A word from Wisconsin.

For those of you who watch the news, you've probably been seeing some stories about my home state and our governor's bid to, hell, I don't even know what he's all trying to do. Take away collective bargaining rights from state worker unions, and also privatize the state's power plants (read Matt Taibbi's Griftopia if you want to see how that sort of thing turns out), etc. etc. Here's how I'm going to nutshell it: he wants to pull a whole bunch of shit that he acts like will save the state money, when we all know it won't, and it'll all probably end up costing more money, and he's just a big jerk politician like all the rest of them, looking to hook up his friends with sweet gigs and maybe get a little national publicity for himself.

I'm not going to get into it any further, as this is not a political blog, and I don't know enough about anything that's going on to comment.* The older I get the more I see the wisdom of Matt Groening's Life Is Hell cartoon books, in which someone is always saying "mistakes were made." This is largely how I feel about politics these days, and our country in general. Mistakes have been made, by unions and management and state and national governments and individuals alike.**

Already this is too long a lead-in to what I really want to talk about: Paul Clemens's quiet little book Punching Out: One Year in a Closing Auto Plant.

I love Paul Clemens, and have ever since I stumbled across his superlative memoir, Made in Detroit. So when I saw this new book, I got super excited, because my favorite nonfiction authors only write so many books, and a new one is always exciting. (Come on, William Langewiesche and Tom Bissell--get writing!) I also thought this one was going to be an investigative work on actually working in a closing auto plant, and was eager to read Clemens's take on the labor situation.

What I got was something much different. And this post is too long already, so let's adjourn until next week--I'll actually try to get the book itself reviewed for Monday's post. In the meantime, do your homework: watch this clip of Clemens talking on The Daily Show.

The Daily Show - Paul Clemens
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

*I try to be informed--as a former librarian, of course, my work almost always depended on government largesse--so I've read some articles, and I've read enough books now to have a pretty good idea of what's going on nationally. But still: the more I learn, the less I realize I know, and the less I want to shout out what little I know. Hence my ambivalence toward the protests.***

**Actually, my favorite article about the whole fiasco has been the one in which it was pointed out that no one knows how much all the extra cop hours are going to cost, and who's going to pay them. Now THAT's how democracy works, baby!

***Don't yell at me. I've protested in my time, and it never goes well. Personally or in the larger scope of things.

Comments

[Care]

Actually, I was thinking just the other day that I might need to read a book on UNIONS - the history, the why's/whens/whats, etc and YOU are just the blogger who might have something to recommend. Of course, I want something FUN to read, too. Am I asking too much?

[Lee]

Thanks for all the info you've shared in this one post. I'm going to read Clemens's books. Great interview w/Stewart.

[Citizen Reader]

Care,
Well, that's a great question (re: unions) but I'm drawing a blank. I'll look into it though. When I read about these issues, I tend to read more about general labor history--something like David von Drehle's Triangle (about the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. fire) is fantastic, but not really a fun read. I also loved, loved, LOVED Louis Uchitelle's The Disposable American: Layoffs and their Consequences--about all of us losing even our white-collar jobs--but again, not a light read. What I liked about that one was how Uchitelle pointed out how both management AND workers often mismanage their funds.

Lee,
You're welcome. Let me know what you think of Paul Clemens. I'm going to re-read his memoir, I think, I remember I thought it was incredible.

[Brandon]

Screw unions. My job just had a vote on union representation, and we voted against it, thankfully. Unions are no better than politicians. These guys are dirty, even going so far as to change the rules in their favor--then they have the nerve to bitch about it when they aren't voted in. See? Just like a fucking politician.

Sorry for the rant. I'm just extremely anti-union. But come on--this union who wanted to represent us was going to people's homes and intimidating them into voting for the union. Fuck that.

[Citizen Reader]

Brandon,
Unions (in my opinion) are like any other institution run by humans: starts out of a need, gains power, becomes corrupt, loses power, arises again out of the same original need. Lather, rinse, repeat.
It is very wrong of anyone to use intimidation, even unions. I agree: fuck that. However, I hesitate to be too hard on unions, because I think they have done good things down through the ages. Let's face it, after all: management, unchecked, often does very bad things too.
Also: if Gov. Walker was really out to save money, or I believed he would, that would be one thing. But he's not. He's really just out to pit "us" against "them" (read: state/unionized workers against private sector) which is hilarious, considering that most people are now actually government workers but they won't admit it (read Taibbi for that too) for political gain. He'll end up spending more money than any Democratic governor would--just like Reagan and the Bushes spent more than any presidents ever. And it's all just a drop in the money bucket compared to the billions and trillions we spend on the military. Until we start to address that, I believe, union/non-union won't really make that much of a difference.
In the meantime: stay safe from your union.

[CR Fan]

So true, CR!

I heard about a woman discussing the crazy state workers the other day. She's in "risk management" in the banking industry (what risk, you may ask) and her partner works for a large HMO with many contracts for state workers, so between state premiums and TARP payments, I figure they work for the government as well. Gov. Walker may be right to ask for more contributions to health care premiums but he should also ask the HMO "to contribute" as well.

Please do not get me started on the military. I actually met a woman this week whose husband has been deployed to Iraq twice. Problems! Problems! How is this being funded?

As to WHAT is being funded, I do have a book to recommend:

Children of War: Voices of Iraqui Refugees, by Deborah Ellis.

Short read, and of course, we should be able to imagine something about what's in it, but we don't, so Ms. Ellis has helped us out.

[Savvy Working Gal]

As a fellow Wisconsinite I can't bring myself to comment on the goings on here cuz I'm just sick of it. My company's owners couldn't be more pro-Walker though I imagine they are a tad disappointed he hasn't pumped money into improving WI highways. (I work in the construction industry) They were counting on it. I have quite a few teachers in my family and several others who also work for unions, so like I said sick of it.

I am currently reading “Griftopia” based on your recommendation. It may be the most eye-opening book I've ever read. It’s all about money, political contributions and getting re-elected. Joe Bageant’s “Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America’s Class War is also quite good. I've read “Made in Detroit” and can't wait to hear what you have to say about Clemen's new book.

Today’s Jim Stingl column “Phone flub hangs up Walker” in today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reiterates your message: Walker took the fake Koch phone call because he thought it was a billionaire whose company’s political action committee gave $43,000 to his campaign last year and supports many conservative causes.

[Citizen Reader]

CR Fan,
Flattery will get you everywhere.
Health care is so broken that asking state workers to chip in more for their coverage, and thinking that will be the answer, is absolutely HI-larious.
Oh god, the Iraqi refugees book. I don't think I can do it this week. But thank you for the suggestion.

SWG,
I hear you, sister. If you're reading Griftopia, you know what Taibbi thinks of politics in this country: hey, everyone, look at the big circus! Look over here! Look over there! Look at the big media round-up! (But don't look at the men behind the curtain.) In two weeks the protests will be over and we'll all be looking at the next circus. I'm running out of the energy to look, that's all.

I'm guessing if Walker has friends/donors in the road biz, it'll get some money (even though there "isn't any"). That's not a rip on your business, just the nature of politics.

LOVED Deer Hunting with Jesus, by the way, everyone needs to read that book, and Griftopia, and John Bowe's "Nobodies." Between those three books there's enough education for a lifetime.