Motivated by the current (2011) political climate in Wisconsin it seems reasonable to devote some time and effort to comment on issues and some of the hyperbole. So we in the public should do what we can to help focus "journalists" on delineating real facts versus spin. If you accept the spin you do not understand the policy implications.
When wheelbarrows are filled with useless paper. Commodities historically become the accepted medium of exchange. A stalwart of this basic reality, Alan Greenspan was a full blown laissez faire capitalist. A direct disciple of Ayn Rand’s objectivist fundamental philosophy. He was very close with Rand. Even inviting her to his swearing in to Gerald Ford’s Council of Economic Advisors before eventually becoming The Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006. His oversight on tax cuts and Social Security privatization were largely blamed as the catalyst that created the subprime mortgage crisis. ...
A consultant has said Wisconsin could save $42 million a year through self-insurance, in which the state would pay medical benefits for nearly 250,000 state workers and family members directly instead of buying insurance from 17 HMOs. ...
But another consultant said the move might cost $100 million a year. Some legislators and the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans, which represents 12 of the 17 HMOs, said the change could threaten the stability of the state’s regional health care system. Many of the HMOs are owned by providers around the state.
_____________________________________________ @#$%^&* -> October 15/2015 ... Legislature note ... evidently considering dramatically changing the structure of the Wisconsin Group Insurance Board to allow more direct "political interference" in coverage and rate setting for state employees and retirees ... need to find out more!!!??? There was a quick brief note on WPR this morning. This seems to be the latest ....
.... "We're concerned about costs, quality and access," Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, a committee co-chair and one of the chief authors of the bill said during a brief hearing on the proposal. "That's why we want an oversight role."
The Group Health Insurance Program covers tens of thousands of state and local public employees, their spouses and retired public employees. It makes up 14 percent of the entire commercial health insurance market, according to the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans, which represents 12 plans available through the program. A board within the Department of Employee Trust Funds made up of appointees chosen by the governor and attorney general and members of the governor's cabinet run the program.
DETF contracted with Segal Consulting to examine potential changes to the program, including moving to a self-insurance model, in which the state would pay benefits and assume the risk of cost overruns directly rather than the HMOs participating in the program. Segal reported to the board in March that the move could lower administrative expenses, eliminate some fees under the Affordable Care Act and eliminate most of the premium tax, resulting in potential savings of $50 million to $70 million annually.
The agency's previous actuary reported in 2012 that shifting to self-insurance could result in annual savings of $20 million or increased costs of around $100 million or more each year. ...
Sandel gives two reasons for being worried about letting a Market Society come about. I agree with him that we have been letting this happen. One reason has to do with "inequality", e.g., a small group of people have a lot more money or wealth than most, by far the majority, of the people. ...
A bill signed into law last week by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker could make it much harder for the poor and minorities to register to vote in the pivotal swing state just as the 2016 election approaches.
The Republican-backed measure allows Wisconsinites to register to vote online. But voting rights advocates say that step forward is massively outweighed by a provision in the bill whose effect will be to make it nearly impossible to conduct the kind of community voter registration drives that disproportionately help low-income and non-white Wisconsinites to register.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In 2006 with a Democrat as Governor many of these same Republicans (Vos, Fitzwalker) wanted the GAB. Now with the GOP in total control of the governorship and legislature they don't like it.
GOP insists on dismantling the GAB, what many consider a positive national model to keep politics clean(er).
Assembly Republicans Ready To Pass Elections Board, Finance Bills
Governor Has Indicated He Will Sign Both Pieces Of Legislation
Some Wisconsin legislators are fast-tracking an effort to eliminate the Special Registration Deputy program as part of a voter reform proposal.
Currently, Wisconsin law allows help for voters who have moved, changed names or are new to voting by authorizing special registration deputies (SRDs). While voters may register on Election Day or at their clerk’s office, SRDs provide convenience to the voter via community voter registration drives. SRDs are trained by a municipal clerk to assist voters and to submit their registration forms for inclusion in the state’s voter database.
