MEMO TO LIBERAL IDEOLOGUES: PUBLIC EMPLOYEE UNIONS ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS
True liberal ideologues in the state legislature, you are agonizing over the needed cuts in state government programs because you believe in a healthy "social contract" between the people and their government. You believe to your core that in America, everyone is entitled to a standard of living that, for some, must be provided in total or in part by the government. You believe that it is right and good for those who have benefited financially from America’s free market system to "bring up" those in this country who really never have or will have the ability to pull themselves up. Victims of society, as you refer to them, need protection and assistance from those who can afford to provide it. I don’t agree with this philosophy, but I "get it" and understand that it is a valid, if flawed, point of view.
If you are one of these ideologues, then you really need to step back and look at the out of control state public employee unions. If you presuppose that there is a limited amount of revenue to fund state government programs, then it only makes sense that there is a competition for limited resources. Do available tax revenues go towards programs, and direct assistance to those in need (as you like to say, our most "vulnerable" citizens)? Or do those programs go to continued increases in the salaries and benefits of state employees.
Thanks to the increased power and political might of the unions, public funds are being used to create a whole new class of upper-income, wealthy people — all from their careers in public service. Recently the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility posted an online database revealing specific information on over 5,000 CalPERS pensioners who are taking in lifetime retirement benefits of over $100k a year (in many case, a lot more than that). Just think about it, for someone in the private sector to have that kind of guaranteed income, they would literally have to have a couple million bucks sitting in a bank account, and draw from the interest.
**There is more – click the link**
June 19th, 2009 at 12:00 am
There you go again Jon, off the rails to the far right. The last time I looked, Cal-PERS (an acronym for the California Public Employee’s Retirement System) has assets totaling $176.1 billion (as of April 30, 2009). So these retired state employees do have “several million” in their retirement accounts. But why are you whining about retired state employees? Are you jealous that these hard working people are able to retire with dignity? Did you once take a state test to try and get a state job and not get hired? Oh, right, you did once have a government job.
June 19th, 2009 at 12:00 am
I’m thinking Mr. Evans’ comment must certainly be satire. There is no way that could be a serious effort at argument.
Jon, your point is an excellent one. Everyone except Mr. Evans understands that CalPers is seriously underfunded, and that defined benefit pensions and lifetime medical benefits starting as early as age 50 are re-directing excessive funds from direct government services to cover retiree costs. Unfortunately, there are actually precious few “true liberal idealogogues” in government. Most are actually cynical union sycophants who won’t do anything to disrupt their own gravy train. Bought and paid for, they truly are.