The budget stand-off between Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the 14 Democratic state senators does not look like it will end anytime soon.

No one knows where this will end. What is clear is that we are in the early phase of a clash of ideas and a struggle for power that have profound implications for the country's future.

Tea Party activists supporting a bill that would slash collective bargaining rights of Wisconsin public employees flocked to Madison on Saturday, bringing a new dimension to a budget battle that shows few signs of compromise.

A push to reduce state workers' benefits and eliminate collective bargaining caused a furor this week as protesters descended on Wisconsin's Capitol. Judy Woodruff examines the predicament with Jonathan Williams of the American Legislative Exchange Council and Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers.

Gov. Pat Quinn's administration told the social service community it is accelerating the timetable for some of the severe budget cuts he's proposed to March 15.

Gov. Corbett hasn't addressed any specifics about the expiring contracts for 17 of the state's 19 employee unions. Negotiations have yet to take place. It's likely he won't give even an outline for his plan until his budget address next month.

Gov. Scott Walker defended a budget bill that would slash public workers' benefits and most collective bargaining rights in an effort to address Wisconsin's impending $3.6 billion dollar deficit.

Governor Snyder's budget cuts $1.2 billion to schools, universities, local governments and asks public employees for $180 million in concessions. Mr. Snyder said that he would set an example by reducing his salary this year to $1.

Gov. Scott Walker will deliver his budget address on Tuesday as planned but delay unveiling the 2011-'13 state budget bill, a legislative leader said.

Gov. Terry Branstad won't follow the lead of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and reduce his salary to $1 annual to express "shared sacrifice" to help address a state budget shortfall.  Instead, Branstad collects both a $130,000 salary as governor and a state pension worth more than $50,000 from his previous service in government - a practice some critics describe as "double-dipping."

Current legislation on labor unions and collective bargaining is available in a searchable database. You can search all collective bargaining or labor union related bills.

To level the playing field between governmentemployee unions and taxpayers, elimination of dues checkoff and the agency shop are possible steps to take. In fact, these may be more politically palatable, and ultimately more effective, avenues of reform than are restrictions on collective bargaining. Eliminating the public-sector union’s money advantage would let workers retain their right to negotiate with their employers but put them on a level playing field in the political arena. It is the way to restore fairness to the process.

Union affiliation of employed wage and salary workers by state, 2010-2011 annual averages

The issue facing states around the nation is not a traditional private sector dispute between labor and management. It is a question of important public policy and whether states can afford agreements for government employees' salaries and benefits.  The numbers from State Budget Solutions show that the answer is no.

Thanks to union expense reporting requirements and the accessibility of the Internet, we can get a glimpse into the compensation packages of top union officials in Illinois.

One suspects that the vast majority of workers are at least vaguely aware of their right to organize. Nonetheless, the National Labor Relations Board, apparently desperate to drum up business for unions and work for itself, intends to issue new regulations that would force employers to post notices informing workers that they do, indeed, have a right to organize.

A Freedom Foundation of Minnesota review of recently filed campaign finance reports finds that public employee unions in Minnesota have already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in the 2010 election cycle to support a diverse group of candidates: suburban Democrats, rural Democrats, Twin Cities Democrats, and Iron Range Democrats.

Though unions have been on the decline in nearly every state in the nation, Nebraska's unions are actually growing.

With all that is happening in Wisconsin (and now Ohio and other states) with regard to government workers, some observers are wondering how we arrived to this point.

Why should the Ohio Senate revoke collective bargaining privileges from both state and local government workers, undoing rights created in 1983 by ORC 4117? The existing law starts from the flawed premise that elected officials and their appointees will protect the public interest in bargaining with the unions

There are three important lessons from the Wisconsin collective bargaining battles over the past eighteen months:

1. The power of the government-sector unions and their impact on elections is greatly overestimated. With the November 2012 victory for  Senate Republicans to regain control of the Wisconsin Senate,  government employee union  suffered their sixth  major defeat since March 2011.

2. When given a choice, government employees will quit their union in large numbers.

3. Government employees' salaries and benefits, particularly pensions, are financially unsustainable in most states and collective bargaining reform is needed.

This paper examines the ongoing fiscal crisis caused by health-care plans for retirees (known as "other post-employment benefits," or OPEB) in one of the hardest-hit states, California, and outlines necessary reforms that should come before tax increases or cuts to government services.

Public officials can help alleviate their budget crunches by offering competitive, not exorbitant benefits.

Advocating for collective bargaining reforms because unless base compensation adjustmentst happen, taxes will have to go up.

Ten ideas to cut waste and balance the buget without raising taxes, including more efficient K-12 funding, spending high education tax dollars more wisely and rein in state employee salaries and benefits.

Article presenting the elimination of the Oregon state income tax and the end forced unionism as solutions to both budget problems and lack of business growth.

the Goldwater Institute recommends that Arizona join North Carolina and other states that completely prohibit state and local government officials from contracting with public employee unions, requiring all employment relationships to be individually negotiated.

No area of public policy in Michigan is more in need of fresh thinking than the relationship between government and its employees. With Michigan's recurring government budget struggles, and with a new Legislature and governor espousing a commitment to performance, efficiency and accountability in government, a new labor law for government employees is imperative.

Paper suggesting a variety of ways to fixing state budgets in crisis, including freezing or slowing public employee salary growth, privatizing infrastructure and state operations, eliminating prevailing wage and placing constitutional limits on taxing and spending.