Dear Gov. D-bag of WI: (Page 2)

He ran as a small government, low tax, pro-business candidate.  This is all well and good, but not very realistic and is just pandering to what people want, and not what can be delivered.
Here is the problem.  Let’s pretend that all of this fixes the budget problem, ~$3B.  So that's $3B that comes out of the Wisconsin Economy.  These are all people who work and live in the community.  They buy food, gas, clothes, go to movies, drink beer, and pay for their houses just like the rest of us.  Now you take $3B out overnight and all of a sudden all those other business will not be able to sell their services and goods and get their piece of the $3B.  These people may not be able to afford their houses anymore and have to either sell them or foreclose on them.  This could have a negative effect on the housing prices.  It's all interconnected and it doesn't mean that nothing should be done, but to whack the public sector, it is just not smart.  Imagine if Menards, one of the largest employers in the state of Wisconsin with ~10,000 employers said we think WI sucks and we are moving to Illinois.  Would WI just wave them goodbye?

He ran as a small government, low tax, pro-business candidate.  This is all well and good, but not very realistic and is just pandering to what people want, and not what can be delivered.
Here is the problem.  Let’s pretend that all of this fixes the budget problem, ~$3B.  So that's $3B that comes out of the Wisconsin Economy.  These are all people who work and live in the community.  They buy food, gas, clothes, go to movies, drink beer, and pay for their houses just like the rest of us.  Now you take $3B out overnight and all of a sudden all those other business will not be able to sell their services and goods and get their piece of the $3B.  These people may not be able to afford their houses anymore and have to either sell them or foreclose on them.  This could have a negative effect on the housing prices.  It's all interconnected and it doesn't mean that nothing should be done, but to whack the public sector, it is just not smart.  Imagine if Menards, one of the largest employers in the state of Wisconsin with ~10,000 employers said we think WI sucks and we are moving to Illinois.  Would WI just wave them goodbye?

I figured since I am sitting back and enjoying this discussion, I might as well throw in my $0.02.  I will first state that the following is only my opinion, and should be treated as such. 

It is a fact that our State and local governments are in a financial crisis.  This crisis, while not entirely due to pension and benefit liabilities, is exacerbated by them.  These same financial situations were faced by many private sector companies a few years ago.  In fact, one need look no further than the automobile crisis to see a parallel.

Like the automobile giants, any attempt to relieve the burden of these benefit liabilities is met with fiery rhetoric, and political grandstanding. 

Unfortunately, the options associated with fixing this crisis are all distasteful, depending on which "side" you are on.  To pepetuate these benefit liabilities, taxes and/or new revenue sources, would have to be raised - no ifs, ands or buts.  To reduce these financial burden of these liabilities, the benefits themselves would have to be cut.  Again, no ifs, ands or buts. 

Ultimately, we are facing a new way of the world.  Either traditional benefits and pensions will be have to be eliminated (like the private sector), or our idea of taxation will have to increased.

I won't even get into the subject about the unions, as it will deter from the subject at hand.  But, I will say this - this is only the tip of the iceberg.  We WILL/ARE facing this issue with other entitlements at the national level (Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid).

If nothing is done then the government runs out of money.  That is pretty clear.  The question isn't what happens; it's how to fix the problem.  So here goes.

Take all the sick people without health care and kick them to the curb.  If they die as a result, who cares their fault for not having healthcare.  There is no consequence for not buying health insurance as it stands right now.  This is the fundamental problem with healthcare in this country.  I have health insurance, I pay taxes, so I pay for my healthcare and also for a portion of my lazy sister-inlaw who bought a big screen TV instead of health insurance and instead uses public health systems to pay for her healthcare.