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Effort to Recall Gov. Walker Already Halfway to Goal!

Beerina said:
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I think it would have been a disaster for the nation, emboldening other politicians to raise taxes to help cover for massive spending increases (yes, initiated by Bush -- which the Tea Party readily acknowledges, which is why they splinted from regular Republicans) via tax increases rather than cutbacks.
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Mostly I agree with this. I think disaster might be a bit strong though. The fact seems to be that the Democratic challenger was not the unions' first choice so one might argue that the unions had already suffered a bit of defeat and squeaking out a victory here might have still provided limited encouragement for this kind of thing.

I think also, that regardless of the way elections go the reality is that many state governments are out of money and it will be just physically very difficult for the Democratic Party to continue to provide the kind of benefits they have in the past for public employee unions.

As to the what the tea party stands for: I don't know what it stands for. For every moderate reasonable Tea Party spokesman I hear, I hear three folks that seem a little out there to me. It would be nice if the tea party provided a place to go for people that believe in small government and free markets but that aren't very enthused by the current crop of big spending, social conservative, jingoistic, militaristic hypocrites that passes for the Republican Party right now. I don't think the tea party is that place but maybe I don't know enough about the movement.


We're spending as much per person as we did during the height of WWII -- without being in a major war. I.e. no real emergency. (And what if one did happen? And no, current economics are no real emergency. It's like 1/3 of a depression at best.)

Reign in the spending. This bodes well for this fall.
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If by "bodes well" you mean you think more Republicans are going to get elected, I'm not sure that's much of a fix. The out of control spending by the Republicans under Bush is one of the principal reasons the country is in this mess. Generations will pass before the full impact of the disaster of the Bush presidency has faded away completely What makes you think a new band of Republicans is going to focus on anything other than self aggrandizement like the last batch did.
 
Muldur said:
Looks like the Koch brothers took their Viagra just in time to shove it to the citizens of WI once again without lube.

I hate Anonymous and Wikileaks and those sorts, but I'd dearly love for them to hang Americans for Prosperity and the Koch's out to dry...
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There's one.

Where's Lefty and Deathdart?
 
Sam.I.Am said:
Crap like that kinda pisses me off. Not because it's not without it's own brand of humor, I get that and in that regard it's worth a chuckle. It's that it's an indication of a deeper problem where people are voting for a team and not an individual. Not letting someone or an idea stand upon their own merits, good or bad if you will. I think that it's a huge problem with our political discourse in general and stuff like that image doesn't help to fix it.
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You got that right, Sam.

But MM knows my political stance well enough to realize I'm just busting his stones. He's one of the class acts on this sub-forum.
 
Howie Felterbush said:
You got that right, Sam.

But MM knows my political stance well enough to realize I'm just busting his stones. He's one of the class acts on this sub-forum.
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I was making more of a general statement and not so much complaining about that particular image in this particular thread in the context that it was being used in. Like I said, I do get the humor in it and that had a lot to do with how it was used above.

I'm not mad Bro'.
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
Would anyone even notice? In Missouri, the Lt Gov basically does.....nothing. I couldn't even tell you who it is.
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Same here, the only constitutional duty of the office is the obvious one.

Since she neither voted on or signed any bills, and made no policy decisions, the fact that she was included should have been a big clue as to the true nature and intent of the recalls.

Look back at California, Davis' Lt Gov was not recalled with him and served out the term under Schwarzenegger.
 
davefoc said:
If by "bodes well" you mean you think more Republicans are going to get elected, I'm not sure that's much of a fix. The out of control spending by the Republicans under Bush is one of the principal reasons the country is in this mess. Generations will pass before the full impact of the disaster of the Bush presidency has faded away completely What makes you think a new band of Republicans is going to focus on anything other than self aggrandizement like the last batch did.
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You could be right. I have little reason to think Republicans will hold the line on spending as much as I think. They seem to do much more when they contol Congress but not the White House as well. Curious, that. It's almost as if...when controlling it all they're unleashed to lavish spending to buy votes for themselves instead of Democrats. :rolleyes:

And, of course, had Bush not taken spending to a new level, we wouldn't be in this mess -- the wildest dreams of spending of Democrats would never have pushed the budget to the size it's in this fast.

But...times are not so good on top of budget worries, and that should kick enough out that whoever is left, and whoever is new, should, however briefly, actually work to get spending under control
 
Nice to see that while many Europeans are coming to their senses about austerity and other right-wing economic superstition that has been a dismal failure, voters in the good ol' USA are doubling down on their moronic voting decisions. Voting this scumbag into office once is bad enough; doing so twice is unforgivable.
 
maxpower1227 said:
Nice to see that while many Europeans are coming to their senses about austerity and other right-wing economic superstition that has been a dismal failure, voters in the good ol' USA are doubling down on their moronic voting decisions. Voting this scumbag into office once is bad enough; doing so twice is unforgivable.
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Or that voters are actually center right. Talk and posturing is cheap.
 
maxpower1227 said:
Nice to see that while many Europeans are coming to their senses about austerity and other right-wing economic superstition that has been a dismal failure, voters in the good ol' USA are doubling down on their moronic voting decisions. Voting this scumbag into office once is bad enough; doing so twice is unforgivable.
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That's why Estonia is struggling....

http://www.cnbc.com/id/47691090

Oh wait! Turns out that Estonia is the only country in the euro-zone with a budget surplus, their economy grew last year by five times the euro-zone average, and their national debt is 6% of GDP (for contrast, Greece's is 165%). All that after their economy shrank by 18% after the 2008 crisis, an even bigger blow than Greece took. I agree it's a bitter pill to swallow, but austerity actually works.
 
ravdin said:
<snip> Turns out that Estonia is the only country in the euro-zone with a budget surplus <snip>
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And yet they were not the only country to implement austerity measures. According to a chart given by Krugman here, only one nation managed to combine a decrease in gov't expenditures with an increase in GDP. I wonder if that happened to be Estonia. If so, this would seem some rather dishonest cherry picking.

ETA: I also have to wonder if Estonia actually experienced any shared sacrifice in the name of austerity, or if they use our working definition of "austerity" which seems to mean "drastic reduction in services for the lower and middle class, combined with yet more tax breaks for the wealthy".
 
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What happened to the US? Bush doubled the national debt in his eight years. It should be happy times for us. Obama is on schedule to out borrow Bush so it should just be happy time berserkus for us.

I think government borrowing, especially when the money is derived from foreign sources substantially disadvantages various groups. In the case of the US this has been workers in certain industries that are being savaged by foreign competition that has been artificially advantaged by the massive federal borrowing.

Another little reality is that the borrowing is unsustainable and the end will not be pretty. But I notice no shortage of pundits who think that the US should just keep borrowing and spending because the consequences of not doing that will be bad. Of course, the consequences of ending massive unfunded spending will be highly disruptive. The only question is it better to do it voluntarily or just wait until there is not other choice visa vie the Greek model.
 
Ziggurat said:
<pedant>
It's "vis-a-vis", taken from the French "face to face". "Visa vie" doesn't mean anything.
</pedant>
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Thanks, I was just on my way out and figured I'd misspelled it but just decided to accept the shame of a misspelled term. My guess is that it's the first time I've ever used the term. How'd I do with the usage?

I notice that you missed a rein/reign above. Just a mellow moment?

ETA: I gave a thought to some sort of mention on that. Maybe a [sic] when I quoted the post with it. Maybe a little mocking; rein/reign jokes are always funny. But alas the urge left me and the moment was gone.
 
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