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Democratic Party of Wisconsin’s response to Representative Sean Duffy’s claims he struggles to make ends meet on a $174,000 salary. I donated my entire monocle collection, except the one I use to get a closer look at the riff raff.
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It’s funny because everyone on both sides of this issue is eventually going to be shown to be a hypocrite.
Did I stumble into the Huff-Post website? Where did all the LOLs go? This is no longer funny, just one more flaming liberal blog site.
I’m guessing that you didn’t take note of the Front Page today, or you would see a number of anti-Obama ones. Also, I don’t believe that this is truly bi-partisan, but making a statement about what this one person did. It does mention Republican, but there’s more to it than that.
Look, I discovered this thing on the top of the page called the “back” button and you’ll go back to a different site because obviously you don’t like it here.
Don’t hate.
The HUffington post is no longer a LIBERAL RAG as you say. An extremely conservative company by the name of AOL bought the Huffington post a while ago.
now what are you going to call it? ” THE BIBLE”?
Ha! “French Cuffed Shirts”
In other April 1st news, have you read the letter from Obama to Bush?
http://townhall.com/columnists/larryelder/2011/03/31/president_obama_apologizes_to_president_bush/page/full/
It’s not April 1st. It’s March 31st.
In America, maybe.
Ha! The world will end a day sooner for you!
Wow, I always knew you were a bright one.
April 1st is April Fools Day and that is the date on this flyer. It is also the date on the letter “from” Obama. Meaning it’s a joke. Should I explain it a little more for you, or are you starting to get the picture?
You can’t talk about anything in the future to Nailin, it taxes his pea brain.
Aww poor little Richie Rich. And I’ll bet his medical bills are really squeezing his budget… oh, wait, they aren’t, because 100% of his medical costs are paid by the government on that socialist health care plan that he and his Republican pals in Congress are ALL on.
I’m actually on the same healthcare plan he is (my dad works for the senate). The government only pays for about 2/3rds of it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a sweet deal. But with how messed up republicans are we don’t need to lie to demonize them.
Yeah well, unless you make a respectable 500k a year salary, you’re a ‘working joe’ like Mr. Duffy here. He’s a man of the people and all that after all. LOL
Marty Beil, executive director of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME )Council 24 SEPAC, made $161,847 in 2008 according to the organization’s Form 990.
Even his assistant director at AFSME 24 SEPAC, Jana Weaver, made $138,553.
Richard Abelson, Executive Director of ASCFME Council 48 in Milwaukee, made $106,122.
When benefits are included, the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance reports the average state employee total compensation in 2008 was valued at $71,000; still only around half of what some labor leaders make in salary alone.
Y’all can consider Trollin Nailin above Nailed by Numbers, Defeated in Detail.
Ok, those are execs. Now what about average employees they are directing?
As I included above… the average state employee total compensation in 2008 was valued at $71,000.
What he’s saying is that the state employee average includes that of executives who are making significantly more than the people doing the grunt labor.
But there are a lot more grunts, so that evens out the average.
Don’t like the pay? Don’t work for the government.. or any job that does not pay what “you” expect/want it too. It is that simple.
If we go by that standard, then we won’t have anyone willing to do the jobs that are necessary for a functioning society. Everyone has a right to ask for a raise and inform their employers of what they need to efficiently achieve the tasks set before them, and that’s thanks to the unions. If they go away then private sector employees will be just as screwed
I’ve seen this stated before and have to wonder about the mindset. Do you go into a job JUST because the pay? I have friends who took similar paths. They majored in accounting not because of a love of fiance, but because accounts make pretty job money with a B.S. right out of the stating gate. On the other hand you have my little brother. He went into accounting because he did some research and saw how well they ranked in terms of pay. That lasted about a semester before he came up to me and asked me how he could change his major. “There isn’t enough math,” he said. “I thought there would be more math, but it’s all memorization and programs.” He decided that he wanted to do something he loved. In fact, even though you can find some pretty well paying fields in maths, he wanted to teach. He figures a lot of people just didn’t have good math teachers, but if he were a teacher he would make them love it as much as he does.
