WI Taxpayers.....1
NEA WEA...........0

"these policies"

Can you be specific?

I'm not an (R) or (D), and I still don't like Moore.

But you know whats best for me, don't you?

Gilliigan- Minnesota started going down the walker path eight years ago so they are a mirror into your future. Property taxes have tripled with even with a cap due to changes in the mil rate, increased valuations, and add on fee's. The metro schools are now staffed with an average of the 40% of the teachers being part time temporary, city services have been cut back such as snow plowing, street repair, you are now charged for services that used to be in your taxes such as street sweeping, and street maintenance. City and county imposed sales taxes have been implemented. When all is said and done the tax cuts at the state level were pushed down to the local communities where you now pay it instead, just at a higher rate. For business properties plan on a doubling of your taxes, plus another 30% increase in new service fee's. Another example is Arizona, which has done the same. Only they have taken a different path. Taxes are low because they dont borrow money for new development infrastructure such as roads, schools, bridges and sewers. If a developer wants to build a housing development he is required to pay the fractional cost of a fire station, police station, park, and other city expansion costs. Sewer and water incremental expansion costs are paid through an impact fee on each house which ranges from 9,000 to 18,000 per house which is added onto the purchase price. Business owner pay a seperate $2000-20,0000 per year assessement for fire and police protection.

A.G. -- I guess you think you know what's best for me as well. Guess in the end, I probably don't care a lot about you personally. I care about our children and how the GOP agenda is hurting them.

In my mind, we're screwed and our children's future is screwed.

An ENORMOUS and wasteful Federal Government, both political parties useless, $14.5 trillion in debt, 2 wars (almost 3), over $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities.....and getting rid of the Federal Reserve Bank is almost unspeakable at national level politics.

To simply say its only the GOP's policies that are hurting this country, well....that is silly to put it in nice terms. Its both parties.

PC, A little late for the campaign tactical aproaches. As far as unions...looks like they don't hold as much water for the average voter as of todays' results.Your candidate lost, so.....let it rest ......... just saying.

Classy Vagabond. Shame on you.

Classy? I am sick to death of Dean and Sheila being maligned and slandered - I know them both personally and have great respect for them. Obviously the majority of voters in our district feel the same way, since they both won their elections handily. Patt listed several people who she felt ignored by...including those in her own party. Sometimes we all need to take a step back from our rants, take a deep breath, and move on.

You first.

GD, I know how you feel, but it's their night to celebrate. Let them have these comments. There are more races to follow.

Just what did they do?

I've been wondering where the anti-war protesters are, and why they didn't ramp up the protests when Obama got involved in Libya via UN mandate (still does not have Congressional approval). Why hasn't Cindy Sheehan camped outside the Obama house in the Chicago area?

S&P mentioned the lack of spending cuts several times in the downgrade of US creditworthiness. Without the Tea Party things would have been worse.

I heard an economist on the radio. His opinion is the Obama debt has grown so large your grandchildren will not be able to pay it off, and there is little evidence to suggest even your great-grandchildren will be able to pay it off.

Bush and the democrat Congress he dealt with spent this country into a hole. Obama is digging the hole deeper. Doyle left holes in this state budget. Walker budget isn't perfect, but if you look at what the state Democrats proposed for the 2011 budget our property taxes would go sky high.

congrats Senator Harsdorf

Gilligan- The economy is in the toilet because bush did a massive tax cut at the same time he massively increased spending. Read the S&P statement they specifically lay the blame on the conservative republicans who refused to increase revenues. The proposed cuts are a joke, actually only about 10 billion is cut in the first 2 years while the debt downgrade is raising the cost of the government borrowing by 100 billion a year for a projected 0.7% rate increase for out existing debt. Essentially the tea party put us another 90 billion in the hole with thier foolish pledge. Dont forget bush was spending money so fast he had to raise the debt ceiling 6 times in 8 years.

I love all this blame on the tea party, Bush, Obama....when in reality this looming depression has been waiting to happen for decades if not half a century.

This depression, is the result of EVERYONE living beyond their means, Republicans, Democrats, and the Federal Reserve Bank.

But I guess placing blame on people I don't agree with is much easier to do.

Gilligan asks an important question that can be applied locally. I believe there was a weekly demonstration/march do in River Falls that went on for a couple years to protest the wars. It stopped when Obama got elected. It appears to me that the protests were more about Bush and less about the war.

