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While continuing their conversation about whether government workers' salaries and whether the states can afford to be making good on their pension funds or not when a lot of them are facing huge problems with their budgets, AFL-CIO deputy chief of staff Thea Lee made the point that there's no reason we should not be raising taxes on the wealthiest among us who can afford it rather than cutting services or going after workers' pension funds.

And as NEA president Dennis Van Roekel noted in the follow up to Fox's Chris Wallace, it's not your average worker out there that's a problem when it comes to who is being overpaid:

VAN ROEKEL: You know, the last 29 years, productivity up 80 percent, hourly wages up eight. The lowest one-fifth, their wages up 18 percent. But the top one percent, their wages go up 275 percent.

We have got to find a way to lift all citizens, not just a few. Not a 1 percent, not just the wealthy few.

He's right of course, but it's a message I'm sure Fox would prefer most of their viewers don't hear too often. CEO pay and executive compensation have been out of whack compared to average your average worker's salary for decades now, but as soon as anyone says we should do something about it, Republicans start screaming about "class warfare," as though most people aren't aware of who it's actually being waged on.

Full transcript below the fold.

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For anyone that did not read Jon Perr's post here from back in 2010, I'll just refer our readers back there for a detailed analysis of why what Chris Wallace was repeating here on Fox News Sunday about public sector workers being overpaid is complete nonsense; Republicans Launch Phony War on Public Employees.

Thankfully Chris Wallace did get some push back as well from his guests, Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association and deputy chief of staff at the AFL-CIO, Thea Lee. As Van Roekel pointed out, it's all a game of divide and conquer they're playing, trying to pit private sector employees against government employees to drive a wedge between members of the working class. As Jon noted in his post and as the two union leaders pointed out as well, public sector workers are not overpaid when you take into consideration their education levels.

As Jon wrote:

The report by Labor and Employment Relations Professor Jeffrey Keefe of Rutgers University revealed that public employees are undercompensated compared to similarly skilled private sector counterparts:

The study analyzes workers with similar human capital. It controls for education, experience, hours of work, organizational size, gender, race, ethnicity and disability and finds that, compared to workers in the private sector, state government employees are undercompensated by 7.55% and local government employees are undercompensated by 1.84%. The study also finds that the benefits that state and local government workers receive do not offset the lower wages they are paid.

The public/private earnings differential is greatest for doctors, lawyers and professional employees, the study finds. High school-educated public workers, on the other hand, are more highly compensated than private sector employees, because the public sector sets a floor on compensation. The earnings floor has collapsed in the private sector.

I find it particularly cynical that these overpaid millionaires on television are carping about those greedy government workers that get $14 or so average an hour in benefits. I wonder how far that would go towards paying what Chris Wallace receives as part of his benefits package as a paid propagandist for Fox? Corporate America wants a race to the bottom on benefits and wages and Wallace is happy to play along to help them to get it.

Transcript below the fold.

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On CNN's Your Money, host Ali Velshi brought in the Wall Street Journal's resident hack, Stephen Moore so he could pollute not just one, but two segments in a row on his show, because heaven forbid the viewers could be allowed to hear what either of the other two guest had to say without someone like Moore talking over them, lying, obfuscating and muddying up the waters or filibustering when he had the chance so the other guest doesn't get a chance to talk.

CNN always seems to do this to liberals or anyone that even leans to the center-left and makes sure they've got a right-winger like Moore on there for "balance," especially if that person is going to talk about something they don't want to allow a clear message on. In this case, it was the AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka talking about income disparity and the fact that we shouldn't be going after workers' pensions and benefits when those at the top are making hundreds of times more than their employees.

Trumka also did a good job talking about the record income disparity we've got in the United States and the fact that as union membership has declined, that disparity has gone up and for his part, he refused to allow Moore to dominate the conversation or for Velshi to get him off point by interrupting him when he wasn't done talking yet.

And then we had Norm Ornstein, who has a new book out talking about the fact that Republicans are the problem with the gridlock we're seeing in our government right now, which doesn't fit into CNN's game of "both sides" are equally terrible and to blame for not cooperating with each other. So heaven forbid he can't be allowed to speak without Moore hogging up the better portion of the entire interview.

Moore sadly is a regular guest on this show week after week and brings nothing but intellectual dishonesty week after week as he did here. His presence on this show is just another example of CNN doing their best to be Fox-lite. Stephen Moore, we let him lie, you decide.

Ornstein's segment below the fold.

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Fox News host Neil Cavuto says that it's time for state and local governments to begin cutting union pensions because people don't need to have expensive Chateaubriand steaks "every night."

After voters in San Jose on Tuesday approved steep cuts to public worker pensions, police officers and firefighters in the city filed multiple lawsuits to block the reforms.

On Thursday, Cavuto told Democrats for Progress columnist Steven Leser that "you've got to target what right now is the biggest and most ballooning part of public costs across the country and that tends to be pensions, benefits."

