[lbo-talk] me on Wisc

Dennis Claxton ddclaxton at earthlink.net
Wed Jun 6 12:21:14 PDT 2012



>From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>


>
>Me on Walker etc.:
>
>http://lbo-news.com/2012/06/06/walkers-victory-un-sugar-coated/

Best thing I've read all morning. It informed this reply I was about to send when you posted the lbo-news link:

Wojtek wrote:


>Americans hate anything that smacks of public sector or public services.

This ain't necessarily so. There's broad support for the main social welfare programs. It's true there's little support for unions, but as Doug points out on LBO news today, there's good reason for that. His argument that Wisconsin shows the folly of privileging elections over door-knocking is more to the point than parsing results or drawing unwarranted conclusions about popular sentiment:

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2051/medicare-medicaid-social-security-republicans-entitlements-budget-deficit

As policymakers at the state and national level struggle with rising entitlement costs, overwhelming numbers of Americans agree that, over the years, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid have been good for the country.

But these cherished programs receive negative marks for current performance, and their finances are widely viewed as troubled. Reflecting these concerns, most Americans say all three programs either need to be completely rebuilt or undergo major changes. However, smaller majorities express this view than did so five years ago.

The public's desire for fundamental change does not mean it supports reductions in the benefits provided by Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. Relatively few are willing to see benefit cuts as part of the solution, regardless of whether the problem being addressed is the federal budget deficit, state budget shortfalls or the financial viability of the entitlement programs.

[...]

http://lbo-news.com/2012/06/06/walkers-victory-un-sugar-coated/

Suppose instead that the unions had supported a popular campaign—media, door knocking, phone calling—to agitate, educate, and organize on the importance of the labor movement to the maintenance of living standards? If they’d made an argument, broadly and repeatedly, that Walker’s agenda was an attack on the wages and benefits of the majority of the population? That it was designed to remove organized opposition to the power of right-wing money in politics? That would have been more fruitful than this major defeat.

[...]

A major reason for the perception that unions mostly help insiders is that it’s true. Though unions sometimes help out in living wage campaigns, they’re too interested in their own wages and benefits and not the needs of the broader working class. Public sector workers rarely make common cause with the consumers of public services, be they schools, health care, or transit.

[...]



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