Governor Walker Discusses Budget Repair Bill with Greta Van Susteren (2.15.11)

[mayito714]

So a worker that makes $40,000 a year to support his family will pay an additional 20% after Federal, Social Securuty and State Tax? Might as well move to Florida and cut the lawns of the rich where you can make twice that pay no State Tax & fudge the Fed.

[martyjburg]

Budget repair? No, this is the demise of WiscAnsin's budget.

[LordKaisen]

GOD DAMMIT TEA-DICKS HERE WE GO AGAIN

[SephynnXx]

Bottom line is the United States is broke because the Republicans. Clinton had us out of debt for the first time in the 20th Century, and the Republicans shattered that in just 8 years. Wisconsin wouldnt have debt if the entire country in general wasnt in debt. This isnt Obama's fault as Republicans like to brainwash people into thinking. The biggest terrorist group to ever step foot on our soil is the Republican politicians who destroy our country time & time again.Economics and History folks!

[rebjiii]

Scott walker's wisconsin budget crisis is a MYTH - just like death panels, anchor babies, fema camps and the kenyan birth certificate.

Listening to Scott walker lecture about balanced budgets and fiscal responsibility is comparable to listening to charlie sheen on the topic of alcohol sobriety.

Scott walker is a hypocrite - how can scott Walker extend collective bargaining rights to the police union and firefighters union- but not the teacher's union ??

[parafleet]

Anybody got a pig farm..

[sparkyrocky12131963]

I SAY IMPEACH THIS GUY I SAY IMPEACH THIS GUY HE IS AN IDIOT

[Gracelandification]

Governor Walker is using the democratic process of our established Republic to close a $137 million (well $3 B) budget gap via stripping public union members of their collective bargaining rights and having them contribute a small amount to their exorbitant salaries, benefits, and pensions still less their counterparts in the private sector. watch?v=7tck77z3x0I & watch?v=PiNIbbp67pE

.

14 Democratic Senators fled the state in derelict of their duties. All 14 should be recalled.

[ohgrx]

@Gracelandification the Wisconsin constitution gives those senators the right to flee in situations when a quorum is needed to pass a bill.

[MrGobsmack]

16 days and nothing over here??????

My clothes are wet, tight on my skin

Not as tight as the corner that I painted myself in..........

bob dylan.

[TheMasterTate]

There are 3 kinds of voters in the world. Republicans, Democrats, and people with brains.

If you ALWAYS vote Democrat you are dumb. If you ALWAYS vote Republican you are dumb.

There are good ideas and bad ideas on both sides. There are good people and bad people on both sides. Every reasonable person should agree with that.

Scott Walker is a BAD PERSON. After the Walkergate tape that is just completely obvious. There is no way a thinking person can deny that.

Think for yourself.

[eyesonlymw]

Does ANYBODY have the exact wording of this budget bill -- at least the section that addresses the collective bargaining rights? Where can I find that? I think if these hysterical people were to read what's actually there (yeah, right!) most would calm down and leave our state capital building so the cleanup crew can get in. And then the employees who ARE there can get their WORK DONE, and maybe some of the "defectors" will come back and do the job we're PAYING them to do!!!!!!

[sutircomed]

Faux New is on the side of the corporate raiders not the people. Of course Walker runs there, the coward. Recall this bozo.

[ChipotleFreak63]

collective bargaining rights was mentioned in ONE sentence between the two. i HATE fox news. i consider myself moderate, and they are disgustingly right wing. be fucking unbiased, damnit

[PGWARNER]

Everytime this man talks all I hear is "blah blu blubbba blah..."

[YouCanBeWealthier]

I always find myself LMAO at the comments of the libs. Many of them need to use foul language in their feeble attempts at making their spoon-fed "Talking Points" left wing nut job comments. It shows just how unintelligent they are.

[vanderchic]

@336kgf is right. I know that free speech gives everyone the right to say anything they want, so anyone can comment on what is going on in WI, but he is OUR governor. WE elected him. He beat out Barrett, so obviously we wanted a guy to make the tough decisions. We want our state people to work, we don't want the state to be in the red. Wisconsinites have great state pride and we would prefer if you would all back off and let us deal with the situation ourselves!

