unions -- i work for the teachers' union in new york and i work for the airline union. it is the only way to get their pay, their health care, fair benefits -- fair pay, fair health care and benefits. we need to protect the unions to bargain for fair wages. we are not the problem. for example, tampa, florida, our governor still $50 million from medicare. he was convicted and now he is governor. i also have lived in california and our bay bridge is being built by bechtel to become earthquake proved -- 10 years and billions of dollars. another thing -- thing draining our country is energy prices. they are sky high. we are being shanghaied by opec. this is hurting our governments, hurting our institutions. it is not a union and collective bargaining thing. necessary in the 19th century and still necessary even more so today. our friends in the private sector are getting laid off left and right. i happen to be furloughed and my union job is protected -- called back when my company gets better. i work for the largest airline in the world. we traveled to the middle east. the

do unions matter? calle caller: yes, i used to belong to unions. they seem to have incentive to consolidate work habits. they are concerned about members, their presidents and their stewards and stuff like that. what are they going to do with a holiday tree? host: i don't know anything about that. but go to david in virginia beach. caller: if groups don't have rights, a lot of corporations have rights. the teacher from the carolinas and unions hurt the budget. why does the north carolina governor have issues, they don't have the same union issues as wisconsin. i'm from south carolina. that is a right to work state. they have a budget issues. they don't have unions or union problems, but they are still cutting education. this is an attack on education, not an attack on unions. they are attacking public education. that is all this is about. if it's tax cuts, then why is governor walter giving tax breaks to international corporations, but asking the people within the unions to sacrifice even more, even up though they already say they will come to the

i ought to distinguish between unions and public employee unions. unions of is the are critical. but in the public sector, public employee unions have an easy time getting benefits because nobody is pushing back all that hard road that is a problem for the democratic party. right now the way it is being framed is a whose side are you on, the public employee union or the taxpayers' side? >> nina? >> so it is the unions' fault that the managers kate? i don't know the details are, but in wisconsin, this is a manufactured crisis, because it governor cannot take yes for an answer. the unions have said we will give you all the cuts in benefits and salaries you want, we just want to preserve the collective bargaining rights, and he says now. >> colby? >> charles is right that this is an important moment. i would not say a bang of is that moment at all -- i would not say a magnificent moments at all. the question is whether this is going to be sustained or not. the governor of wisconsin is clearly out to break with the unions. that is his objective and there could all the states are watc

workers he's trying to destroy collective bargaining and in the process destroy a union unionization as we know it today and obviously it would spread to other states me just look at chris christie who is openly now attacking the teachers' union and spreading disinformation about them and so you know and also as far as for president obama you know a lot of progressives haven't been happy with some of the policies in acted like this big tax break and extending the bush cat tax cuts because what it did is it increased the debt by tremendous amounts and there was no shared sacrifice and there hasn't been one person prosecuted over the whole wall street nightmare and it's unbelievable to me that you know but we clearly we keep hearing the shared sacrifice aligned i'm just going to have to for one second because we're running out of time what do you think that obama should do here though i mean granted this is a state issue in wisconsin but does he think that you know these union workers are just his base so he doesn't really have to worry about coming out and supporting them vocally beca

across the country workers are leaving the unions behind last year unions lost ten percent of their members the largest drop in twenty five years unions are less powerful right now and less sort of willing to shake up the apple cart instead workers are organizing themselves to push for reform and no unions means no bloated hierarchy no an affordable dues no close ties to washington at the expense of real pressure for reform i believe the unions in virginia tenants of workers united has scooped up workers left behind by women who work as domestics day laborers probably taxi drivers who are considered independent contractors all these folks thousands if not millions of folks are excluded so that bet that's another sort of piece that i do not covered by basic labor law yet they don't have a mechanism at this point for coming together the a.f.l.-cio donated more than fifty million dollars worth of its members dues and two hundred fifty thousand of its workers to support president obama but three years later as big unions fail to deliver on their promises and struggle to fight for the right they

