand why they committed the crime and having empathy for their hard lives and setting them free.
Ahh, the old "rape and death" gambit.
Tried and true variant of the "They're Taking Away Your Social Security" gambit.
NeoMom is right. The County's financial situation is a direct result of fiscal inebriation and "Gummint is Good, so More Gummint is BETTER!!" dementia, left over from the 1930's.
Rather than suffer rape and death, simply eliminate all County government. Zero it out.
As for Neomom's comments, Walker had two years to introduce his proposals at the negotiating table. He has yet to do so. Instead, he chose the empty suited grandstanding path he is so fond of, not only costing tax payers more money, but piling on law suit after law suit.
Someone needs to explain to that man child that honey attracts more flies than vinegar. Even Barrett got concessions from the unions. Walker, not so much.
Daddio, the Public Policy Forum has already demonstrated that even if you eliminate the county government, you still have the outstanding legacy costs.
And do pray tell, how would twenty administrations and bureaucracies be cheaper or more efficient that one? A little forethought by our dear MKE Co elected officials, especially Walker, could have avoided all of this.
But then again, this is the superficial drivel that the TEA Parties thrive on.
"the Public Policy Forum has already demonstrated that even if you eliminate the county government, you still have the outstanding legacy costs."
So, capper already knows the answer. The problems are exactly what I stated earlier.
Regardless of his "everything in the world is Scott Walker's fault" default position.
And do you seriously expect me to believe that the public sector unions led by folks like - well, you - would do ANY bargaining with Scott Walker? Really? Nope, you will bargain with Barrett because you want Barrett to win in November. You want to hamstring and defeat Walker - not work with him.
Your multitude of blog spots and posts and public comments betray your true intentions.
Yeah, see, capper with the winners on the County Board, Walker knows better than to waste his time negotiating with people who think pink slips are better than insurance premiums.
Good to know you're not trying to drum up fear or anything.
Funny you should mention SocSecurity. 1 1/2 years of ObamiNomics has been sufficient to drive the primary (cash) balance of the larger fund (Old-Age and Survivors Insurance) into the red, something the Trustees said just last year wouldn't happen until 2020.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news to capper and company (well, not really), but the pain the private sector has felt as you and yours sucked up all the money in the economy is going to spread to the public sector.
Neomom,
The difference is Barrett brought his proposals to the table. Walker, the man of no substance, only rattled his demands off for the press, but never once brought them to the table for negotiations.
You're just falling for the same old song and dance.
Amy, perhaps you should look at who is on the Personnel Committee for the Board and reconsider your ignorant statement.
Steve, Where the hell have you been. Walker cut the workforce by 20% (and it is showing in all the troubles he has been having). BTW, the starting pay for a private agency social worker in foster care is higher than what I was making when I worked in that field for the county for seven years. You're falling for another fairytale being spread by pundits and talking heads of the right.
Yo, Capper:
When you started, in 1892, salaries were a bit less than they are today.
Daddio, you silly old bird.
I was speaking relative to each other at the time, which, BTW, was not the time of your 40th birthday.
Of course Barrett could bring his ideas to the union table... he was probably eating lunch with them.
Considering the Union (and their enablers on the County Board) have done everything humanly possible to paint Scott Walker as evil incarnate, its not really a shocker that he went public with his ideas before they could get twisted beyond recognition.
It seems that Walker has presented plenty of ideas over the past several years that the unions and County Board told him to pound sand on. Remember closing leaky pools that nobody hardly used anymore and replacing them with splash pads? Remember cutting some of the year-round parks force and replacing them with seasonal temps? Remember trying to get rid of the cleaning folks at the courthouse that were caught on tape, you know, sleeping? How about getting rid of that ridiculous fish hatchery? Jesus, he was even being blamed for the Ament/Schultz cluster-screw that was O'Donnell park, even though that tragic accident was from a part of the building that wasn't considered an issue.
Freeze or cut pay? Contribute more to your bennies and pensions? Roll back the Ament giveaways? Fire people that sleep on the job, literally?
Nope, the unions will have none of that. All you want is to steal more money from the taxpayers that support you.
But its all Scott Walker's fault. We know.