This is more of less my story. I want to become an English professor because I love books and critical theory and debating various interpretations and meanings behind a work. I can promise you most of my art friends did not go in with the expectation of being in a well paid career. My very good friend just got her first step into her dream career and it’s an unpaid intern position. Eventually it will lead to her working in advocating for the arts in schools, but right now she just works as an intern. Considering how few positions there are in that field, she’s ecstatic about this opportunity but I don’t feel the need to tell her to stop whining whenever she complains about being exhausted from working a full time job and internship. Some people just take these jobs because it’s what we love and what we’re passionate about. Unfortunately, our landlords rarely accept a speech about the importance of art in school in place of rent, hospitals no longer carry payment plans where every month you send in a critical paper dissecting a classic novel, and no matter how many math tricks you use the grocery store will never be convinced that your bill should arguably come out to something between $0 and $1.
“…unpaid intern position.”
Translation: indentured servitude. I really wish companies would do away with that BS and get back to hiring people for actual wages. If they want someone to get experience, then fine, hire them at a lower level and let them get the experience, while still paying them. But oh no, we have to have unpaid interns, because G-d forbid us have to pay people for their labor.
Sorry, but I just really feel that unpaid internships are horribly wrong, on the company’s part.
“Sorry, but I just really feel that unpaid internships are horribly wrong, on the company’s part.”
I don’t understand where someone like me, who is studying and does work experience as a mandatory part of their study, which is unpaid, fits into this, because those businesses that take students for work experience use their time to teach the student.
I’m not talking about student interns, I mean the companies that require up to a one year internship after you’ve already graduated before hiring you.
Okay. I just wasn’t sure about where student interns fit into your statements, if at all.
But also consider this, you pay to go to school, you are required to complete work experience as a part of your study, but you don’t get paid to do it. You have just effectively paid someone to let you work for them.
Dammit. I forgot about student loans.
Um… Okay, so basically what you’re saying is that you want to “have your cake and eat it too”?
What I gather from your long post boils down to this: “Some people don’t take a job for the pay but they do a job that they enjoy. Because of this choice, they should be paid more for that job.”
By all means, correct me if I am interpreting this wrong but if so, I’m not really sure what you’re trying to get at.
It comes down to this: You made a choice as to what career you wanted. You could have made that choice based on the pay associated with the job. Instead, you chose to take a job you would enjoy. Now, you want to get the good pay along with doing what you enjoy.
(Disclaimer: This may or may not apply to YOU personally. Just think of “you” as the general “you”)
She’s responding to Storm’s drive-by up there stating that if you don’t like the pay for a government job then you shouldn’t get one (a load of horse-pucky if you ask me). I’m not sure what she’s trying to say except perhaps that people don’t choose their jobs based on pay, particularly teaching and government positions, because, quite frankly there’s a need to be passionate about it to do the job effectively.
I’m not sure what her point is about wages itself, I think she just felt the need to throw out that bit of information…Life is not about money, etc. etc. (I agree with that)
Mostly what bolero said. I was responding to the idea that, “well if you don’t like what teaching pays than don’t be a teacher!” To me, this seems like a ridicules statement because, yes, while some people certainly do pick a career based on the pay grade plenty of people choose to go into certain professions because they are passionate about that area.
However, I’m not going to tell someone to shut up about money just because that person chooses to go into a field out of love rather than financial stability. It’s possible to love your job but hate the pay. The idea that if you don’t like your paycheck, well, maybe you shouldn’t have gone into teaching seems silly since most my friends went into teaching because they loved the subject and wanted to share with others*. At the same time, is it wrong to want to be paid enough to live a comfortable life? Personally, I think everyone deserves that right. “Have your cake and eat it to?” Why are we making people choose between rewarding careers and financial stability? The idea of having a cake and eating it too is that you can’t do both at once, and to want so is to be selfish. I don’t think that waning both a job you enjoy and having enough money to live comfortably is selfish, and if it is than we as a society have made some poor choices.
*I also know people who went into teaching for what I would consider shallow or poor reasons, but I tend not to be friends with those individuals and, who knows, maybe if I was I would find that their motivations were actually very well considered.
“plenty of people choose to go into certain professions because they are passionate about that area.”
Bingo. They made the choice. Knowing full-well what the pay was going to be. If you’re so passionate about it, then there’s no reason to cmplain about the money. If the money is that important, then yes, get out of that field because you obviously don’t actually love it as much as you claim.
