20 lies from Scott Walker

Cory Doctorow 5:32 am Sun Mar 6, 2011

A heavily-linked and cited list of 20 lies told by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker makes for good Sunday reading. The cynicism and manipulation from Walker and his handlers has been really depressing, an attack on hard-working people who earn less than their private-sector counterparts, who made concessions, and who are in no way responsible for the budget shortfall in the state.

Walker: claims that states without collective bargaining having fared better in the current bad economy.

The truth: According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, three of the 13 non-collective bargaining states are among the 11 states facing budget shortfalls at or above 20% (Texas, Louisiana, North Carolina). Another, South Carolina, comes in at a sizable 17.4%. Nevada, where state employees have no collective bargaining rights (but local employees do) has the largest percentage shortfall in the country, at 45.2%. All in all, eight non-collective-bargaining states face larger budget shortfalls than Wisconsin.

Walker: Public employees are more richly compensated than their public sector counterparts.

The truth: According to the Economic Policy Institute, wages and salaries of state and local employees are lower than those for private sector employees with comparable earnings determinants such as education and work experience. State workers typically are under-compensated by 8.2% in Wisconsin.

20 lies (and counting) told by Gov. Walker

(Thanks, @Sally_J!)

(Image: Wisconsin Pro-Workers Rally, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from wxmom's photostream)

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