UW Chancellor Rebecca Blank indicated that the cuts would come in the form of layoffs of adminstrative personnel:
Head shakes and whispers in many languages filled the auditorium as Blank delivered the news, which was translated simultaneously in Mandarin, Hmong and Tibetan, with a delayed translation in Spanish....
"We know there will be some cuts, so we will be starting to make and announce some budget cuts this spring. My guess (is that) in April there will be at least some preliminary announcement and early notification of layoffs going out. But how many and where, we do not know yet."...
Deans, directors and department heads will be responsible for making decisions on how budget cuts are allocated, but administrative units will take will take larger cuts in an effort to preserve educational functions, she said.
ADDED:
Here's the UW's own press release:
“I know how much this university relies on the work you do, often unseen during the day, and I know how hard you work for the university and for the state,” Blank said....
“In this type of situation it is never fair if you are one of the people affected by budget cuts that you had no part in creating,” she said. “Some people will lose their jobs as part of this budget cut; that is unfortunately a fact.”...
Terry Fritter, an animal research technician and member of the Classified Staff Executive Committee, speaking for himself and not CSEC, said he hopes staff members and governance groups will be consulted on the potential for cost savings ahead of any layoffs. “Workers know where the savings can be found. We should be a part of both the savings and layoff process,” Fritter said.
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And does the university really translate everything into four languages? There's some savings potential right there!
This will not come as bad news in many places. Madison will not be one of those places.
Link is screwy.
Aren't many of those administrative positions required to show compliance with federal mandates?
Whatever will Wisconsin do without its Hmong translator?
Correct link:
http://host.madison.com/news/local/education/university/rebecca-blank-uw-madison-layoffs-could-begin-in-april/article_b7906d6e-3550-5552-8d88-bfec42dbb41f.html
Feeling the pain of that 2.5%.
This reads as a parody.
Yesterday, the thing that read as a parody was Axelrod saying someone can't run for president on the basis of a good speech.
Now this. So much cray.
What is the current ratio of administrative personnel to teaching personnel in the UW system?
What is the current ratio of full-time teaching personnel to part-time teaching personnel?
What is the current ratio of full-time administrative personnel to part-time administrative personnel?
They should cut far more admins.
Here's some low hanging fruit:
-- The Office for Equity and Diversity (OED)
-- Division of Diversity, Equity, & Educational Achievement
-- Office of Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Student Success (IDEASS)
Sounds like there might be a bit of room for some consolidation there.
Tibetan?
Jane the Actuary: "And does the university really translate everything into four languages? There's some savings potential right there!"
Ron: "Whatever will Wisconsin do without its Hmong translator?"
Yeah, I thought that was curious too. But check this out:
"Blank made the announcement as she addressed several hundred third shift employees during a massive late night meeting at the university's Health Sciences Learning Center."
So who works third shift? Cleaning people, etc. And given the choice of laying off one Dean of Diversity and Climate Change or 10 third-shift workers, guess which the University will do?
This will not come as bad news in many places. Madison will not be one of those places.
Actually UW-Whitewater is taking the biggest cut as a percentage. These communities outside Madison depend on the UW Extensions, and now Republicans get to go back to their district and defend Walker's proposed cuts.
There are a lot of Free Tibet bumper stickers, but Tibetan is not free.
... or the $1.3 Billion in cash reserves UW system is holding. http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/some-of-300-million-in-cuts-could-be-covered-by-cash-balances-uw-acknowledges-b99443836z1-291652701.html
According to this the University of Wisconsin-Madison had 2 billion in endowment in 2013.
Can they close up the UW-Madison Campus Police Department and turn policing over to the city? Won't save THAT much money, but it's a start.
Office for Equity and Diversity
-- 8 staff persons
Office of Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Student Success
-- 8 staff persons
No overlap!
So, why do we need to make all these cuts in the first place? Just before the election Walker was bragging about a 500 million dollar surplus. Where did it go? I thought Walker knew how to manage state finances?
I would cut all pensions to a max benefit of $250,000. That would save a billion.
http://www.taxpayersunitedofamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/MadisonUWTop100.pdf
Head shakes and whispers in many languages filled the auditorium as Blank delivered the news, which was translated simultaneously in Mandarin, Hmong and Tibetan, with a delayed translation in Spanish....
They could start by cutting translators...
Why not cut the all male Football program? Think of how many concussion brain injuries for life will not happen. Do it for the children.
One can only hope trigger warnings were also translated simultaneously in Mandarin, Hmong and Tibetan, with a delayed translation in Spanish.
Bloat
I looked but could not find the rate of growth over the last 20 years of the administrative payroll. Does anyone have that?
Is Ann's job in peril? Also could Ann teach more classes so UW can save some money?
Spanish delayed is Spanish denied!
Cutting administrators? So that the university can teach? What will they think of next?
Sounds good to me!
As a well-known politician once said, "Elections have consequences". The UW system is filled with people who did their level best to defeat Walker 3 different times AND took time from instruction to organize and lead students in protesting and fighting him. So I wouldn't be surprised if Walker figured that fewer such people getting paid by the State is a good thing.
Is Blank taking suggestions?
The Chron of Higher Ed has, I think, general information on the increase in Administration costs nationwide over the past 20-30 years, but I don't know if there is one specific to the UW. As Terry said upthread, some of the administrators are doing Federal Compliance type stuff. I have multiple forms to fill out so the University is in compliance with some federal rule or another. I can't think that type of administrator would be let go.
There is a lot of ignorance in this thread about (1) how pensions are paid for in WI (2) how different departments fund their employees and (3) how many Hmong live in Dane County. Even I, though, didn't realize how many Tibetans are working here.
Garage:
"These communities outside Madison depend on the UW Extensions, and now Republicans get to go back to their district and defend Walker's proposed cuts."
My guess is that you don't fully yet comprehend what effect seeing and hearing the faculty and students' at those Capitol demonstrations had on the people in those districts.
Additionally, this is taking place NOW. Four years from now it'll be a lot less controversial.
UW will just need to do what other businesses do when it comes to federal compliance. Just sign the forms and cross your fingers and when you get caught just promise not to do it again.
The 80-20 rule applies to universities as well.
From the article: "To provide perspective of $90 million, Blank said she could cut all funding to the university's five smallest schools -- business, law, nursing, pharmacy and veterinary medicine -- and still fall short of that total."
With the exception of law, which should be small, perhaps one of the problems with UW is that those four other endeavors are the smallest schools in the university.
Anyway, the overlords in the federal department of education will be out of work as well soon. That's low hanging fruit there as well.
Keep nursing and pharmacy. Cut business to accounting. Shrink the law school to 100 students a class and get rid of veterinary school.
Get rid of every liberal arts department that wasn't there 50 years ago.
Since its the admin types that decide how he cuts will be made - they will not be effected as much as the people who actually do the work.
"Deans, directors and department heads will be responsible for making decisions on how budget cuts are allocated,"
High-priced friends with bullshit "* Studies" degrees will keep their jobs. Low-level workers that actually do something useful will be gone.
Garage Mahal asks: "So, why do we need to make all these cuts in the first place? Just before the election Walker was bragging about a 500 million dollar surplus. Where did it go?"
The answer: To something called "Tax Relief." To the fainting couch, Mr. Garage!
business, law, nursing, pharmacy and veterinary medicine
How much state funding goes to those five schools anyway? As in, what percentage of their salary and upkeep is paid for by taxpayers?
Get rid of administrators. The professors are the most important part of any university. Excessive administration and fancy facilities (that aren't labs) are bloat.
"Republicans get to go back to their district and defend Walker's proposed cuts."
The applause will be deafening.
How many total jobs does 90 million equal?
How many total jobs in the state?
I agree cut the admin overhead, I feel back for the cleaning staff that works nights and makes $10.00/hour.
