KochGate?

[geni]

I haven't followed the details of this story, but am I correct to assume that the real Koch and Walker are not familiar with each other?

They've probably met. Both rich men with hard right political interests. It would be somewhat supprissing if they handn't. On the other hand walker only got a ~$40K donation from Koch. Dealings appear to be mostly at the level of Koch's people dealing either dirrectly with walker or with walker's Staff.

 

[joobie]

As I recall, they are essentially against public education.

that's kind of interesting. david koch heavily bankrolls some pbs programming, such as nova.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Ok, I am a former union member. I hearby proclaim that I would be in favor of spending cuts as long as they were accompanied by tax hikes. Spending cuts across the board which included defense, farm subsidies, and other strangely ignored areas of spending, as well as tax increases for the wealthy by a lot and the rest of us by a little.

What do I win?

I don't think Wisconsin has a defense budget.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Not necessarily. Raise taxes the way they were supposed to be raised, like by expiring Bush's tax cuts, and they wouldn't. Of course, this is a state issue, but if you increased revenue similarly (larger marginal hike for the "rich") at the state level, they wouldn't complain, at least not to the degree you seem to think.

Oh sure, you'd find a hypocrite here or there, as you do in pretty much every political issue. Nothing new there.

Of course. Raise the rates on the rich. That seems to be the standard mantra.

 

[Unabogie]

Of course. Raise the rates on the rich. That seems to be the standard mantra.

Hey, didn't I just say that I was in favor of taxing everyone? Three things.

First, if you lower the federal deficit, then you don't need to slash aid to states. So money being fungible, cutting defense helps state budgets.

Second, eliminating the Bush tax cuts spreads the tax increase to everyone. It just so happens they got most of the benefit of that cut, so they'd get most of the pain letting it expire.

Third, anyone who complains about debt and deficit without mentioning the Iraq war, and the Bush tax cuts just isn't serious. We can't keep giving away all the money to the billionaires and then cry that "we're broke". My answer is "who's this we, Kimosabe?" Some folks (or is it Kochs?) haven't being going broke at all.

Here's a graph of who's got all the money.

http://www.balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/inequalitypage25_actualdistribwithlegend.png

Now maybe you think it's good that all the money is flowing away from all of us and to the minority at the top. I disagree. But they sucked up all the money, and if we're really broke, then it is they who need to "sacrifice".

 

[DavidJames]

Third, anyone who complains about debt and deficit without mentioning the Iraq war, and the Bush tax cuts just isn't serious.

I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but it's people who felt exactly that way who recently voted in a Republican house and they were very serious.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

that's kind of interesting. david koch heavily bankrolls some pbs programming, such as nova.

The Kochs are big advocates of privatizing public education. I don't think supporting NOVA outright contradicts their Libertarian philosophy. It does seem incongruent but I think it shows trying to put people into black and white categories is flawed.

 

[Snide]

Of course. Raise the rates on the rich. That seems to be the standard mantra.

Not just the rich, as I noted, and as I'm sure you noticed.

 

[Unabogie]

I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but it's people who felt exactly that way who recently voted in a Republican house and they were very serious.

Just because someone takes themselves seriously doesn't make them serious.

See: O'Reilly, Bill.

 

[DavidJames]

Just because someone takes themselves seriously doesn't make them serious.

See: O'Reilly, Bill.

I guess we differ on the definition. A group of people who, regardless of the logic behind their thinking, can elect their candidate, they must be taken seriously.

 

[thaiboxerken]

You have a point. OK, they would scream second loudest!

The point being, this Governor ran with the promise of balancing the budget using GAAP, not the various shell games various politicians use (see: Clinton's "surplus"). There are two ways of accomplishing this - cut expenses or raise revenues. Walker chose the former. No matter which one he chose, the people protesting would complain.

He cut taxes.

 

[thaiboxerken]

They've probably met. Both rich men with hard right political interests. It would be somewhat supprissing if they handn't. On the other hand walker only got a ~$40K donation from Koch. Dealings appear to be mostly at the level of Koch's people dealing either dirrectly with walker or with walker's Staff.

That its the direct contribution. However, even today, the Koch bros are finding political ads in Wisconsin over this bill.

 

[thaiboxerken]

I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but it's people who felt exactly that way who recently voted in a Republican house and they were very serious.

Seriously stupid.

 

[Alferd_Packer]

One thing that cracks me up is Walker’s idolatry of Reagan’s firing of the striking air traffic controllers in 1981. What Walker does not realize is that Air Traffic Controllers are still unionized and that most, if not all the changes in the working conditions advocated by PATCO have been adopted in the current system.

 

[TraneWreck]

I'm just shocked the usual suspects aren't all over this thread whailing like children denied candy that everyone on the left is now a hypocrite for not condemning the caller like we do Breitbart.

I was all ready to explain the concept of editing, but so far, so good.

 

[TraneWreck]

Of course. Raise the rates on the rich. That seems to be the standard mantra.

Yes, because those poor bastards have their lowest tax rate since WWII.

Does the tyranny against those making more than $250,000 a year know no end?

 

[leftysergeant]

Of course. Raise the rates on the rich. That seems to be the standard mantra.

As much as we subsidize them during good times, it stands to reason that they owe us more in the bad times.


we working people can't go on giving up things to keep them in caviar.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I posted this in the other thread but it belongs here as well.

The Less Discussed Part of Walker’s Wisconsin Plan: No-Bid Energy Assets Firesales.

The fight in Wisconsin is over Governor Walker’s 144-page Budget Repair Bill. The parts everyone is focusing on have to do with the right to collectively bargain being stripped from public sector unions (except for the unions that supported Walker running for Governor). Focusing on this misses a large part of what the bill would do. Check out this language, from the same bill (my bold):

16.896 Sale or contractual operation of state−owned heating, cooling, and power plants. (1) Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state−owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b).

The bill would allow for the selling of state-owned heating/cooling/power plants without bids and without concern for the legally-defined public interest.

About Those Wisconsin Power Plant No-Bid Contracts

One of the provisions that hasn’t gotten much notice in Scott Walker’s union-busting bill would give Walker unilateral power to sell off public utilities in Wisconsin in no-bid contracts — a provision that would directly benefit one of Walker’s major campaign contributors, Koch Brothers Industries.

And oddly enough, here’s an advertisement posted just two days ago, looking for plant managers for multiple power plants in Wisconsin.

Energy client is looking for experienced Plant Managers for multiple power plants located in Wisconsin. You need 15 years of operations & maintenance experience in a power plant environment. You should have at least 5 years of experience managing operations & maintenance teams in an operational power plant. The ideal candidate has experience in a coal fired power plant. Salary is commensurate with experience.

I wonder if we can expect an investigator to find out who this already planning ahead "energy client" is? It would certainly appear that Walker has been counting unhatched chickens.

My guess is the screen will disappear now that it has been exposed. I can't open "Grab" so hopefully someone else will grab the screen shot before it's gone. Little Green Footballs is widely read. You can expect this is already running through the blogosphere.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Someone tell me why the propaganda campaigns that portray "tax the rich" and the unions as evil incarnate, have been so readily bought by so many people? Is the scam really that hard to recognize?

 

[Reginald Hobbes]

If the recording reveals anything, it reveals in plain English, breaking the unions is not about the state's budget deficit. That is a ruse. If someone still thinks this is about the budget, they either haven't heard the conversation, or they are suffering from brain block.

Are you saying the deficit is a ruse?