WI - Summary of Study by COWS ... got to make you think - "drink milk"!

In this case COWS stands for Center On Wisconsin Strategy and the summary is of a study by EPI (Economic Policy Institute).  The latter has been tossed around like an old shoe by a playful dog. The WisSJ (last week, Sunday?) included a piece on their opinion page which tried to debunk the study.  The authors major strategy seemed to be to claim they were experts - they cited no references, provided only rough, back of the envelope figuring!

Click the Title above to see the COWS summary and thus links to the EPI study.  Nice to have this all accessible in one place!

One quote sure to raise blood pressure in some quarters (and repeated by others in many places):

Teachers
New data also show that public school teachers in Wisconsin are not over‐compensated. Public school teachers in Wisconsin earn 17.8% less in weekly wages than their private‐sector counterparts. Specifically, over the 2006‐10 period, the weekly wages of public school teachers were (in 2010 dollars) $1,015, while other comparably educated workers (with bachelor’s or master’s degrees) earned $1,235 per week. This wage gap is far greater than any possible benefits advantage a public school teacher might have, indicating that total weekly compensation of public school teachers is also less than that of their private‐sector counterparts.

It is important to continue the dialog / discussion / debate to really help people understand how to draw reasonable conclusions and also understand where their "self-interest" really lies.

Related: WI - Education - Who needs local democracy - New State Bureaucracy Proposed