Why Wisconsin is the Future of Labor Unions in the United States

The simple answer is inevitability. States are running out of money and taxpayers are at a boiling point. Deficit spending is no longer an option, as financiers have figured out that bonds are not a great investment. California has already seen its rating go down the drain and many states are going down the same path if they are not there already.

But it's not fair, how can a person live on a shrinking salary like that? I hear this question and the simple response is another question. How do workers in the private sector expect to live when many of them are losing their jobs and have not seen pay increases for years now? Yet public sector unions have comparatively been living the sweet life. Automatic pay increases, pensions, health care, etc. Conveniently for these unions, these figures are not included in official salary estimates. So let's not let these people get away with this; they are not going to die in the streets because the states want to start decreasing benefits. They'll have to cut back, to be sure, but who hasn't?

There are only two possible outcomes. Either the states win and public sector unions diminish in power, or the unions win and the states go bankrupt. Either way, unions have to lose. There is no money to pay these people; this is their reality and they have to accept it. All of this protesting will just cause them to lose popularity (as though they have not lost enough with the way they have put states into this mess). The only way for them to save face is to compromise on this issue and realize that their great salaries are simply not sustainable.

Reality bites, and it bites us all.