Watchdog. org reports on Wisconsin
Governor Scott Walker’s Act 10 reforms, signed into law in 2011. This reform package curbed the
collective bargaining power of the public sector unions in Wisconsin. They
could only negotiate within certain limits on pay. They could no longer limit
talks on healthcare plans. They had to pay more money into their pension and
benefits systems. The unions also had to recertify every year and could no
longer take money out of the workers’ paychecks for union dues. The pandemonium which had ensured
would have scared any respectable governor. Walker stood up to the unions,
curbed their power, cut taxes and spending, and put more money back in the
hands of taxpaying Wisconsinites. Watchdog. org
reports further savings
for the Dairy State:The analysis found that the state
has saved $3.36 billion by requiring government employees to contribute to
their government-backed pensions, and another $404.8 million by opening up
employees’ health insurance to competitive bidding, among other cost controls.
The savings have been widespread, across state and local governments. Even liberal cities like Milwaukee
and Madison saved hundreds of millions of dollars. Walker’s 2010 and later 2012
challenger, Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett, could not campaign against Walker’s
Act 10 reforms because has had relied on them to balance his city’s protracted
and underfunded budget. To this day, the state with the
smallest if negligible pension liabilities is … Wisconsin! Not just the cities, but the
Wisconsin school districts fared well under Act 10, too! Milwaukee
Public Schools, for instance, saved a whopping $1.3 billion in
long-term pension liabilities, according to the MacIver report. The University
of Wisconsin System saved $527 million in retirement costs, the
study found. And Medford School District recently realized an 11 percent
decrease in the cost of its health insurance plan by opening it to competitive
bidding. Incredible! For these successes alone,
all while standing up to Big Labor, Walker should have been handed the
Republican Party Presidential nomination this year. His courage and foresight to stop
the excessive spending and discipline uncooperative labor unions define true
and necessary leadership for our country.
Cities, schools, but most
importantly citizens saved money:The savings due to Act 10 breaks
down to $2,291 for every household in Wisconsin, according to the analysis. He noted the savings Act 10
delivered allowed Walker and the Republican-led Legislature to provide $2
billion in direct tax relief to taxpayers. That’s money for a down payment on a
new car, or investment in a new business, or savings for a college fund. More
money in the hands of individual Americans does more good than wasted or
misspent funds in the hands of weak city or school boards and greedy labor
union bosses. Of course, Walker’s land-mar reforms
have faced continued scrutiny, and continuing opposition from illiberal
elements. Plenty of public employees and the
unions who have seen their ranks dwindle because of Act 10 have a different
take. And mainstream media publications have fed the sky-has-fallen narrative
in retrospectives on the collective-bargaining reform law. So, labor unions still complain
about the reforms? Notice that many workers in and of themselves have not
complained. More importantly, they have simply withdrawn from the unions which
rarely represented their best interests. The “mainstream” media
still paints a dour picture of Wisconsin life without unions. The fact is,
every liberal organ–whether press, academia, or otherwise–will buoy their
boundless ideals on what should work and how things should have transpired. These visionary aspirations have
neither force nor value in the daily lives of individuals and their families,
men and women who strive five days a week to provide for themselves and their
future.
And yet, the liberal media
complains:Wisconsin State Journal reporter Matthew
DeFour wrote some of the more teeth-clenching pieces in the
newspaper’s series on Act 10. He argues the lost income public employees faced
from having to pay more – or anything – for their benefits took a big bite out
of spending in Wisconsin’s economy.
Baloney. A spokesman for taxpayers,
as opposed to a political mouthpiece for Big Labor, reports the truth:Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance
president Todd Berry told the newspaper what others have pointed out along the
way, that Wisconsin confronted a $3 billion budget shortfall when Walker took
office. The budget fixes at the time helped save untold public-sector jobs and
led to lower taxes, ultimately allowing many more taxpayers to keep and spend
more of their hard-earned money. Jobs were saved, the economy started
to grow again, and a massive budget shortfall, which borrowing and inflation
would have made worse, was reduced to nothing. What might have been, would have
been worse if Walker had not taken initiative to reform abusive collective
bargaining entitlements. So, what’s the verdict on Act 10
fives years later? Wisconsin saved $5 billion without
drastic cuts or massive tax hikes. Local governing boards controlled
and reduced costs without diminishing necessary services. Efficient government has become the
norm rather than the exception in Wisconsin. Beyond the in-state successes,
Walker’s example emboldened conservatives around the country to stand up to Big
Labor and fight for the right to work, literally and figuratively. Michigan,
then Wisconsin, and now West Virginia have become Right-to-Work states, with
Kentucky and Missouri close behind. Even though Walker’s presidential
bid failed in 2015, his victory over Big Labor has continued working wonders in
the minds of men, fighting for control over their government and overcoming the
dissolute, inordinate influence of special interests at every level of the
state.
