Friday News Roundup - Hour 1
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-03-04/friday-news-roundup-hour-1
The White House calls on Congressional leaders to join budget talks led by Vice President Biden. Ohio’s Senate passes a bill curbing public-employee bargaining. And the Supreme Court rules the First Amendment protects even hurtful speech. A panel of journalists joins Diane for analysis of the week's top national news stories.
Guests
Ron Elving
Washington editor for NPR.
Karen Tumulty
national political reporter, The Washington Post.
Doyle McManus
columnist, Los Angeles Times.
Friday News Roundup Video
Diane and the panelists respond to several callers defending public employees against recent moves by some politicians, most notably Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), to balance state budgets by cutting public employees' pay and benefits:
Comments
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The debate in Wisconsin is a good example of how to use a subset of statistics to move a right wing agenda. No state government or private employer pays for any "benefits" for any employee. All benefits are part of the larger employee package that includes wages, taxes, retirement funds, health care, etc. It all comes out of the worker's pocket. No worker, no cost to the "employer."
The fiscal pressures of our tax structure and constraints on the "wage" portion of the complete "employee package" have produced negotiations (by unions) for increasing the pre-tax and non-taxed portion of a unit of labor. A proper discussion would be the total cost of labor (e.g., a teacher) including take home wages plus all other portions or costs of the worker. How does this total unit cost compare to the total cost of a unit of labor in the private and other governmental sectors for jobs requiring the same education, training and experience with similar responsibilities? Wisconsin's governor has taken a big slice of an apple and compared it to an orange.
If we are to decrease the cost of labor (for all sectors of our economy) so American business may recover, we must address the main driver of the benefit portion of the cost of labor. Health care must be reformed for our economy is to recover. Shifting the cost of health care from the benefit portion of a unit of labor to the wage portion of a unit of labor will not pull us out of this recession.
Roger H Strube, MD
www.rogerhstrubemd.com
Does anyone know how many of the 'private' jobs are at private companies with government contracts? Thank you, Peggy, St. Louis
I do not understand this sudden attack on the civil servants. Please help shed some light on the historical context for this. It's making some strange bedfellows because so many who support conservative agendas in this country are also civil servants; do they want to take away their own benefits?
Leslie
North Carolina
Why does no-one ever ask about the politicians' fat pensions and benefits. If they work for the people they should have the same benefits. I for one don't get a fat pension in the private sector for working just 6 or 10 years, or however that goes!
And they will pay themselves in DC even if the government shuts down.
Ray in Chapel Hill
The idea that the Govenor of Wisconsin will now hold public employees hostage in order to force Democrats to support his blatantly partisan plans exposes the moral bankruptcy of the political right.
Would you comment on HOW teachers' pensions are funded? It is extremely relevant to the cost to taxpayers. Teachers in most states contribute much more to their own pensions than employees do to social security--in Missouri, it is at least 14% now and expected to rise. That money is invested--with teacher-elected oversight. Additionally, new teachers are constantly entering the system and contributing, keeping the funds stable.
I don't know to what extent state or federal taxpayers contribute to the pensions--but if teachers pensions are largely self-funded, what is the savings gained by changing/eliminating their pension funds?
Thank you.
Yes, I am interested in whether the governor's and representatives pensions and salaries are being cut in this action. It's always the guy at the bottom that gets the bad end of the stick. We should remember that unions came into the public sector because teachers, police officers, firemen, etc., were underpaid and didn't have decent benefits. I liked this thought: A unionized public employee, a member of the Tea Party and a CEO are sitting at a table. In the middle of the table is a plate with a dozen cookies on it. The CEO reaches across and takes 11 cookies. Then he looks at the Tea Partier and says, "Watch out for that union guy, he wants a piece of your cookie." Unions in the US helped to get all workers decent wages and benefits. Corporations have managed to whittle them all away, except to stockholders and CEOs, and now governments are going to finish the job. I'm not a radical, but this really angers me. It's sinful!