William,
The Bush tax cuts that everyone keeps crying about were put together and passed through a Democratically controlled congress. The POTUS only signs the final bill that he requests. The Dems delivered it to him. Now on the other hand, Obamacare was passed by a Democratically controlled congress and should be referred to as Obamacare. The Bush tax cuts were Democratic tax cuts, like it or not.

Here's a graph that breaks down the components of the national debt.

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/jamesfallows/assets_c/2011/07/debt_chart_wh_0-58731.php

Even though most of the TEA Party people you talk to vote for Bush twice, they will tell you he is not a fiscal conservative. Also remember that the debt and deficit screaming started approximately the day after Obama got innagurated President. The first TEA Party events started in February and there were big anti-tax rallies on April 15, 2009.

That TEA Partiers are under the misinformed illusion that Reagan was a fiscal conservative and paid out the national debt or deficit and should be on Mt. Rushmore, shouldn't be a surprise. That Americans for Prosperity are funded by big money interests should be a surprise.

It's nice to blame it on the TEA Party. Maybe the difference between Democratic and Republican organization tactics is that the Republicans use the wolf pack approach and the Democrats use the herd of cats approach. Democrats spend too much time counting the colors of the diversity rainbow while Republicans are busy trying to eliminate the color black because we only need the color white.

Yeah Vagabond since Kathie Nichols has declined to submit the numbers once again(she needs time and will send them in tommorow) its no suprise. Her republican buddy's can stay up all night and change the votes like she did with Kloppenburg. Yeah you have to be proud to be a tp

You're a class act, mainstreet. Honorable winners, gracious losers and the republic will survive.

Thanks Mainstreet, with few years to prepare we can do a better job.

You're alright mainstreet. I was hoping there wouldn't be sore winners or sore losers so we could all work together in the future. Time will tell . . .

Thank you mainstreet and congratulations to Sheila Harsdorf.

And also congratulations to the Wisconsin voters, because of them it was Democrathy that won for all of us!

Thank you, mainstreet. Congrats on the Harsdorf win.

ame,

Wouldn't it be nice of all the millions that went into this race from both sides went to schools and education. But check your understanding of how it works. All those millions you're talking about were private funds donated by private individuals, corporations, interest groups, etc. They weren't tax dollars. We use taxes to fund public schools and public education; private funds, voluntarily given (except for limited public funding to campaigns) to advance political views. And, again, both campaigns were supported by oodles and oodles of outside money from various sources.

Actually the article in the saint paul pioneer press yesterday indicated that the Moore campaign got something like 380K and harsdorf 450k in contributions. The rest wast to PACs that are not related to the candidates and run ads on thier own. But it will be interesting to see the final tallys when they come in. The st paul paper did indicate that harsdorf got 150K from an oil company and some 250K from an investment bank firm that support conservative voters. I imagine in a few months all the tallies will be in and it should be interesting. Why would that money go to schools and education? It is private money.

I'm now relieved that I'll be able to get back to things like city council, school board and high school football...

Also, I'll be working on a policy that will require users to give first and last names when commenting. We'll see how that goes...

Thanks for all your incredibly hard work through this, Micheal. (And your patience, too.) I'm relieved this is over and will enjoy a break from the politics of the past six months.

Great idea Micheal. (I meant to hit Reply and accidentally flagged it - sorry!)

Yes it still is in the red and losing money fast.

Yes, we didn't agree with you or Moore, therefore we're not educated on the matter. hahaha

Yes, and Yes.

Read the S&P report. It clearly states that the lack of additional revenue is what caused the downgrade and they clearly lay the blame on the conservative republicans. As S&P and the nations economists have pointed out including the republican party economic advisors you cannot cut your way out of this. For one the cuts in the republican final debt bill only cut the debt by 10 billion a year for the next two years. Secondoly when you cut goverment spending you cut payroll, those people pay taxes, and spend money so when you cut the government by 20% you also cut your revenue and savings rate by 20% so you dig yourself deeper into the hole. There is a point where cutting just wont do it. Look at the budget you could eliminate the departments of education, the epa, agriculture, commerce, and others and not even come close. If you are serious about cutting your way out the only way is to cut the defense department by 30-25% and do immediate cuts in social security benefits by 20-25% while raising the medicare/medicade fees by $900 per month. The you will have come close to resolving the debt issue.

So the answer is to raise taxes. Again. And what happens when that money is spent? Raise taxes again? and again? When and if this economy can ever recover, the revenues will increase and the government will be funded again, but until we have leaders who understand what motivates an economy (certainly not me, and certainly not those presently in Washington) we are slowly drowning in debt and spending must be curtailed. The problem is a poor economy and too much spending. Spur the economy and the money will flow. Taking more money from the private sector is not going to solve anything.

