dancer
08-27-2010, 11:53 AM
SEIU (Service Employees International Union) has been sucking our blood for decades. It has become the financial foe of our government from the federal to the states and municipalities.
I like to see those bankrupted states - CA, NJ, NY, ...etc. file Chapter 11 so that they can negotiate from ground zero the bad deals that for years have been accumulating, and hurting tax payers. But, with Obama's state bailouts, I am not very optimistic.
For a glimpse of the financial disaster of the state of CA, the quoted paragraphs below from WSJ, dated August 27, 2010 tell us all.
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At the same time that government-employee costs have been climbing, the private-sector workers whose taxes pay for them have been hurting. Since 2007, one million private jobs have been lost in California. Median incomes of workers in the state's private sector have stagnated for more than a decade. To make matters worse, the retirement accounts of those workers in California have declined. The average 401(k) is down nationally nearly 20% since 2007. Meanwhile, the defined benefit retirement plans of government employees—for which private-sector workers are on the hook—have risen in value.
Few Californians in the private sector have $1 million in savings, but that's effectively the retirement account they guarantee to public employees who opt to retire at age 55 and are entitled to a monthly, inflation-protected check of $3,000 for the rest of their lives.
In 2003, just before I became governor, the state assembly even passed a law permitting government employees to purchase additional taxpayer-guaranteed, high-yielding retirement annuities at a discount—adding even more retirement debt. It's as if Sacramento legislators don't want a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but a government of the employees, by the employees, and for the employees.
I like to see those bankrupted states - CA, NJ, NY, ...etc. file Chapter 11 so that they can negotiate from ground zero the bad deals that for years have been accumulating, and hurting tax payers. But, with Obama's state bailouts, I am not very optimistic.
For a glimpse of the financial disaster of the state of CA, the quoted paragraphs below from WSJ, dated August 27, 2010 tell us all.
---------------------------------------------------
At the same time that government-employee costs have been climbing, the private-sector workers whose taxes pay for them have been hurting. Since 2007, one million private jobs have been lost in California. Median incomes of workers in the state's private sector have stagnated for more than a decade. To make matters worse, the retirement accounts of those workers in California have declined. The average 401(k) is down nationally nearly 20% since 2007. Meanwhile, the defined benefit retirement plans of government employees—for which private-sector workers are on the hook—have risen in value.
Few Californians in the private sector have $1 million in savings, but that's effectively the retirement account they guarantee to public employees who opt to retire at age 55 and are entitled to a monthly, inflation-protected check of $3,000 for the rest of their lives.
In 2003, just before I became governor, the state assembly even passed a law permitting government employees to purchase additional taxpayer-guaranteed, high-yielding retirement annuities at a discount—adding even more retirement debt. It's as if Sacramento legislators don't want a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but a government of the employees, by the employees, and for the employees.