COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Mississippi, New Jersey, and Ohio Voters Send a Message to Republicans - 'Stay in the Center'


The law would have also prohibited strikes and promotions based exclusively on seniority, and required public employees to contribute at least 10% of their income toward their pensions. It would have required workers to cover at least 15% of their own health care premiums.

Republican Gov. John Kasich signed the measure into law in March, but it was held from going into effect pending the results of the referendum.
On Tuesday, he congratulated his opposition.

"It's clear that the people have spoken," the governor said. "Part of leading is listening to and hearing what people have to say to you.”

Wisconsin passed a similar measure in March, igniting a firestorm of political activism that drew thousands to the state capital in protest.

In perhaps the most visible confrontation of a debate being played out in states including New Jersey, Michigan and Indiana, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's controversial bill pitted unionized labor against statehouse Republicans and raised broader questions about the long-term fiscal health of state and local governments.
Since then, activists in Wisconsin and Ohio have collected thousands of signatures in a bid to pressure state lawmakers into overturning the bargaining restrictions.
"Unlike Ohio, Wisconsin workers do not have the opportunity to put a referendum on the ballot. Thankfully we have the right to recall. Today's win in Ohio has energized and excited Wisconsin workers to recall Gov. Walker and put a stop to his attack on working families," Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin state American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations said late Tuesday.
Tea party activists had lauded the Ohio law as a necessary move to trim government spending, while union groups said it unfairly targeted state workers.

"Although the parts of the law that require public workers to contribute to their retirement and health care costs are popular with voters ... the strong opposition to curtailing collective bargaining and seniority rights apparently is what seems to be carrying the day for the law's opponents," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. But the law's supporters cried foul.
"There is still the opportunity to negotiate contracts (under the law)," said GOP Caucus spokesman John McClelland, ahead of the vote. "But there's a certain level that you should have to contribute.”

McClelland pointed to slower population growth and a poor economy as cause for retooling the current system.
"All of this just compounds over time," he said.

11 comments:

  1. It is a simple message:
    The Republicans can listen to the Mark Levin’s and Sean Hannity’s and control the radio waves or they can listen to the common sense of the vast American center and govern from Washington.

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  2. Hundreds of thousands of dirt-poor, downtrodden, disenfranchised from Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky made their way to Ohio, and Michigan, went to work in the Steel, and Automobile factories, joined the Union, and became part of the Middle-class, American Dream.

    So the Stupid Party takes something that needs doing, and ties it into a "Union-busting" package. In OHIO.

    Makes perfect sense - if you are one of the dumbest motherfuckers on the face of the planet.

    The Republicans are a Good "opposition party."

    And, that is what they will stay

    at least for the foreseeable future.

    The Redhead was right - more "time in the wilderness," needed.

    G'nite.

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  3. Italy's benchmark 10-year bond yield IT:10YR_ITA -1.11% spiked 82 basis points to 7.40%, a new euro-era high and well above the 7% level widely viewed as unsustainable over the long term by strategists.

    I would say that is unsustainable.

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  4. Rufus:

    Hundreds of thousands of dirt-poor, downtrodden, disenfranchised from Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky made their way to Ohio, and Michigan, went to work in the Steel, and Automobile factories, joined the Union, and became part of the Middle-class, American Dream.

    And then the same Union demanded for themselves Cadillac health-care benefits and pensions, and elected Democrats who rammed California mileage standards down everyone's throat, and the assembly jobs went south to Right to Work States while the Middle Class Dream in Detroit turned into a post-apocalyptic "Escape from New York" nightmare.

    2) It's hard to make any mileage against someone for trying to do something of which the people overwhelmingly approve.

    People approve of the recording industry too, they just don't like it when Murdoch records their phone messages.

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  5. Please Herman, it’s over. 0-0-0 chance of rekindling the dream.

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  6. Tonight’s debate should favor Gingrich.

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  7. “I don’t know if 7% is the upper limit, or if it’s 6.9% or 7.25%, but I do know [Italy] can’t go on for very long having these kinds of bond yields,” said Gabriel Stein, director at Lombard Street Research in London.

    It's 6.93%, or the logarithm to the base e of 2. A ten year bond doubles in value at that rate of interest.

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  8. If the same thing happens in the US, watch for Rat’s $1T coins.

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  9. The Jewish Vote in Montco Commissioner Race

    By Ali Carey, Contributing Writer

    Take a look at this interesting story about Montco’s sizable Jewish population and where those voters are leaning in this year’s election and next.
    The Montgomery County Commissioner race has the attention of political junkies across the state. Democrats Josh Shapiro and Leslie Richards, a Pa. Rep. and Whitemarsh Township Supervisor, respectively, are Jewish.

    Their opponents are Republican incumbent Commissioner Bruce Castor and Lower Merion Township Commissioner Jenny Brown.From Bryan Schwartzman of the Jewish Exponent:
    Schwartzmann interviewed Liz Rogan and Beth Ladenheim, two suburban moms from Wynnewood and members of Temple Beth Hillel/Beth El to talk about this next week’s election, as well as the 2012 presidential contest:

    The stakes of their race — to become one of 14 commissioners representing a total of 60,000 people — might not seem high beyond their township. But the two do agree on one thing: The outcome may serve as a barometer for how suburban voters feel about national politics.

    “I’m the least political person on the board,” Rogan said, adding that she thinks more about pragmatic solutions than any particular national partisan battle. Still, she asserted that township and countywide races do “have an implication” for 2012.”

    After all, a year from now the country will decide whether President Barack Obama wins a second term. Montgomery County — where Lower Merion is the most populous township — is sure to be one of the primary theaters of battle in a state that is considered up for grabs — even though Pennsylvania hasn’t gone with a GOP presidential candidate since 1988.

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  10. The Philadelphia Main Line was always Republican. Starting 30-40 years ago Jews migrated into the townships bordering Philadelphia and the most populous townships will now control the county vote. In the past elections, Jews have voted as high as 75% Democratic. It will be very hard to win Pennsylvania without Montgomery County.

    Obama’s fortunes may have been helped by yesterday’s election in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Pennsylvania may help Obama keep up with his daily phone call with his new Best Buddy Bibi.

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  11. Quite effective material, lots of thanks for the article.

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