Shikha Dalmia Discusses Scott Walker's Anti-Union Tactics and Detroit's Bankruptcy on Wisconsin Public Radio

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, whose aspirations for higher office are no secret, has been going around claiming that if Detroit or Chicago were in Wisconsin, they wouldn't be in so much financial trouble. The limits he placed on the collective bargaining rights of public unions have allowed Wisconsin to turn a $3 billion deficit into a $75 million surplus. Wisconsin, he declares, is a model for states and cities across the country.

Is Walker right or blowing hot air?

Reason Foundation Senior Analyst Shikha Dalmia debated Judd Legum, Editor-in-Chief of Think Progress, on Wisconsin Public Radio's The Joy Cardin Show.

Go here to download. About 50 minutes.

Comments

[AlexInCT]

When one political party has an incestuous relationship with unions, and then, in return for campaign funds and help getting elected, ends up giving these same unions ridiculous perks at the bargaining table, you are not really busting unions, per se, as much as you are protecting tax payers from being ass raped coming and going. Sure, the union bosses lost out too when their members suddenly had to be wooed to pay them fees, but the members sure won big. But neither the unions nor the political party that lost the sweet deals want people to be aware of what their real motivation is. So hence: union busting!

[Spokanite]

Walker is really rewriting history. Wisconsin had a budget surplus when Walker took over, which he turned into a deficit with a massive tax cut. He then used the "fiscal emergency" he had created as an excuse to bust the unions--thus rescuing the state from his own crisis.

[wareagle]

tax cut equals deficit because it's govt's money first, right? Maybe he saw, because it was so easy to spot, the outcome of the labor/Dem nexus. He only had Detroit, the entire state of CA, and a few other places to look at for examples.

[R C Dean]

Only in gov't accounting was Wisconsin running a surplus. The claim that it was poised to run a surplus requires disregarding the projected Medicaid shortfall (see page 4 for the identification of the $154mm expense not included in the analysis of the budget).

http://bdgrdemocracy.files.wor.....rling1.pdf

[BakedPenguin]

Can you imagine if all government entities were required to use GAAP accounting?

[Idle Hands]

Why would the gov. Need to use gaap that's just so the kkkorporations dont hoodwink us with their voodo economics. How could the feds possibly mislead us if they are U.S. literaly.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

It appears Wisconsin doesn't use GAAP accounting, or rather they don't use it to be in compliance with their legal requirement to balance the budget. Separate GAAP accounting reveals a significant deficit that undercuts Walker's claims.

http://www.wpri.org/Reports/Volume18/Vol18no2.pdf

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Appearances can indeed be deceiving, that report was for 2004! Mea culpa!

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Ah, it appears my retraction needs a retraction. Wisconsin continues to not use GAAP in order to meet the balanced budget requirement, and it continues to have deficits when it does use GAAP.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/s.....63973.html

[R C Dean]

Pretty much like every state, then.

[Fatty Bolger]

Seriously? Shit, that's fucking awesome. Maybe he should run for President.

[CampingInYourPark]

"Wisconsin had a budget surplus when Walker took over"

Wisconsin's projected state budget shortfall is now as low as $1.5 billion
Jim Doyle on Friday, November 19th, 2010 in a statutorially required report on the state budget deficit

http://www.politifact.com/wisc.....udget-sho/

Some people just make shit up as they go along

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Lying Wisconsite and his or her lying enablers.

[R C Dean]

I see Rattner has started shilling for a federal bailout for Detroit.

Steven Rattner, who administered the bailout of part of the Detroit-based portion of America's automobile industry, says, "Apart from voting in elections, the 700,000 remaining residents of the Motor City are no more responsible for Detroit's problems than were the victims of Hurricane Sandy for theirs." Congress, he says, should bail out Detroit because "America is just as much about aiding those less fortunate as it is about personal responsibility."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html

[wareagle]

Rattner's explanation should have had him ushered out the door and into a padded cell, complete with charges for insulting basic human intelligence. The Sandy comparison is not just stupid on steroids, it is offensive, as voters perpetuating a corrupt system are in any way on a par with victims of a natural disaster.

[Ted S.]

New Yorkers voted for Bloomberg who, rather than building a seawall, spent city resources going after eatcrime.

You can argue they brought some of their problems upon themselves.

[Paul.]

What's good for Detroit is good for America.

[Ted S.]

Letting Detroit disappear is good for Detroit, and America.

[CampingInYourPark]

"Apart from voting in elections, the 700,000 remaining residents of the Motor City are no more responsible for Detroit's problems than were the victims of Hurricane Sandy for theirs."

Here's my solution for the feds to help out the residents of Detroit. Buy them a bus ticket to the destination of their choosing. Maybe throw in the cost of renting a U-haul truck.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I'll do you one better and donate bus fare and/or U-Haul expenses towards any family that wants to leave.

We need a Kickstarter for this.

[TOB]

Might the fact that Detroit is 87% Black be relevant here? There are other cities run by liberals, but they can't compare with that of Detroit, where half the streetlights don't work and it an hour for the police to respond. Detroit is what happens when a parasite outgrows the host.

[crazyfingers]

Obama's Chicago union buddies ordered by judge to stop protesting funerals (including a child's).

http://freebeacon.com/teamster.....ral-homes/

Apparently a 9% pay raise isn't enough for the greedy bastards, they have to harass mourners who have nothing to do with the negotiations.

[Paul.]

Isn't a funeral home the best place for the Teamsters to be? Something something Browns something let down one more something.

[Ted S.]

Find Teamsters whose wives/parents/siblings died, and tell those teamsters how happy you are that their relative is dead.

(I don't really believe this, with a few possible exceptions for, eg. politicians who prosecute the War on Drugs by stopping effective painkillers.)

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

In this case, that's exactly what justice looks like. These people loosed a dog on a mourning family. Lethal injection would be too good.

[Paul.]

Waaaaaaalkaaaaaaaah! Waaaaaaalkaaaaaaaah!