“No one should be able to vote their own paycheck”
Shannon Love at Chicago Boyz thinks that California has reached a tipping point:
Of course no one is being whipped, but in effect an ordinary citizen of California cannot get their desires for reduced state spending implemented due to the disproportionate power of the State’s employees and allied interest. It appears now that the government unions will not accept any solution to California’s budget crisis except increased taxes in a declining economy. Ordinary citizens have no choice but to either emigrate or just lie there and take it.
By long custom and law, the U.S. military has remained ruthlessly apolitical. Serving members do not endorse candidates, organize politically in any fashion or make independent public statements about campaign issues. That standard evolved due to the obvious danger of having a military with a positive feedback loop into the political system that controls its budget. The same danger exists for all other state employees, albeit in a slower and less dramatic fashion.
No one should be able to vote their own paycheck. Government-employee unions should be legally restricted from engaging in any kind of political activity. If not, it is only a matter of time before civil servants become civil masters.
I’m pretty sure New York has reached that point as well. The state is about the add a tax on payroll to fund the MTA, so that MTA employees can continue to retire in their mid-50s, fully vested with gold-plated benefits. Do you get that? A tax on payroll. A tax on jobs. A tax on paying your employees. In NYC, the Mayor is begging for more money from Albany, but will probably raise city taxes even if he gets that cash. Already, the city has the highest debt load in the nation, a total of $7,153 for every resident. Last year, the city paid $4.86 billion just to service that debt. Again, this is all so city workers can retire in their mid-50s, fully vested with gold-plated benefits.
I now believe I made a mistake settling here. If my career were more geographically flexible I would probably move my family. Unfortunately, although I could have started in various locations around the country, it would be very hard to move my career now.
