Patterson: Wisconsin recall may be the turning point, 'where entitlement culture finally lost its allure'
Tom Patterson
East Valley resident Tom Patterson (pattersontomc@cox.net) is a retired physician and former state senator.
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Arizona Willie posted at 9:23 am on Sun, Jun 17, 2012.
The publisher of the EVT writes that he hates politics and most politicians and has little use for them.
But -- he continuously gives featured space to far right wing political operatives.
Isn't that peculiar, hmmmm?
Leon Ceniceros posted at 10:13 am on Sun, Jun 17, 2012.
Sorry "WILLIE" (I crack up everytime I see this nickname...so well chosen)....but this same "story" about the demise of the Public Sector Unions was in every single Opinion and Commentary Section of every Newspaper in America the day after Gov. Walker's Re-Election.
There were similiar articles to Mr. Patterson's...in the Telegraph, the Guardian, the Mail On-Line of England and the BBC had 3-4 of it's top Political "Guru's" saying the same thing that Mr. Patterson said.
The City Elections in far-left Liberal San Diego (home of UC San Diego) and San Jose (home of San Jose State University) that voted to abrogate their City's Public Sector Union Pension,Retirement and Health Care Agreements.......NAILED THE LID ON THE PUBLIC SECTOR UNION'S COFFIN.
Just like the Steel Workers Union, the Automobile Workers Union, the Teachers Unions, the Teamsters and even "Norma Jean's" old Textile Workers Union......were all destroyed by their ever increasing greed and avarice.
Where is steel made = Taiwan, China and Japan and now Indonesia.
Where are towels,sheets, shirts, pants and jackets made = China, Bangladesh and Indonesia and lately Vietnam
Where are blinds made = China
Where are kitchen utensils made = China
Where are TV, blenders, toasters, microwaves made = China
ALL OF THESE EVERDAY ITEMS USED TO BE....USED TO BE..MADE IN AMERICA..........UNTIL THE UNIONS WITH THEIR STRIKES, SLOW-DOWNS, PICKETS AND PIG-AT-THE-TROUGH UNION AGREEMENTS DROVE THEM OUT.
NOW WE HAVE ALMOST A PERMANENT 10-15 MILLION PERSON OUT-OF-WORK POPULATION THANKS TO THESE UNIONS. THE ONLY PLACES IN AMERICA WHERE JOBS ARE BEING CREATED ARE IN ....UNION-FREE...."RIGHT-TO-WORK" STATES........LIKE ARIZONA (THANKS TO OUR REPUBLICAN LEGISLATURE AND OUR WONDERFUL GOVERNOR, THE HONORABLE JAN BREWER).
Arizona Willie posted at 11:51 am on Sun, Jun 17, 2012.
Leon, your response is completely irrelevant to my post.
My comment was that although the publisher of the EVT proclaims that he favors no politician and hates politics he constantly posts far right wing articles in the feature space on the web site.
My post did not deal with the subject matter of the post, only with the contrast between what the publisher of the paper CLAIMS and what he actually DOES.
Like Fox News claiming to be " fair and balanced " when it is neither fair nor balanced. The EVT shows itself by it's practices to be a right wing publication although it claims to be non-partisan.
The actual content of the article by Patterson is not worth commenting on.
chatmandu002 posted at 5:20 pm on Sun, Jun 17, 2012.
Tom,
I agree with most of your article. Except the part about demise of the entitlement culture. The entitlement culture is strong and thriving. When almost 50% of citizens not paying any federal income tax, they can now vote themselves more and more entitlements.
mrconservative posted at 9:26 pm on Sun, Jun 17, 2012.
Arizona Willie, have you ever heard of two people by the names of Jon Beydler and Mike McClellen? Both are very liberal and both have written articles for the Tribune. The Tribune is hardly a conservative-leaning paper.
mrconservative posted at 9:34 pm on Sun, Jun 17, 2012.
FOX News is very fair and balanced. They have liberal guests on Hannity and O'Reilly all the time. They're more fair and balanced than CNN, NBC, ABC and CBS are. While I do not watch the cable FOX news channel, since I don't have cable I do watch the local FOX news, which is the only local news station I trust.
Arizona Willie posted at 7:52 am on Mon, Jun 18, 2012.
mrconservative: yes I'm aware of Beydler and McClellen.
They are the exceptions that prove the rule.
Just as your beloved Fox has a couple of token liberals who are granted a few minutes of air time just so no one can say they NEVER have anyone but ultr-righties on.
I would bet that if someone ran a study and counted up a years worth of articles in the EVt, it would be 4 or 5 to 1 right wing over moderate / progressive.
