GOVERNMENT: We Can't Afford This!

Federal, state and local governments got into fiscal trouble by increasing pay and benefits during good times, while leaving no real mechanism for reducing costs when the times grew tough, as in the recent "Great Recession". But do we learn from this? No, we go right back to baking pay, healthcare and retirements into the government employee compensation pie, with no way to ever remove the generous compensation costs. Let's Look at a few examples:

BART Employee Gets $330,000 for No Work, Plus $181,000 a Year in Pension - Inexcusable Waste of Taxpayer Money?
Ex-Bart Official Makes $330,000 (Huffington Post article)  in 2012 without working a single day! Sometimes the newspaper reporter does not get it right, but the readers make comments that are spot on, like this one:

"$181,000 a year pensions are obscene. Every city in the country should eliminate all pensions completely and go on a pay as you go budget. Policemen and firemen and teachers all should rely on social security and instead of pensions,pay them a little more and let them invest in an annuity if they wish. Why should a 20 year old entering the workforce now pay taxes for the next 40 years supporting someone else retiring today. The system isn't working,proof is the cities filing bankruptcy already."

From the paucity of comments on this BART compensation article, compared to other articles at the Huffington Post, nobody appears to be outraged. The reason? IMHO, because this goes on so frequently and people do not feel empowered to stop it. Meanwhile, unemployment and underemployment is still the rules of the day here in good old Cal-ee-forn-ee-uh. Sigh

Calif. State Workers to get 4.5% Pay Raises, But Can We Afford Them?

Governor Jerry Brown consorted with his largest public employee union to give them a 4.5% raise. But can we afford it? I believe that the state cannot afford it. Actions like these put us in danger of unsound financial footing, should the current feeble economic recovery falter. Read about this in the Tribune's article: State Workers to get Raises Under New Contract with Union. Decide for yourself.

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