Nursing is not a growing field in spite of what you might think.When Canada went medical Socialist in the 80s, they closed a bunch of nursing schools.
Nursing assistants (for whom Hmong translators might help) will be the growth area.
Also could Ann teach more classes so UW can save some money?
Scott Walker said she should do exactly that, and have you ever seen Ann disagree with him?
Nurses are going to be the new doctors. No one's going to waste years of their lives and money in medical school to make the money most doctors are going to make.
In 10 years, nurses will be writing prescriptions.
"get rid of veterinary school."
Wisconsin has a severe shortage of vets who work in agriculture. It has plenty of kitty and doggie docs. Refining the program emphasis to ag vets over kitty and doggie docs equals a smaller program that provides a need for a pillar of the Wisconsin economy.
How can nursing be small? There's a huge demand for nurses!!
OTOH, what's the demand for '* Studies' students? Who hires them - besides other universities? Get rid of any department with a race, ethnicity or sexual orientation followed by the word "Studies' in it's name. Give up half the funding and give the other half to the Nursing program.
That's amazing that courses and departments like the above exist - and nursing is smaller than all of them. On that basis alone UW SHOULD get it's funding cut. The mission of a State University is - or should be - to meet the future needs of the State. The State needs nurses a lot more than it needs [whatever] Studies majors. And it'll be a lot less likely to have to pay nursing graduates government benefits to support them, too.
Go to Pudue for veterinary school. If it's that important to the state economy, the businesses that need them can pay for the agri vetenarian to go to Purdue.
"Refining the program emphasis to ag vets over kitty and doggie docs equals a smaller program that provides a need for a pillar of the Wisconsin economy."
I'm all for that - but the issue there is the same you see in medical school. Graduates don't want to go back home and live in rural areas. They'd rather live in the urban areas with urban cultural amenities, even if it costs them more. And you don't have to put on elbow-length vinyl gloves and shove your arm up an ass to treat a doggie.
"In 10 years, nurses will be writing prescriptions."
They are now. So far, they need to be nurse practitioners but that will change. CVS and Wal Mart have nurse clinics. My ex-wife was a nurse practitioner and, like most NPs, her GP was too busy to supervise her as he was supposed to. She used to call me when she had a problem she as concerned about. She was the family doctor for my daughter-in-law's family.
"Nurses are going to be the new doctors."
Yup. Unless you choose a "concierge practice" you will not see an MD.
The answer: To something called "Tax Relief." To the fainting couch, Mr. Garage!
okay. How much tax relief can I expect?
Wisconsin got rid of its baseball team in the early 1990s. It can get rid of plenty of other programs. Baseball is still played and students can go somewhere else if they are interested in finance, marketing, etc.
So surprising that we weren't talking about all these cuts to the UW, SeniorCare, and the DNR before the election. We heard about the pee-in-a-cup jobs plan, but nothing about the cuts. Really weird!
"garage mahal said...
The answer: To something called "Tax Relief." To the fainting couch, Mr. Garage!
okay. How much tax relief can I expect?"
It was also to cover the 3,6 Billion structural deficit but there was a billion dollars in tax relief statewide. As for you? I would need to see your 2013, 2104 tax forms as well as see property tax info for the last two years also. Post it up. Or as an alternative take your stupid troll questions and shove it. Your choice.
Does UW-Madison need a nursing program when it is offered at UW-Milwaukee (most hospitals) and UW-Eau Claire and UW-Oshkosh (both have regional focus)?
Redistributing those nursing seats and a few professor slots from Madison to the other three campuses would not impact nursing education within the state.
There is redundancy in the system whose elimination won't hurt anything.
Job losses in most industries are routine so its just a dose of reality. It happens. It would one thing if greater job security in government type jobs was offset by more moderate salary and benefit packages but its not.
You can't have your cake and eat it too.
What is the current ratio of administrative personnel to teaching personnel in the UW system?
As soon as the federal government started subsidizing university education, the admin staffs ballooned everywhere, I think. Glen Reynolds has commented upon it quite a bit.
How much tax relief can I expect?
Scott Walker said the average household will receive over $800 worth of property tax relief spread out over four years.
If he was telling the truth then most people would have seen a decrease of about $200 last year. But that's a big "if", seeing how Slippery Scott's claim has been rated as Mostly False.
Close the division of dissimilarity too.
Bellowing of the bloated.
In 10 years, nurses will be writing prescriptions.
They do that already in Ohio, and probably elsewhere as well.
I cannot understand the chorus of cheers for anyone being laid off or fired due to budget cuts, anywhere. Is it borne of anger by you who have been fired or laid off? If you giving thumbs up to layoffs are employed, why are you happy to hear of others losing their jobs?
Aside from the negative impact on the community of mass layoffs, don't you simply have compassion for those losing their income, and, for those to whom this applies, their healh insurance?
"madisonfella said...
How much tax relief can I expect?
Scott Walker said the average household will receive over $800 worth of property tax relief spread out over four years.
If he was telling the truth then most people would have seen a decrease of about $200 last year. But that's a big "if", seeing how Slippery Scott's claim has been rated as Mostly False."
We can file this idiocy under "math is hard"
"Robert Cook said...
I cannot understand the chorus of cheers for anyone being laid off or fired due to budget cuts, anywhere. Is it borne of anger by you who have been fired or laid off? If you giving thumbs up to layoffs are employed, why are you happy to hear of others losing their jobs?
Aside from the negative impact on the community of mass layoffs, don't you simply have compassion for those losing their income, and, for those to whom this applies, their healh insurance?"
No, it's born from being ripped off by government, and government unions, for years. Pretty simple.
There are also Nursing Programs at most technical schools -- MATC (Madison) has one, for example, for Associate Degrees. About 5 years ago its enrollment was ballooning, I think it's dropping at the moment.
1. If, and only if, UW's President and Chancellors are competent in the use of the English Language, then eliminate all PR critters.
2. Have all income from patents and copyrights due UW be paid into the State or UW general funds.
3. Have the People directly elect the Regent (eg Three from each Congressional District to support democracy).
"Aren't many of those administrative positions required to show compliance with federal mandates?"
Probably. Which is good. Those mandates cost money that could be spent on more useful jobs. It's past time for schools to push back against political meddling and the resources it steals from their actual educational purpose.
I found it.
"The budget includes a property tax cut, given to taxpayers by sending money through the school-funding formula. The Walker administration said the amount would total more than $280 million, amounting to a $5-a-year tax cut for the average property taxpayer in Wisconsin."
Worth ever 500 cents!
When budget cuts come in the private sector, you cut out pieces you know you can live without.
Walker knows administration is bloated. So does the University. He just had the guts to knock on the table and call bullshit.
"So, why do we need to make all these cuts in the first place?"
Because limiting adjuncts to part-time hours and withholding benefits doesn't provide enough cost effectiveness?
Because administrative growth outpaces enrollment?
Because community colleges can do it for, like, free? Like, totally.
How will the University of Wisconsin—Madison absorb something like $90 million in cuts from Scott Walker's new budget?
If they are like other political organization they will do so in a way calculated to inflict as much pain as possible onto the voting public.
Now the real entertainment begins as Administrators start pointing out bloat, inefficiency, and pass competency judgements against others to save their skin.
Watch as the spirit of collectivism goes right out the window.
tosa Guy wrote
"Wisconsin has a severe shortage of vets who work in agriculture. It has plenty of kitty and doggie docs. Refining the program emphasis to ag vets over kitty and doggie docs"
So..having discussed this with an ag vet who so;d his business after being extremely busy, I was told the desire to go into ag med has been very low/decreasing. Told me he has seen women start in it but switch out. How do you "reform" the program to change lack of interest?
The normal reaction to budget cuts by the bureaucracy is to immediately cut the services most prized by the citizens, who then complain loudly, and the politicians rush to restore the cuts.