taking away the rights of any businesses with their unions and their right to unionize these are state workers are to outsiders not but on workers in america years ago there was a two important points to recognize first off it's easy to dismiss this idea that they've been breaking the bank because we could look at the data we have there been any number of studies state employees this is true what's going on since true in most states are actually paid compensation kind of benefits a bit less than private sector employees if you account for education experience the other point let's not forget the only reason there is a budget crisis in wisconsin the most these other states is because alan greenspan didn't know how to run the economy and the wall street boys ran wild if we didn't have this worst downturn since the great depression. they'd have four billion dollars more in their coffers there would be no budget issue whatsoever you know the data actually pushes back against because if you look at spending in wisconsin from two thousand and two to two thousand and eight basically the boom

no mandatory union membership, no forced union dues. up to $1,000 in savings per worker. four, pension plan pay-in. workers contribute 5.8% of paycheck to a pension plan. their current contribution, zero. five, health insurance pay-in. workers contribute 12.6% of their paycheck to their health insurance plan. up from a current 5%. six, no collecti bargaining rights for unions, except in the instance of wage negotiations. governor walker says that an end to collective bargaining would save the state $30 million in the remaining fiscal year. seven, protect bargaining for public safety unions. firefighters, policemen and state troopers retain all of their collective bargaining rights. president obama last week weighed in on the situation whe he was in milwaukee. "some of what avenue heard coming out of wisconsin where you're just making it hard for public employees to collectively bargain generally on unions." question, is republican gordon walker's intention to close the $3.6 billion shortfall or to crack down on wisconsin's state worker unions? jonathan? >> both. there's a

people can continue to vote to certify the union and continue to voluntarily have the union dues and write the check out and give it to the union to maybe the case but they shouldn't be forced to be he a part of this if that is not what they want to do. and chris, one other quick thing on this. the other thing that is important to remember. they talk about worker rights. wisconsin, several generations before collective bargaining was legal here in the state of wisconsin we passed the strongest civil service protections in the country. there is no state that has a better civil service system in terms of protections. that does not change in this. worker rights will be maintained even after our bill passes. >> chris: this gets to a bigger question and that is whether or not you think there is structural here that the way the system has developed over the years public employees and public employee unions have the upper hand when it comes to negotiation with state and local governments. do you think that the public worker unions have gotten too powerful? >> absolutely. there is no doubt a

and change unions and change public opinion about the unions i think the only thing that could save us at this point is you know people who educate themselves people who are really feeling the pain having their benefits cut really coming together and protesting that's the only thing that can save the unions that's the only thing that can. act the middle class and the working class in the united states people don't get it yet people don't understand that there's a class warfare in the us they don't understand the fact that right now the top one percent in the united states are paying less in taxes than we are ok we need to educate the public the media people you know the news outlets like r t the young turks people on the internet we need to educate the public they need to know what's going on that's the only thing that will save the unions that's the only thing that's going to save the middle class in the working class in the u.s. our animal thanks so much for joining us definitely people should be a paying attention here and also note that not all democrats are on the side of union

we're talking about state unions and the employee union budgets. on caller: this country is a union. if you're going to ruin a union, the first need to do is as a country to do with they did in the egypt, march on washington, sure the idiot republicans that we are tired of them taking over the country and giving the money to the rich. any time the republicans run anything in its take from the poor, give to the rich. now they're taking from social security, medicaid, medicare, the working poor. unions? where is it going to stop? they should work for minimum wage. they do not do anything. they never helped this country. we end up getting something else stupid in another country. host: ohio on our republican line. caller: i just wanted to say that i dislike very much that our president, who was supposed to be the president of all people, is stepping in on different issues that he should not be stepping into as far as saying and keeping his political issues. to me, i think he is trying to reaffirm his army for his political views. host: dennis cauchon,

the unions are part of the backbone of the middle-class. but i say with historical reference that part of what raid ronald reagan-ronald reagan is when he broke the air controllers union in the 1980's. republicans are trying to follow that script now. short term, maybe midterm, maybe. long-term, i doubt it. chris: you have to have somebody to brame. i think dan is right. sometimes you blame the guy or the woman who has the permanent job, who can't lose it. has it changed so much in application? just a week or two ago we were worried about the unemployment rate around nine. are political peel more worried about cutting in spending than getting the neighbor back to work. >> it is a political issue that resonates. after years of being accused of being focused on other things like health care and regulatory refoorm, now the president is going out and talking about job creation. what is so interesting is at this moment when it feels like everybody wants to talk about where are you cutting, that is what republicans are talking about, the presiden