Wow, what a tirade. Ok, let's see here:
Splash pads will not help the elderly or the disabled who use the indoor pools year round, or attract the wider range of older kids and adults who would use the summer pools on days like this.
Well, he got his wish by slashing the parks staff, including the seasonal. Two holidays and two news stories on how bad the parks are in. Good job!
Ah, the tape which he held for months instead of taking action on. Now we have perverts feeling up people. Any guesses on the number of complaints filed already?
The fish hatchery and farm only feeds poor people, who cares about that. Of course, other communities use it to cut costs by using the food to feed prisoners, but not our Walker!
You forgot to include Charlie Sykes, who was in the Schultz/Ament offices at that time. But how can it hold up for 20 years w/out problem and it be purely bad construction. How would the fact that poor drainage and cracks in the concrete not contribute to structural weakness? Must be magic.
During the last contract talks, the union offered a proposal that would save money on health care, but Walker refused it (it was the first time he ran for governor). As soon as he dropped out of the race, he gladly signed it and bragged about it.
But then again, who cares if what Walker is doing is illegal. Apparently following the law is only for liberals, right?
Now, how do you propose to pay for the nearly one billion dollars in unpaid bills that Walker is sticking with us so far, not counting the inevitable lawsuits that he is bringing down on our heads?
how do you propose to pay for the nearly one billion dollars in unpaid bills that Walker is sticking with us so far
...or the $4Bn in unpaid bills that Doyle stuck us with?
Same way.
Furlough ALL public employees for 90 days.
Good by me. Your taxes will still go up and we'll make a killing in OT. Then the feds will put it into receivership and you will really be paying through the nose.
You won't get OT; you won't make up any work.
And nobody will miss it, either.
Now, how do you propose to pay for the nearly one billion dollars in unpaid bills that Walker is sticking with us so far...
You are on your own there. I bailed on MKE County a long time ago. But maybe you and your AFSCME buddies would be willing to roll back your pension bonus and accrued sick pay? That is truly the only way out.
Regarding the farm/fish hatchery.. It costs more to operate than it even donates in food. Maybe all you county employee could volunteer some of your time or write out a check to the Hunger Task Force. You're gainfully employed.
Regarding the leaky pools. Sorry, it isn't the job of the county to provide a swimming pool to someone who might want to use one once in a while. And it isn't that many either, since the attendance is in decline. Seems to me the YMCA has some programs for the elderly and poor and such.
Bottom line, having a gazillion parks, pools, and a feel-good farm are nice to have, nobel goals even.
But not when you are flat-ass broke. I ain't putting on that addition to the house and in-ground pool that I'd like either.
I still gotta admire your chutzpah though. You got your enhanced bennies, you acknowledge that the legacy costs are still too great even if the County shuts down. Then blame Walker.
You crack me up. I don't receive the enhanced bennies. I don't get to retire until at least 60, I don't get lifetime health care. I don't get the enhancers. I don't even get paid for the sick time I've accrued thus far.
But guess who does. Scott Walker.
BTW, you could eliminate Milwaukee County altogether and you will have all the bills but no revenue source. It requires more thought than an angry knee jerk reaction.
I don't get to retire until at least 60
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Cry me a river. I'll be lucky to be able to retire by 70.
You're Welcome.
The tax payers will, when they have to foot the bill for the class action lawsuits.
And my family lived in a box in the middle of the road and we were grateful...
I wasn't aware that we were in a contest to see who was more miserable.
Maybe that is why conservatives are always so angry.
From the man that defines the word "angry". Interesting. With what - three - blogs doing nothing but screeching of the injustices done to the poor, underpaid, government workers by those evil conservative taxpayers?
You were the one whining about how the taxpayers weren't forking over enough for you to retire early champ.
It would be nice for the folks sucking off the rest of us to be a little grateful once in a while instead of insisting on more and threatening lawsuits if they don't get it.
Like I said - You're welcome.
Ingrate.
You falsely claimed I get all the lavish benefits. I merely pointed out that this was not true.
But that is what I get for trying to talk sense to the senseless, I guess.
Any more talk radio talking points you want me to refute?
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