Engaged Voter posted at 1:18 pm on Mon, Jun 18, 2012.
"FOX News is very fair and balanced."
From the same commenter who claims Thomas Spencer Monson - the dishonest, pro-illegal conman - is a "prophet".
Why oh WHY am I not surprised?
(want to bet mrconservative, like his hero O'Reilly, doesn't know how or why the tides go in and out? LOL)
guirkymondo posted at 1:39 pm on Mon, Jun 18, 2012.
Unfortunately, the good old "Doc" didn't remember to contact the Social Security Administration and stop his Social Security checks and Medicare payment. He's not THAT into getting rid of HIS entitlements. BTW - They are NOT entitlements. People earned these benefits. As in PAID for them with their hard work, blood, sweat & tears.
Accuracy posted at 7:28 pm on Mon, Jun 18, 2012.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s win and outcome was a major defeat for the state's unions. Walker's budget cutting left the unions with fewer benefits and less power.
While a good factor in Walker's triumph was that voters saw economic improvement, including falling unemployment, a budget surplus, and 30,000 new jobs in the last few months.
The Tea Party movement helped to push Walker to victory, and his win has some wondering if the results will carry over to the national races.
k33j88 posted at 7:07 am on Tue, Jun 19, 2012.
Wisconsin is only the beginning. A sleeping giant has arisen to the evils of progressivism. We will once again call ourselves proud AMERICANS, unapologetic to no one, bowing to none, and reasserting our rightful leadership role. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!
mnjcpa posted at 4:47 pm on Tue, Jun 19, 2012.
Tom - Fantastic article and what I've been discussing for several years. I particularly agree that the voters in Wisconsin weren't expressing resentment - and that it was about the unsustainable benefit that public union employees derive. You would have thought Walker was asking for a kidney from the reaction.
What's really needed is ALL public union employees have their pension converted to an equivalent of the private sector. It's ridiculous that people are retiring in their early 50's with guaranteed benefits for life paid for by their neighbor.
REG in AZ posted at 9:35 am on Wed, Jun 20, 2012.
All of politics really needs reform and few politicians offer real conscientious and responsible quality as the “nature of the beast” doesn’t encourage other than self-preservation and an abundance of subterfuge to con the people and to manipulate public opinion. To think otherwise is self-delusional. So then what is the difference in the two parties; is it really “conservative” v “liberal” and what does that mean? The Republicans fault the Democrats as being responsible for “big government”, excessive government spending, liberal aid programs and the growing deficit, while the Democrats criticize the Republicans as being owned and controlled by “big money” and representing only “the few’s” interests with significant neglect and cost to the majority. Actually there is truth in both accusations and remember, there just is no purity anywhere, just self-preservation.
To be fair to the Democrats we have to recognize that they inherited the problems, that in needing to address the severe problems they had to spend more, that some responsible government spending is now absolutely needed and that when giving to the poor (and middle class) the money gets quickly spent and back into the economy (even stimulating profits for the wealthy). Also it isn’t Democratic spending that causes the problems, the truth is that the problems are all related to privileged exploitation by “the few”, where excessive deregulation, lax enforcement, no oversight and favorable policies encouraged run-away greed, gross dishonesty and self-indulgence by “the few” resulting in repeated crisis in savings-and-loans, banks, dot.coms, the mortgage, investment and financial industries, as well as corporate corruption (like Enron) and then including the industrywide failures. To fail to see that or to be conned that it is otherwise just opens the door for continuing with more of the same.
The Democrats really don’t have all of the right answers and they offer a lot of room for improvement, however there are some significant contrasts. We really need to address the deficit but definitely other things first, including some needed spending to get things turned around and really not while only concentrating on “the few’s” interests. A really large and costly problem for the majority is that the Republican / Tea Party is controlled by “the money” and acts as “puppets” for them, depending on their money, power and influence for support and to con the people and manipulate public opinion, while stubbornly fully concentrating on “the few’s” interests. There is no doubt about any of that as it is clearly demonstrated when, without concern for costs to the people, they stubbornly and belligerently concentrate on supporting “the money’s” interests, while faulting and blocking all other efforts and irresponsibly withholding all bipartisan cooperation and any compromise; when Norquist, Cheney, Rove, SuperPacs and others take the mega-millions given and use them to first, intimidate and coerce their own (even forcing “moderates” out) to squelch individual consciences and force unity behind “the money’s” interests, next to sell and support the “puppet” candidates who stand ready to perform as their “strings are pulled”, and last, to aggressively promote the propaganda aimed to con and control the voters; and then just in their insultingly taking people for granted and assuming they can be easily used and abused. A few things should be evident: no matter what anyone thinks of the Democrats’ policies, in contrast to the Republicans they have “moderates” and even “conservatives” who strive to represent the different interests of their constituents; then there was the drastic costs incurred when Bush-Cheney proved beyond any doubt that the “trickle down” theory is a complete fraud just making the wealthy wealthier and soliciting political support; and also there has been the aggressive self-serving manipulation of the conservative Christian, the Swift-boat propaganda and the Tea Party movement, all being implemented, directed and funded to deceptively sway and control people’s thinking.
