Michigan’s Quaint, Old Fashioned Union Protest

December 12, 2012 Leave a comment

Michigan became the 24th right to work state yesterday as Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law two workplace freedom bills. Depending on which media outlet you believe between 7,500 and 12,500 people protested at the Capitol in Lansing. To put that in perspective, it’s smaller than the student sections at Michigan State and Michigan’s football stadiums and is less than half of the number of kids unable to go to school because their teachers called in sick to protest. In a state where 17.5% of the workforce is unionized, the number of protesters was pitifully small. Unions just don’t have the emotional connection with people in Michigan that they once had.

One of the things that struck me about the protests yesterday is how old fashioned it was. We had people whining that the young people just don’t understand as they wax poetic telling romantic stories about union battles of the past. These battles are little more than tales of union thuggery (think Battle of the Overpass in 1937). On some level the unions tried their hand at thuggery yesterday. There was one union thug who punched a Fox News journalist and a group of union thugs tore down a tent. The big talker who punched the journalist claimed to have a gun and further claimed to have murdered in the past. Big talk, limited action. I’ll bet this wasn’t the “blood” the Democrat House leader had in mind.

The Michigan Education Association (the Michigan version of the NEA) brought in a bunch of inflatable rats who they named after various Republican politicians. The highlight was perhaps the sign which badly misspelled Gov. Snyder’s last name. One wonders how many people want their kids educated by teachers who spell Snyder ‘Synder’. Beyond that the inflatable rats are just childish and outdated. Calling people a rat or scab doesn’t hurt anyone, the general public couldn’t care less about such declarations anymore. The unions are stuck in the 30′s when calling someone a rat had a deeper meaning. Ask anyone under 50 what that deeper meaning is and you’re likely to get a blank stare.

The House Democrats spent most of yesterday offering bogus amendments  and yelling ‘shame’ at Republicans. It’s particularly amusing to hear Democrats shout ‘shame on you’ at anyone, much less Republicans. The Democrat Party is the party of no shame. In the Democrats world there is no shame getting copious amounts of welfare, there’s no shame committing sexual perversion, there’s no shame in getting an abortion or three. But passing a right to work bill? Shame on you say the Democrats! Yet another example of outdated union techniques that just don’t resonate with people anymore.

Union membership is down across the country, it’s down to 17.5% in Michigan half of whom are public sector employees. In the last 12 years Michigan has gone from middle of the pack in unemployment to the bottom, we’ve gone from 16th in income to 39th. All of this while not being a right to work state. In right to work states the unemployment rate is lower and 70% of the new jobs created in the last four years have been in those states. Being a union state hasn’t exactly worked out well for Michigan as the country rapidly shifts from manufacturing. The difference in wages between union and non-union states is minimal while the headaches for business are clearly less in right to work states.

The left wants to romanticized unions and pretend like they’re more important to workers than they really are. The fact that in a supposedly big union state like Michigan the unions could only pull 12,500 at most to the Capitol suggests that this state just doesn’t care about unions anymore. The state defeated two pro-union ballot proposals in a heavy Democrat year. While the unions are yelling shame and calling people rats, young folks don’t even know what they’re talking about. Like the right has lost the young on morality the left has lost them on unions. Unions are from a bygone era of manufacturing that just don’t resonate with people anymore. Couple that with public sector unions that no one is found of and you get what we saw in Lansing yesterday: A bunch of aging union members shouting out slogans that don’t mean anything to people under 50.

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Unions Try To Retain Power As Right To Work Comes To Michigan

December 11, 2012 2 Comments

It ought to be an interesting day in Lansing today as the Legislature is set to pass right to work legislation. We should be surprised at nothing that happens, no matter what it is today. Gov. Rick Snyder or one House of the Legislature could very well cave. Or perhaps no one will cave and workplace freedom will be signed into law after hours of Democrat games. Protesters will no doubt show up. They could range from small groups of paid union thugs to thousands of disturbed unionists. The protesters could be non-violent, they could blow  up the Capitol building. Nothing should surprise anyone.

