David Cay Johnston on Gov. Scott Walker's False Claims of Taxpayer Subsidies For Workers' Pensions

DemocracyNow.org -
In their coverage of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's attempt to undermine public workers' unions, many journalists have parroted Walker's claim that unionized state workers get their pensions "subsidized" by the state. Democracy Now! interviews investigative reporter and Pulitzer Prize-winner David Cay Johnston, who counters the assertion that pensions are costing taxpayers by pointing out that the workers themselves contribute 100 percent in deferred compensation. Johnson's latest article is called, "Really Bad Reporting in Wisconsin: Who 'Contributes' to Public Workers' Pensions?"

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Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• David Cay Johnston
• scott walker
• governor walker
• taxpayer
• subsidies
• pensions
• public sector workers
• union
• state
• bill
• senate
• democrats
• democracy now
• amy goodman

[wjksea]

@saasaasaa010101 They will and you can help by informing as many as you can. Once the people get mad and they will, the filthy psychopaths who incessantly attempt to discredit this information will be running for cover like the little filthy cowards they are.

[wjksea]

@1293drive Private corporations don't go out of business. The CEO takes a huge bonus for putting workers out of jobs while other capital goes toward hedge funds and exclusive investors on the endless prowl to vacuum up more money out of the majority of earth's inhabitants.

[wjksea]

@nickburnin8 You are talking about two VERY separate things. "mandated" membership is solidarity. Without solidarity, we could all opt out of paying taxes, stopping at stop lights, obeying laws in general. The corporate government unions are very much in solidarity when they work to put in law, NAFTA, CAFTA and other rigged "free" trade agreements. Corruption in unions is a distinctly separate issue that pales to the power behind the corporate government castle walls.

[nickburnin8]

The problem isn't public employees. It's their unions. The unions that mandate membership, take your dues, then donate most to political candidates you don't agree with, and the rest goes to a union boss.

[optionsupdate]

dont pensions contain stocks AND bonds, so stocks were weak but bonds were very strong

[1293drive]

A lot is being made of teachers having an unfair advantage in bargaining with governments because they, “vote for those with whom they are bargaining,” and because a state’s education system, “cannot go out of business like a private corporation.” Most teachers realize they are hurting their students all the while they are out of their classrooms. This, in itself, puts them at a disadvantage in bargaining situations.

[1293drive]

If you don’t think the impact on their students is equal to wages and benefits for many, many teachers you understand very little about them. This is one of the reasons they have been willing to settle for contracts based on lower wages with future delayed benefits. They have opted not to walk off the job because of the impact on their students as much as the prospect of immediate loss of income.

[jag10]

maybe people aren't watching anymore because of the rapture concerning the polar bears suits in Cancun, or maybe from all of the Obama knob-slobbing?

[mispistoleros]

johnston is spot on...

[saasaasaa010101]

Why the hell more people aren't watching this clip?