so it isn't the unions who -- scott walker got elected, he's an anti-union guy. mitch daniels just told us about his own record of abolishing collective bargaining in indiana, he got reelected. so it's not simply a one-way route to achieving it. and i think the question, is it a water shed moment, it is a water shed moment, there's no question bit. organized labor and the g. i. bill were the book ends of the middle class prosperity. america exploded economically. the only reason that pie was divided was because americans and veterans return hg a chance to educate themsves like no generation had before and to participate in security of the american dream. and the only reason wages rose is because one-third of the work force was organized and they secured those higher wages and the ripple effect across our economy is no accident, jim. since 1979 since when unions have been in full retreat in this country, from 1979 to 2009, the median income dropped by 2%. >> you've got schools whe you get rid of all the good young teachers because of the rules, you've got californ

let me speak or you want to cite your government funded pro union sisters the unions get twenty to thirty percent more per job on average than the private sector does that's happening right now and it's been going on for decades second of all their benefits are three to four times as good as private sector so don't tell me these made up numbers they get nineteen thousand a year in pensions nineteen thousand a year doesn't add up to a twenty two billion dollars shortfall as they have in places like new jersey and wisconsin and california are it's a clearly there's a little bit of debate as to whose numbers you would like to believe there are difference to take on nothing out of my head among credible economy which is why you're out of this conversation i want to ask you though do you think that this move by scott walker in wisconsin is clearly a politically motivated nor do i think it's actually awful it's not just him you know right there are other states out there ohio indiana idaho tennessee that all have this type of legislation in the works to go after public sector unions a lot of pe

unions in this battle.is how the "new york times" reported it on saturday. framed the issue. the images from wisconsin with its protests, shutdown of some public service and missing democratic senators who fled the state to block a vote, evoked the middle east more than the midwest. the parallels raise the inevitable question. what's at stake here? >> i don't think anybody disagrees that there has to be cuts. i don't hear anybody on either side saying that there shouldn't be. the workers on friday said that we'll accept the contributions to the pension, we'll accept contributions to health care. given the governor gave them what he sought, what's this really supposed to be but an attack on collective bargaining. i love -- we were talking early, i love the smell of democracy. it's so inspiring that so many people feel moved to come out and express themselves. but this in wisconsin, make no doubt about it, everybody understands cuts need to happen but this is really about collective bargaining. >> ed gillispi

in the united states of america right now but the so-called union buster and union supporter are cozy during the lockout cody went to india with the president touting job creation and he got a spot on the fiscal deficit commission to have a say on government spending he was on there recommending that we have cuts in troop salaries cuts in troop health benefits rather than cuts in. weapons manufacturing as someone who makes money off weapons manufactured honeywell has received thirteen billion dollars in government contracts mainly in defense since two thousand and five and appears poised only to rake in more how did they get this influence honeywell's at the top of the heap when it comes to putting money into politics at the federal level they spent nearly four million dollars on political contributions in two thousand and ten and as much on lobbying we're fighting goliath this is a multinational corporation as for the locked out workers at the union hall they stock up to get through winter without work really well in face throat and they sharpen their rallying cry this is a class war

union members say the governor walker wants to bust up the union. on wednesday president obama stood the wisconsin pot by describing walker's actions as a assault on the union. on friday, speaker john boehner weighed in on facebook, saying the president attacked governor walker for attempting to rein in state spending, then he said, call off th>> right on! look, the state governors are in fiscal disasters, just the way the federal government is? a fiscal disaster. they have to balance their budgets and that's exactly what this governor and and the new republican legislature in wisconsin were elected to do, just two short months ago. what this governor is trying to do is rein in the power of government unions and reduce the size of government overall. guess what, john? there is no money! there is no money in these states! the party is over. and the governor is calling -- [everyone talking at once] >> the other side gets to weigh in. >> he said there is no more money. >> the unions refuse to negotiate with the governor of a reduced compensation so the

