Proposes no-tax-raise budget
Faced with a $3.6 billion deficit, Walker proposes his first State budget promising to fill in the gap without raising taxes. His budget reduces spending by $4.2 billion cutting more than $1.25 billion in aid to schools and local governments. He emphasizes that if the legislature passes his budget repair bill, then the aid will not be missed because governments will be able to cut contributions to employees’ health and pension plans. He is also cutting $500 million from Medicaid, $250 million from higher education, and eliminating 21,325 full-time state jobs.
We need a leaner and cleaner state government. As we decrease spending, we also increase flexibility so local government and state government have the tools to deal with reduced revenue.
No compromise
Unions agree to concessions on their benefits if Walker agrees not to take away their collective bargaining rights. A union director:
We are prepared to implement the financial concessions proposed to help bring our state’s budget into balance, but we will not be denied our God-given right to join a real union . . . we will not – I repeat we will not – be denied our rights to collectively bargain.
Walker refuses to compromise because collective bargaining prevents the flexibility governments need to manage their budgets.
It doesn’t work. My goal all along has been to give all these folks – I asked for it in the past – the tools to control their own budgets . . . I know as a (former) local official, collective bargaining time and time again was the thing that stood in the way of local governments and school districts being able to manage their budgets. Let’s not kid ourselves. The reality is, it’s about the money.
Tells Democrats to return
Democratic senators flee to Illinois so the Senate does not have a quorum to vote on Walker’s budget repair bill saying they need more time to debate and understand the bill. Senate minority leader Miller:
This is a watershed moment unlike any that we have experienced in our political lifetimes. The people have shown that the government has gone too far. . . . We are prepared to do what is necessary to make sure that this bill gets the consideration it needs.
Walker tells the Democrats to return to the state and
do the job they’re paid to do. It’s either a matter of making reductions and making modest requests of our government employees or making massive layoffs at a time when we don’t need anyone else laid off.
Refuses to negotiate
Walker refuses to negotiate with unions over his plan to reduce their benefits which will cost the average employee 8% of his or her salary.
I don’t have anything to negotiate. We are broke in this state. We have been broke for years. People have ignored that for years, and it’s about time somebody stood up and told the truth. The truth is: We don’t have money to offer. We don’t have finances to offer. This is what we have to offer.
Wants to limit union rights
Walker looks at many different legal options to limit employee benefits cost and weaken unions in order to balance the budget. Options include decertifying unions, not allowing unions to negotiate with the state, modifying current laws, and limiting or abolishing union rights. He wants to require employees to contribute 5% to their pensions and 12% to their health costs. Currently they contribute nothing to their pensions and only 4%-6% of health costs.
The bottom line is that we are going to look at every legal means we have to try to put that balance more on the side of taxpayers and the people who care about services. . . . You are not going to hear me degrade state and local employees in the public sector. But we can no longer live in a society where the public employees are the haves and the taxpayers who foot the bills are the have-nots.
Union leaders say they will fight if the state tries to modify laws governing state unions. A union director:
It’s too bad Scott Walker wants to destroy a law that assures the uninterrupted delivery of high-quality public services and has kept labor peace for more than three decades. We certainly prefer negotiation to confrontation.
Praises Born This Way
Carter praises Born This Way:
We’re just starting to play music for the label. We’re very excited about it. We’re starting to play a little for people and getting a feel for it, and she’s done an incredible job, a really incredible job.
Carter also says he and Gaga have yet to decide on how to market the album.
Well, you know what, it’s not where I go from a business standpoint, it’s more about where she goes creatively because, truth be told, we built the business around her creative infrastructure and that business that was built is unique to Lady Gaga.
Visits Indonesia
President Obama arrives in Jakarta on a brief trip to Indonesia, where he lived for four years as a child.
Obviously, much has been made of the fact that this marks my return to where I lived as a young boy. I will tell you, though, that I barely recognised it as I was driving down the streets. The only thing that was there when I first moved to Jakarta was Serena [a shopping mall]; now it’s one of the shorter buildings on the road.
Responds to Angelgate
Graham responds to the controversy by detailing what Y Combinator does. He doesn’t directly address Angelgate but says that he ‘realized recently that a lot of people don’t understand very well’ what the firm does. He describes the funding cycles and Demo Days, and includes feedback from one founder:
Most of the practical advice is redundant, but there’s value in it even as such—if you hear the same things over and over again from different angles, especially from prominent people, it tends to sink in more.
Sacca responds
Sacca replies to Conway:
I am having a hard time resolving the person I quite literally grew up with in this business, with the person who sent the email to which I am replying. Your anger and personal accusations hurt, and it is clear they are intended to
McClure responds
McClure talks to the BBC about what he says are inaccuracies in Arrington’s post:
I take exception to what Mike has said and the accusations he is throwing around. There are a lot of people working hard and to cast aspersions on what we do is… wrong. Most of these accusations might have fitted the industry 30 years ago but not today, not the last 12-24 months.
Mike is an excellent writer and he throws an awesome conference and this will boost his numbers but I will be concentrating on working 120% to help make my entrepreneurs and the companies I have invested in successful.
Interrupts Swift during VMAs
During the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, West interrupts Swift’s speech. Swift, who wins the award for Best Female Video (You Belong With Me), is beginning her acceptance speech when West storms the stage and takes the microphone from her.
Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’ll let you finish, but Beyoncé has one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!
West is referring to Beyonce’s video for Single Ladies. Swift:
I was standing onstage, and I was really excited because I’d just won the award, and then I was really excited because Kanye West was onstage. And then I wasn’t excited anymore after that.
Obama ‘jeopardizing security’
Pataki says he is concerned that President Obama is jeopardizing U.S. security.
There is no question in my mind he is jeopardizing our security. You cannot turn terrorists loose, turn them back to where they came from, and not expect them to engage in that activity again. We’ve already seen the example of a number of Guantanamo detainees who were released and returned to the battlefield, fighting our troops, fighting others who are trying to uphold the rule of law and defend freedom. So that clearly places us in jeopardy.
NYT: Fortune down to $4m
The New York Times reports McAfee’s fortune had plunged to $4 million from its $100 million peak, due largely to the real estate and stock market crashes that hit his investments. McAfee plans to auction off property in New Mexico to pay his bills.
I had no clue that there would be this tandem collapse.
England wins World Cup bid
The International Rugby Board votes 16-10 in favor of rubber-stamping the recommendation from Rugby World Cup Ltd (RWCL) that England should be the host for he 2015 World Cup, beating South Africa and Italy. It will be the second time England will host the competition, the last time being in 1991. Rugby Football Union chairman Thomas:
[The decision is] a relief, and also great joy for England…We have been trusted with making a great competition and providing a great spectacle, and delivering what the IRB needs in terms of host revenue…Australia did an immense job [in 2003], France raised the bar [in 2007] and we have got to raise it again. We have got some very iconic stadia and it will be tremendous for world rugby and immense for participation in England
The RFU says England will lay on the biggest World Cup to date, generating a surplus at least £60m larger than that of the other bids. Between the event’s running dates it says three million people will watch the games live at stadiums across the country. The stadia selected are Twickenham, Wembley and the Emirates Stadium in London, Old Trafford in Manchester, Newcastle’s St James’ Park, Anfield in Liverpool, Elland Road in Leeds, the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, Welford Road in Leicester, Kingsholm in Gloucester and St Mary’s Stadium in Southampton. The only stadium outside England to host matches will be Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, which will stage two quarter-finals and some pool matches.
Tabloid rumors untrue
Pike says rumors regarding her wedding to Wright being called off are untrue:
I still have no idea why Joe called off the wedding. He was never clear about it. Part of what makes it so confusing. Our Save the Date cards had been sent out; Save the Date cards which had a 1950s-style picture of the two of us in LA, taken by a friend at Christmas, done like an old-fashioned postcard with slightly unreal colours – we’d both designed it and the design was to make people laugh! Which it did! – but no invitations. My mother had to write to everyone to say that the wedding was no longer going to take place.
She says that reports she had sent wedding invitations featuring them in a hot tub are inaccurate, as are reports Wright was seen in a lapdancing club around the time the engagement was called off.
Refuses federal money
Walker refuses to ask for any federal money for county projects and programs even though Milwaukee County has large budget shortfalls including $300 million for park repairs, $43 million for transit and $300 million to rebuild its mental health complex. He feels that the county and country will be better off without federal money since it contributes to unbalanced budgets.
All we are asking for is ‘do no harm.’ I’m not asking for any new projects or things to be done here. . . . The last thing you want to do is put money in hands of government, if the goal is to pull the economy from recession.
Glad he wasn’t traded
After demanding a trade in May, Bryant now says he is glad he wasn’t traded from the Lakers:
I’m happy to be here. My guys and I — we have such a tight bond. Business and basketball sometimes can cloud things, but when you get here in your element and you’re around your teammates and just having a good time with them and thinking about them and not about the business of the game, that’s when it becomes fun.
Declares war on Facebook
Arrington warns Facebook after it hires Crunchbase’s product manager:
Stay the hell away from our employees, Facebook, and fill your employment quotas elsewhere. Anyone else, and I declare war.
Public transit disputes
County Executive Walker and Milwaukee Mayor Barrett argue over how best to use $91.5 million in federal money for transit. Walker opposes using money for rails, instead wanting road vehicles including hybrid express buses in designated lanes. Barrett sees wisdom in road vehicles but is adamant about building a three-mile street car circuit. Walker also proposes that sales tax revenue from automobile sales be used for transit.
Touts accomplishments
Walker touts his accomplishments in speeches that he is getting county government turned around. He has presented the board with five annual budgets without any tax increases, even though this year the county is projected to have a $40 million deficit, he has cut off overly generous pension benefits for new employees, cut the county workforce by almost 20%, and has returned $60,000 in his annual salary. He is pushing for a water park on the county’s north side, and approves of spending $300,000 to clean up lagoons in the parks. He has improved mental health services, encouraged heavier lakefront patrols, endorsed more than $300 million for development of the Park East freeway corridor, and negotiated a new labor agreement that included health insurance concessions. He has long term goals for the county. When asked about running for reelection:
It would be hard to imagine putting out a list of five-year plans without planning on being around in five years.
On the other hand, some criticize him for deterioration of county parks and facilities, rejecting some privatization ideas, and the county board having a strong record of overriding his vetoes.