Thus indeed expect UW-Mad to cut janitorial services, etc., and when the garbage begins to pile up in the hallways and the parents complain, the legislature will restore the "cuts," and the profs will chortle: "Well, we taught those @#$%!!! Republicans a lesson this time!"
Actually, my personal experience with this was in the early 1960s with the Coprps of Engineers, when the Kennedy Administration, which had run on an "economy in government" platform, tried to implement a 10% RIF (Reduction in Force) executive order. The bureaucracy won.
garage mahal said...
So, why do we need to make all these cuts in the first place? Just before the election Walker was bragging about a 500 million dollar surplus. Where did it go? I thought Walker knew how to manage state finances?
2/12/15, 9:54 AM"
Why are you always in favor of pissing away the taxpayers monies on waste? Why keep unneeded staff? An administrator that can't find a way to cut 2.5% of a budget that bloated in a manner that doesn't affect the function of the university needs to be fired for incompetence.
The IRS, when faced with budget cuts, looked to Obama for leadership and he explained to them that they should delay refunds...
Maybe UW should just cut out the printing of diplomas and the departments that handle transcripts, etc.
Our Fearless Leader knows how this is done.
garage mahal said...
I found it.
"The budget includes a property tax cut, given to taxpayers by sending money through the school-funding formula. The Walker administration said the amount would total more than $280 million, amounting to a $5-a-year tax cut for the average property taxpayer in Wisconsin."
LOL.
That's the proposed tax decrease. He cut income and property taxes already. Significantly. Those tax cuts remain in place. Check your last few tax bills on the double wide gomer.
Oh, by the way, had Barrett won taxes would have been raised. There is no question of that. So the tax relief is both the cuts received under Walker, and the increases that would have been needed if not for him and Act 10.
garage mahal said...
I found it.
"The budget includes a property tax cut, given to taxpayers by sending money through the school-funding formula. The Walker administration said the amount would total more than $280 million, amounting to a $5-a-year tax cut for the average property taxpayer in Wisconsin."
Worth ever 500 cents!
2/12/15, 11:21 AM"
I rather doubt that you will find very many taxpayers who given a choice between keeping the five hundred cents or giving it to you or someone like you wouldn't prefer to keep their lunch value deal.
Fewer admins?
[grumpy cat]Good.[/grumpy cat]
Cut out student amenities, too, and drop tuition.
(Contra, say, Ron, note that about 1% of Wisconsinites are Hmong.
UW Madison has a Hmong translator for a good reason - it probably needs one, if only to communicate with parents.)
I bet if we raised property taxes enough, we could give everybody in the state a cushy job with great benefits and a fat retirement.
It worked in Greece, didn't it? I haven't checked on the news from there lately, but I know they were trying something like that.
Robert Cook said... [hush][hide comment]
I cannot understand the chorus of cheers for anyone being laid off or fired due to budget cuts, anywhere. Is it borne of anger by you who have been fired or laid off? If you giving thumbs up to layoffs are employed, why are you happy to hear of others losing their jobs?
Aside from the negative impact on the community of mass layoffs, don't you simply have compassion for those losing their income, and, for those to whom this applies, their healh insurance?
2/12/15, 11:03 AM>
It is not so much joy at others misfortunes as it is "getting to keep more of my own money".
Government does not "earn" money. It takes it from its citizens. The less it spends, the more its citizens get to keep (we hope). If the University were currently running on a shoe-string budget, you might have a point but it is not. It is fat and wasteful of funds and it has a fat endowment. It could absorb the cuts (and then some) if it wanted/needed to but it won't because its endowment means more to it than "doing the right thing" or "protecting the workers" or any of those other lefty solidarity phrases that the university and its student repeat when stuff happens at real businesses that are forced to make a profit year after year. So sorry, not a lot of sympathy here for them having to start living like the rest of us.
The usual way is encouraging those about to retire to retire. Then the costs go to a different budget.
walter said...So..having discussed this with an ag vet who so;d his business after being extremely busy, I was told the desire to go into ag med has been very low/decreasing. Told me he has seen women start in it but switch out. How do you "reform" the program to change lack of interest?
That's an excellent question, walter, and I'm sure one of the various Admin departments has hordes of people looking into the question now...or at least filing grant applications for funding for their studies into the question. (My guess as to their answer? More diversity and more $ for booster programs run by people like them.) The actual answer is something like "with increased demand and a steady or declining supply the price should increase--so the wage paid (in $ and other terms) to ag vets should increase, inducing more entry into the field. But I don't make any $ giving that answer.
We can file this idiocy under "math is hard"
Is that the excuse Walker gave? I would have guessed he would have labeled it a "drafting error" and blame it on his staff. But him not being able to do math also makes sense, seeing how he has totally screwed up financial figures before.
Robert Cook,
I don't think you really understand the feelings created by the attempted putsch against the duly elected Wisconsin Legislature because people like Garage and madisonfella were mad about an election they lost.
"with increased demand and a steady or declining supply the price should increase--so the wage paid (in $ and other terms) to ag vets should increase, inducing more entry into the field. But I don't make any $ giving that answer.
Exactly! How do you get somebody to spend their life counting pills into jars? You pay them well! It works.
Those who answered my question confirmed my guess: you're selfish assholes.
How much do think you will gain in your taxes from this budget cut? My guess is you'll barely see it, if at all. And yet you cheer "others having to live like the rest of us," while families will suffer, local businesses who serve the soon-to-be-layed-off will suffer, and the local economy in general will suffer. Aside from faculty, and not even all of them, most people working in higher education are not drawing down six figure salaries and most of them are already "living like the rest of (you)."
How much of an extreme anarchist does one have to be in order to view a legal and valid recall election as an attempt to violently overthrow the government?
Then again, if the commentator from the east coast only got his Wisconsin political news from this blog then it makes sense why he thinks it was a "putsch" rather than an election, because Althouse was working really hard to paint the protests as nothing more than a violent riot.
So, traditionalguy suggests cutting the football program. So your idea of saving money is to cut the biggest money maker in the athletic department? And, you point out that it is all male. How do you think the female sports are funded? Let me help you out. It is funded by revenue generated by the football and men's basketball programs.
Cook
No one is gloating over anyone losing their job. I'm as sympathetic to the folks whose jobs need to be cut due to budget constraints as I was to the baseball coaches who lost their jobs when Madison shut down its baseball program in 1991. I hope they can find other work and those who need assistance during the transition should receive it.
Stop your moral preening and grow up.
How much do think you will gain in your taxes from this budget cut?
Doesn't matter how much they get, the important thing is that a whole lot of lefty liberal libtards who live in Madison lose their job. That is the important takeaway for them.
For most Althouse supporters it isn't about what they get but rather how much they can fuck over other people. That is what they truly celebrate, and they celebrate it loudly. The comments, on this thread and others, speak for themselves.
You can't even buy Walker's crappy book with the tax savings. And the UW System gets whacked 300 million because of budget constraints we were promised only months ago didn't exist.
" are not drawing down six figure salaries and most of them are already "living like the rest of (you)."
I nominate you to donate 50% of your income to solve the problem. The taxes and fees, just like in Ferguson Mo, are impacting the poor more than the rich by far. Fake sympathy is making you feel good about yourself. That's all.
No one is gloating over anyone losing their job
Comments at 9:30, 9:36, 9:38, 9:52 and 9:55 says otherwise. And that's just within the first 30 minutes.
Heaven forbid a professor gets asked to actually be in the classroom more than 6 hours a week. And, there is certainly room for large cuts to administration staff. How about consolidating services between universities?