"I think it's wrong to scapegoat the unions over this," Leser noted. "There's all kinds of other things that we could be looking at to raise money without attacking middle class workers, people who risk their lives for us -- you know, police officers, firefighters."

"It's the slippery slope. We're going to take this benefit away from them and in a couple of years we're going to take this benefit away from them," he added.

"Most Americans in the private sector don't even have these benefits," Cavuto argued.

"They should have them," Leser pointed out.

"Yeah, we should all have Chateaubriand every night, but we don't," Cavuto shot back. "We don't have that option. Let's wake up in the real world."

According to veteran wine writer Fred McMillin, Chateaubriand is "a succulent tenderloin encased between two slices of flank steak."

"The outer steaks were seared until black, then discarded; the tenderloin between them remained juicily rare," McMillin explained.

This dish is named in honor of François-René de Chateaubriand, a diplomat who worked for both Napoleon and Louis XVIII.

Union members in San Jose can obtain Chateaubriand steak every night (except Monday) at Tigelleria Organic Restaurant for $22 in nearby Campbell, California.

Cavuto reportedly has a net worth of $23 million.

(h/t: Media Matters)

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Ed Schultz talked to Tax.com columnist David Cay Johnston about the misinformation being spread by Governor Scott Walker and others on the public employee pensions in Wisconsin. You can read more at his column here -- Really Bad Reporting in Wisconsin: Who 'Contributes' to Public Workers' Pensions?:

When it comes to improving public understanding of tax policy, nothing has been more troubling than the deeply flawed coverage of the Wisconsin state employees' fight over collective bargaining.

Economic nonsense is being reported as fact in most of the news reports on the Wisconsin dispute, the product of a breakdown of skepticism among journalists multiplied by their lack of understanding of basic economic principles.

Gov. Scott Walker says he wants state workers covered by collective bargaining agreements to "contribute more" to their pension and health insurance plans.

Accepting Gov. Walker' s assertions as fact, and failing to check, created the impression that somehow the workers are getting something extra, a gift from taxpayers. They are not.

Out of every dollar that funds Wisconsin' s pension and health insurance plans for state workers, 100 cents comes from the state workers.

How can that be? Because the "contributions" consist of money that employees chose to take as deferred wages – as pensions when they retire – rather than take immediately in cash. The same is true with the health care plan. If this were not so a serious crime would be taking place, the gift of public funds rather than payment for services.

Thus, state workers are not being asked to simply "contribute more" to Wisconsin' s retirement system (or as the argument goes, "pay their fair share" of retirement costs as do employees in Wisconsin' s private sector who still have pensions and health insurance). They are being asked to accept a cut in their salaries so that the state of Wisconsin can use the money to fill the hole left by tax cuts and reduced audits of corporations in Wisconsin.

Much more there so go read the rest. Transcript below the fold.

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As John already pointed out, our millionaire Villager class in the media is in love with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and his so-called "straight talk" about how we'd better get tough with the working class and have some "shared sacrifice" to balance state budgets. Those "shared sacrifices" of course always coming off of the backs of the working class instead of his rich campaign donors he's giving tax cuts to.

Ed Schultz talked to some New Jersey policemen and firefighters and asked them how they felt about their "tough guy" bully governor and they didn't have quite so many kind words for him as we've seen from the Villager fan-boy club that loves to pretend this guy actually has a chance to be elected president.

Our millionaire chattering class might be enamored with him, but he's nothing more than your average every day Republican that wants to look out for his rich campaign donors like the rest of them when it comes down to it. And I don't understand for one minute how him talking like someone from the cast of the Sopranos that they love to keep re-airing where he said he didn't vaporize yet for wanting to make sure poor people work until they're dead if they raise the retirement age is somehow a net positive for this bully.

I was glad to see Ed give some everyday working people from his state have a chance to let the public know what they think of him rather than watching millionaire pundits like those sitting around the table of Morning Joe on his same network. They all are continually talking about "shared sacrifice" as well as long as it means we're not asking any of them to have their taxes raised.

If we had more segments like this one airing every day, maybe the Villagers would be forced to fall out of love with Chris Christie. Thank you Ed for giving these workers a platform to air their grievances with him.

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Our own Susie Madrak joined Dylan Ratigan to discuss the response to the Boxing Day Blizzard which she wrote about here -- Take A Good Look At Post-Blizzard New York City. This Is What Our 'New Austerity' Will Look Like.

And of course Republicans are using the complaints about worker slow downs during the blizzard to attack public sector unions, gladly aided and abetted by their allies in the media. More on that at her blog here.

Federal investigation:

So let me get this straight. We see no criminal charges against the banking masterminds who crashed the economy, or the mortgage company crooks who are still stealing people’s houses with impunity, but this is at the top of the priority list?

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have opened a preliminary investigation into allegations that disgruntled sanitation workers sabotaged the cleanup after the blizzard last week that left some neighborhoods snowbound for days, people who have been briefed on the inquiry said Tuesday.