and there are those, the specific contributions that you ask the union. they said they would do that. they would meet those demands. so the question that comes up again and again, is if you want to deal with the budget and the deficit, why not take yes for an answer? well, because we've seen that actions speak louder than words. for us to balance $3.6 billion deficit we have, but not only now, but to insure we can continue 20 do it in the future, so our kids don't inherit the same consequences, we've to have those insurances and over the past two weeks we've seen local union after local union rush to school boards, the city councils and rush through contracts in the past two weeks that had no contribution to the pension and no contribution to health care. in fact one case in janesville, they were pushing through a pay increase. >> but governor, you could have extended the bill to those local government agencies. you chose not to. >> no, that's the opposite. i was a local government official for eight years. this bill precisely helps local governments and

the unions, particularly public employee unions are heart of the democratic party. they provide money, man power, and in states like wisconsin, we saw a republican governor challenge them openly. try try end collective bargaining. a lot of california protesters are heading to wisconsin as we speak, with concern could this catch on here in california. >> the concerns, i mean, in wisconsin you have the whole issue of collective bargaining. you also have the other legitimate concerns about the can we sustain? >> that's right. here in california, the legislative analysts have said right now, $136 billion is the unfunded liability in california. in the next ten years, as much as $500 billion. this is a concern. governor jerry brown says it's a concern. he's trying to wrestle with the state budget. we now have $26 billion in red ink. republicans in sacramento are holding back on any support for this budget plan, saying we want first some kind of pension reform in addition to regulatory reform and other things, but this is going to be sort of the heart of the battle up in

trying to do is roll back some of the mess of union power that we've established unions will basically end up with the with the power to have a teacher come there's a reason why the unions are controlling basically the public sector because unions turn out voters in the primaries which means basically the bar operators for the democratic party which is why they they are just so powerful in this country should be our taxpayer dollars tartuffe. i just think it's absolutely ridiculous i mean unions are the backbone of america the backbone of democratic parties and i just think it's one more example of how republicans are using any opportunity they can to not be worth it if it ministration really critical anything that this administration wants to move for is there some truth to what the republicans say you know well they've got billionaires to fund. democrats by and large don't they get unions if you look at it as shepard smith on fox news a couple days ago you look at the top ten funders of the last political campaign some of them were billionaires or big corporations three were unions t

the soviet union could itself be modernized. then there is a german vision, which in many ways is contrary to the soviet vision, all the unpaid borrows from it. in the nazi idea, soviet union will beat the modernized. it cities will be destroyed and industry for the most part will be removed. 30 million people starved to death in the first winter after the war. after the war from the several tens of millions of more people will be supported, a simulated, killed or enslaved. and all of this, it is also planned that all of the are going to disappear, although just how it is going to happen hasn't been decided before the war. the germans go into the soviet union with these explicit plans. these planes are now know as the hunger plan. they don't achieve these things, but what has to understand this vision of political economy, to see what the moral premises of the german invasion and occupation were. it's in this chapter two of the german policies which most closely resemble these plans, namely starvation of prisons or, some 2.6 mil

unions here in wisconsin. i believe it will give momentum to similar efforts in ohio and indianapolis and we're hearing some othe same things going on now in tennessee and oklahoma. and public sector unions represent more than half of the nation's union members now and to really weaken them it could deal a blow to weakening the whole union movement. >> so a reents "usa today" gallup poll shows about two-thirds of america are opposed to eliminating collective bargaining rights. is this battle about money or politics? >> i think it's about both. you know, i think governor walker and governor kasich in ohio, governor daniels in indiana, they feel that by weakening or eliminating collective bargaining reports for public employers, for teachers, for sanitation workers, it will give them the flexibility to, you know, do what they want. they want to -- they figure they won't have to pay as much for cities and states won't have to pay as much for health coverage or be as generous on vacation days. might be able to pri

and is the fight there with the unions about ideology or shared sacrifice? >> not just about the budget, now and into the future, not just about jobs or workers, this is ultimately about the future of our state. >> my guests, a man at the center of the storm, embattled republican governor, scott walker. >>> also the future of the middle east remains in doubt as libya's brutal dictator cracks down on protesters. >> these actions violate international norms and every stander of common decency. this violence must stop. >> what's next? and has the administration done enough? joining me this morning from the site of such unrest earlier this month, cairo, egypt, the ranking member on the senate armed services committee. republican john mccain. >>> then our political roundtable, what rising oil costs could mean to our own economy. can washington avoid a government shutdown over spending? and the rhetorical start to 2012, leading republicans exchanging blows and union activists mobilizing. with us, president of the afl-cio, republican governor of mississippi and for