You bring up the teacher thing again and then say “live comfortably.” I’m sorry, but I’m going to say again that teachers are not on the street begging for change like so many people seem to want to make it seem like.
Trust me, I know all about having a job because you are passionate about what you are doing. But, I don’t sit here and demand more money for it. I made the choice knowing what I was getting into and don’t feel like I should be complaining.
If the money is that important, then do something that pays more. If doing what you love is more important, then do what you love. If you’re one of the lucky people that found a job you love and you get paid a lot for it, well, that’s just the luck of the draw.
Depending on how it’s handled. As far as government employees goes, does that include the members OF the government? They’re paid a good deal as well.
not necessarily, that’s not how it works
Well, that cleared everything up. Thanks for the input.
Whoops, misread that. Sarcasm disengaged!
average. that means the managerial, initial, and middle positions all together average to 71k.
what’s the average for a company with the same number of employees? Ge, a larger company with far more workers on the lower end — i.e. ones that require lower levels of academic achievement — and their average salary is $60k BEFORE benefits.
posting data is meaningless without context. are you saying that they don’t deserve it? why — because they have to put up with your kids and actually teach them something? or manage the towns you live in?
explain to me why why these people are now a target, having worked in their jobs to the best of their ability under pre-described conditions and terms of advancement. they were hired with a given contract, with certain benefits — often hired at lower starting rates to compensate for those benefits. now they are targets for the conservative rabble-rousers because they are out in the open, but for no actual logical reason.
you want to cut corruption, define corruption and waste first. i’m betting subsidies deemed untouchable by republicans will fit your definition better than some poor shlub working a government job.
Mean, Median, or Mode, that is the question. We really need to go with MODE here, the number most frequently occurring. If the MEAN is 71K, the Median (Number directly in the middle on a line graph of pay) could be higher or lower than that (My guess is lower) and the MODE, the number occurring most frequently, could be even lower than that.
I could say that the MEAN average of a group of 6 employees pay is 1500 dollars a month. But if one employee is making 4500 and five others are making 900, 1500 may be the MEAN average, but the MODE is 900. Averages can be very misleading.
and, btw… you prove nothing, other than the administrator of a national organization makes comparable money to the managers of other national organizations.
What you are overlooking is that the average educational achievement is much higher for government employees. Most of them require a bachelors degree and many effectively require a masters. When you take the average benefits and salaries and compare apples to apples with private sector jobs that require similar degrees there’s actually around a 2% penalty for working for the government. It’s not much, but they certainly aren’t raking it in.
I had to Wiki this guy and it turns out he is a reality star, turned politician. He was on the Real World: Boston. And you thought movie stars becoming politicians was bad.
And, if I recall correctly, his wife was also on the Real World.
Bonus points for you, she was. Then they met on one of the spin-off shows.
I think it’s a little weird that a Representative makes more than a Governor of the same state…
Wisconsin; a little wierd is not wierd enough. Why do you think they call the capitol city Mad-zone?!?
I before E except after C….and W apparently
Not grammar nazi-ing just noticed that the rule doesn’t apply all the time.
I really DO need to invest in that new keyboard. Wiered, if I type weird s-l-o-w-l-y, it has no problem. Gotta be the IRQ settings… like how it sometimes reverses “The” as “Teh”
meh.
You’re fine, I wasn’t criticizing really. I have keyboard issues too, my kid spilled Grapenuts in the vicinity so some of the keys stick. She also removed a couple of them, so I fear being electrocuted at some point. That just made me notice how misleading that rule is.
Weird is just weird. The other times that it’s e before i is when pronounced as an “ay” sound.
Logically, it should be spelled wierd or weerd
it is, in the language of kittehs
Yeah, English always follows it’s own rules dogmaticaly, except when it doesn’t.
Or after “Old McDonald had a farm”
I feel those who have keyboard issues. My cat somehow managed to completely change what keys were what on my home keyboard by walking on it.
Now e is u, t is backspace, s is k, none of the numbers are numbers, caps lock is tab, etc. I don’t know how the hell he did it or how to fix it so I just got out one of the older keyboards and changed them out.