Listening to the show this morning Diane Rehm:It seem obvious that the actions of Providence, RI in laying off ALL the teachers permits the school district to replace its NEW teachers for NEXT year with younger, less expensive teachers. Eliminating so-called "dead wood" and reduce the amount of money in the budget for teacher sallaries. Wish they had laid off all the adminstrators and administrative staff as well.
Republicans and tea partiers can't use the argument that the "private sector" can pay whatever they want, when you have all the government bailouts of Goldman, Morgan Stanley, AIG and all the banks. The government saved those companies.
This is such a rope-a-dope. Focus on nailing teachers/public employees, when Wall Street bonuses are just as huge as before the crisis in which they caused, and the government bailed them out of.
The extreme right is continually growing in power as they expedite the dumbing down of America. Their greatest enemy is knowledge of the population. Their greatest ally is ignorance. Of course they would want to attack and reduce the influence and capability of teachers.
In response to one of the panelists on air now - these decisions taken by the Govenor of Wisconsin have nothing to do with the financial health of the pension system or anything else, it is purely ideological and the current financial/budget crisis gives him a good opportunity to turn back workers rights, cuts corporate taxes and generally choose the big guy over the little guy. Victoria, Washington DC
Diane, here is one answer to your question on how public sector collective bargaining effects an organization's budget. This applies to all public sector employees, not just the State.
Even without collective bargaining, public sector managers have little incentive to make difficult decisions t that effect people. However, the tendancy to expand the number of employeess under a manager's responsibility since management positions are in part graded by this number. In a large organization, incompentent or even criminal employees are ofter transferred rather than fired or left in place and the organization is expanded to compensate.
So, the real crisis isn't in the lavish benefits or salaries of public employees. It just makes an already hard job impossible with collective bargaining - the organization only grows and never shrinks.
PUBLIC EMPLOYEE UNIONS - "CLOSED LOOP"
I appreciate NPR's coverage of the current public employee union battle. You are providing a comprehensive view of the situation at the strategic level. The Republicans' general position about unions is X and the Democrats' is Y.
My concern is with the next level down in the story outline.
What I'm not hearing is a response to tactical statements, particularly by Republican think-tankers who quote the "closed loop" argument: taxpayers' money pays public employees from which a portion of that money goes to union dues, which in turn feeds the Democratic party, which in turn increases union salaries and benefits.
Where is the counter? Such as: taxpayers pay non-union public employees and legislators, who are Republicans, their salaries from which they donate to the Republican party, which in turn provides them with patronage jobs and campaign funds for re-election? Isn't this a similar "closed loop"?
One could also make the analogy of tax payer monies going to corporations for public works projects or favorable legislation who pay lobbyist to extract these benefits from legislators by giving them campaign contributions, who in turn provide more projects and favorable legislation. Another "closed loop"?
I continue to hear the union "closed loop" argument raised by Republicans on Public Radio. What follows is dead silence in terms of a Democratic response.
Perhaps I'm just missing the response, but NPR stories seem to always conclude without one.
Tory Salvia
WAMU | WYPR Listener
It's interesting to see America's attention focused so intently on protests in the Middle East. We all want to see an outcome that is favorable to our Middle Eastern neighbors and to ourselves, as we do have a stake in that region. But what about our Mexican neighbors and our stake in that country's future? Are we more comfortable speculating about the future of a region in turmoil when it's not really our problem?
Your guest resorted to the canard of labeling me as a conspiracy theorist, the typical response for an apologist for the criminals in the U.S. government.
This is what was done by another of your guests in the past when I offered well documented information to counter the lies that were being told on your show about the non-existent Iranian nuclear weapons development program.
I wrote you about that incident and did not get a response.
Are you being paid, threatened or otherwise controlled by elements of the criminal cabal in control of the U.S. government?
I want to have a one on one conversation with you about this.
By the way, your screener knew my name without me having given it to her.
So now it is clear that you have kept records of phone numbers and the people who call from those numbers.
Your screener apparently uses a program that showed my name on her display when I called.
You have my phone number so please call me.
Peace,
Jon Paul
The current framing of this debate leaves out an entire sector of our workforce: the non-profit sector. 13 million Americans, according to a Congressional study in 2009, work in this sector.