for democratic governors, they need unions. >> reporter: unions are a strong part of the democratic base, so pushing to roll back union member rights to bargain creates political risk. >> we're at an unprecedented moment of reckoning. this perfect storm, i think, is the worst it's ever been. >> reporter: and unions don't have any sort of upper hand when it comes to public opinion these days. according to one poll, the favorability for labor unions is at nearly its lowest level in a quarter century with less than 45% expressing a positive view. erica? >> hill: quite a number, jim, thanks. turning our attention now to overseas and the wave of antigovernment protests. they started in the middle east, they have now spread to djibouti in east africa where thousands are calling for the president to step down. in bahrain today, soldiers opened fire on protesters, mostly shiites, who've been shut out of top jobs in government, a government dominated by the sunni minority. in jordan, fights broke out between supporters of king abdullah and protesters calling for democratic reforms. while in washi

how much of this in indiana is about fight to break the unions as the union charge it and how much of it is a fight to balance the budget tass republicans charge. >> this is not about the budget. the budget in indiana is fairly balance. this is all about conflict between unions and their democratic allies and business and their republican allies. what's unique about indian is that the governor is not involved in this situation. it's all legislative. it's strictly democratic and republican. not really fiscal. >> ifill: do we know where the democrats are tonight? >> we don't. we know some of them are in illinois. a few might be in kentucky. we are trying to get ahold of them. but they're gone. they've fled the state. and reporters are still trying to figure out exactly where they are. >> ifill: that's what happened in wisconsin as well. we'll see if that spreads as well. karen kasler there are thousands of people on the front steps of the state capital including the former governor ted strickland who was ousted by the current governor. how much of that fight, that dispute that we saw pl

the twentieth of the communist party of the soviet union was underway. to deliver the report revealing the scale of the political repression the took place in the. speech he puts the blame. the country was in for a time of change. recent events in our country and abroad mark a break in period in the history. the changes the taking place in the kremlin the media ramifications for the entire nation. thousands of political prisoners were rehabilitated and sent home there was a notable softening of domestic policy. has gone down in history as the. removed from the red square and buried by the kremlin wall. moment signified a point of no return for the nation. bright . sun from finest impressions. stop totty dot com. diminish exhibition. crucial vilified the abstract painter hundred sixty two in the spring of two thousand and ten. visit a photo exhibition in featured pictures taken by american photographer has one of these captures the famous debates between. the u.s. vice president richard nixon. this picture shows nixon. did nixon's career and picture i'm h

. >> southern states are becoming very dissatisfied with the union. south carolina is the first state to secede and this is a direct response to abraham lincoln's election in 1860. >> one of the confederacy's first acts is to seize all the federal forts in the south. >> in charleston, union troops under major anderson are stationed at fort moultrie. >> fort moultrie was in pretty bad shape. that fort had been built in 1809. it was only one level high. >> in the middle of the night, the soldiers secretly rowed out to fort sumter which was still under construction. >> anderson's men moved over here to fort sumter because this was the newest fort in charleston harbor. it was three stories tall. it is going to be a state of the art structure by the time it's complete. and it is most defensible because it has a mile of water on all sides. so south carolina militia units, should they want to attack the u.s. army, are going to have to cross a mile of water first. right now we are standing outside of the sally port or the entrance to fort sumter, and what we

the twentieth of the communist party of the soviet union was underway. khrushchev delivered a report revealing the scale of the political repression the took place in the. speech he puts the blame. the country was in for a time of change. recent events in our country and abroad mark a break in period in the history. of. the changes the taking place behind the kremlin needed ramifications for the entire nation. thousands of political prisoners were rehabilitated and sent home. there was a notable softening of domestic policy. has gone down in history as the. in one thousand nine hundred sixty. and buried by the kremlin rule. that moment signified a point of no return for the nation. culture is that so much of me is going to make a lot of people here you look at is the world facing a serious and sustained food crisis prices are at all time highs and tens of millions of people are joining the dinner. wealthy british style the stock. market. can. find out what's really happening to the global economy. global financial headlines tune in to kaiser report. dimi

