Wisconsin Governor Caused Crisis He Now Wants To “Solve” On The Backs Of Public Servants

With GOP spokesman Rush Limbaugh claiming the word “worker” is Marxist, it’s good to know Wisconsin Democrats are standing up for them again today. And it was Governor Scott Walker who caused the problems he wants to solve by union busting.

Walker claims that the state is broke. However, the Wisconsin Fiscal Bureau, a sort of in-state CBO, disagrees with Walker and projects a net positive balance of 56 million for the state by the end of June, 2011 (read their report here, PDF). Further, the Bureau argues that the state would have had an additional $139.7 $202.8 million to work with over the next two years if not for the tax cuts already passed during Walker’s brief administration.

Police are in solidarity with Wisconsin protesters, and showing it by handing out bratwurst. Brian Beutler at TPM notes that the notion that this is about the budget is undermined by the attempt to destroy collective bargaining rights.

Unlike true austerity measures — service rollbacks, furloughs, and other temporary measures that cause pain but save money — rolling back worker’s bargaining rights by itself saves almost nothing on its own. But Walker’s doing it anyhow, to knock down a barrier and allow him to cut state employee benefits immediately.

Here is the real agenda:

“Walker was not forced into a budget repair bill by circumstances beyond his control,” says Jack Norman, research director at the Institute for Wisconsin Future — a public interest think tank. “He wanted a budget repair bill and forced it by pushing through tax cuts… so he could rush through these other changes.”

“The state of Wisconsin has not reached the point at which austerity measures are needed,” Norman adds

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.