When the public sector's capacity is slashed as we're now seeing, there is an unspoken assumption that the benevolent, yet overlooked, nonprofit / charity / faith-based sector will pick up the slack. Nonprofit employed taxpayers earn less than their government and private sector peers. They have privitized benefits (401ks) if anything.
Yet funding for non profits dried up post-Recession. But their need as a stop gap has only increased. This sector enjoys less pay, fewer benefits, and more work as it is silently charged with filling the gaps of our society that continues to avoid addressing root issues like poverty, racism and inequality.
"Ray in Chapel Hill
March 4, 2011 - 10:38 am
P. Brown wrote:
The idea that the Govenor of Wisconsin will now hold public employees hostage in order to force Democrats to support his blatantly partisan plans exposes the moral bankruptcy of the political right.
March 4, 2011 - 10:40 am"
He also said that the districts represented by the Democrats would be the ones to suffer the Layoffs!!
His exemption of Cops and Firepersons, who supported him, is an example of exactly why the Civil Service System was needed.
Because the GOP is a minority party, they are 100% Antidemocracy and dedicated to depriving the People of their political powers and, sadly, have succeeded.
Monte Haun mchaun@hotmail.com
Gov Walker immediately gave 100 million dollars to the corporations who basically financed his campaign. They scratched his back, so he scratched theirs, and in turn they will help him to get re-elected and then he will give them even sweeter deals in the future. How is that not exactly the same "closed loop" that conservatives are using as an argument for shutting down the unions' bargaining rights? It is hypocrisy.
Big money in politics always creates closed loops . . . and this is unfortunate. But to argue closed loops are bad is only convincing if it applies to everyone, not just to the other team. Scott Walker is arguing that closed loops are bad except when they help him! The guy is a snake.
JonPaul wrote:
"Your guest resorted to the canard of labeling me as a conspiracy theorist . . . "
You whine about someone calling you a conspiracy theorist, and then a few sentences later you argue that the response to you -- or lack of one -- was a conspiracy and that they are monitoring you and have secret ties to a super secret criminal organization that is secretly in control of the government! It is all very secret, I am sure, but what isn't secret is that you ARE most definitely a conspiracy theorist.
I realize Doyle McManus was probably playing "Devil's Advocate" in his repetition of the Republican line about needing to cut back collective bargaining because (in the past) governments gave generous benefits (etc.) "in good times", but there are several flaws in that argument.
The first is the fact that unions are accepting cutbacks now that we are in bad times. Wisconsin is the perfect example: the unions already agreed to the cuts the Governor wanted - which pretty much demolishes his claim that restricting (or eliminating) collective bargaining is essential.
The second is that just because governments made bad economic choices in the past doesn't prove they are doomed to do so in the future, and that doesn't justify "sticking it" to the unions, since the problem was with those negotiating on behalf of the government. The solution to that problem is to replace the government's negotiators - by electing a new government. (Something Wisconsin did, and the result brings us back to flaw #1 - it worked!)
Not to mention the additional fact McManus admitted at the end of the show: that there's no connection between having unionized workers and having state deficits, for example Texas has no union and has a huge deficit too.
Put this altogether (along with the fact that the unions which supported the Governor are exempt from his plan) and this appears to be more about partisan politics and ideology than about sound economic policy!
Meanwhile, it appears the Republi-Cons may be setting a new record for creating "buyer's remorse". It will probably get worse! I wonder if it will take their turning our current "Great Recession" into a second Great Depression to convince their die-hard, ditto-head, supporters there's something wrong?
Dear Circus:
What also isn't secret is the fact Jon Paul submitted his Comment to the wrong hour of today's show!
History repeating its self : "We must close union offices, confiscate their
money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers salaries
and take away their right to strike." Adolf Hitler, May 2, 1933 it pains me to see public employees treated as pawns in class warfare by Republicans..Did they forget public employees are taxpayers too? shameful Republicans just shameful.The y always know the price of everything and the value of nothing. The have no problem taking money for influence from every other special interest group then cry foul when someone else use the same against them.