The Democrats are promising games on the floor of the State House and Senate today. No doubt they’ll offer dozens of amendments, none of which will pass. The Democrats are threatening to block bills that would pay for a new downtown Detroit arena for the Red Wings (owned by Democrat billionaire Mike Illich) and street lights for the city of Detroit. Way to go Democrats, you’re really going to stick it to Republicans with those bill blocks. There just isn’t much the Dems can do to block right to work, the GOP won the State House in last month’s election and the GOP controls the State Senate and the entire executive branch. Blocking bills that would aid Detroit is hardly going to teach Republicans a lesson.

At least two school districts are shutting down today so that union teachers can show up in Lansing and protest. This is exactly what’s wrong with government education and teachers unions. These people want to pretend like they’re professions when in reality they’re just left-wing activists. To listen to teachers, all they care about is educating children. How exactly does taking a day off of work so teachers can join a union protest help children? There is nothing that the teachers unions do that benefits children. Most of what the MEA does in Michigan is extort money from taxpayers for union members all while education quality drops.

The unions are scared and they should be. Rank and file membership generally supports right to work. Most don’t want to pay for a union that they didn’t vote for and they don’t feel represents them. Most of all union rank and file don’t want to pay for a union that supports candidates they politically disagree with. In Wisconsin after Gov. Scott Walkers public employee union reforms union membership declined dramatically. That’s money out of the hands of unions and into the hands of employees.

Unions don’t have the support they once had. Even here in Michigan, the response to right to work legislation has been generally lackluster. The Detroit media has had a handful of articles about it but the subject hasn’t dominated either the Detroit News or the more liberal Detroit Free Press. The protests in Lansing today may be big but last week they were relatively small. Most importantly, the protests today won’t spill over into tomorrow or the next day or next week absent a delay in voting. The unions have vowed to place this issue on the ballot but just last month two pro-union ballot proposals lost overwhelmingly. Unions and union support is from a bygone era, even in historically pro-union states like Michigan and Wisconsin. It’s interesting to watch them make a last grab at their former power. Otherwise, it’s a matter of time before unions largely don’t exist as we know them today.

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Workplace Freedom Coming To Michigan

December 7, 2012 8 Comments

Michigan is a step closer to becoming a right to work state. Three bills passed at least one House of the Legislature. Two of them require a five day waiting period after passing one House before the other may vote on it. This sets up a potentially ugly scene in Lansing on Tuesday when union thugs will no doubt come out in force trying to stop the legislation from passing. Eight people were arrested yesterday as union members (or perhaps their paid protesters) engaged in violent or other criminal acts. It appears though that these bills will pass and Gov. Rick Snyder is going to show some backbone by signing them.

This issue isn’t about union busting. Unions have a right to exist and organize under Federal law. There is nothing that right to work legislation in any state can do to trump Federal law and ban unions. What right to work legislation does is give employees the freedom to choose whether they want to be part of a union or not. It forces unions to work for the money they receive from their members rather than watch it just come in every week because members are forced to pay dues.

Make no mistake, the noise Lansing is going to hear this week from unions has nothing to do with the rights of rank and file union members. It has everything to do with money. The unions have a cash cow in every state that doesn’t provide citizens with a right to work or employment freedom. State employee unions and private sector unions force people to pay dues in order to work, creating a cash cow for unions without any accountability to dues paying members. A majority of rank and file union members, even here in Michigan, support right to work legislation. Most employees never voted for a union, they never had the chance to vote as the vote was decades ago.

Michigan voters defeated two pro-union ballot proposals by hefty margins in November. One would have enshrined collective bargaining and a host of other union goodies in the Michigan Constitution. It lost by 14 points and exit polls show it lost with union members despite millions spent on the campaign by unions. The other ballot proposal would have unionized home health care workers, many of whom are family members caring for sick loved ones. It was defeated by an even wider margin. It’s clear unions don’t have the grip on Michigan’s electorate that they once had.

