A Memo To All Those Protestors In Wisconsin

It doesn't matter if there are 10,000 or 50,000 of you gathered on the lawn, or if you stay there six weeks or six months.

First salient idea: One incontrovertible fact that will not go away is: Wisconsin is facing a yawning hole in its state finances.

Somewhere between $3.1 billion and $3.6 billion. That's with a 'B', not an 'M'. A tenth of a billion is one hundred million. That's a lot-o-money, honey. Unlike the guy in the White House, who very happy for you to stand in the cold on his behalf, the governor of Wisconsin does not have his own Ben Bernanke to print up shipfuls of Wisconsin dollars.

Second salient idea: To ask you to contribute 5% or so to your pension costs, and 12% of your health insurance costs still gives you one of the best deals going. Ask your neighbors, that is, your neighbors who still have jobs.

Third salient idea: Those clowns in Rockford will come home, eventually. The AFL-CIO bosses will go home. And, sooner or later, you'll have to go home. Remember, as great as it feels to stand in a large crowd and curse the governor, most of the people you live around, attend church with, who go to ball games like you do, drink beer at the pub like you do--those people don't work for the state. They pay taxes, send their kids to school hoping that they'll get a good enough education from the schools. If they perceive that you are a lout who would happily let the state go to hell and become a laughing-stock, just so you and your unions get their way, expect a very chilly reception back home.

Also, if you ever enter the private sector (and you yet may), your prospective employers may not greet your present activities with open arms. They do pay attention, have long memories, and are positively allergic to hiring union/activist types.

Hope ya'll get the memo...