Wisconsin faced a similarly grim[0] fiscal situation three years ago - high public union labor costs and years of structural deficits plus the recession resulte

Wisconsin faced a similarly grim[0] fiscal situation three years ago - high public union labor costs and years of structural deficits plus the recession resulted in a deficit of over 20% of the budget. It was ugly and underhanded, but as many will remember the Governor successfully pushed through very unpopular[1] public union and budget reforms. It sucked, but it worked. We're now firmly in the black[2]. There are probably negative consequences that we'll learn about at some point, but at least the state resisted the urge to just raise taxes and not deal with its largest problem. California could learn a thing or two. [0] http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/69771807.html http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/69771807.html [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Wisconsin_protests http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Wisconsin_protests [2] http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/state-to-release-projections-that-will-be-framework-for-twoyear-budget-fm7nihk-180173611.html http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/state-to-release-...