What Liberal Media? Cable News Blames Public Unions For WI Budget Shortfall
In response to public worker protests in Wisconsin, Fox News has falsely blamed public unions for the state's budget shortfall. In fact, the deficit is reportedly due to other obligations.Facts the media needs to get straight. The unions have agreed to pay and retirement benefits compromises. Walker has said that teachers and other union members must give up their bargaining rights forever, but has kept bargaining rights for police and firefighters. This is obviously not about money. It is about Walker using strong arm tactics to attack people and groups he does not like.
Fox Blames Public Unions For WI Budget Shortfall
Kilmeade States That WI Faces Budget Shortfall Of "Over $100 Million" And That Walker Wants To "Close That Gap" By "Revisit[ing] The Public Employee Deals." On the February 18 edition of Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade stated:
KILMEADE: Wisconsin is a state like many states in this country that has a bit of a budget deficit, the tune of over $100 million. So one way in which new Gov. Scott Walker wants to close that gap is to go revisit the public employee deals, government worker deals that have been cut between union workers and the state government. So, why not put that forward? Why not have them pay into their pensions? Why not have them pay into their retirement health care, because we, together, have to balance the budget, and the people have spoken out in November. They want Republicans to do the cutting. And that was the easy part. [Fox News' Fox & Friends, 2/18/11]
Killmeade: Walker "Can't Balance The Budget Unless He Gets These Contracts In Line." Later on Fox & Friends, Kilmeade asserted that Walker "can't balance the budget unless he gets these contracts in line." [Fox & Friends, 2/18/11]
O'Reilly: "Wisconsin Has A $3.6 Billion Shortfall Through 2013 And Simply Cannot Afford To Pay Its Bills ... And Public Workers Are The First Ones To Take The Hit." On the February 17 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly stated:
O'REILLY: Well, the state of Wisconsin has a $3.6 billion- short fall through 2013 and simply cannot afford to pay its bills. This is happening in many states and public workers are the first ones to take the hit. Obviously that's not going over well in Wisconsin.
[...]
O'REILLY: But if state workers will not give back some of their benefits, there is no solution to the fiscal crisis anywhere. You can't raise taxes anymore. The folks are tapped out, right?
Where I live on Long Island some elderly people are actually selling their homes because they can't sell the high property tax rate. The solution in bankrupt states is where these two agree to some kind of give back perhaps over a few years, that way they can look for other jobs in the private sector if they don't believe they are being compensated fairly in the public arena. I think that would be fair.
"Talking Points" believes that class warfare is about to break out in America. Union benefits are strangling not only state budgets but also the private economy.
Yes, workers do need protection. They need some kind of security in the marketplace. But, the cold truth is, that federal and state workers have reached the top of their earning pyramid. Bankruptcy looms in California and other states and give-backs are coming. The blow back to that will be nasty. [Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, 2/17/11, accessed via Nexis]
Hannity Says That "Wisconsin Taxpayers" Are "Picking Up The Slack" For State Workers. On the February 17 edition of his Fox News show, Sean Hannity stated that "Walker is asking that members of the unions do the following, put 5.8 percent of their wages towards their pensions. Most contribute almost nothing as things stand right now." He then stated, "Its Wisconsin taxpayers, they're the ones picking up the slack." [Fox News' Hannity, 2/17/11, accessed via Nexis]
Rove Notes Budget Shortfall And Calls Walker's Proposal "Fair" -- But Fails To Note That Walker's Tax Policies Helped Cause Shortfall. On the February 17 edition of Hannity, Fox News contributor Karl Rove stated that Wisconsin faces a "$137 million shortfall in this budget. They have a 3.6 billion shortfall in the coming -- they need to make tough decisions." [Hannity, 2/17/11, accessed via Nexis]
In Fact, The Shortfall Is Largely Due To Obligations Unreleated To Unions
AP: Wisconsin Faces Shortfall "Due Largely To Anticipated Medicaid Expenses And A Court-Ordered Repayment To A Fund That Was Raided Four Years Ago," And Walker's Tax Policies "Actually Make The State's Ongoing Budget Problem Worse." In a February 1 article, The Associated Press reported that "[a] new analysis released Monday showed that Wisconsin's budget could be between $79 million and $340 million short by June 30 due largely to anticipated Medicaid expenses and a court-ordered repayment to a fund that was raided four years ago." The AP further reported that tax cuts pushed through by Walker will "make the state's ongoing budget problem worse":
In Walker's first month in office he's pushed a number of tax cuts that actually make the state's ongoing budget problem worse. The Fiscal Bureau predicted the state will collect about $190 million less in taxes over the next two years than previously thought, with $117 million of that coming from Walker's tax cuts.
Walker argues the tax cuts will actually spur economic growth by making Wisconsin a more desirable place for businesses to locate. Democratic critics say the potential benefit to the tax breaks isn't significant enough given the cost. [The Associated Press, 2/1/11]
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Outlines Major Causes Of Wisconsin's Budget Shortfall, Which "Include Two Big Obligations" Unrelated To Unions That Total Almost $260M. In a February 1 article, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted causes of the state's budget shortfall and reported that Walker's tax policies accounted for "more than half" of an anticipated $203 million decline in tax revenues:
[T]he Legislature's budget office reported Monday that the budget shortfall for this fiscal year ending June 30 will total at least $78 million and could rise to as much as $336.5 million, depending on when the state pays up on two massive bills.
"Wisconsin, probably more than any other state in the country, is actively and aggressively moving to get people back to work," Walker said at the bill signing.
The state already faces a more than $3 billion shortfall in the 2011-'13 budget, so approving the tax incentive bills likely means Walker will have to find more spending cuts later.
The report Monday by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau found that over the next three fiscal years, the state will collect $203 million less in taxes than previously estimated. More than half of that drop in expected tax collections is because of tax-cut bills that Walker has signed or is poised to sign.
The report found that the state is projecting that spending on health care for the poor and related administrative costs, prisons and the state public defender's office will go nearly $200 million over budget this year.
In addition, the state has two big obligations looming: a $58.7 million payment to the State of Minnesota after the end of a tax-reciprocity agreement between Wisconsin and its neighbor; as well as an additional $200 million that the state is under court order to return to a medical malpractice fund after an illegal fund transfer in 2007 by lawmakers and Gov. Jim Doyle. The state has to pay all of that money, but not necessarily in this fiscal year. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2/1/11]
Disgraced Former Republican Tea Party Leader Calls On Right-Wing Activists To Pose As SEIU Organizers
But Tea Party Nation and Mark Williams, the disgraced former chairman of Tea Party Express, who was forced to resign after making offensive racial comments, are calling for a more radical approach. In an email alert to supporters sent last night, Tea Party Nation promotes Williams’ “great idea” to impersonate SEIU organizers at upcoming labor rallies in an attempt to embarrass and discredit the union.