That won’t stop the ugly scenes we saw in Wisconsin from repeating themselves here in Michigan. Union members tried to take over the Capitol yesterday, one only imagines what’s in store for today. Tuesday’s vote could be another thing entirely. In talking to people though the general consensus is that no one really cares one way or another. Granted, in west Michigan unions have never been important. But even in metro Detroit, the notion of solidarity with unions has long since faded away. Union members talk about grandparents dying in Flint for unions, trying to arouse anyone under the age of 60 to care about this fight. Truth be told, no one under 40 particularly cares. The world has changed, the employment landscape has changed. Unions are from a bygone era, it should come as no surprise when even people in Michigan shrug their shoulders at right to work legislation.

Workplace freedom will be nothing but good for Michigan workers. Those working for government employee unions (save the police or firemen who are exempted) will have a choice whether to join the union, just like Wisconsin. Those working in private sector unions will enjoy the same rights. More freedom in employment is not a bad thing for Michigan. Looking across the nation, it isn’t bad for states either. Over 70% of the jobs created during the Obama administration have been in right to work states. For a state that needs jobs and needs a boost, right to work will be nothing but good for us.

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Can Unions Get Any More Moronic?

November 17, 2012 3 Comments

Hostess is going out of business because their employee union refuses to take an 8% pay cut. Unable to withstand a nationwide strike, Hostess is closing up shop costing 18,000 people their jobs. What a victory for workers! Rather than let the man cut their salaries by 8% they’re going to be cut by 100%. This is about more than Twinkies and those wonderful fruit pies. (I love Hostess strawberry pies but haven’t been able to find one in years) This is about a union hellbent on the destruction of its own constituents. How does the union action in this case help workers, 18,000 of which will now be unemployed?

The National Hockey League provides another example of a union completely out of control, costing its members money and jobs. The NHL season looks as though it’s on the brink of cancellation. This will cost players over $1.5 billion in salaries. They’re fighting over what amounts to $400 million for high end players. So let’s follow the union logic, they’re willing to lose $1.5 billion in order to gain $400 million. In my world that’s over $1 billion in losses for NHL hockey players. That didn’t stop Detroit Red Wing Ian White, a small time player, from calling NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman a moron. With all due respect to irrelevant players, Ian you’re a moron. Your union is costing its members $1 billion+ in order to stick it to the owners by $4oo million. Not smart.

In both cases it isn’t just the workers who are hurt by moronic union actions. In the case of Hostess it’s workers families who will suffer without a source of income. In the case of the NHL, it’s not just players who will lose a year of salary in what can best be described as a short term career. It’s also the ticket takers, beer salesmen and bar owners who will suffer while these union morons stick it to the owners by losing $1 billion for themselves. The public is hurt as well, we no longer get to enjoy gross Hostess snacks and we don’t get to enjoy NHL hockey.

The sad part about all of this is that the workers really think they’re sticking it to someone. The Hostess workers seem proud of the fact that they didn’t back down to management demands. Yet they’ll be without jobs as a result. The NHL is even worse, with players attacking owners and causing a public scene in the process. It’s sort of amazing to watch people who are losing a tremendous amount of money arrogantly stick to the union line. It’s as though they haven’t stepped back for a even a second to look at the broader economic consequences of their actions.

One wonders how many Hostess employees really wanted the union to shut down the company and their jobs. One really wonders how many average NHL hockey players really want to give up a year of salary so stars like Sidney Crosby can make a few extra bucks. Honestly, we can wonder why Crosby and other stars are willing to give up a full year’s worth of salary to pick up a pittance more over six years. Where are these peoples heads? They’ve been sold a lie by union thug bosses and they’ve succumbed to group think and pressure. None of these people are thinking in their right mind. This is how unions operate, it’s how they destroy companies and lives.

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Chicago Teachers Union Fighting A Revolution

September 18, 2012 Leave a comment

The Chicago government school teachers remain on strike. Mayor Rahm Emanuel is seeking a court injunction against the strike, claiming it ‘endangers’ kids safety. Because of course the kids in Chicago were somehow not endangered all summer but suddenly became endangered in September when school didn’t start. One could be cynical and suggest kids might be safer outside of the Chicago government schools, however considering the number of gang murders in the city this year such might not be the case. If Emanuel is to win the lawsuit it’s going to be because the strike isn’t about pay not because kids aren’t safe.

