Two articles that spent some time on my computer screen today tell the story of the American political left and their addiction to damaging economic policy.
The first is by Mort Zuckerman in U.S. News:
Public Employee Union Benefits Are a Fiscal Disaster
The coming crisis in municipal finance might create a bond market panic
It it, he writes that –
“[States] sowed the dragon seeds in the fat years by buying off service unions with generous pensions, employee contracts, healthcare, pay, and benefits. According to a study by Daniel DiSalvo, a political scientist at City College in New York, state and local workers now earn an average of $14 more per hour in wages and benefits than their private sector counterparts.
In general, the average state government worker reaps retirement benefits several times richer than a counterpart in the private sector, a critical reason why public pension costs have become unsustainable. For example, state and local governments contributed $3.04 per hour toward each employee’s retirement in 2007, according to U.S. Labor Department figures, while private employers paid 92 cents an hour.
Public and private sector workers live in separate economies. The public sector unions are flourishing. The private sector has had to let go many of its workers as economic conditions have worsened.”
“The most egregious issue is pensions,” Zuckerman writes. Click here to read his entire article, including how taxpayers are turning government workers into millionaires.
The other article is by Timothy P. Carney in the Washington Examiner:
In the article Carney writes:
“Since his party’s November shellacking, President Obama has worked hard to show America that he is not anti-business, notably by picking General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt and Chicago banker Bill Daley for prominent posts in his administration. But their selection does not mean Obama is “pro-business,” at least as the term is commonly understood. The president is no champion of open markets and free competition. His idea of being friendly to business means more government subsidies and corporate-government cooperation, both of which are mother’s milk to Immelt and Daley…
But the anti-business charge against Obama was always off target. “Anti-free market” was — and is still — more accurate.
Immelt and Daley don’t represent a new side of Barack Obama — they represent the unhealthy collusion of Big Business and Big Government that has always been the essence of Obamanomics.”
Carney writes that’s Immelt’s GE is Obama’s kind of corporation:
“[It] marches in sync with government, pocketing subsidies, profiting from regulation, and lobbying for more of both.”
Carney writes that Daley is “Obama’s kind of businessman: a banker who leverages his political connections for profit.” Click here to read Carney’s article in its entirety.
What a nice marriage. A generously paid (with taxpayer dollars) political army and a way for government and it’s insiders to wield power while their friends get rich (also with taxpayer dollars).
It’s not a mystery why our country is more than $14 trillion in debt. Corruption is expensive.