♪ sticking to the union >> the groups were once a power house in politics, but today, labor unions'orable ratings are at their lowest level in decades with less than half of americans having a positive view. and now in wisconsin, the very right to collective bargains is under attack. >> the turmoil could just be beginning in wisconsin. but it's very likely we're going to see this replicated in other states. >> the thinking is as goes wisconsin so could go the rest of the country. the union movement may be facing its toughest battle to date. david. >> thank you. and from the budget battles in cities and towns across the country to the huge one brewing in washington. tonight, republicans in the house have approved $61 billion in spending cuts. the senate comes next, and already, democrats are responding, and all of this is leading to growing concern over a possible government shut-down. >>> nearly an all-nighter. >> instead of this pointless debate. >> reporter: it was at 4:40 in the morning when finally -- >> the bill is passed. >> reporter: republican house members pressured by cons

i think, just to finish, and i will be brief, what you're hearing here with the union is the union is very consistent, in endowment margin multi-year effort -- in a multi-year effort. this is a situation where there is a plan to develop the real estate situation in a different direction, and has gone forward, we think, precipitously, a and has put forward a structural change without meeting and conferring with the union, but also, if fully considered and thought out plan as to how the existing staff can be used in an optimal fashion to fill any strategic objectives, and that is what we're asking for. i hope that mr. harrington would be prepared to sit down in further discussion with us next week. thank you. secretary housh: we have no other speaker cards. >> my name is -- and i do not pretend to understand all of the issues that are a problem in the real-estate department, but i do feel inclined to mention that i personally have had a very big problem with the disposition of the property at 17th and folsom, which was, i guess, decided by the mayor's office, and affordable housing proj

the soviet union. was developed in one thousand nine hundred sixty. pools could get a mat by the scientists it was twenty times as powerful as all the explosives used in world war two put together it was decided to test the bomb in october one thousand nine hundred eighty one but only a tough capacity. we have said we have a one hundred million ton bomb it's true but we're not going to set it off the reason is that if we set it off we might also have our windows shattered therefore it's not worth what. was. because crucial for so sure the soviet union possessed the world's most powerful weapon it helped push the world to the brink of catastrophe. he responded to the deployment of u.s. medium range nuclear missiles in turkey ordering similar soviet weapons to be shipped to cuba the news triggered panic in the white house. no kidding resident kennedy was under strong pressure from his generals and other people in his inner circle the generals who were called for any media bombing raid so he sent an intra five hundred aircraft would be enough to raise th

three unions course once again records to get rid of unions we're toast well exactly i think it's a really smart move on the republicans part but you never know if you heard but some egyptian protesters over last week actually sent people to the wisconsin protesters and i just think it's an example of how around the world we're seeing a thirst for people fighting for their rights and for their democratic right and will and who polices rush over the first ludicrous example of even. compared to compare egypt dictator in power for thirty years to what is going on the public is going very much only having like a dictator actually that's ready to be a dictator in a time when a democratic president some power that really makes a lot of sense but what happened in wisconsin is that they are free to let me know who voted for scott like a true verdict i thought were going to rebut the trog language where we were comparing people to hitler i think that was the the problems that we have are the. u.k. yeah ok for us the man who should be helicopters is it's time the fact is what scott walker is

it is all the european union can do to express its displeasure. the foreign policy chief said the suspension of the trade deals that he enjoys, maybe if he had not been given those, ybe wouavtoppled earlier. it was an interesting insight. she said that is where they are and they will move on from there. that will be imposed. everyone is saying in brussels, where will we be by the time we impose sanctions? things could change dramatically. it is a moving target the international community is trying to aim at in tripoli. but there may be no khadafy regime by monday morning. -- >> there may be no khadafy regime by monday morning. n we realistically expect nato to get involved in libya? >> not really. the nato chief said they have no mandate to interfere or intervene in tripoli. they would need united nations mandate to do anything. they are discussing possible humanitarian aid missions. there's also the possibility of the deployment of military ships in the mediterranean region. there is also possible help with evacuation. there's no questio of nato