We need political reform and the only way that will ever occur is to render “big money” ineffective by firmly rejecting their propaganda and their “puppet” politicians. Then and only then will the politicians honestly and responsibly concentrate on the people and be receptive to having real reform.
VofReason posted at 2:32 pm on Wed, Jun 20, 2012.
If anyone actually reads all of Reg in Azs post, you need a new hobby. You know AZ Willie is right, I mean that Tina Dupey is a right winger too. I think the real problem is that a fish doesn't know they are in water. Liberals are so kooky that when they read liberal drivel, they think it is right down the center. Then when someone has a cohesive rational thought, they think they are a vicious and hated right winger. Kind of funny really.
mnjcpa posted at 4:13 pm on Wed, Jun 20, 2012.
Definitely is funny VofReason ......that pesky First Amendment gets in Willie's way. Liberals think there is only one point of view and if you don't share it - you're a nut.
mrconservative posted at 8:38 pm on Wed, Jun 20, 2012.
O'Reilly is NOT my hero. I don't have cable. And you are not very bright, Engaged Voter, aka, Atheist. Can you name ONE thing that President Monson has said that is dishonest? Can you?
(crickets)
I thought not. Don't you speak evil of President Monson again, or you will go to hell for all of eternity. Don't say I didn't warn you. That's the fate that awaits you if you continue on this path.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 7:28 am on Thu, Jun 21, 2012.
As usual....the Liberal/Progressive/Democrat/Marxist/Leninist/Socialist/Commie Wanna-Be's won't be happy until America has become a..........3RD WORLD COMMIE COUNTRY LIKE CUBA OR VENEZUELA.
RUSSIA AND CHINA ARE NOW ....CAPTITALIST CONTRIES.....LOL.
THE NATIVE AMERICANS AREN'T STARVING AND HUDDLED IN THEIR CARD-BOARD SHACKS ANYMORE THANKS TO BILLIONS OF GAMBLING MONEY.
OBAMA JUST GAVE "AMNESTY" TO 2 MILLION OF THE 20 MILLION ILLEGAL ALIENS IN THIS COUNTRY.
BLACKS ARE NOT SEGREGATED ANYMORE (JUST LOOK AT 80% OF THE TV, MAGAZINE AND NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING AND COMMERCIALS THAT HAVE ONLY BLACK ACTORS/ACTRESSES).
NOW THE WHITES IN AMERICA HAVE BECOME THE ........MINORITY.
CSalafia posted at 10:48 am on Fri, Jun 22, 2012.
Wisconsin is last in job creation and still has a $3B budget deficit for the next two years. Walker admitted that his bills weren't about fixing the economy, but about busting public sector unions he didn't like.
The true entitlement culture isn't the poor and low to middle class. It's the wealthy and the corporations, those who feed at the government teat to the tune of billions of tax dollars, gladly given away by idiots like Walker and the idiots who think like him.
mnjcpa posted at 8:55 am on Sun, Jun 24, 2012.
You're clearly in the group that benefits from lifetime unsustainable benefits CSalafia - otherwise you would have a better understanding of accounting and deficits. It's not just about budgets in a point in time - it's about projected spending and the damage to the budget. Something liberals turn a blind eye to or expect someone else to pay it for them.
The entitlement culture isn't the producers. It's the people that think it's perfectly okay to retire in their early 50's, with 35 years+ life expectancy, to get a `guaranteed benefit`. I know several teacher, firemen, GM, and government employees who have `retired` in the their early 50's - with GUARANTEED benefits for life. Pull out a handy HP calculator and the present value math is simple. These benefits - because they are guaranteed - amount to MULTIPLE MILLIONS over their lifetime. And they're the same people who scream it's not enough.
Compare that to their private sector counterparts and the message is clear. These out-of-date pensions should be converted to a similar NON-GUARANTEED type of 401(k) to be fair. Period.
It's not your neighbors responsibility to pay for your unsustainable benefit. And you're going to see this everywhere as people come to understand that it is exactly what they're doing.
delia posted at 7:30 pm on Sun, Oct 28, 2012.
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