Small animal vets are more popular because they make a lot more money that large animal/ agricultural vets. Pet owners are very emotional by nature and are willing to spend money on ridiculous treatments and spend money very foolishly. Farmers make their decisions based on the economics of the treatment. Pet owners will spend thousands to save a pet that can be replaced for a few hundred dollars. Farmers will write off the loss and move on to another animal if the treatment is too expensive. Good luck changing that dynamic.
Robert Cook said...
Those who answered my question confirmed my guess: you're selfish assholes."
The true definition of a selfish asshole is one who deems himself entitled to other people's money just because he needs or wants it. Thank you for exposing yourself.
Garage,
Check the Walker book out from the library and buy yourself a beer with the tax savings.
Oh, by the way, had Barrett won taxes would have been raised. There is no question of that.
The Republican Legislature would have raised taxes, no question?
Robert Cook said...
Those who answered my question confirmed my guess: you're selfish assholes.
Who's stopping Robert Cook from creating his KickStarter to fund people laid off due to these budget cuts? Which one of you is preventing Robert Cook from donating his money to that worthy cause?? Knock it off, guys, and let Robert Cook spend his money in the way he'd like--I'm sure he's not claiming some sort of moral right to spend other people's money the way he wants, so it must be the case that he's upset you're making it difficult to be generous with his own funds (somehow).
I actually don't see how the janitorial staff could be cut here. It's been whittled down over the past 30 years (Wow I've been here a while). When I was in grad school you would always, always see janitors at night -- I think there were three or four people who worked in the building where I got my degree, and garbage cans were also empty. Nowadays, we have garbage emptied every week; I think one or two people work here regularly, which might not mean every night. (Not being a grad student anymore, I'm not here at night much ;) so interpret my comments appropriately).
Funny how Cookie never wrings his hands at the human consequences of depressed economic growth rates and inhibited job formation caused by his fellow socialist meddling.
Funny how he never sheds a tear for the small business person forced into bankruptcy or forced out of business by, say, the gay marriage Nazis, or the EPA Nazis, or the looters in Ferguson, or the ACA mandate, or by "living wage" mandates in progressive cities that are already shuttering business - and taking real jobs with them. REAL jobs, as opposed to taxpayer-subsidized libtard sinecures for parasites living off the Union Dues-Democrat Party-Public Employee Payroll triangle trade.
According to the UW-M budget online, the total annual budget is just shy of $3 billion. The state contributes 17%, or $497 million. $90 million is 18% of the state contribution but only 3.5% of the total budget.
Meh.
Hmm,
California resident, but the issues are the same here. I wish we had the same dynamic happening here, because we need it even more than Wisconsin.
As for why any conservative wants this, well, I am a repeat customer of the UC system, full resident fees with no aid, and this sort of thing would probably have saved me quite a lot.
It would have made all the scholarships and financial aid go further, and all the college loans smaller, so I and my ilk aren't the only beneficiaries. The biggest benefit would have gone to those students least able to afford college.
So job losses and budget cuts finally impact the world of non profits- welcome to the real world.
PointPlace said... Pet owners will spend thousands to save a pet that can be replaced for a few hundred dollars. Farmers will write off the loss and move on to another animal if the treatment is too expensive. Good luck changing that dynamic.
That's an argument that there really isn't a shortage of ag vets, though--that the reason for a lower demand for ag vets is a consequence of market forces (lower amount demanded at any given price due to buyer preference and/or budget constraints). I took a shortage of ag vets as a given from the premise/initial question.
It may be true that the ag vet and pet vet markets are very different w/r/t demand for given services (or at given prices), but the supply-demand relationship would still hold (just at different prices).
Obert Cook, Garage, madisonfella, et al. could benefit greatly, I think, from reading Jung Chang's biography, "Wild Swans" about life under Mao.
"you're selfish assholes."
People who don't want government wasting their money = selfish assholes
People who want to take other people's money and piss it away = angels
Yeah.
"Office for Equity and Diversity
-- 8 staff persons
Office of Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Student Success
-- 8 staff persons"
And there are lots of others just like these, buried throughout the organization. Not one of them produces anything of educational value. Not one. But if you object to paying any of these parasites, you're a selfish asshole.
None of it has anything to do with education. It's highly paid make-work. The peasants are tired of this crap.
What about a 10% pay cut for every member of the teaching staff?
Has this been considered, or even proposed?
Robert Cook said...
...while families will suffer, local businesses who serve the soon-to-be-layed-off will suffer, and the local economy in general will suffer...
So we need to keep breaking windows at the same pace, otherwise the economy will suffer?
mccullough wrote -
"...and get rid of veterinary school."
Now there's a brilliant move for "The Dairy State."
I hope you were being sarcastic.
This will come as a genuine shock to Cookie and madisonfella, but out in the real world people who work hard and do a good job for their company wind up getting laid off through no fault of their own all the time.
Maybe their company decided for strategic reasons to get out of a line of business. (Did you weep for the managers and UAW workers who lost their jobs when GM, in response to Obama's mandates, closed Pontiac and Saturn?) Maybe that part of their firm (or the entire firm) was wiped out by a disruptive technology, or by more agile competitors. (Did you feel sorry for the laid off makers of IBM PCs? Or did you rush out to get your Mac or Wintel box?) Are you going to insist that Radio Shack remain open so its clerks and managers aren't laid off?
Last summer a reorganization at my company eliminated $17M worth of middle managers. Do you weep for them? Or were you dancing in the streets because they worked for a defense contractor?
If you want to make the case that UW-Mad (I really do love that acronym!) is so perfectly managed that everyone's job should be spared, please do. If you're only response is to hurl invective at everyone, then I can only surmise that Governor Walker is right -- there is plenty of fat to cut.
AAll over the country people see this and you know what a solid majority think?
Right on man. That's what they think.
Robert Cook said...
"I cannot understand the chorus of cheers for anyone being laid off or fired due to budget cuts, anywhere. Is it borne of anger by you who have been fired or laid off? If you giving thumbs up to layoffs are employed, why are you happy to hear of others losing their jobs?
Aside from the negative impact on the community of mass layoffs, don't you simply have compassion for those losing their income, and, for those to whom this applies, their healh insurance?"
I have a companythat has been operating for about 9 months. We grossed 400k in the last 7 months. We payed around half in various taxes. We are on the cusp of laying off the last 6 employees because we have more taxes to pay And we just can't afford to keep people.
Our employees actually help us produce something people want to buy. The administration at universities and many of the schools in the university produce nothing or they produce performing arts majors.
If I stay open and can keep my people employed we continue to make things people want. If I make a profit I will start another company and employ more people. Cutting wasteful spending at the University and allowing people like me to invest the capital creates far more jobs and wealth than pushing out performance arts majors.
MadisonMan said...
I actually don't see how the janitorial staff could be cut here.
Liberals are dirty people. Cut out the five most liberal departments ( Professors and students ) and your janitorial needs will go down disproportionately.
"This will come as a genuine shock to Cookie and madisonfella, but out in the real world people who work hard and do a good job for their company wind up getting laid off through no fault of their own all the time."
Of course, it's no shock at all, and it's always a tragedy. Does this make it appropriate to laugh and cheer at people losing their jobs through layoffs if those are jobs you don't think are sufficiently "real world" enough or if you don't think (or can't imagine) those people work hard and want to do good jobs?
Anyone with an ounce of humanity should always feel sorrow for any working person who is laid off. Period.
Anyone who laughs or cheers at any working person being laid off is a selfish asshole. Period.
Robert Cook said...
Those who answered my question confirmed my guess: you're selfish assholes.
How much do think you will gain in your taxes from this budget cut? My guess is you'll barely see it, if at all. And yet you cheer "others having to live like the rest of us," while families will suffer, local businesses who serve the soon-to-be-layed-off will suffer, and the local economy in general will suffer. Aside from faculty, and not even all of them, most people working in higher education are not drawing down six figure salaries and most of them are already "living like the rest of (you)."