Last week the sides were supposedly “kilometers apart.” It seems the Chicago school teachers haven’t given up on forcing metric down everyone’s throats. The really interesting statement made last week though was from union head Karen Lewis who suggested that “the revolution will not be standardized.” She’s referring to the apparently outrageous notion that teachers be judged based on how their students do on tests. While that itself is an outrageous position to take, the really disturbing part of her comment is that she’s talking about “the revolution.” What revolution is that exactly?

The teachers unions have been fighting a revolution since the National Education Association was created over a hundred years ago. The fact is that the revolution isn’t limited to wild eyed union thugs in the inner city. The revolution is in your local government school, whether you care to see it or not. Government education is the creation of progressives who sought to fundamentally transform an America who largely rejected their big government socialism a century ago. Their goal was to transform society by capturing the next generation through compulsory education laws. They have been wildly successful, forcing government education on the overwhelming majority of students.They’ve taken America from a nation that loves freedom and loves Christ to a nation that looks to government and hates religious faith.

It goes beyond that though. John Dewey and Horace Mann, the leaders of progressive education a century ago, actively sought to dumb down America via the schools. The dumber people are the more servile they will be and the more willing they will be to accept the progressive outlook. An intelligent public wouldn’t accept a break from the Constitution in the way Dewey and Mann wanted but a dumbed  down public would. As such Dewey and Mann sought to revolutionize how children are “educated” beginning with how kids read. They’ve been wildly successful, there are tens of millions of functionally illiterate adults because of these people. There are millions of people who have no idea about the Christian history of America because the progressives have been successful at separating kids from their history.

So while many people may react with shock at Karen Lewis’ dropping lines about a revolution, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise. Government education is a progressive revolution. Lewis was actually being honest, which is odd for these people because they rarely discuss revolution in such a public forum. These people are educating the next wave of moronic voters who do as they’re told and look to the government for everything in their lives rather than looking to God and their own hard work. They’re growing the seeds of racial and ethnic resentment and breaking Americans even further of their Christian past. These people are fighting a revolution and it is not one that will result in anything good for freedom in the world.

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Chicago Teachers Strike Proves Wisdom of Scott Walker

September 10, 2012 13 Comments

The teachers union in Chicago is on strike. The average teacher in Chicago earns $76,000 per year not including generous heath and pension benefits. By comparison, the average Chicagoan only earns $47,000 per year. Those in the private sector don’t get the lavish health and pension benefits, which bring the average Chicago teacher’s benefit package to well over $100,000. The teachers rejected a 16% increase in pay, totally more than $400 million. Chicago government school teachers have the highest salaries in the country and they want more. The pro-union press is very concerned about all the children which are “loose” in Chicago. As though those kids weren’t loose all summer long. I guess only in September are unleashed children a major concern.

The teachers unions will of course pretend like they have the best interest of children at heart. Nothing could be further from the truth. With the highest teacher salaries in the country and a 16% increase on the table (who in the private sector has gotten a 16% raise in the last four years?) the teachers said no, they want more money. These people already pay less than 3% towards their health and pension benefits, their compensation packages average well over $100,000. Yet they want more and they’ll lie about their concern for children in the process in order to garner sympathy from already overtaxed taxpayers. Keep in mind, Chicago has some of the highest tax rates in the country.

The Chicago government school strike illustrates everything Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was fighting for in Wisconsin. Government employee unions are completely out of control. Their members earn more than private sector employees, in the case of Chicago government school teachers earn nearly $30,000 a year more in salary. Chicago teachers also earn lavish healthcare benefits and pensions, lavish plans that no one in the private sector get anymore. Yet all you hear from the teachers is how difficult life is with the summers off and how hard their jobs are. Maybe no one told them that most jobs that earn more than $50,000 a year are difficult.