This one sticks something awful.
Mac or PC, if PC, what OS?
Madison is pretty, though. But Milwaukee has all the cool used book stores. Heck, I think General Mitchell field out of Milwaukee still holds the only used book store in an airport.
It’s okay, Sean. You only have to be a representative for a couple more years, and then you get to make lots and lots of money working for a lobbying firm, convincing your old colleagues to vote against the interests of the people.
He’s gonna switch parties?
Don’t be silly. Everyone knows the Democrats don’t have any lobbyists. These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.
Yup, he’ll be working for the Tea Party.
Maybe this guy and Michelle Obama should share coping strategies. Remember when poor Michelle told us “don’t cry for me” because piano lessons for her kids cost $10,000 a year? Of course, this was back when she was just a lowly Minority Outreach Coordinator at a Chicago hospital making $300,000 a year, living in a $1.6 million dollar mansion purchased from a convicted criminal crooked real estate mogul.
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/223808/michelles-struggle/byron-york
Nice to see this place finally dropping the pretense and just running ads directly from the Democratic party, by the way. Ben Huh could probably save a fortune in taxes if he just went ahead and registered this site as a Democratic political PAC.
Y’know, if you don’t like what this site produces, why do you come?
Masochism?
Y’know, if you don’t like what I have to say, why do you stalk me and post the same sh!t after every one of my comments? On the rare occasion when anything said or posted at this site conflicts with your world view, I don’t exactly see you heading to go meditate in your serenity garden…
For the record, I didn’t say that I did or didn’t like what was posted. Just that I’m happy to see the pretense of this being anything other than a Democratic party talking points bulletin board finally being dropped. Actually, nothing would make me happier than if this place was finally officially turned into an aggregator of free editorial content from left wing bloggers, similar to HuffPo’s structure. That’s already what it is, all it needs is a new sticker to go over the old label. I think posting campaign posters directly from the Democratic party is a good step in that direction.
Um, I’m not the one complaining about the LOLs being posted.
No, you just complain about anybody who does.
A complaint about a complain within a complaint?
Protestation.
Beer me five!
Complain? Nah. Just questioning why you’d come to a site where you obviously don’t like what is being posted.
Curiosity, not complaint.
Wait, so you’re criticizing her for saying “We don’t complain because we’ve got resources because of our education. We’ve got family structure.”?
How is that comparable to saying you’re struggling?
because anything that a democrat says is whining, because only republicans know the real truth.
“I know we’re spending — I added it up for the first time — we spend between the two kids, on extracurriculars outside the classroom, we’re spending about $10,000 a year on piano and dance and sports supplements and so on and so forth, [a]nd summer programs. That’s the other huge cost. ” – Michelle Obama
Painting it as her paying $10,000 on dancing lessons isn’t precisely fair, is it? I went to a summer camp when I was little along with my sister. Now, we happened to qualify for their free program, but if we hadn’t it was something like $430-$780 per week depending on your actives. Little kids’ activities can cost a whole lot, especially living in city areas and if you have two very active children. I’d also point out that the Obama’s weren’t complaining about how little they were payed in the State Senate, which is really the reason Duffy is being prosecuted.
Second, I get the feeling you are trying to suggest that Michelle is whining just as much as this gentlemen. In that case maybe you shouldn’t have pulled out the quote were she said, “We don’t complain because we’ve got resources because of our education. We’ve got family structure. So I tell people don’t cry for me.” Yes, what a terrible person! How dare she answer the people asking her how she copes by telling them that she lives in a position of great privilege and is aware of that! In case you’re paying any attention “Don’t cry for me” is just about the opposite of Sean Duffy’s speech.
I mean, if you wanted to try and compare the two, why not pick up on Michelle Obama talking about student loans? Or how about the part where she mentions they both passed over lucrative job offers in favor of community service and encouraged young people to do the same saying, “Don’t go into corporate America. You know, become teachers. Work for the community. Be social workers. Be a nurse. Those are the careers that we need, and we’re encouraging our young people to do that. But if you make that choice, as we did, to move out of the money-making industry into the helping industry, then your salaries respond.” Even the article goes on to mention that the Obama’s have hardly been struggling on public sector salaries.
