This year has proven to be a dismally disenchanting one so far. For a year starting with so much potential, this past month has been overwhelming with bad news making it seem like the world keeps taking a turn for the worse.
We’ve had the debacle in Wisconsin with the GOP assault on public labor, which was fully willing to take cuts and cooperate with the governor to help balance the budget. Hiding under a guise of fiscal responsibility, the GOP is showing its colors once more, though this really should not come as much of a surprise to any of us. They simply are looking out for those who got them elected, which sad to say, sure as hell isn’t the people. And similar legislation is passing in several other states where the Tea Party fever managed to capture the GOP a majority. But why should we be shocked? The so called “government for the people, by the people” hasn’t given a shit about us for a long time, only who can attain and control the helm of the American Empire. The Democrats tried to play nice (well some of them did, the rest are just as bad as the GOP) and in turn lost control. Again. It’s no wonder so many voters are becoming disillusioned with the system; the only people that win are the ones running the show. We certainly don’t. I keep watching jobs disappear, schools, clinics, fire departments, pretty much everything have to run on ever shrinking budgets, all while my taxes and tuition keep going up, my rights keep getting restricted or denied entirely (looking at you Maryland and the cowardice of your legislature). And yet the ruling class keeps getting favors and breaks, swimming in record profits for the year. For the greatest nation on Earth, we could certainly be doing better. I only continue to vote because it gives me more say than not voting, little as that say may be. And I keep hoping that things will improve.
And of course, I look at what’s going on in the Middle East and North Africa, it kicks in some perspective to how much harder some people live. It is incredibly encouraging to see so many people fighting for what they think is right, to demand more say in how they are governed. If our generation here in America had even a fifth of the ambition and organization of these protesters, we could change things for the better. We’ve seen several peaceful topplings of the old regime now, and even the birth of a new nation from Sudan. And yet, these protests also remind me of how little our people actually care about the advancement of democratic life, of free speech and the press, as we sit here and do nothing as Libya begins to lay the grounds for a genocidal blood bath. Our leaders sit here and twiddle their thumbs while we have a angry leader determined to hold power at all costs waging war on his own people. And I am so deeply saddened by how quickly our attention to this all has been lost with the devastating disaster in Japan.
Now, don’t you dare say the I am unsympathetic to the plight of Japan. It is absolutely horrendous there right now, and they are struggling. And need all the help they can get. And I don’t seek to pull away from any effort to do so. But it deeply saddens me that we cannot focus on the plight of more than one nation or people at a time. The Middle East is essentially being entirely ignored now in our media for the terrible conditions in Japan. All of these people need support. They all need to be heard. They should not be forced to fade into the background because our attention is so fickle. Which is why everyone should begin to try and pay more mind to what happens in this world around them. Because we never know whose voice and pleas we cannot hear and cannot help because we did not listen.
The biggest myth about labor unions is that unions are for the workers. Unions are for unions, just as corporations are for corporations and politicians are for politicians.
With all of the union strife in Wisconsin, Indiana and New Jersey, and indications of more to come, it might be time to shed a bit of light on unions as an economic unit.
First, let’s get one important matter out of the way. I value freedom of association, and non-association, even in ways that are not always popular and often deemed despicable. I support a person’s right to be a member or not be a member of a labor union. From my view, the only controversy regarding unions is what should they be permitted and not permitted to do.
According to the Department of Labor, most union members today work for state, local and federal government. Close to 40 percent of public employees are unionized. As such, they represent a powerful political force in elections. If you’re a candidate for governor, mayor or city councilman, you surely want the votes and campaign contributions from public employee unions. In my view, that’s no problem. The problem arises after you win office and sit down to bargain over the pay and working conditions with unions who voted for you.
Given the relationship between politicians and public employee unions, we should not be surprised that public employee wages and benefits often average 45 percent higher than their counterparts in the private sector. Often they receive pension and health care benefits making little or no contribution.
How is it that public employee unions have such a leg up on their private-sector brethren? The answer is not rocket science. Employers in the private sector have a bottom line. If they overcompensate their employees, company profits will sink. The company might even face bankruptcy.
Of course, if private companies can count on federal government bailouts, as did General Motors and Chrysler, they can maintain a comfy relationship with their unions. No such bottom line exists in the government sector. Politicians have every reason to grant benefits to their political allies, in this case public employee unions. They don’t pick up the tab; it’s unorganized taxpayers who face higher taxes.
Wisconsin’s Gov. Scott Walker says that stripping the workers of collective bargaining rights, and limiting talks to the subject of basic wages, is necessary to give the state the flexibility to get its finances in order and spare taxpayers further grief.
Consider the cushy deal for many of California’s unionized state and local police, fire and prison employees. They have what’s called a “3 percent at 50″ formula that determines their retirement check. It’s based on 3 percent of the average of the three highest-paid years of the employee’s career, multiplied by the number of years on the job. An employee with 20 years’ service can retire at age 50 and receive 60 percent of his salary. Employees often boost their retirement income by putting in a lot of overtime hours during their last three years of service.
Temple University professor William Dunkelberg said in his recent CNBC article “Should Unions Have the Power to Tax?”: “The ‘employers’ (taxpayers through their elected officials) have slowly lost their ability to determine the terms of employment offers. The unions now determine working hours, hiring criteria, the quantity of ‘output’ to be produced per day, the number of sick and vacation and holiday days, how their performance will be evaluated etc. No longer can the employer make an ‘offer’ for a job with requirements that fit the needs of the public institution.”
Major states like California, New York, Illinois, Ohio and New Jersey — and the federal government — are on the verge of bankruptcy. Large cities like Los Angeles; Chicago; New York; Washington, D.C.; Newark; and Detroit are facing bankruptcy as well. Does that tell you something? It tells me that we can no longer afford to do what we’ve done in the past. We must make large cuts in spending. Spending on public employee salaries is just a drop in the bucket.
Tell me why you think “Record Profits” are bad? Does the Institution you pay your tuition to become evil somehow because it turns a profit. Is there a dollar amount that defines bad profits from good profits, or are all profits bad? Do you believe that the people with money should give their money to the people who have no money? If you or I continuously give money to someone and expect nothing in return are we helping that person? Would it be more generous to give that person the skills necessary to earn money on their own thus ending their dependency on others?
The Presidents reason to bomb Libya seems to change from moment to moment. Their leader is and always was a despicable human being to say the least. The people of Libya are caught between his tyranny and the militant Islamists seeking to overthrow him. Just a side note, the militant Islamists want to kill you and I just because we do not practice their form of religion. You can believe that no matter which side wins, the Libyan people will still be oppressed, it will just be a matter of oppression by dictator or oppression by religion, either way freedom looses.
Do not be disheartened by “the Media” they are in a business and as such must make that evil money that you seem to detest, so they have to be relevant to keep an audience. . The internet has many good sources for news, personally I feel journalism has been polluted with political slant vs. just reporting the facts.
You seem to be a good person that wants to make a difference and I commend you for that. To try and change the circumstances in the Middle East my friend is an exercise that throughout history has been futile. The Middle east consists of many tribal factions that have been fighting each other for thousands of years. The demographics of the population is something you must understand in order to pass judgment on the situation. We are fooling ourselves when we think that dropping a few bombs can somehow bring closure to a centuries old conflict.