Taxpayers can’t afford this nonsense anymore. Especially when the government schools produce such poor results. Chicago government schools are among the 10 worst in the nation, yet the teachers want a 16% raise on their already #1 ranked salaries. If these people operated in a competitive environment, they’d be out of a job. Who would willingly send their kids to such awful schools and who in their right mind would pay such poor teachers so much money? Only in the public sector, which shields itself from competition, can this sort of nonsense take place. There’s a reason why parents in Chicago are flocking to charter schools, it’s because the public school teachers are fat and sassy with their $100k+ pay packages to the point that they don’t actually do a good job teaching.

Chicago is providing us with a good example of why we all need to follow Scott Walker’s lead. States need to restrict the power of government employee unions, for the good of taxpayers. Government employees aren’t altruistic, they don’t care about children or the public good. They care about themselves and milking taxpayers of every last dime. They get more pay on average than private sector employees, their benefit packages far exceed what most people get in the private sector. Yet they want us taxpayers to pay even more for even less service. It’s time to restrict these unions, it’s time for all of us to do what we can to make sure our city and state doesn’t become the next Chicago.

UPDATE: According to the Department of Education, 79% of Chicago government school students are not proficient in reading. It appears that the highest paid teachers in the country want a raise nearly equal to the amount of 8th graders who are actually capable of reading at an 8th grade level. Pathetic.

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Why No One Cares About Scab NFL Refs

August 25, 2012 Leave a comment

The NFL is using replacement referees during the preseason as the regular refs have been locked out. Apparently refs need a union and the union cannot come to an agreement with the NFL, thus the lockout. The replacement refs have been generally dreadful, though because no one really cares about the preseason complaints have been minimal. No doubt once the Lions get hosed by one of these replacement refs in a real game I’ll be outraged. Of course, I’d be equally outraged if the regular refs hosed the Lions. I suspect most fans are like that, which is one of the reasons why no one really cares about the replacement refs. It’s not like the regulars were highly respected.

Jeff MacGregor at ESPN can’t seem to figure out why fans don’t care about the replacement refs. He goes beyond the absurdity of having Division II and III college refs officiating pro games and looks at the political side of it. What he can’t figure out is why fans aren’t calling these replacements scabs and why there isn’t general outrage over the treatment unionized refs are receiving from the NFL. In short, MacGregor is living in a world long since left by the rest of us. What MacGregor and the folks at ESPN can’t seem to figure out is why Americans don’t care about unions anymore. It’s something the Democrats have been scratching their heads about for awhile.

Only 11.8% of American workers are part of a union. Only 6.9% of private sector workers are in a union. The rest of the folks in unions are public sector employees. After what happened in Wisconsin it seems pretty clear that the public has little to no respect for public sector unions. Between teachers unions demanding higher taxes, more wages and not providing a result and lazy government bureaucrats hiding behind obscene union work rules complete with salary and benefits greater than in the private sector, it’s no wonder unions are generally not trusted or held in high regard. So few workers are part of a private sector union these days that no one sees any need to feel “solidarity” with people in other unions. After all, most of us aren’t part of a union so we have no need or desire to have solidarity.

Just 30 years ago when the government started compiling union statistics 20% of Americans were in a union. Go back to the 50′s and it was likely over 33%. ESPN is shocked that people don’t feel any solidarity with the NFL referees union but the fact is we don’t feel solidarity with any union anymore. Unlike the 30′s-60′s, there isn’t a huge minority of Americans in a union so the unions can’t rally other union members like they used to. The Democrats and the media can’t seem to wrap their head around this fact, which is one of the reasons why they were so surprised when Scott Walker was successful in Wisconsin. The unions have tons of money but they don’t have the power to command 1/3 of the country to stand behind them anymore.

There is of course another explanation to the failure of fans to support the NFL refs. Most Americans hate sports unions because they consistently threaten to take away our entertainment. No body likes the owners but most fans react in horror at the thought of a millionaire athlete striking in order to make more millions. It’s a special sort of obscene reserved for players unions. Still, the refs aren’t threatening to take NFL football away, they’re only threatening to make the officiating marginally worse than it would have been. The fact is, with less than 7% of the country in a private sector union and less than 12% of the country over all, it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone when we shrug our shoulders at “scab” workers. We just don’t care about unions anymore.

