printThe compliant voter keeps electing local officials who’ll use their police powers to pick from the pockets of wealth creators so as to give to a more powerful constituency: members of the public sector unions. WSJ:
“Cities across the nation are raising property taxes, largely citing rising pension and health-care costs for their employees and retirees.
In Pennsylvania, the township of Upper Moreland is bumping up property taxes for residents by 13.6% in 2011. Next door the city of Philadelphia this year increased the tax 9.9%. In New York, Saratoga Springs will collect 4.4% more in property taxes in 2011; Troy will increase taxes by 1.9%.
… Some cities have also pushed unions to reopen contracts in an attempt to pare benefits or raise workers’ contributions for pensions and health care. They have faced stiff resistance from some unions that argue it’s unfair to penalize workers for a financial crisis that isn’t their fault. Others have agreed to some cutbacks.”
There’s an enormous difference between an industrial union and a public employee union. The latter has access to three things that the former does not – (a) choosing the “boss” via electoral influence, (b) a semi-infinite pool of coerced public funds, and (c) a captive customer base. The stockholders of a private corporation have very limited toleration of unreasonable demands from industrial unions since they can close production, move it elsewhere, subcontract, out or go out of business if they give in to ridiculous demands. The City Councils and State Legislatures typically conspires with the Unions to fleece the public. When did one last hear of some Mayor saying “we can get bus drivers for only $35,000/year and you’ll all be fired if you strike!!”??
Many of these problems disappear when government limits itself to a civil/criminal justice function (rather than running transit systems, school systems, garbage collection, etc.) and switching from defined pension plans to contributory 401 k type retirement systems. The odds of the system reforming itself, however, are zero. Bankruptcy is more likely and (in that event) the Feds will likely bail out the State/Municipalities until the entire Fed system collapses. That will be the FINAL BUBBLE.
“We” are doomed? I’ll put this as simply as I can: there are no Blue States…only Blue CITIES. We have them surrounded. Once the urban regimes can no longer bribe off their black/brown/other group entitlements with debt-financed handouts, the ethnoids are going to turn on their former cosmic-liberal masters, chop them up into little pieces, and fry them up for dinner. Think Haiti, 1820s. All we’ll have to do, once we withstand the initial shock of Civil War, is go into the cities and clean up the mess. Someone’s doomed alright, but it ain’t us.
“there are no Blue States…only Blue CITIES”…that’s an interesting point…it was catching my attention how expansionist politicians that “win” get a majority vote from the large cities, but decidedly lose in most rural areas.
Come to think of it, cities are basically pig pens for the oinkers, except for the few factories & true private businesses left in this country.