Because You Stayed Home

It is too bad your kid's [sporting event, dance class, spelling bee, doctor's appointment] "prevented" you from voting. It is too bad you couldn't take an hour away from homework, studying, or partying. It is too bad you just could not find the time to participate in the election. But now, it is too late. You may have been trying to make up some extra time at work to close the gap on your bills after the last round of budget cuts. You may have simply thought that it has been four years and nothing Scott Walker has done has personally impacted your life or your checking account. I have some bad news for you. Last time they stomped on teachers and gutted the schools, this time they are going to squeeze all of you.

Jeff Simpson posted yesterday about all the ways the criminal Republican government in WI, headed by Captain Baldspot are going to make your life harder. I hate to say I told you so, but you were probably too busy with your own life to predict just how much these thugs could get you. My exact words:

Look, to put it quite simply, republicans will make your life harder. Democrats may make bad calls, support bad policies from time to time, get persuaded of the wrong initiative, or succumb to corruption but that is not part of their platform. On the other hand, when republicans do those things it is by design. The GOP does not continue to clamor for more wars, lie reflexively about even the most trivial things, deregulate business, take kickbacks, privatize anything they get their hands on, or display stunning incompetence and fundamentalist ignorance in office because they are bad conservatives, but because they are good conservatives. This is what they want to do, and what they will keep doing every time we stay home.

 The ballots have barely been counted and the criminal government of WI is already unveiling how hard they are going to screw you and reward business. Don't worry, all you whiny, scaredy pants republican voters Scott Walker is only going to take part of your Social Security as your reward for supporting fascism. But if you have an interest in energy conservation or *gasp* drive a hybrid or dare to buy one, yeah, you're gonna get it good and hard.

The fee on vehicle purchases would be based on a percentage of the sale price and would apply to new vehicles but not used ones. It would add $800 to the price of a $32,000 car, Gottlieb said in a conference call with reporters.
In one of the most significant changes, Gottlieb is recommending altering how the gas tax — now 32.9 cents per gallon — is calculated. His plan would change the rate to 15.5 cents per gallon plus 8% of the average wholesale price of fuel. It would include a price floor to prevent the tax from dropping below a certain level.
The change would raise the price at the pump by about 5 cents per gallon, said Gottlieb. The typical driver would pay about $27 a year more in gas taxes because of it, he said.
The tax increase would be bigger for diesel fuel, rising by about 10 cents a gallon. That's aimed at having semitrailers and other heavy vehicles pay more because they put more wear on roads, Gottlieb said. Owners of passenger vehicles that use diesel fuel would be able to claim a credit to offset some of the fuel taxes they would pay.
The annual vehicle registration fee would remain flat, at $75 a year. But those who drive hybrid and electric vehicles would have to pay an additional fee of $50 a year. That is meant to ensure those drivers pay their share for roads because they use less fuel and thus pay less in gas taxes, Gottlieb said.

Why is it so hard to get through people's heads? If there is inflation, there are going to be tax hikes. It is just the nature of the beast that what government does takes labor and when prices go up people need to be paid more. Cutting compensation for public sector workers does not always fly, it usually is done subtly by increasing pay by less than inflation. It is only during special circumstances, such as Act 10 in WI, that republicans can cut compensation outright. When they claim to be "cutting government" it is usually just shifting things around such as what has been happening in education.

Deep down in their lizard brains, Republicans understand that schools are essential in some form. Not to educate children, beyond a certain point they just need to be warehoused somewhere and kept busy so parents can work and keep the economy and profits rolling. Why can't the job be done in a way that creates new profit streams? Profits that can be siphoned off into campaign coffers. Hence vouchers and charter schools and NCLB, win-win. No unions, no job security for teachers, little oversight from the community; what a great racket.

But that was last time, this time it is all about wringing any excess disposable income out of the population and deposit it directly into the accounts of major campaign contributors. First up to bat is the energy monopolies:

We Energies customers will pay a larger fixed charge on their monthly electric bills, and the utility will pay less for the power that customers generate with solar panels, state regulators decided Friday.
The increase in the fixed charge from about $9 to $16 a month was justified, the Public Service Commission decided in a 2-to-1 vote.
The decision, which will be finalized next month, came as the three PSC commissioners met in Madison to decide the Milwaukee utility's request to raise rates in January.
The preliminary bottom line for residential customers: a 1.8% increase in bills on average, though bills will rise more for customers who use less energy, PSC spokesman Nathan Conrad said. Bills will go up by another 0.8% in 2016.
Business customers will see a slight decrease in electric bills in 2015, the commission decided. Business customers would see an increase of about 1% in 2016, said Jeff Ripp, the commission's deputy administrator.

 If you are paying more for the same thing it is a tax right? This is what you get by staying home. Would things have been different under a Mary Burke administration? No one knows for sure because you were too busy to even try. This might have still occurred from inertia or the rationalizations detailed in the article, but you can be damn sure the campaign siphon still would have went to the same criminals.

Elections have consequences, and when you can't be bothered to show up the pain falls entirely on you. Not standing up to bullies might save you a bit of pain initially, but they get your lunch money all the same.