#Immoral #PayToPlay WI 1848 Forward: #NoFingerPrintsWalker did it #GOP -dismantles the #GAB - Give themselves majority oversight - more dark money
"Make no mistake, these changes mean the end of a system that protected taxpayers and employees from waste and cronyism because employment decisions were based on what you know, not who you know," said Badger in a statement. "Gone is a process based on blind testing to find qualified job candidates. Instead, the whole process now will be controlled by subjective judgments made by political appointees directly answerable to the governor." ...
Among the work-based offenses that puts state employees on track to be fired through a progressive-style of discipline include:
Violating the state's work rules, including being disobedient.
Appearing intoxicated at work.
Possessing drugs.
Giving false information.
Appearing unkempt or inappropriately dressed. [So Obvious!!!]
The civil service bill, which passed the Assembly in October, would speed up the process for hiring and firing state workers and replace the civil service exam with a more subjective resume-based system.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said he wants his chamber to pass the bill in January. He said the measure wouldn't end civil service — it will only change it. ...
...The plan got hung up over a provision that would protect people from answering questions about their criminal records on initial job applications. Fitzgerald said that issue would be worked out, though he wouldn't say how.
Democrats have said the plan will lead to a state workforce where people are hired and fired based on politics, not merit.
If you are moving quickly can we all see the language of the law as it is and is proposed to change? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cronyism is partiality to long-standing friends, especially by appointing them to positions of authority, regardless of their qualifications. Hence, cronyism is contrary in practice and principle to meritocracy.
"Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job" ... Katrina aftermath ... he had a a fine resume!
... On Thursday, Sen. Roger Roth, R-Appleton, and Rep. Jim Steineke, R-Kaukauna, announced they plan to introduce a bill that would replace civil service exams with resume-based hiring, eliminate seniority protections, standardize performance reviews, centralize hiring and firing decisions from state agencies in the Department of Administration and clearly define offenses that can be grounds for termination. ...
Two Fox Valley Republican legislators are authoring a bill to overhaul the state’s civil service system that covers about 30,000 state employees.
Sen. Roger Roth, of Appleton, and Rep. Jim Steineke, of Kaukauna, said changes need to be made to the civil service system to update and speed up the hiring and firing process outlined in the 110-year-old law. Civil service systems use a merit-based, competitive exam system to hire some public employees rather than having partisan politicians fill the jobs by appointment.
Roth, who helps run family-owned construction, real estate management and investment companies, was first elected to the state Assembly in 2006 and 2008, but chose not to seek reelection to a third, two-year term in 2010. Roth successfully ran for his 19th District Senate seat in 2014 after longtime GOP Sen. Mike Ellis, of Neenah, decided to retire.
Roth raised about $437,000 and spent about $412,000 in his Senate race to defeat Democratic Rep. Penny Bernard Schaber, of Appleton. In addition to candidate spending, outside special interests doled out nearly $1.7 million in the race. About $821,000 in outside electioneering support for Roth came from Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state’s largest business group; the Wisconsin Homeowners Alliance, which is controlled by the Wisconsin Realtors Association; and the First Amendment Alliance Educational Fund, a Virginia-based conservative ideological group.
Roth raised about $340,000 in large individual contributions of $100 or more, and about 76 percent, or $257,000, of it came from outside his Senate district. By interest group, Roth raised most of his large individual and political action committee contributions for his 2014 race from retirees and homemakers, $339,443; health professionals, $38,364; and manufacturers, $37,425.
Steineke, a former realtor and salesman, has been elected to the Assembly since 2010. For his 2014 reelection campaign, Steineke raised and spent about $47,000, or roughly three times more than his Democratic opponent. Only one outside special interest, Wisconsin Right to Life, spent money in the race – $155 to support Steineke.
Steineke raised about $27,000 in large individual contributions of $100 or more, and about 85 percent, or nearly $23,000 of it came from outside of his Assembly district. By interest group, Steineke raised most of his individual and political action committee contributions from health care facilities and services, about $5,900; construction, $3,550; and banking, nearly $3,300.
