Do Public Sector workers "really" Pay Taxes?
{Do they really?}
Or do their paycheck Deductions, somehow "count less" than Private Sector workers, because ALL their pay comes from Taxes in the first place?
Do Public Sector workers "really" perform important work for Society?
Or would the Private Sector instantly spring up to replace them all, if Govt employees would suddenly disappear overnite, as so many Conservatives would like to see happen. Sooner rather than later.
Those ideas seem to be implied by what Scott Walker and others are saying, if you take their latest statements at face value
-- That somehow Public Workers are really second class citizens, not worthy of the Pay and Benefits they receive, that they have earned.
-- That somehow Public Workers are "free loaders" in Society, that must be kept in check, before they can cause even MORE of a financial burden on the REAL Taxpayers ...
Tea Party Descends on Madison Protests
By Kevin Dolak, Chris Bury, Oliva Katrandjian, ABCNews.com -- Feb. 19, 2011
Governor Walker told reporters yesterday that he would not "allow protesters to drown out the voice of the taxpayers," adding that he had received 19,000 supportive e-mails this week and that a "quiet majority " of the state's residents are behind his plan .
What's that Gov Walker? ... Are you saying Public Workers -- DON'T Pay Taxes?
{not really} ?
Where did he get THAT idea?
Well, MediaMatters keeps an eye on Fox News Bobbleheads -- so you don't have to.
Fox Falsely Blames Public Unions For WI Budget Shortfall
mediamatters.org -- Feb 18, 2011
BILL O'REILLY: But if state workers will not give back some of their benefits, there is no solution to the fiscal crisis anywhere. You can't raise taxes anymore. The folks are tapped out, right?
[...]
"Talking Points" believes that class warfare is about to break out in America. Union benefits are strangling not only state budgets but also the private economy.
[...]
SEAN HANNITY: Says That "Wisconsin Taxpayers" Are "Picking Up The Slack" For State Workers. On the February 17 edition of his Fox News show, Sean Hannity stated that "Walker is asking that members of the unions do the following, put 5.8 percent of their wages towards their pensions. Police and Fire and Teachers -- Most contribute almost nothing as things stand right now." He then stated, "Its Wisconsin taxpayers, they're the ones picking up the slack."
So, State Workers are just a bunch of "Slackers" -- is that what Hannity is saying?
So, Union benefits are "choking the life" out of state budgets and the Private Sector -- is that what O'Reilly is saying?
So I suppose they would rather have a Society where Police and Fire and Teachers services etc. would only be available to the Highest Bidder? ... And the rest of us could ... go ... Take a Hike!
Didn't we see that a while back, where the local Fire Dept sat by, drank sodas, and watched a Family's House burn down, to the ground -- all because they hadn't paid "their Fire Protection Fees" on time.
Is THAT the kind of society that these "Government Haters" want?
A Society where only the well-off get the Essential Services, and everyone else gets Bupkis, Nada, Zip, Zilch?
Don't they know that "Taxes are the Price we ALL pay for 'Civilized' Society" ?
We may have 'differing ideas' on what it means to be 'Civilized' --
I for one, think bombing vague, amorphous "enemies" back into the Stone Age -- is anything BUT 'Civilized'
-- but being a part of "larger" Society, I have little choice, but help pay for the salaries, the supplies, and the strategic think-tanks, for OUR superior weapons;
with each bi-weekly paycheck; that I earned from my stressful Govt position.
Such is the Price that we ALL pay for what has been deemed 'Civilized' by Society at large --
all because someone, somewhere, got away with selling "the People" the idea that conducting endless wars, with the most formidable, superior weapons
-- would somehow make the US empire -- MORE 'Civilized' ?!
Go figure. Yet I still pay my Taxes nonetheless.
Taxes on what I earned. By my ever increasing rates of Productivity -- year after year;
As a Public Worker, who gives "my all" to my job, my career -- day in, and day out.
Snide dismissive comments from Scott Walker and the Fox News peanut gallery, notwithstanding!
If my job suddenly disappeared, along with the thousands of others like mine,
so would most of our cherished "wild places" ... disappear ...
into that endless maw of the Private Sector, that never knows when,
to stop cutting, to stop drilling, to stop digging, to stop dumping, to stop grazing.
THAT Private Sector that the GOP loves to look towards -- for all their 'solutions'.
Funny though, The Private Sector kind of NEEDS the Public Sector -- to remind them, to watch them, to TELL them ...
When to say WHEN!
... to tell them -- Enough Already ... time to Take a Hike!