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Michigan’s Forced Unionization Earns SEIU Millions

May 29, 2012 Leave a comment

Michigan is a forced unionization state. In other words, there is no right to work in this state. If an industry or business is unionized, employees have no choice but to join the union. Even if they don’t want to. Thousands of people are stuck in unions they didn’t vote for and don’t really care to be part of. The unions rake in millions in forced union dues, which they use to fund political campaigns among other things.

Here in Michigan if an industry is unionized, everyone must join the union and pay dues directly out of their paycheck. The unions have seen this as an oppertunity to expand their ranks and increase their coffers, even for people who have no need for a union and who don’t want it. For example, home health care workers who take care of sick loved ones. The state government under former Democrat Governor Jennifer Granholm allowed SEIU to unionize people who have no need for a union. These health care workers, who don’t work for anyone but get insurance or other benefits from the state, are funding SEIU and get nothing in return. They have no ability to opt out.

The unions have also tried to unionize home day care workers. What exactly a union can do for people who work out of their own home is beyond anyone’s imagination. But what the unions can do is force these home day care providers to fund the union. Why? Because in Michigan you have no right to work if a union is present. The unions have also tried to unionize graduate students at the University of Michigan. If you want to attend graduate school, you have no choice but to join a union and pay them a portion of your teaching stipend. The union does nothing for you in return, you don’t even have the right to strike.

Now the unions are trying to unionize a group of disabled people who are working in a rehab program. These people are learning how to work again after being disabled in one way or another. Apparently this requires unionization, never mind that this is a teaching program. The union isn’t going to do anything for these people other than take their money. Make no mistake, that’s what all of these new unionizations in Michigan are about. SEIU and other unions are losing members in traditional unionized industries in Michigan. They want the cash to fund political campaigns, the best way to get it is to skirt the rules and force people into a union even if the employees have no need or desire to be part of a union.

This is what happens when people don’t have the right to work without being forced to join a union. The state government under the Democrats allowed several absurd unionizations occur, all of which saw the state hand over thousands directly to the union. Now that a Republican is Governor, it isn’t happening as much. But that hasn’t stopped the unions from trying. They’re only able to pull this stunt off because once the union is established, there’s no way to avoid paying dues. This is only able to happen because Michigan is a forced unionization state. SEIU has made $30 million on home health care workers, almost none of whom voted for a union or even knew there was a union vote. This is big business for the unions and it’s happening in every state that doesn’t allow people the freedom to work without joining a union.

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The Plight of Entitled New York Times Employees

April 25, 2012 Leave a comment

Unionized employees at the New York Times are in an uproar over pending changes to their retirement program. No longer able to afford lavish pension benefits for retirees, the Times is attempting to move to a 401k program that employees would contribute to. The union is outraged of course. What’s interesting here is that for all of the Times attacked Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and any number of businesses who have been forced to change employee retirement programs over the years, the Times is doing exactly the same thing.

The Times has no choice but to freeze their current pension plan and replace it with a 401k. In case the liberal reporters haven’t noticed, circulation is down for all newspapers including the Old Grey Lady. It doesn’t matter that the Times is popular among liberals and intellectual elites. Subscriptions are down and the Times is getting beaten online, badly, by other papers and internet sites. As such revenue is down and with a drop in revenue it comes as no surprise that there needs to be a drop in employee benefits be it in the form of pay, healthcare or pensions.

Hysterical liberal Times employees took to You Tube to grouse about the new retirement program. The reaction of these employees is priceless in that it exposes the root of liberal bias at the paper and it exposes the entitlement mentality of liberals. One woman claims she’ll be living in a cardboard box when she retires, another claims she’ll be living on food stamps. One man wonders if he’ll have to make the choice between living with his kids and suicide. The melodramatic rants are amusing but they really expose the absurdity of the union position. Millions of Americans have 401k programs. In retirement they aren’t being forced to live in cardboard boxes or go on food stamps. They certainly aren’t contemplating suicide.