11/11/2016 I don't doubt plenty of people have trouble, especially in rural areas, paying their property tax bill. That is a problem the "Homestead Tax Credit" was designed to alleviate in Wisconsin - does it need expansion? Many rural areas also lack social infrastructure as well as physical infrastructure. Why would a family with children want to move to or live in a place with no schools and little immediate access to health care. Why would a retired person want to live there either - they may be stuck and getting to a doctor is really a major problem? Why would someone growing up there, spending most of their time beiing bused to school, want to stay there when they can't get a job later; when they can go to a larger community get a job, meet other people their age, and have more of a social life? ___________________________________________________
The great inconsistency of GOP political aims: local control except when we want big (state) government ... and probably extract/secure big money from lobbyists.
Can you imagine private sector employers being required to fund the "potential 401k" for every person they hired thirty years (their employment horizon) ahead of time ... well it is not quite that bad but almost. It's sort of like what Congress did to make the "USPS" look bad and claim it was inefficient.
WisGOP trying to bankrupt local gov't through pension "reform"
On this Labor Day, there is a looming bill which offers more proof that Scott Walker's union-busting Act 10 was merely one piece of a much larger agenda. There bill is intended to further hamper the benefits and compensation of public employees, and to force local governments into a choice between not having benefits for their employees and decimating public services in order to fairly compensate such employees.
The proposed legislation is Assembly Bill 269, and it is scheduled to be heard by the Assembly's Urban and Local Affairs Committee tomorrow morning. The state's Legislative Reference Bureau explains the bill as follows:
Currently, cities, villages, towns, counties, school districts, and technical college districts (local governments) provide health care benefits for their employees. Some also provide postretirement health care benefits for their employees.
This bill prohibits a local government from providing health care benefits to any employee hired on or after January 1, 2016, for use upon the employee’s retirement, including compensated absences but excluding the implicit rate subsidy, unless the cost of the benefit is fully funded in a segregated account, based on an actuarial study conducted at least once every four years or other method that complies with generally accepted accounting principles. The bill also provides that, if a local government dissolves a segregated account established for the purpose of providing such health care benefits, the local government must provide for the equitable distribution of the proceeds among the beneficiaries.
WI 1848 Forward: Wis #GOP trying to #bankrupt local (#education included) gov't through #pension "reform"
... They are right about one thing: the history of the idea of separating church and state is crucial to understanding the First Amendment. For that amendment did not come from mere intellectual exercise; it emerged in response to historic events. That history also demonstrates that it was no accident that the freedoms of religion, of speech, of the press, of assembly and of expressing grievances against the government were linked in the same amendment. Together they represent the essentials of liberty—the right to think as one chooses and to express that thought. ....
“The view of morality as a set of immutable principles, or laws, that are ours to discover ultimately comes from religion. It doesn't really matter whether it is God, human reason, or science that formulates these laws. All of these approaches share a top-down orientation, their chief premise being that humans don't know how to behave and that someone must tell them. But what if morality is created in day-to-day social interaction, not at some abstract mental level? What if it is grounded in the emotions, which most of the time escape the neat categorizations that science is fond of? Since the whole point of my book is to argue a bottom-up approach, I will obviously return to this issue. My views are in line with the way we know the human mind works, with visceral reactions arriving before rationalizations, and also with the way evolution produces behavior. A good place to start is with an acknowledgment of our background as social animals, and how this background predisposes us to treat each other. This approach deserves attention at a time in which even avowed atheists are unable to wean themselves from a semireligious morality, thinking that the world would be a better place if only a white-coated priesthood could take over from the frocked one.”
The Bonobo And The Atheist, Chapter 1 – EARTHLY DELIGHTS, page 23
Frans de Waal (2013)
#Creationism has EVOLVED :) <Adam #Laats - "Surely You're Joking, Mr. #Huckabee Ben #Carson " - #EvoS Who knew? WI 1848 Forward #Morality Roger Williams, America’s #Rebel - Founder of #Providence #Liberty - Check your #DNA #Morality
WI 1848 Forward: #Creationism #EVOLVED - #Morality Bottom UP
