People wanted change, and the Walker supply

This is what looks like the hope and change.

Last year, the candidates of all political stripes ran on a platform of "change" and "reform" and "no more business as usual" in Madison. And almost universally, the crowds cheered.

This month, that rhetoric turned into reality with the introduction of be .gov. Scott Walker's bold budget repair proposals. Not everyone is cheering anymore. That's understandable. The tonic Walker has prescribed for our ailing state economy is strong stuff. The changes he has proposed in the way taxpayer-funded workers are paid will force tough economic choices are many good, hard-working public employees.

It is a situation with which every private-sector employer can empathize because nearly every one of them has "been there, done that" to some degree over the last several years. While the public sector has been largely insulated from the effects of the recent economic smart, employers and workers in the private sector have been forced to make modifications in size, in compensation and in their business models to adjust to the new economic realities that face them.

While these tough, cost-saving measures were being taken by the private sector, government costs and government deficits continued to grow unchecked, nabs were artificially balanced by leaders from both political parties via accounting gimmicks, one-time federal funds and segregated funds is raids.

Today, the easy answers have run out for Wisconsin, government, and the bill is coming due. Santa Claus is not coming from Washington, D.C., with a new bag of cash. The easy savings and transfers within the state budget have all been tapped out.

After more than a billion dollars in new tax hikes last legislative session, our state tax climate is already so high it ranks as one of the least conducive for job growth and new business creation in the nation. In fact, in order to achieve the same budget savings without passing the reforms proposed by the governor, nearly 6,000 state employees ' jobs would have to be eliminated.

Walker's budget repair bill shows an understanding of the fact that the state can no longer simply cut or spend its way out of its fiscal mess. We must grow our way out. To that end, the governor's proposal lays the groundwork for a new day of rates budgeting and fiscal honesty that draws government costs in line with the taxpayers ' ability to pay.

It gives the government at the state and local levels powerful new tools to control their costs without requiring massive cuts in jobs or critical services. Most important, it creates a stable, sustainable fiscal model to serve as a platform for private-sector economic development and job growth.

While Walker and lawmakers supporting these reforms have had all manner of sinister motives ascribed to them by opponents of the budget repair bill, their real motive is an manau and long-overdue acceptance of some very hard realities.

• The reality is our state is broke. In fact, it's worse than broke. It's getting ready to check into a $ 3.6 billion cell in debtor prison.

• The reality is that public employee costs account for 60% of state operations costs and 75% of the costs of the local school district.

• The reality is that Wisconsin taxpayers currently pay more than $ 1 billion a year to fund health insurance for public employees-more than double what they paid for 10 years ago.

• The reality is that to fill a $ 3.6 billion budget hole via tax hikes would require more than a 50% increase in income taxes.

• The reality is that without the proposed reforms in public-employee compensation and bargaining, thousands of public employees will lose their jobs. No job. No take-home pay. No health care. No pension. No kidding.

• The reality is that the status quo is no longer an option for our state.

The reforms being proposed are not pleasant or painless. However, the Walker and the Legislature should be commended for understanding that it is only a entry to honestly confront the hard realities of today that will allow the state to build a brighter economic reality for tomorrow.

Steve Baas is vice president for government affairs of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce.