Wisconsin Protests: The Real Battles

Here are the real issues behind the Wisconsin protests over Gov Walker's battle with unions and collective bargaining.

1.High school versus college educated.
Some 80% of Wisconsinites, and a majority of people in the U.S., have a high school degree. The state workers are 60% college educated.   College educated people are critical to the Knowledge Society. High school graduates are useless in the Knowledge Society.

2.Investment versus wasted costs.
Balancing the budget, any budget, is easy.  It's just that there is no consensus now on what is an investment, what is a wasted cost.
Cars versus trains; tax breaks for business versus taxing business; cut rich people's taxes versus raising them; pollute more versus pollute less; technology versus buildings;  offices versus telecommuting; high speed broad band  versus   no high speed broad band.

3. Baby Boomers versus Gen Y.
On almost every major social issue, the Baby Boomers are at war with their own children and grandchildren.    Boomers want cars, Gen Y wants trains.  Boomers don't want universal health care, Gen Y wants it.  Boomers do not want gay marriage rights, Gen Y is fighting for it.  Boomers think a 2 yr college degree is enough, Gen Y overwhelmingly knows a 4 yr degree is needed. We could go on.

In the end, Gen Y wins.  You watch.   Photo:  Gen Y drummers energize the crowd during the Madison Wisconsin protests

Comments

[D. P. Lubic]

I'm afraid not everyone is as convinced as we are about trains:

http://www.newsweek.com/2011/02/27/high-speed-to-insolvency.html#

And responses on a high-speed rail page in California:

http://www.cahsrblog.com/2011/03/trains-are-freedom/

We have a real fight on our hands; I hope we have a chance of winning.

[D. P. Lubic]

Oh, I do have to mildly disagree with you as to the "Baby Boomers vs. Generation Y" label on the basis that it doesn't quite fit in terms of timelines.

From what I've seen, this generational effect actually runs for people born between the late 1920s to about 1953 or so. This basically includes all the Depression babies, all the War Babies (this is George Will's group, he is about 70 now), and only about the first third or so of the Baby Boomers, with a bit of overlap. All these people would have come of age between about 1950 and the first oil crunch of 1973, and their current ages run from about 60 or so to about 90. Cars were the future for the very great majority of this crowd, and trains were from the horse and buggy era. And while there is some controversy in regard to the National City Lines case (which was very loosely adapted as a subplot for "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," and detractors refer to it as that), there is no doubt that there was oil and auto industry influence in the roads promotion business--and of course, this same age group was very happy with that at the time.

I'll admit to being very disappointed with them, but I can't be too angry with them. You see, many have been otherwise good citizens, but they have become fearful of change, largely because "they have seen too many of the wrong changes," as one of my coworkers put it.

At the same time, do we have the time to wait for enough to die off? And how do we deal with the apparent influence of some rich people in the oil and other old businesses who want to see us stay in the old way, and dependent on their products?

[bwin]

Caractère - la volonté de prendre la responsabilité de leur propre vie.