2/12/15, 11:54 AM
Boy talk about missing the point. Those folks (if any) that might lose their employment will, if they have the skills, find other employment. If they don't they really weren't "filling" their prior position very well. What will not happen is that they will be taken out back and shot. They will simply loose a position that their employer thought could be either done without or better filled by another. Just like every other worker in the country.
In a normal economy where there is real growth, there is the opportunity for them to find other employment IF they have skills that others are willing to pay for. In our actual economy (Obamamy) things are a bit shakier but it is still the same prospect that ALL private sector workers face daily. If trash cans go un-emptied it will be due to those in power at the university determining that those are the positions least relevant to the core mission of the school. That will also be telling. If the "CEO" makes bad choices, they could be next to go. That is life.
As others have noted, you are free to donate as much of your own money as you wish, to the school to help them through this.
Those who answered my question confirmed my guess: you're selfish assholes.
How much do think you will gain in your taxes from this budget cut? My guess is you'll barely see it, if at all. And yet you cheer "others having to live like the rest of us," while families will suffer, local businesses who serve the soon-to-be-layed-off will suffer, and the local economy in general will suffer. Aside from faculty, and not even all of them, most people working in higher education are not drawing down six figure salaries and most of them are already "living like the rest of (you)."
This is fantastic and gives me the most joy of anything I have ever read here?
Somebody get Robert a new diaper.
Blogger Robert Cook said...
"Those who answered my question confirmed my guess: you're selfish assholes"
You are just another stupid socialist who doesn't see that the government doesn't actually make anything. It has to take the money from someone first. Selfish asshole indeed.
"Last summer a reorganization at my company eliminated $17M worth of middle managers. Do you weep for them? Or were you dancing in the streets because they worked for a defense contractor?"
Of course I "weep" for them. Everybody has to work, and if someone has to work for a defense contractor to make a living, that's their burden to bear. I am sorry when anyone is laid off, especially now, when jobs that pay living wages are tough to come by.
How much of an extreme anarchist does one have to be in order to view a legal and valid recall election as an attempt to violently overthrow the government?
Then again, if the commentator from the east coast only got his Wisconsin political news from this blog then it makes sense why he thinks it was a "putsch" rather than an election, because Althouse was working really hard to paint the protests as nothing more than a violent riot.
Who said that toots?
@Cookie, the notion that a university administrator is necessarily a "working person" as I understand the term is pretty much refuted by experience.
CWJ,
Is Madison the only veterinarian school in the country?
Is there some reason someone who wants to heal cows needs to pay to study Kant?
Let agri businesses train veterinarians. We don't expect Madison to teach soldiers how to fire a weapon.
"Last summer a reorganization at my company eliminated $17M worth of middle managers. Do you weep for them? Or were you dancing in the streets because they worked for a defense contractor?"
Of course I "weep" for them. Everybody has to work, and if someone has to work for a defense contractor to make a living, that's their burden to bear. I am sorry when anyone is laid off, especially now, when jobs that pay living wages are tough to come by.
So, lemme get this straight. You're basically weeping around the clock 24/7. Or do you like do one weep for everybody? And if so, what is the frequency of your weeping?
It's revealing that it is so hard to google things like "UW budget" and actually find a detailed budget.
I have noticed most school districts etc go to great lengths to hide or not disclose historical budget info.
I think we need a law that mandates evry non-profit put their actual P&L's on line for the latest five years and make it easy to locate on their home page. That goes for govt agencies too.
When the Ivies lost big hunks of their endowments in 08/09 their big donor alumni closely watched the who what where and hows of the cuts the schools made since you can judge the quality of management at any institution by how well it deals with adversity.
I'd wager UW targets cuts for maximum political impact- kids, puppies and the folks who clean the bathrooms.
Robert Cook said...
"Last summer a reorganization at my company eliminated $17M worth of middle managers. Do you weep for them? Or were you dancing in the streets because they worked for a defense contractor?"
Of course I "weep" for them. Everybody has to work, and if someone has to work for a defense contractor to make a living, that's their burden to bear. I am sorry when anyone is laid off, especially now, when jobs that pay living wages are tough to come by.
2/12/15, 12:43 PM
AAAAGGGggggghhhhhhhhh! Damn! I was hoping against hope that, that complete BS phrase would not show up during this thread. What the H@LL does "living wage" mean? A wage does not breath, it does not have a heart beat, and it does not bread. A wage is not alive. It is simply the amount a person earns for the tasks they perform for others. If YOU feel that the compensation you get is too little, do better. Make yourself worth more or find a better paying job.
That phrase is simply liberal speak for "give them more money than they are worth".
To borrow and edit an old song from a very old TV series 77 Sunset Strip...
Cookie Cookie lend me your comb..
Cookie Cookie lend my your bank account.
I would start cutting with the UW Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, staffed by 18 “scientists” and over a dozen support staff.
http://www.news.wisc.edu/23437
Ann featured this last week on the blog.
These people really need to be doing something productive.
"Those folks (if any) that might lose their employment will, if they have the skills, find other employment. If they don't they really weren't 'filling' their prior position very well."
You don't really seem to see what is taking place in America. Lies from Washington aside, jobs that pay well are disappearing from America. You blithely assume anyone laid off who "has skills" will easily and quickly find new, equally remunerative jobs. How many of those laid off are at an age where they are seen as "less valuable" than younger workers, and who will have a tough time finding new jobs, if at all. (In the place where I work, I have seen resumes for entry-level jobs coming from people with work experience in high-level managerial positions. If the jobs are so plentiful out there, why would a former manager, used to managing staffs of people, apply for a beginner's job?)
When you wake up in the not so far off day when you look around and see we have become a third-world country, with a tiny population of very rich people living in secure communities, and the rest of us in poverty and rags, you will be dumb-founded and will wonder WTF happened.
"MadisonMan said...
Oh, by the way, had Barrett won taxes would have been raised. There is no question of that.
The Republican Legislature would have raised taxes, no question?"
The alternative would be massive cuts in programs. Additional furloughs. And no $1 billion in tax cuts. Because the $3.6 billion had to come from somewhere. More taxes, or lower costs. The budget MUST balance.
How's that?
Walker is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to find out if wind turbines make people sick. That right there would ave a few janitorial positions?
No, Todd...a "living wage," petty grammatical concerns aside, has an obvious meaning: a wage that is sufficient such that he or she who earns it can afford to live in the community where he or she works...to be able to pay rent, buy groceries, afford his or transportation to or from his job, and so on.
When you wake up in the not so far off day when you look around and see we have become a third-world country, with a tiny population of very rich people living in secure communities, and the rest of us in poverty and rags, you will be dumb-founded and will wonder WTF happened.
I will know WTF happened. Progressives happened.
Where this makes a difference -
A friend of my daughter, who went to a UC, was accepted to a UC as well, in a very challenging and desirable technical major, but could not afford the fees (and did not want to take on $100K of debt, which is very wise). So she had to make do with assembling a BS from state (CA has TWO public university systems) and community college classes. Shes a bright kid and will do well, but she would certainly have launched her career better and faster had UC been more affordable. This would have been a productivity plus for everyone. Multiply her by many, many thousands and its easy to see the benefit of affordability, and the cost of inefficiency.
Robert Cook said...
When you wake up in the not so far off day when you look around and see we have become a third-world country, with a tiny population of very rich people living in secure communities, and the rest of us in poverty and rags, you will be dumb-founded and will wonder WTF happened.
2/12/15, 12:54 PM
Not I. I will be surprised not one bit. I do believe that folks like you, that have push this top-down, nanny state system that treats the law as a convenient weapon and selectively supports rights will be simply because you all think you will be exempt instead of realizing that you folks will be exactly the people your "wonderful, new government" will line up first...