The investigation is focusing on whether there was a work slowdown and, if so, whether it was an effort to pad overtime. If the actions took place, two of those people said, they could constitute wire fraud or wire fraud conspiracy, both federal crimes. Both people spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.

The inquiry, which began last week, is being conducted by the Public Integrity Section in the office of United States Attorney Loretta E. Lynch, which will work with the city’s Department of Investigation, one of the people said. The city investigators also began looking into possible efforts to sabotage the cleanup last week.

“We’re taking a look at this,” one of the people said, adding that the inquiry was in its earliest stages. It was reported Monday night by WCBS-TV News.

Go read the rest for more. And as she also noted, they won't go after the banksters on Wall Street, but they're more than happy to go after those public pensions as well.

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Sam Seder filling in for Keith Olbermann on Countdown talked to former C&L contributor, FDL's Dave Dayden about his recent article at the News Desk -- In Unfolding War on Public Employees, State Lawmakers and Media Likely to Do the Work Themselves:

There’s no question that Republicans have introduced a bill which would require more transparency on state public pensions, and that they hope this would provide a road map in the states for where they can cut budgets; namely, on the backs of public employees. That doesn’t mean it will happen in exactly that way, however. And the idea that the next Congress will overhaul the 30s-era law allowing states to go bankrupt seems fanciful to me.

But I don’t think states or municipalities need much help from the federal government in their desire to rewrite public employee union contracts. There has been a concerted effort for years to demonize and delegitimize public employee unions, from both Republican pols and the media in general. This has left a distorted impression about greedy union contracts and well-paid government functionaries. So the new class of Republican governors would certainly want to capitalize on that by pleasing the public, who now favor things like wage freezes (which Obama just instituted at the federal level) and furloughs and bigger pension contributions, punishing those workers. And they are animated by a general hatred of unions, which have maintained their strength in the public sector while fading away in the private sector.

Alongside that, there are legitimate budget problems in the states. The National Conference of State Legislatures estimates a $118 billion dollar shortfall in state and municipal budgets in 2011. And there are certainly some states and municipalities with currently unfunded pension liabilities. While federal aid could offset some of that, there’s no chance it will happen – expect the House to pass, early next year, a resolution basically forbidding “bailouts” of the states. At that point, state governments will either have to cut spending or raise taxes to balance their budgets, which almost all of them are constitutionally required to do. With public employees – or rather, cops, firefighters, nurses, teachers, the people who prepare your state tax refund, the people who get you your driver’s license, the people who get the roads and bridges fixed and basically secure your safe passage through the commons – seen in a negative light, they will in many states be lined up for cuts.

There's much more there so go read the rest. Republicans continue to prove that they're willing to finish wrecking our economy for political gain and to get their dream fulfilled of busting every union we've got left in this country in the process.

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Greta Van Susteren asks Tim Pawlenty about this nasty little screed he wrote recently attacking public sector unions and their benefits. Here's the opening.

Tim Pawlenty: Public-sector unions burden the taxpayer:

When Americans think of organized labor, they might think of images like I saw growing up in a blue-collar meatpacking town: hard hats, work boots, tough conditions and gritty jobs.

While I didn't work in the slaughterhouses, I did become a union member when I worked at a grocery store to help put myself through school. I was grateful for the paycheck and proud of the work I did.

The rise of the labor movement in the early 20th century was a triumph for America's working class.

In an era of deep economic anxiety, unions stood up for hardworking but vulnerable families, protecting them from physical and economic exploitation.

Much has changed. The majority of union members today no longer work in construction, manufacturing or "strong back" jobs.

They work for government, which, thanks to President Obama, has become the only booming "industry" left in our economy. Since January 2008 the private sector has lost nearly 8 million jobs, while local, state and federal governments have added 590,000.

Pawlenty apparently thinks if you don't wear a hard hat or steel toed boots as part of your job, you don't deserve the protection of a union. I guess he also thinks that no one who's drawing a check from the government does physical labor.

Transcript and a response from the Minnesota Nurses Association below the fold.

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Looks like Red State's Erick Erickson has a book to peddle, since he showed up on MSNBC's Morning Joe instead of his usual gig with the poorly named "best political team on television." When talking about the fact that conservatives didn't stick to many of their so-called "principles" during the years that George W. Bush was in office, Erickson agrees and thinks that they should be allowing the "free market" to do its job. When asked by Dylan Ratigan if he thinks that after allowing the finance companies to get "too big to fail" the government should have allowed them to go down -- even if it meant God knows how many retirees losing their pensions -- Erickson replies, in no uncertain terms: "Yes."

I wasn't wild about the bailouts but I understood why they did them. They were worried about setting off a death spiral where the entire world's economy collapsed and we had a worldwide great depression. Apparently that's something Erickson thinks we should have risked happening. Of course, his ilk doesn't want any regulations either that might have prevented that sort of collapse in the first place.