I mean… Okay, I admit to lurking more than I post but I don’t keep up with every thread or screen name. But are you just pretending to be a liberal bashing conservative here? It’s like you pick a news piece that has the perfect built in argument if you want to go there. I wouln’t, because I dislike when people answer a complaint about one side with, “but… but so-and-so does bad stuff, too!” However, if you are going to go there, you picked a fine article! The writer even points out, “They [the women Mrs. Obama is speaking with] won’t face the wrenching choice of whether to go into hedge fund management or the helping industry.”
So you have the perfect set up and what do you go for? … The part where Michelle talks about how she feels guilty that they ask HER how to keep it together. The part where she makes clear that she has resources and a safety net available to her that many of them don’t. Basically, the part of the article where, unlike Sean Duffy, she apparently understands that she’s greatly privileged and does not try to compete with her audience over who has the worst debt or struggles the most. Do you even read your own posted articles?
Dude, you misread his statement entirely. Perhaps you would have done better to respond to the OP of the thread. He was genuinely wondering how Michelle Obama was asking for sympathy by stating the facts of her finances.
Oh, shoot. I meant to agree with Shipoopi, but I guess I got caught up in my rant. Obviously I disagree with the OP, I just replied under the wrong post since I meant to start off backing Shipoopi’s point.
Happens all the time, dear
I was able to understand it. I’m sure most people were. You’ll have to forgive bolero, she’s a little slow…
tl;dr >:P
That doesn’t suprise me in the least.
You be nice to our late night female. Squiggs is still missing, and we don’t want to run off another nice girl.
Define “missing”
See the report that our darn good Dictator prepared for Vlad, on the first lol.
Make that, the last Vladurday lol.
*smacks forehead* I still have her clothes! Tequila is a helluva drug, happy and topless is how the ladies around here get on it…
Gimme my shirt back.
*grabby hands*
I’m tired of the Tigger blanket.
Woo! I’m a nice girl!
… Um, that’s not my crop. I don’t know where it came from. And, err, I’m just holding these handcuffs. For a friend.
*Big smile* Tell me again how I’m a nice girl?
“Nice girls” can still enjoy “playing in dungeons”.
Now, someone mentioned a game of “Horsie”?
Nice girls are the ones who know how to use those toys best.
See if I edit copypasta for your amusement again!
You’ll just have to amuse me in other ways….
O.o I might as well be amusing somebody. *puts on her robe and her wizard hat*
Don’t forget you need a “wand”
Do you have one I can borrow? I’ll just check your pockets…
Love comes shining in…
http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/04/01/wisconsin.budget.death.threats/index.html?hpt=T2
A Wisconsin woman, apparently enraged over the new state law that limits collective bargaining for government workers, is being accused of sending e-mails to 16 Republican state senators threatening to kill them.
Katherine Windels, 26, faces four counts of using a computer to threaten, injure, or harm and creating a bomb scare, authorities said.
Fail.
Just goes to show that despite what common sense tells you, the crazy and the stupid do indeed have access to computers and know the basics of how they function.
Yeah, crazies have computers.
Remember “Emails from Crazy People”?
Awww, now I miss “Hacked IRL” and “Probably Bad News”
Well, at least “Hacked” is still around, albeit buried within another site. I also miss “Item Not As Described”.
yeah, she sent some emails.
at least she didn’t cut the line to a propane tank because someone encouraged her to “strike back against” those politicians who signed the healthcare bill…
wait, that was more serious? and at a republican behest? does this mean you’re full of it?
off-topic post is off-topic.
Did that really happen?
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/6928205.html
Never found the person, they have no idea who did it or why.
Doesn’t change the fact that it happened.
Indeed, and anyone who defends such an action is even worse.
I just mentioned hating this supposed debate tactic, and this is a great demonstration of why.
“Sean Duffy appears to have very little understanding of how working class families struggle!”
“Well, some woman sent the Republican state senators of WI death threats for passing the collective bargaining bill!”
“So what? I heard that one of the Democrats had his propane line cut so clearly Republicans are all murderers!”
WTF? Was there logic contained anywhere within those arguments? Each one is less related to the main point than the last. It’s like two red herrings meeting and screaming, “So, you did it too!” at one another, which is very difficult as yelling usually involves lungs.