Michigan's version of Financial Martial Law Is Headed to Wisconsin

by: jsalera

Sun Apr 17, 2011 at 17:02:13 PM EDT

*--Quick quiz ... who wrote these words about Wall Street's mess:

 "At the heart of the financial crisis were unresolved and often undisclosed conflicts of interest. Blame for this mess lies everywhere from federal regulators who cast a blind eye, Wall Street bankers who let greed run wild and members of Congress who failed to provide oversight."

Paul Krugman? Dean Baker? Che Stalin McCommiepants? No, no, no. Tom Coburn, who co-authored the Levin report.

Add to that erroneous foreclosures, and the question is less and less why no one is in jail but why revolting peasants haven't sacked a castle somewhere.

Eric B. (Empasis Mine)

Events are moving swiftly. As Senators Levin’s report makes clear, the financial crisis is not only greed in hi-speed greed motion but it was greed that was pre-planned. Eric B. posted a YouTube of Senator Levin investigating that pre-planning in 2010 that I think is worth reposting.

The greed also had an intended purpose. These financial “shiity” deals that Goldman Sachs and other financial institutions were selling ended up in retirement accounts of police, fireman, and civil service workers. They also ended up in the financial portfolios of cities, counties and states. And then – all of a sudden, we have a series of financial crises. First at the federal level and soon to be followed with the city, county and state levels financial crises.

Today, with a little bit of history to help us make an educated guess, the intended purpose is easier to see. The banks that destroyed our economic system are going to impose austerity and have their minions come in and consolidate the gains. Cities counties and who knows, maybe even states, may fall under financial martial law where there will be mass firings of public servants, dismantling of public employee unions, never-ending cutbacks in public services and the real gem – the selloff of public assets to private companies for a dime on the dollar. Michigan governor Rick Snyder has begun the process here in Michigan. with the Emergency Manager Law passed in March.

Here is how the Michigan Citizen described the new emergency manager law:

The new legislation, signed by Gov. Rick Snyder March 16, gives broad, new powers to state-appointed emergency managers that include the ability to terminate union contracts and strip power from local elected officials.

The new law creates 18 triggers that would bring an EM to a financially strapped city or school district. Now this form of financial martial law appears headed to Wisconsin.

Now the Michigan Version of financial martial law is headed to Wisconsin.

From Forbes:

Reports are surfacing that Scott Walker is now preparing his next assault on the democratic political process in the State of Wisconsin.

Following the lead of Michigan GOP Governor Rick Snyder, Walker is said to be preparing a plan that would allow him to force local governments to submit to a financial stress test with an eye towards permitting the governor to take over municipalities that fail to meet with Walker’s approval.

According to the reports, should a locality’s financial position come up short, the Walker legislation would empower the governor to insert a financial manager of his choosing into local government with the ability to cancel union contracts, push aside duly elected local government officials and school board members and take control of Wisconsin cities and towns whenever he sees fit to do so.

Such a law would additionally give Walker unchallenged power to end municipal services of which he disapproves, including safety net.assistance to those in need.

…

Should these reports prove accurate, Walker’s plan would resemble-if not directly mirror- the legislation signed into law by Gov. Snyder of Michigan which gives Snyder extraordinary powers to take over municipalities when he determines them to be in financial trouble, further permitting him to actually fire locally elected public officials when he deems it desirable.

Gov. Snyder’s extraordinary law became all too real this week when Emergency Financial Manager, Joseph Harris, appointed by the Governor to take charge of Benton Harbor, Michigan, issued an order which took away all powers of the city’s elected officials.

Yes, this has really happened right here in the United States of America.

Walker’s plans give further credence to the notion that the efforts of the GOP governors with Republican majorities in their state legislative bodies are part of a coordinated plan to enforce a right-wing agenda designed to not only destroy state, county and municipal employee unions, but to take control of local governments by replacing elected officials with appointees, both corporate and individual, of the state’s highest executive officer.