"@Cookie, the notion that a university administrator is necessarily a 'working person' as I understand the term is pretty much refuted by experience."
Big Mike, anyone who has to work for wages to pay his bills is a working person, even if some of those jobs do not suit your notion of what "working" is.
"...I do believe that folks like you...think you will be exempt...."
To the contrary, I have great concern for the future, and for my future, given the way of things today. I must assume most here who laugh and cheer at the job loss of others are the ones who assume they will be exempt from any dire fate themselves.
"I will know WTF happened. Progressives happened."
See? You won't know WTF happened.
Robert Cook said...
No, Todd...a "living wage," petty grammatical concerns aside, has an obvious meaning: a wage that is sufficient such that he or she who earns it can afford to live in the community where he or she works...to be able to pay rent, buy groceries, afford his or transportation to or from his job, and so on.
2/12/15, 12:58 PM>
That is a self-correcting problem, if allowed to run its course. If costs get to high in an area for people in specific jobs to live, they leave for more affordable areas, the pool of available labor goes down and either the jobs wind up paying more to attract workers or the businesses move. I assume (could be wrong) that you also support minimum wage laws for the same wrong reasons you support "living wages"?
I cannot understand the chorus of cheers for anyone being laid off or fired due to budget cuts, anywhere. Is it borne of anger by you who have been fired or laid off? If you giving thumbs up to layoffs are employed, why are you happy to hear of others losing their jobs?
I don't shrink from cheering...particularly if the right folk are shown the door.
As a starter, anyone working in a department that was created in the last 30 years and ends with the word Studies is a candidate for immediate cost savings by a reduction in force.
We can start with Queer Studies, Critcal Race Studies, and Womyn's Studies. That should free up some cash, and I suspect most folks would rejoice.
And all tenure track faculty can certainly be expected to teach an additional course per semester. At the state university at which I teach a business law course as an adjunct, the tenured and tenure track faculty are only required to teach 3 courses and they get release time for paper research. It is very unusual to see any of them on campus more often than 2 days a week....preferably Tuesday and Thursday. There are adjuncts who teach 5 courses per semester, who publish, and who are paid very considerably less than the tenured/tenure track faculty.
The taxpayers deserve a better deal for their money, and the students deserve a far better educational outcome then a major in Gender Studies and Queer Lit.
- Krumhorn
"The mission of a State University is - or should be - to meet the future needs of the State."
No, the stated mission of UW is not that. I'm not going to track back to the Althouse post, but someone on Walker's staff tried to change it to something like that and Walker got burned for it.
The economic approach that preserves jobs come what may, especially public employment, leads nowhere. Argentina was under such a system for decades and has stagnated. Europe has massive job protections and most of it has huge structural unemployment, particularly among youth.
The US has indeed suffered from stagnation in labor markets, with declining labor force participation (among youth especially) and stagnated wages. Not coincidentally, the rate of business formation and small business survival has also collapsed. This is paralleled with a great increase in bureaucracy, government intervention on multiple levels in labor markets and government oversight of business operations, again on multiple levels. The connections seem obvious.
Anyone who laughs or cheers at any working person being laid off is a selfish asshole. Period.
This is pure theater on behalf of UW. Has anyone in the media asked about the $600,000+ slush fund they reported last year? You remember, the fund they built by raising tuition each year at twice the rate of inflation? This is about the money they desperately wanted to hide from the state. Walker wants them to use some of it, UW wants to keep is stashed away.
Dr. Cook: "You don't really seem to see what is taking place in America. Lies from Washington aside, jobs that pay well are disappearing from America."
You really don't seem to realize that the cost of government jobs is paid by people doing those jobs, and there aren't enough rich people to feed government. It's like having someone on payroll that you can't fire whether they are actually doing useful work or not, or performing well or not, while sales is shrinking. It's like a union.
"Those folks (if any) that might lose their employment will, if they have the skills, find other employment. If they don't they really weren't 'filling' their prior position very well."
You don't really seem to see what is taking place in America. Lies from Washington aside, jobs that pay well are disappearing from America. You blithely assume anyone laid off who "has skills" will easily and quickly find new, equally remunerative jobs. How many of those laid off are at an age where they are seen as "less valuable" than younger workers, and who will have a tough time finding new jobs, if at all. (In the place where I work, I have seen resumes for entry-level jobs coming from people with work experience in high-level managerial positions. If the jobs are so plentiful out there, why would a former manager, used to managing staffs of people, apply for a beginner's job?)
When you wake up in the not so far off day when you look around and see we have become a third-world country, with a tiny population of very rich people living in secure communities, and the rest of us in poverty and rags, you will be dumb-founded and will wonder WTF happened.
Your tears cheer me.
How much do think you will gain in your taxes from this budget cut?
Every nickel I get to keep is an advantage to me.
Look. They take the kings shilling they have to dance to the kings tune.
Scott Walker said the average household will receive over $800 worth of property tax relief spread out over four years.
My 2014 property taxes are down almost $800 compared to the last year under Doyle. And that is just for 2014. My taxes have gone down every year under Walker. They went up every year under Doyle. If "Doyle like" governance would have continued, all that savings (and much more) would now be in the hands of the state.
If you are dissatisfied with your tax situation, perhaps you live in an area that rushed to sign teacher (and other public employee) contracts instead of using the tools provided by Act 10. Whatever the case, to assume that many people in this state haven't seen considerable reductions in their tax burden is ridiculous.
My taxes went down under Walker, AND, my health insurance premiums skyrocketed under Obama!
Looking solely at the academic departments:
We have three different departments called African Languages and Literature, African Studies and Afro-American studies.
One can be eliminated, two can be merged.
American Indian Studies. I think we should have all of these things, but it doesn't have to be at UW.
Art, Art Education and Art History are all different departments. Merge Art Ed into Education, Art history into history.
We have three separate "Centers for Asian Studies:" East Asian, South Asian and Southeast Asian. Merge SE Asian into East Asian. South Asian is a different animal and probably needs its own study center.
A department for Asian American Studies.
And we're not even out of the As!
Celtic Studies. I love that shit, but UW doesn't need a degree program in it. If they have it at all it should be in Milwaukee, not Madison. Or work something out with Illinois or a university in St. Paul/Minneapolis, where Daithi Sproule and Paddy O'Brien are. Those two could run a program by themselves a lot cheaper than the UW. And it would be better.
Chicano/a and Latina /o studies. Merge into Spanish department, or History/Sociology.
Consumer science. What the hell is that?
Dance. I love dance, but willing to throw it overboard as a degree program if need be.
We have two departments called "Education Leadership and Policy Analysis and Educational Policy Studies."
Why?
"Folklore Program." Lulz.
Gender and women's studies. They have made a mockery of themselves. Scrap and start over.
Two different departments: "Global Cultures" and "Global Studies."
Two different departments: "Hebrew and Semitic Studies" and "Jewish Studies." There's another "middle east studies" department. Consolidate. Hell, make the Muzzies and Jews share the same offices. It's good for them.
"Integrated liberal studies." What is that?
"Philosophy." Well, obviously we can't trust Marquette with it, so so be it.
It's like the management scheme at Beldar Paper! Where's Gordon Gekko when you need him?
garage mahal said...
"My taxes went down under Walker, AND, my health insurance premiums skyrocketed under Obama!"
The funny part is garage thinks he made a pithy point.
I don't think anyone should cheer the idea of someone losing their job for budget reasons, but it can often be a necessary evil. University budgets have gotten out of control over the years, and one reason is new admin positions of dubious value (diversity officers???). We complain about how we can't afford to maintain our roads, or how tuition is getting less and less affordable. And of course no one wants to pay more in taxes (only people much richer than me should pay more in taxes!) so what's left is cut where you can and it'll do the least damage to the institution.
