This will be short, because so much has already been written about Gov. Scott Walker and his distortion of economic conditions in his state. This is about fraudulent misrepresentation and chicanery at the highest level of WI government.
David Cay Johnston has also issued a warning to reporters and news commentators: They are perpetrating a fraud on the people of the United States!
Their lack of skepticism and their blithe distortion of the facts as reflected by Governor Scott Walker (R-WI) - without challenge or clarification - is only exceeded by my outrageous accusations.
In fact, Johnston asserts, "Out of every dollar that funds Wisconsin's pension and health insurance plans for state workers, 100 cents comes from the state workers."
Thus, state workers are not being asked to simply "contribute more" to Wisconsin' s retirement system (or as the argument goes, "pay their fair share" of retirement costs as do employees in Wisconsin' s private sector who still have pensions and health insurance). They are being asked to accept a cut in their salaries so that the state of Wisconsin can use the money to fill the hole left by tax cuts and reduced audits of corporations in Wisconsin.
...a hole in the state budget that was created by none other than Scott Walker!
[my emphasis]
Please read the article for contextual reference. There is much in it that will illuminate the distraction and distortion of the Tea Party (read: KOCH Brothers, and AFP - Americans For Prosperity - fronting for corporations and the Republican Party) war on unions and collective bargaining agreements.
Only another sample, with respect for fair use:
Not every news report gets it wrong, but the narrative of the journalistic herd has now been set and is slowly hardening into a concrete falsehood that will distort public understanding of the issue for years to come unless journalists en masse correct their mistakes. From the Associated Press and The New York Times to Wisconsin's biggest newspaper, and every broadcast report I have heard, reporters again and again and again have written as fact what is nonsense.
Besides WI state government absolutely failing us, the media is complicit. Unless Senate Democrats stand up strong and confront this issue and the Governors who are participating in this on a state-by-state basis and in the media, I'm afraid that NLRB will remain as meaningless an entity as it was under BushCo.
Please comment below on the article, not on my screaming bloody murder and spitting blood at the media. My apologies if I have distracted you, but I'm a lot past livid.
If David Gregory doesn't straighten out this crap on MTP, I'm sending a sternly-worded message to his producer and the President of NBC/COMCAST. I'm fed up. They sit up when stockholders threaten to withdraw. Or, perhaps they can get a better price from Murdoch now.