Last night the Oshkosh Common Council rubber stamped, with NO DISCUSSION, the purchase of Diebold touch screen voting machines. This paves the way for the placement of equipment in our polling places that the Diebold corporation ITSELF admits has security flaws that will not be worked out until after the September primaries. 28 members of the Winnebago County Board and all 7 members of the Oshkosh Common Council appear apathetic or oblivious to the fact that it is easier to rig an electronic voting machine than a Las Vegas slot machine.
The Council also approved, with Bryan Bain the only Councilor showing any real interest, the placement of over $100,000 worth of security cameras in Oshkosh buses. I suspected this council would have no concern for the "surveillance society" issues raised by bus cameras, but thought they would at least care about the expenditure when they are allegedly trying to save money. Absent any real need for the cameras--a need that was never demonstrated--we should not spend a dime on the technology.
Probably the most bizarre part of the evening was the presentation of an award by League of Wisconsin Munincipalities official Dan Thompson to State Senator Carol Roessler for her advocacy on behalf of their issues. Thompson seemed unaware that Roessler rarely visits the Oshkosh Common Council and has voted for budgets and levy freezes that have placed the city in its most difficult financial position in many years. To portray her as some kind of municipal heroine was nothing short of outrageous.
Strange days indeed.
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7 comments:
The common council behaves much more like a boardroom elected by stockholders working for a private corporation, than a council elected by the public to serve the public. We should not be surprised the mayors’ background is as a union busting CEO of an autocratic tyrannical institution known as a corporation. Burk T is an instructor at the College of exploitation on the UWO campus. Mattox, well Mattox just looks confused. Bain and Esslinger seem to try to live up to the title of “public servants”. Sheuermann is simply padding her resume by sucking up to the local business community, and the new guy McHugh, has not been around long enough for me to write something smug and sarcastic.
You know, that whole post started out to be plenty annoying but after watching the video, noticing how happy John and Yoko looked, well, I completely forgot to be annoyed. So if you find you have difficulty mobilizing people on this issue - blame it on Happy John and Happy Yoko.
Perhaps you have an excessive amount of nude women that ride the Oshkosh Transit System? That would account for a bunch of paunchy councilmen purchasing the Buscams.
And last but not least, you know I am married to Dan Thompson :)
Oshguy,
Let me play devil's advocate with you for a minute. We know that Oshkosh has lost tons of good paying, good benefit manufacturing jobs over the years, and they have been replaced mostly by lower wage jobs such as one finds in the service sector. That means we have had much less money flowing into the local economy, because a person making 8 bucks an hour just can't afford to shop as much as the person making 18 bucks an hour or more.
So don't you think it's in the best interest of Oshkosh to have more 18 dollar an hour jobs? people making that wage are more likely to be able to spend money in the local economy.
If we still had a thriving manufacturing sector I think most people would agree with your comment completely. But since that sector is mostly gone and is not coming back, and since the Fox Valley has NO strategy to keep young entrepeneurs here, don't you think we need to maintain 18 dollar an hour jobs wherever they exist, whether in the private OR public sector?
Maybe we should pay bus drivers $35 an hour. Think how much they could spend in the economy then!
Maybe there needs to be a shift in three areas:
1. Instead of asking a group "What would you like for a raise?" we should offer reasonable packages based on available funds.
2. Councils and Boards should get with the program and realize that budgets do not come with bottom-less checkbooks. You need to assess what you have for funds and distribute according to necessity, not what neighboring communities are doing.
3. Performance pay raises for EVERYONE!!! No more blanket raises that encourage lazibones from improving and discourage superemployee from doing his/her best. Set a goal and reach it, get a raise. Set a goal and sit on your thumbs, see ya!
Everyone wants what the public sector offers. The above are examples of the real world of employment and budgets. You do not get asked how much you want for a raise. You do not get a raise just because the earth is still rotating and Billy Bob got one last week. And you don't get more money if there isn't any. Harsh but true.
What is the perfect wage to drive a bus around Oshkosh? How do you know that is the perfect wage?
Do you even know the basic tenents of economics?
This is an easy question. The perfect wage is one where you have just enough people to fill the positions you need, in this case Oshkosh bus drivers, without a surplus of other wanting to fill that position. You know it's the perfect wage when you don't have anyone left who wants that job.
I would imaging there are thousands of qualified people in the area willing to drive a bus for $50.00 an hour. Maybe a thousand would drive for $18.00 an hour. Hundreds of qualified people may like to drive a bus for $15.00 an hour. Ideally you'd like to lower the wage until you have an equal number of jobs and qualified people willing to work that job. That is basically what private companies do to limit wasteful spending.
In any case, $18/hr bus drivers is very likely wasteful spending. You want that Zoo? You want that Museum? You want those Parks? Waste less and you'll have more money to spend on those things.
I'm not sure people would have such a problem with taxes if they weren't wasted in such a disgusting way.
Analyze,
If Oshkosh could get qualified people to drive their busses for $12/hr, do you think they should do it?
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