When you wake up in the not so far off day when you look around and see we have become a third-world country, with a tiny population of very rich people living in secure communities, and the rest of us in poverty and rags, you will be dumb-founded and will wonder WTF happened.
You know, Commies have been telling us that this is going to happen for over 100 years. It hasn't happened yet, because it can't happen.
Those rich people wouldn't be making the money they do if they didn't have lower and middle class customers paying for things that the rich produce. If they're all poor, the rich become poor as well.
The fact that something that blatantly obvious completely escapes you, a man with some intelligence, says something about the reasoning part of your brain.
Gm you really should get out more about the turbines. There are issues in Europe especially with the breeding habits of certain animals.
Fewer Soft studies students, more stem.
See? You won't know WTF happened.
No fool like a lefty fool. Always remember this, Cookie, when you lie to yourself you are the easiest person to fool.
Anyone who laughs or cheers at any working person being laid off is a selfish asshole. Period.
Of course, in their eyes it isn't a "working person" who just lost their job. Rather it just another "libtard parasite" who is getting the axe, hence their cheers and laughter.
Of course, in their eyes it isn't a "working person" who just lost their job. Rather it just another "libtard parasite" who is getting the axe, hence their cheers and laughter.
There are a few who are cheering. But most of the comments who agree with these cuts have explained why they feel this way. But feel free to stick with the caricature you've created.
Elections have consequences.
One consequence is Inga, Bitchtits, and the unrepentant Stalinist Cooktard are showing massive butt hurt and pitching a hissy fit today on this blog.
This makes me smile.
Send in the two Bob's.
Fun facts.
About the UW System
Enrollment: Approximately 180,000
Annual Budget: $6 billion
State Funding: $1.2 billion
Gifts, Grants and Contracts: $1.5 billion
$90M = 1.5% of $6G.
$6G/180K = $33,333 / student.
$6G - (1.2+1.5) = $3.3G from other than state+grants = tuition?
$3.3G/180K = $18,333 / student.
Oh cripes, kindly fuck off.
I can't imagine you guys were crying in your tea cups when the military was cut under Clinton. Those poor jobs! And given how you guys do every thing you can to eliminate fracking and oil - aka the only damn industry in the country that seems to continue to grow jobs despite everything left throws at them - you don't give a shit about 'working men' either.
You idiots trump mass-migration while claiming to stand up for the value of the unskilled laborer. You talk about being 'citizens of the world' while then screaming that corporations aren't doing their patriotic duty when they remove themselves from your bullshit.
You stand in the way of every possible change to business that could possibly innovate. You're the assholes bitching about textbooks on iPads because there's a blind kid who won't benefit.
Hell, I would bet my last dollar that if I invented a machine that could literally make bread out of thin air, could quite literally solve the world's hunger problems by pure technomagic, that your special group of misanthropes would have me shut down - putting too many people of out business, don'tcha know. And totally out of compliance with the FDA.
But instead, you want to morally preen on the basis that you're willing to take money from Peter to pay Paul. Good on you!
And to top it all off, you're the most anti-progressive force on the planet... which is why I suppose you feel the need to steal the word, kind like Democratic Republics all over the world. By your logic, we'd still have to run any innovation past the pointy stickmakers guild and the association for uniform standards of cave dwellings lest we upset the balance of commerce and industry.
Luddites, Misanthropes, Hypocrites, and Liars. I won't laugh at the poor third-shifter at UW who's going to get cut to save a bureaucrat, but you can be damn sure that I'll cheer every single time one of your lot is kicked to the curb by the rest of society.
Which is still much, much, more compassion and mercy I can expect from you and yours.
Fritter. Perfectly named individual to help find the waste that could have been found before. I suppose they frittered away the opportunity.
Of course, in their eyes it isn't a "working person" who just lost their job. Rather it just another "libtard parasite" who is getting the axe, hence their cheers and laughter.
Actually, what will happen at UW-Mad is that genuine working people will be laid off and the libtard parasites will find a hole to hide in.
1865: Unemployment skyrockets throughout the southern United States, northern selfish assholes continue to crow about it to this day.
1913: Henry Ford causes the inevitable collapse of the buggy industry. Today, selfish assholes worldwide continue to use his evil product.
1945: Millions of government employees laid off. Selfish assholes from Los Angeles to Leningrad celebrate.
1991: The year people cheered the suddenly unemployment of a vast army of bureaucrats and peace officers across eastern Europe, simply because they were selfish assholes who liked seeing people unemployed.
How about means-testing for tuition? It's not fair that a poor kid has to pay the same fee as an upper-middle class kid.
Would anyone here go for that?
"I don't think anyone should cheer the idea of someone losing their job for budget reasons, but it can often be a necessary evil."
Brando, I can't disagree with you. I understand that sometimes, budgetary concerns require layoffs.
My response was to those who were gloating at the idea of people being laid off en masse. I find that to be incomprehensible. We are not living at at time in this country where good jobs--any jobs--are plentiful, and the notion of being gleeful at others being unemployed, being in financial straits, losing their medical care, and with no certainty when or if they will find other jobs of any kind, much less equivalent jobs, is sickening to me. No matter what kind of flimsy excuses they proffer to justify their mean, petty, scurvy little selves, they are selfish assholes.
Cook - if conservatives are gonna be gleeful so what? Is god going to punish them for it? What are you going to do about it other then call them selfish assholes? Consequences man!
Elections have consequences. You should have known there would be budget shortfalls from the Republican governor.
Robert Cook-
It's not even selfish wishing for other people to lose their jobs. It doesn't benefit anyone directly. Sure, the money can get freed up, but that won't benefit any individual.
It really is nasty. I don't see anyone cheering when a corporation fails and everyone gets laid off. That's the same thing, because those resources are being redistributed. It can be good in the big picture, but not for the individual workers who lose their jobs.
"Gender and women's studies. They have made a mockery of themselves. Scrap and start over"
The only thing wrong with this is the last 3 words, which are unnecessary.
Places that are grant-funded won't see many layoffs, at least not of people doing grant-funded work. That would make no sense, as it would drive down tax collections and it would make it harder to get the work done promised by the grant-writer (Of course, this argument fell on deaf ears back in the days of the Doyle Furlough because, you know, fairness). Support staff should be, I think, more nervous.
In a real world, Assistant Deans and Vice Provosts and Assistant Vice Presidents and the like -- middle management -- would all be getting a pay cut or being laid off. Maybe that'll happen here, but I have my doubts. I don't think Deans will have their pay cut.
It's horrible for a manager to have to manage, actually, in times when money runs short.
"garage mahal said...
Elections have consequences. You should have known there would be budget shortfalls from the Republican governor."
garage stopping by to drop off more stupid. The budget shortfalls under Doyle were massive...and by the way shortbus, he cut UW funding by a similar amount first, and then came the furloughs to employees. Of course no tuition freezes either.
So the tax cut gambit failed, this failed. Keep trying.
"MadisonMan said...
It's horrible for a manager to have to manage, actually, in times when money runs short."
What a pile. The "managers" should live in the real world. Where you actually have to manage and the money is always tight, even when it's not.
On the topic of "wishing" for people to lose their jobs: Should the government give all of us jobs to keep us employed? Jobs for which there is no need and people must pay taxes to fund?
Exactly.
"When you wake up in the not so far off day when you look around and see we have become a third-world country, with a tiny population of very rich people living in secure communities, and the rest of us in poverty and rags, you will be dumb-founded and will wonder WTF happened."
Are you talking about Detroit? Cause this is the story of this DNC controlled city. They've got everything they wanted there - and the city fell apart.
"My response was to those who were gloating at the idea of people being laid off en masse. I find that to be incomprehensible."
If our hope comes true, and people in "studies" and "diversity" get axed, then it is for the good of the country - the useless pigs living off other people's money will get a sense of reality. And maybe some of them can become useful members of society. Is it evil to support this?