JonPaul on March 4, 2011 @ 12:32 pm wrote: "Your guest resorted to the canard of labeling me as a conspiracy theorist, . . . "
Incorrect, sir, what he actually said (responding to your citing of various reports in the local press) was :"Anyone who's spent time in that part of the region knows that there's conspiracy theories abound."
Get it? He didn't accuse you of being "a conspiracy theorist". He simply stated that the area is rife with rumors of conspiracy theories.
Maybe that fact means as little to you as the fact that you posted your inane comment to the web page for the domestic newshour instead of the foreign newshour, but it's just one more indication of why no one should take what you say at face value. (And I'd say we shouldn't take it at any value!)
Please see the following article: http://bit.ly/h8RnnJ for an explanation.
To JPK
Guess who bailed GM, Morgan Stanley, & AIG. It was Obama, Summer, and present Treasury Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner. They supported the legislation that forced band to take TARP money. This legislation passed by the Democratic Congress and Senate.
Etaoin:
Your not serious when you stated "that just because government made bad economics choices in past doesn't prove they are doomed to do so in the future"
They not only make the same mistakes over again but they never learn. Look at the current health care reform. They will run it the same way they have run Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare is scheduled to go in the red in 2017. So many people put into the system that have never paid into it, not even to mentioned the 500 million dollar cut to this program. 45% of Texas Doctors do not accept Medicare & Medicaid payment due to low pay and a long time to get it.
As for Texas, their are other factors when the speaker mentioned the 27 Billion dollar deficit. He must not be familiar with the politics in the state.
Average Salary for Teachers in Texas is $41,000. We have no state income tax so the cost of living here is cheaper. Big Dem state Hawaii is $49,000 and ranks at the bottom due to the cost of living. Source (Teach Portal)
Sorry, meangreen, but TARP was hardly a "sinister Democratic conspiracy". In fact it was passed in 2008, and signed into law by George W. Bush on October 3rd of that year. It was also Bush who (in December of 2008) extended the program to any use that Secretary of Treasury, Henry Paulson, deemed necessary to avert the financial crisis.
In short the law was in place before Obama was elected, and much of the program was implemented before he took office. (And, as I recall, a number of Republi-Cons voted for this too. Of course, they could always have filibustered it instead!)
You're not serious when you claim to know what you're talking about, are you?
Oh, and as to my Comment about governments not being doomed to repeat their mistakes (March 4, 2011 @ 6:07 pm) - I guess you missed the part where I cited Wisconsin as proof of this very fact. (In the very next sentence.)
The newly elected government successfully got the unions to agree to accept cutbacks, thus demonstrating that mistakes of the past don't need to be repeated!
Sorry, but like Walker, you can't seem to take yes for an answer!
Madonna is another level of star–even when compared to successful entertainers/fashion “designers” like Jessica Simpson and Beyonce–so we won’t be surprised if this venture is a hit. That doesn’t mean we’re going to buy anything, though.
Last month when rumors circulated that Madonna would design a junior’s line for Macy’s, we scoffed just a tad, especially at the name: Material Girl.
Looks like we’ve been punked, because WWD reported this morning that the collection for Macy’s is indeed happening, and that others are to follow. The pop culture icon and her longtime business partner, Guy Oseary, have signed a deal with retail conglomerate Iconix Brand Group, which also owns Ed Hardy, Rocawear, Candie’s, Badgley Mischka and Danskin. The joint venture is called MG Icon.
The two companies plan on developing footwear, more apparel and accessories lines, but the Material Girl junior’s collection will be the first, dropping at Macy’s this fall. Iconix’s chief executive Neil Cole also suggested that Madonna might endorse some of the company’s other brands.
Posted in: News Madonna’s First Collection Will Hit Macy’s This Fall By Lauren Sherman Wednesday, Mar 10, 2010 / 12:00 PM GMT -5
Here's one of the most obnoxious debates in politics. Honestly, if politicians are elected you cannot keep them from taking money out of the system. If you attempt to control it it just makes them more corrupt.
However, the real issue with America's political system is its election of people who couldn't pass an IQ test with the only expectation that they get above the mentally handicapped level of 75.
You don't have to pass an IQ test to be a Senator (words out of the mouth of a Senator).HCG diet