WUI (Writing under the influence)

Yes, I am. This whole Wisconsin situation has really got to me. I lived there for a few -- luckily short -- years between 1995 and 2000. My two sons were born in Madison, I finished my graduate studies at UW, I had a very good and interesting job. I even bought a house thinking that somehow I may overcome my aversion to stupidity liberalism and stay.

And this is the part that really pisses me off. Our taxes in Wisconsin -- especially the property taxes in Madison for a modest 1,300 sq ft house that were around $5,000 a year by the time we left in 2000 -- were very high. I had a lot of student loans -- not complaining; just stating facts -- the mortgage, a car payment but the Democrat government didn't care. Pay us up first because we have to give that money to government employees who will than pay their dues to their unions and the unions will then donate to our reelection campaigns. Only mafia could have come up with a better racket.

Now, I pay slightly over $3,000 (and I still think it's too much) for a 2,000 sq ft house here in Oregon. And WI had both income and sales tax. In fact, the taxes in WI are higher than taxes in OR. Of course our politicians here think that's a good reason to raise taxes in Oregon; because we are below the average the argument goes. Well, you know what can happen if every state thinks the same way. It's call a bubble and it has to burst and as far as I'm concerned it has. There is no more money.

So when I hear all those so called public servants intimidating their duly elected representatives and threatening the people they are supposed to serve with school shutdowns I think I must be leaving in some alternative (must be another word for progressive) reality.

The house is broke. There is no more money. You can't tax the rich indefinitely because at some point -- and we are well past that point -- overtaxed economy can't produce enough money to pay for the unproductive sector. Teachers, even cops -- sorry guys -- are not productive. Yes, they provide a valuable service (well, some teachers may be actually inflicting a lot of damage on their underlings) but they do not produce wealth. And only new wealth that can be taxed can pay for their salaries but especially for all those unbelievable benefits like health care without premiums, copays, or other out-of-packet expenses, early retirements and guaranteed pensions.

So when even the president is telling us we all have to sacrifice a little in these hard times that should mean ALL OF US including public employee unions. It's high time to own to the fact that your ride is over.

Needless to say, just before the noon deadline for submitting a letter to the editor to our local paper, I wrote this (it will be edited because of a few typos so the final version that will be published next Wednesday may be different):

Members of the public employee unions. Some of you are doing a great job protecting our lives and property. Unfortunately, there are many of you who only look for your own interest to the detriment of people for whom supposedly you work. Look carefully at what's happening in Wisconsin and New Jersey. You are next. Sooner or later, to avoid going broke, this state will elect courageous Republicans like Governor Walker and Governor Christie who are not intimidated by your thuggish tactics. And with the support of Republican majorities in Oregon House and Senate we will enact a right-to-work law and break the public employee unions forever.

You've been paid off by Democrats in this state for too long with the money our children will have to pay back eventually. This racket has to end. What you call collective-bargaining is simply conspiring against the very people who pay your salaries and benefits; the same people who can only dream about your security in your cushy jobs; about the same retirement packages that corrupt Democrats have promised you over the years. And if you resort to the same tactics as those exhibited by the union thugs in Wisconsin last week, we will be there to defend our democratically elected representatives. You can't win because justice is on the side of the people.