When Walker was elected, Wisconsin had a 3.6 Billion dollar deficit. It would have been deeper, but the previous Governor, Jim Doyle, raised taxes, issued furlough days, cut school funding (yes, that's right, he cut funding to schools, but was never the subject of a recall), and raided segregated funds that even the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled unanimously was illegal.

Walker's budget paid back these illegal raids, paid back loans to Minnesota, completely balanced the 3.6 Billion dollar deficit, and did so without raising taxes, without borrowing money, without raiding funds, without issuing furlough days, and without laying off any teachers or public employees! Amazing!

All of this was accomplished by simply making public employees and teachers pay a small portion of their healthcare insurance and a small portion of their salaries toward their guaranteed-for-life pensions. It goes to show just how overcompensated many of these employees were in the first place, if merely chipping away at their benefits solved all of the state's financial woes!

Moreover, one year ago, only 10% of businesses (read: employers) had a positive view of Wisconsin's business climate. Since Walker was elected, that number has skyrocketed to 88%! While you may think it’s fashionable to loathe businesses, they are the ones that sign your paychecks. (Unless of course you work for the government, in which case, taxes on those businesses and taxes from those aforementioned paychecks are what pays YOUR paycheck. Even a socialist utopia needs to be funded by a strong private sector.)

And you may not have noticed, but the air and water are still clean, the parks are still open, services have not been cut, schools have not been closed, and they sky is, in-fact, not falling. And all of this was accomplished during a time of national and global uncertainty and weak growth.

The state was financially dysfunctional under Democratic control, and everything has been completely fixed by Scott Walker (again, with no tax increases and no layoffs!). And for THAT he should be recalled from office?

***

In the end, the state and national unions are funding the recall effort and claiming it is because Walker ended their collective bargaining rights.

First, he didn't end their bargaining rights; he reduced them to wages. Second, collective bargaining is NOT A RIGHT; IT IS A PRIVALEGE. If collective bargaining was a right, then the federal government and most states would currently be violating workers' rights!

And the most-overlooked and most-important fact of the ENTIRE debate: Collective bargaining privileges for public workers HAD to be reduced because they were being abused...

From the unions suing to prevent private companies from snow-plowing during 100-year storms, to public workers being able to accumulate hundreds of "sick days", to the teacher unions mandating that their health insurance be purchased through the teacher union-OWNED company (WEA Trust) which charged 50% MORE than IDENTICAL "Cadillac" plans, these egregious wastes of taxpayer money could ONLY have been accomplished through the abuse of collective bargaining.

The ugly truth is that the recall isn't about collective bargaining at all; rather, it's being pushed by union leaders because they will no longer be getting automatic deductions from every paycheck. Scott Walker has granted public workers the right to join a union or to not join a union; to pay union dues or to not pay union dues. This is what terrifies union leaders and is why national money is being brought it to prevent this important reform from spreading. The reforms are working. Otherwise, union leaders would have nothing to fear.

***

Wisconsin Is Working Again. Do not sign a recall petition. Do not remove Scott Walker from office.

#

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF-Wnxu5uXc - Stand with Governor Walker