"Big Mike, anyone who has to work for wages to pay his bills is a working person, even if some of those jobs do not suit your notion of what "working" is."
It's silly to assume that everyone who get's paid a wage in a university is "working", let alone creating wealth. Agreed? For example, what is the "work" of "diversity administrator"? Isn't better described as something opposite of work useful for community?
"Robert Cook said...
When you wake up in the not so far off day when you look around and see we have become a third-world country, with a tiny population of very rich people living in secure communities, and the rest of us in poverty and rags, you will be dumb-founded and will wonder WTF happened."
This is to ignore reality. As we as a nation lurch left, and the government provides more and more social programs, the middle class erodes. You can see that over the last six years. That's a fact. Your theories are bullshit.
Using Fernindande's stats, I am going to estimate the UW system has 45,000 employees for its 180,000 students. They could have cut payroll by an average of $2,000 per employee to satisfy the $90 Million cut. But no, that would have been too simple- instead they had to make it into an existential war with the governor.
CGeorge, my final comment was supposed to be a sarcastic comment on state-funded Managers. Next time I'll add a sarcasm tag.
"Robert Cook said...
"When you wake up in the not so far off day when you look around and see we have become a third-world country, with a tiny population of very rich people living in secure communities, and the rest of us in poverty and rags, you will be dumb-founded and will wonder WTF happened."
Because eventually you socialists will tax me out of business. I am within a week of making that decision now. If I had even half of the $200,000 I paid/owe in taxes we would have probably 2-3 more people working right now and the other 6 would be getting raises.
But I live in the real world. When my business runs out of money I lay people off and it closes. I can't go take more money from people. I have to get customers to willingly give me money.
It hurts me when I have to lay people off. There is a direct line between university people losing jobs and me being able to keep more of my people. When I create a job there is a multiplier. They give me their productivity and I generate profit. I reinvest profits. When the government takes my money they flush it down the toilet by hiring psychology professors and diversity managers.
Every time a womyn's studies professor or diversity coordinator loses their job it is a victory. For every job lost in the Asian studies department I will make 3 with the taxes I get to keep.
I think at least some of us wonder why a 2.5% budget cut immediately necessitates eliminating staff.(even if some are of questionable value). Can't that cut be spread in a "fair share" manner across the board? Is there a single employee that would choose unemployment over a 2.5% wage/benefit cut?
Considering many of the UW staff seem to fall under "civil servant" arrangements, do they also have the automatic job title/income advancement based on time logged?
As a student, I worked in a department that had an equipment "wish list" for the occasions when they came under budget and would be directed to spend down so as to maintain expected increases the following year. Does this still exist?
Considering costs of higher ed have been significantly outpacing inflation for years, decades..how unreasonable at this point would it be to endure the low single digit cut in state aid and forge ahead with budgets and tuition upper limited to the rate of inflation?
Curious George blames Walker's budget mess on....wait for it.... Doyle. Drink! Surprised he didn't blame Mary Burke.
I've never been part of an organization, big or small, that didn't have at least 5% waste in its budget.
Welcome to the world the private sector has enjoyed since fourth quarter of 2008. Enjoy. My only advice is to always work as if your job is never safe.
Here's another thought. Think if Wisconsin liberals had allowed the state to be even more friendly to economic economic growth and job creation. Had that happened, the government would have had more money to invest in education. The college educated really should be better at understanding cause and effect.
"garage mahal said...
Curious George blames Walker's budget mess on....wait for it.... Doyle. Drink! Surprised he didn't blame Mary Burke."
I did no such thing. I was just pointing out what a mess it was under Doyle. He raised taxes a billion dollars. Walker cut them by a billion. Both slashed the UW budget, but Walker froze tuition so they wouldn't stick it up the ass of young people or their parents. Doyle let them raise tuition. Government worker furloughs under Doyle, no need under Walker. Doyle stole money from the transportation fund to blalaance his budget...Walker paid it all back.
You really are a moron.
---If he was telling the truth then most people would have seen a decrease of about $200 last year. But that's a big "if", seeing how Slippery Scott's claim has been rated as Mostly False.
I observe you have no citation to your counter-factual post.
from your lefty NYT
The end result would be a $131 reduction a median home’s tax bill this December
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/19/us/wisconsin-assembly-passes-governors-tax-cut-plan.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/24/us-usa-tax-wisconsin-idUSBREA2N1KX20140324
And remember this was Wisconsin where we’ve seen years and years of tax increases.
---How much of an extreme anarchist does one have to be in order to view a legal and valid recall election
Lets not forget that 10s of thousands of union workers - many of them from let us say physically aggressive unions - were marching around the capital along with hard core communists displaying Walker Nazi signs. That the Capital building was breached and raucous crowds occupied it for weeks. That State Legislators were seriously threatened with harm and violence and crowds were rocking their buses.
Peaceful recall - three card monty.
I was just pointing out what a mess it was under Doyle.
.
Dayton inherited bigger deficits than Walker did, but has a billion dollar surplus, without whacking education and social services. You're a loser just like your hero.
Achilles said...
Because eventually you socialists will tax me out of business. I am within a week of making that decision now. If I had even half of the $200,000 I paid/owe in taxes we would have probably 2-3 more people working right now and the other 6 would be getting raises.
But I live in the real world. When my business runs out of money I lay people off and it closes. I can't go take more money from people. I have to get customers to willingly give me money.
It hurts me when I have to lay people off. There is a direct line between university people losing jobs and me being able to keep more of my people. When I create a job there is a multiplier. They give me their productivity and I generate profit. I reinvest profits. When the government takes my money they flush it down the toilet by hiring psychology professors and diversity managers.
Every time a womyn's studies professor or diversity coordinator loses their job it is a victory. For every job lost in the Asian studies department I will make 3 with the taxes I get to keep.
2/12/15, 7:51 PM
But, but, but that CAN"T be so! "Keynes"!
"Lets not forget that 10s of thousands of union workers - many of them from let us say physically aggressive unions - were marching around the capital along with hard core communists displaying Walker Nazi signs. "
What was it, 2 or 3 total signs that Althouse documented in a couple months of protests, on days with tens of thousands of people.
Yep, `all those Nazi signs' ... all 2 of them amid the 50,000 other signs.
That's much less than 2.5%.
"garage mahal said...
I was just pointing out what a mess it was under Doyle.
.
Dayton inherited bigger deficits than Walker did, but has a billion dollar surplus, without whacking education and social services. You're a loser just like your hero."
I see you have bailed on Doyle and have moved to your other heart throb Dayton. He raised taxes dumbass. Pretty easy to do. Fuck the taxpayer.
But since that seems to be your preference, you should get the old double wide off the jacks and head west on 94. Five hours or so and you're home. Tax hell nirvana garage. Do it. Today.
"This is to ignore reality. As we as a nation lurch left (sic) and the government provides more and more social programs, (sic) the middle class erodes. You can see that over the last six years. That's a fact. (sic) Your theories are bullshit."
Lurching left? Providing "more and more" social programs? Hahahaha! Talk about ignoring reality!
The middle class is eroding, to be sure, but it has nothing to do with poor people or the meager resources available to them via public assistance. The ranks of those who will need public assistance are growing as formerly middle class families fall into poverty. As the man says: follow the money. The guilty parties are, as always, the parasites who make up the richest of the rich, the 1% of the 1%--such as, for example, those "job creators" who earn billions while paying the workers (who make those billions for them) such pittances they are encouraged by their billionaire employers to seek public assistance to make up the difference--by which means the billionaire employers enrich themselves not only at the expense of their employees but at the expense of the taxpayers. (I'll give you a hint who I'm referring to: "Good night, John-Boy!")
Boy, that's rich! Hahahaha!
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