These liberals seriously believe they are entitled to live off of their employer until the day they die whether they’re working for them or not. The fact is, employers cannot afford this sort of benefit anymore. In fact, taxpayers cannot afford to pay for this sort of benefit for government employees either. This includes the Michigan government school teacher who wants to retire at the age of 47 and get full pension and medical benefits for life. The notion that we must be paid by our employer once we retire, even for decades afterward, must fall by the wayside. No employer (taxpayers included) should be expected to pay former employees massive pensions for decades on end. This sort of lazy entitlement is not only absurd but expensive.

Everyone wants to have enough money set aside so they can have a nice retirement. But a nice retirement isn’t the job of your employer. It was one thing when companies had a lot of money and could lure talent with the prospect of a nice pension. Like it or not, companies cannot afford this sort of entitlement anymore. 401k programs allow employees to contribute to and partially manage their own retirement, something they probably should have been doing all along. Most Americans have such a program, only the most entitled of union employees (mostly government employees) think they’re above it all. The New York Times employees will soon be joining all of us little people with 401k programs. While they’re grousing about it, you might want to invest in some cardboard boxes and while you’re at it invest in dog food. I know of a lot of melodramatic Times employees who will soon be in the market for a well appointed cardboard box and a can of Alpo.

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States Face $4 Trillion In Debt; Unions Resist Cuts

October 25, 2011 Leave a comment

The 50 US states have debts totaling around $4 trillion. This to go with the nearly $15 trillion Federal deficit. One can only imagine how much in debt local governments are in. Part of the problem for states are massive salaries, health care and pension plans lavished on government employees. In Wisconsin there are bus drivers earning six figures. In Illinois two teachers union lobbyists gamed the system to earn six figure pensions for two days of substitute teaching. While Illinois may be more corrupt that most states, there are thousands of government employees set to earn massive pensions at taxpayers expense.

The average school teacher in Wisconsin earns $100,000 a year in salary and benefits. The same is true in Michigan and Ohio. In most states, government employees can retire after 30 years on the job and they receive a pension equalling 90% of their salary. Government employees who retire at the old age of 52 often go to work for another government agency and end up retiring with two lifetime pensions. Not to mention lifetime healthcare. Keep in mind, most of these people don’t produce anything. In the case of school teachers, they at best produce poor results.

Interestingly it’s the government employee unions who are aiding and abetting the Occupy Wall Street hooligans. The American Federation of Teachers is supporting the OWS folks by allowing them to use their property. Other government employee unions are also supporting OWS. It’s sort of interesting considering that some government employees receive pensions that put them into the dreaded 1% that we’re all supposed to hate.

What these government employee unions really want is to have rich capitalists pay for them to do essentially nothing. They want wealth redistributed from producers to non producers. Make no mistake, government employees don’t produce anything. Most who work for agencies are paper pushers and teachers, well, we all know the dreadful product the government schools produce. These people want to continue to be paid to do essentially nothing. Worse, they want those who actually produce something to pay an exorbitant amount for them to do nothing of value.

Taxpayers cannot afford this anymore. States are facing massive debts that total $4 trillion. Government employees simply cost to much money. We have two choices to get these costs under control. We can either cut salaries, benefits and pensions or we can cut a large number of government employees. We cannot raise taxes because Americans are already taxes at their limit.

Republican Governors in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana have all tried to do something about this problem. They’ve cut back on government union power and have required government employees to pay into their own healthcare and pension. It makes no sense for government employees to have bigger benefits than those in the private sector with no cost to boot. Government employees want us to view them as essential people who are sacrificing by serving the people. That’s a load of nonsense. These people not only aren’t essential, they aren’t sacrificing at all. They’re feeding off the taxpayer teet and they’re outraged that anyone would try to ween them.

But ween them taxpayers must. We cannot afford these lavish wages and benefits for people who do not produce. If working for the government is all about sacrifice, let the government employees sacrifice and earn less than their private sector counterparts. If they don’t like it, let them quit and enter the private sector. Most won’t because they can’t hack it in a competitive environment. With $4 trillion in state debts something needs to be done about government employee salaries and pensions. Gov. Walker got the ball rolling but more needs to be done.

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