[vanderchic]

The 'tax breaks' he gave were actually to new business's and they get 2 year break on taxes to get going. WI needs to get a lot of people back to work, so bringing business's & essentially jobs into the state is the right thing to do. Now to fix the $3.6 billion dollar deficit we are in, he needs to find some cuts and this is the best way, if he and the rest of our state doesn't want lay offs. As my governor, he'd better keep strong and not back down. I elected him to make the tough decisions.

[kindredspiritzz66]

what Greta FAILS to ask him about is why he just gave away 140 million in tax breaks to his rich business buddies (the Koch brothers) and then turned around and whined we're 130 million in the red and need drastic action. He single handedly created this mess and you're stupid if you believe he has good intentions.

[ianhowe007]

wtf are you right wing douchebags talking about, this douche plans on cutting tax for the PIG RICH,and open loopholes so some dont even pay state tax? BIg Business has to pay, these fucks not paying taxes is why were broke.

kill the bill

[Stingerbillion]

@ianhowe007 Did you hear on MSNBC news that Walker got punked call? Some guy was pretending to be coke brothers spoke with him over the phone for over 20min. Walker spilled everything about how the state is not broke and he was hired to break the unions. He said he wants Wisconsin to be 1st state to be the idol of other red states in the country. No joke. I hope this asshole gets impeached or decides to shoot himself.

[lakota222222]

Walker is only taking half a statistic, and using it to convince ignorant people that the Walker way is the only way. Guess what? You wouldn't know it from what Walker says, but public employees are paid an average of 11 percent less then comparative workers in the private sector. If you add in the value of the benefits both sides receive, you find that public employees are STILL paid about 6% less, on average. That's according to an independent study by the Economic Policy Institute.

[336kgf]

For those who have been protesting our Governor, and you don't live in WI and you don't vote here, GO BACK HOME! This is our problem. It does not belong to anyone else. Let us deal with it.

[apostleis]

What a pile of scum Walker is WI didn't have a budget problem until he gave money away to rich taxpayers the first few days in office.

This is a made up problem to wreck unions. I'm not a union fan but what he did us hurting the state abroad while hurting schoolteachers.

[336kgf]

@apostleis Where's your proof, or are you just repeating what the progressive rags have been saying?

[thaguy6502]

Public sector unions are on the state's payroll - and have state politicians and bureaucrats - who determine their pay and benefits - on their payroll. This is a fundamental conflict of interest. The public sector unions either need to give up their collective bargaining rights in the public sector - or give up their right to collectively participate in the political process.

The path the Governor is taking is the better one, as impairing corporate free speech would be a far greater tyranny.

[twk373]

Reality check: clearly, a LOT of Wisconsin's civil "servants" are NOT good people.

[jimoth90]

um its fox news...so it doesn't actually count for anything

[wizardsmuse]

This is a grab for power. What does attacking employee's bargaining rights have to do with taking care of a state budget? Hypothetically you make less than thirty thousand a year and a Governor who is a wealthy man takes 20% of your take home pay away from you, how would you like it? This video is not remotely accurate. Wisconsin state employees don't get paid at a level anyway near private sector. Go look up what he did to Milwaukee county.

[twk373]

@wizardsmuse

Are you fucking kidding? Public employee compensation IS what's crushing the state budget. And collective bargaining is why compensation is out of fucking control.

[jek4prez2032]

Mr. Walker, If you're reading this I want you to know that If you keep doing such a fantastic job as Governor I look forward to voting for you for President of the United States.

[Falcon988]

Two issues Walker ignores in this interview:

1) His attack on collective bargaining rights and rushed effort to pass his bill through the Legislature are entirely independent of the budget plan

2) Not all public employees are equal. Big difference between a state employees bringing home $50 - 60k a year, and a High School teacher making $30k.

[danidancer28]

People settle down. Listen Walker is not taking away Unions. He is proposing a reasonable way to reduce the budget deficit by making public workers pay toward their pensions. Guess what your pension is your money meaning you are paying yourself! This means you are securing your retirement and health care benefits, it is not the States responsibility to tax the Wisconsin people in order to pay for your retirement and heath care benefits. It is a wise and just decision. So, settle down.

[ohgrx]

@danidancer28 he's taking away the ability for unions to negotiate their own wage... which might as well be taking away unions...

Listen. republicans since the forever have been against the idea of unions because it takes away the power from big business and gives it to the people. Why is the idea of peoples power to demand wages such a bad idea. the problem with this country is that we have gotten away from the idea that if there is a strong middle class there is a strong country...

[NewWorldOfJoy]

@ohgrx

The land of the free and brave. But freedom has been taken away more and more. If they (Companies, leaders etc.) can convince us to have less money, they can have more money themselves.

Walker is being paid to promote what the power elite wants. But it will be not much longer, for the land free and brave will soon be brave and demand their sovereign right to be free. You can only push people to a certain point.

Don't make decisions on fear. Be brave. Don't believe the scaretactic.

[ktgbw]

$85 Million in State Tax Cheats, why aren't we chasing them down?

[royalca]

Gov Walker, answer me this: How does saving my $40 a month on union dues cover the $400+ a month health care and pension contributions that you are proposing??

[aquawoelfly]

OMG!!!! you ppl are hopeless. this is what the state needs. yes im serious!!!!! unions need to go the way of hte dinosuar. htey were created 100 years ago in responce to work conditions that no longer exist in most countries and are illegal in hte uS by a number of laws federal and state (yes even wisconsin has it too). if you dont like your state job then quit and get a new one noone is forcing you to stay there.

[royalca]

@aquawoelfly unfortunately unions do still need to exist in this state for example, teachers would have 50 students in classrooms that only seat 20. i like my state job because i feel i am doing a service to my community, that's why i stay. if scott walker wanted to work in a non-union environment, he should have gotten a job at a private company!

[ohgrx]

@aquawoelfly bullshit.. union jobs especially labor unions are some of the only good paying jobs people can get without a college education... Tell me ONE single job you can get that you can make $50k a year without any degree whatsoever. Unions have been the heart of our middle class for 60 years, destroy them and you destroy the middle class. *which is what republicans have been trying to do since FDR*

[erinssnug05]

@ohgrx you can find all sorts of construction jobs paying $50k+ a year without a degree that are non union, unions may have been a good idea orginally when they were started for workplace saftey but over the years they have become corrupted, all unions should all be outlawed

[ohgrx]

@erinssnug05 you havn't named one job... give me one. I dont accept the idea until you atleast give me examples. I've worked every construction job known in southern wisconsin and unless you are a contractor you are not going to make 50k a year... so please... please give me one job that makes that money because i need the job.

[erinssnug05]

@erinssnug05 To Start I know of few local commercial construction companys that pay union wages without being union even for just being a labor, i know of some local manufacturing plants that pay union wages and are non union and when some of the employees wanted to go union there a few years back they put off building a new plant and where going to shut down the four plants they already had there and move to another state where they have other plants

[severalspeciesof]

on public assistance if this goes through like he wants. Sounds like a 'have' to me... NOT!! What Walker says is one thing, what he hasn't mentioned makes him a liar...

[severalspeciesof]

Like tobyspeaks brings out, here are the facts:

Walker assumed Governorship with a surplus (121.4 million). He has pushed through NEW spending of 140 million (special interest spending) He was presented with a contract proposal in December from the union of about 100 million in concessions (concessions that wouldn't bite so drastically into the worker's paycheck) He didn't even look at it. He has divided workers with terms like have/have not, yet many mayl be able to go (con't)

[tobyspeeks]

Hey uneducated Governor, you're a spiteful liar!!!! You've already spent 140 million on special interest without creating one single job. Now all of a sudden Wisconsin is 137 million in the red??? Coincidence? I think not. We're not uneducated idiots like most of your base, we know the truth and your rhetoric is furthest from it. WE all know you care not about the state of Wisconsin, but your and your greedy, godless, soulless, buddies wallets.

[TrinaSwims]

Are you taking these cuts too, Scott....just wondering?

[bearblue34]

@TrinaSwims Yes - the increase in contributions is across the board. The changes in collective bargaining exempt local police workers, fire departments and state troopers, but apply to everyone else.

[Brew414Crew]

@TrinaSwims walker took over a million dollar pay cut last year shut the fuck up you left wing bitch

[narlymarley]

@Brew414Crew thats mature tiger.

[ktgbw]

You're a great and shining example of how we should not take dropouts seriously. Thank you for screwing your constituents further. Move to Mississippi, you will have more people on your side.

[FlintPublic]

"Legacy costs" are delayed compensation for delivered labor, Scotty. To treat them as something "extra" is utter ignorance or willful obscuring of reality. To go after them amounts to breach of contract and theft.