I've worked for the federal government. The only thing they're good at is complicating things and wasting money. Allowing them to spend money recklessly, is ill advised.

Raising taxes and spending will not get this country out of this recession, it will just waste people's hard earned money. Anyone that recommends otherwise, is a fool.

WW. I came to the conclusion that it is a waste of time to try to explain macro economics to most Tea party followers. They are still absolutely fascinated by the Voodoo economics that Reagan preached, and are still hoping that the promised trickle down will reach them one of these days.

they seem to have difficulties in understanding that the goods to be sold need to be bought by somebody, and if the somebodies don't have money in their pockets they can't purchase them.. They'd rather give the money to big corporations that will use it to move even more production out of this country.

Hudsoner:

I know what you mean about the macro-econ explaination. When the TEA Partiers are talking the line about the gov't balancing its budget "just like a family does" they are talking about micro-econ. Actually, the reason the economy is in the dump has a lot to do with families NOT living within their means: credit cards, houses they could afford, home equity loans, etc., etc.

Now we have millions of construction workers unemployed and getting paid employment to site at home on do nothing. When could be borrowing money at historic lows to build infrastructure and get people working. We can deal with the debt and deficit in the mid-term...but hey! the TEA Party is driving the bus and has a ring in the nose of the President, etc. and are apparently ready to drive the economy over another recession cliff.

Construction workers building roads. Where did that get us? Those shovel-ready jobs that were the only thing the President could think of as jump-starting the ecconomy got us some new roads and bridges, and that's it. Now that work is running out and where are we? Back where we started, but another trillion dollars in the hole. Should this become a perpetual government investment scheme? keep taking from the "rich" and resurfacing roads? That'll get us right in the same economic ballpark as Greece. Sure, we need revenue, but get the economy going and the revenue will come. Obama's "focusing like a laser" on jobs is a joke, and you want Wisconsin to follow that model? Fortunately the people have spoken clearly, again, reinforcing the mandate that funding the unions that fund the democrats is not the solution to get things moving. Soon we will be rid of Obama and Geithner, hope we can hang on long enough.
What I think is hilarious is that to liberals, Big Government has all the answers - until the Conservatives get in control of that Government - then Government is wrong. Perhaps you could make Conservatism illegal and then you'll have your way with no opposition. How could that go wrong?

Forrest -- Who's taxing the rich? They're immune from any tax increases. Instead, the Walker administration and Republican legislators raised revenues from working families' paychecks.

Once upon a time, the Republican Party would have balked at that. Not anymore.

OK, then let's raise revenue at the same time by cutting the misguided tax cuts from Bush. That'll help a great deal as well. (And quit saying we're overtaxed since we aren't.)

No one is fleeing.....

At the same time, I don't know who you're trying to convince. No one here cares what you have to say, or anyone else...they've made up their minds and 95% of them will stick to that.

I will say, however, that you seem to preach the same elitist liberal mindset that keeps me avoiding anyone in your political spectrum.

You wont be happy until everyone in any office anywhere is a democrat....and then you'll still blame repubs or conservatives for something.

How true, how true. These minuet details are always overlooked by the left; they will only complain that you took away their "right" to bargain for the insurance provider of their choosing.

I think it's time we identify ourselves.

I, Dan BV, am a victim of Public Education. I am not nor have I ever been an Islamo Fascist Communist. But, I am willing to learn.

I, Hudsoner am the result of Catholic Education, and am married to a lady who is a Methodist. i believe the cross between those two christian branches must have mixed up my mind so bad that I would easily fall for any Fascist Communist ideas and convert readily to become an Islamic Terrorist with ties to illegal Mexican workers.

Classic misdirection.

Suddenly, I'm the elitist because I said you sounded like one. LOL
The reason I avoid those "elitist" liberals and conservatives, is because there is no talking to them. If it involves politics, they're right, I'm wrong...same thing can be said for religious zealots....no changing that in their minds. Soooo, why bother. Waste of my time.

I am curious as to why you made a list of things to label you as.

I also find it funny that you assume I am christian.

My homework reveals that it would have to pass 2 legislative sessions and go to the people. I'll urge our elected officials to get to work on this. I can assure GD that Scott Walker is NOT afraid. Who's gonna pay for this week's recall? The law should not allow for recalls of officials who do the work of the people who elected them!

Do your homework Thomas. It would take a Constitutional Amendment!

Why, because we took down two of the far right and now Walker is afraid?