The real budget solution, revisited
"can campaign on maintaining the Bush tax cuts on income below $250,000. All he has to do is refuse to sign an extension of the tax cuts for income over $250,000. If he does that, Republicans will block the whole thing, and we'll revert to Clinton-era rates. Obama can turn the GOP's fanatical attachment to tax cuts for the rich against them. He can be in favor of middle-class tax cuts, and he can let Republicans block those cuts for him."
Jonathan Chait
What is actually being proposed in Wisconsin? by Ezra Klein
"Walker tries to sell the change in collective bargaining as modest. "State and local employees could continue to bargain for base pay, they would not be able to bargain over other compensation measures." But that's not really true. Read down a bit further and you'll find that "total wage increases could not exceed a cap based on the consumer price index (CPI) unless approved by referendum." In other words, they couldn't bargain for wages to rise faster than inflation. So, in reality, they can't bargain for wages and they can't bargain over other forms of compensation. They just can't bargain."
"The proposal doesn't stop there, though. "Contracts would be limited to one year and wages would be frozen until the new contract is settled. Collective bargaining units are required to take annual votes to maintain certification as a union. Employers would be prohibited from collecting union dues and members of collective bargaining units would not be required to pay dues." These rules have nothing to do with pension costs or even bargaining. They're just about weakening unions: They make it harder for unions to collect dues from members, to negotiate stable contracts or to survive a bad year." notes
By Harold Meyerson
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