George and George Discuss Collective Bargaining and Wisconsin

[astrofrk]

Why don't you look up what the founders thought about Corporations? Thomas Jefferson was especially hard on them when he stated that they were a great threat to Liberty. Look up the East India or Hudson and you will understand. Nor did Coprorations have constitutional rights until a century ago. If you want to quote a founder, you better get your facts right. Talk about income, how much do CEO's make? Not enough I guess since they needed all that corporate welfare.

[jagg1951]

the unions must work together to shut down the economy until rights are restored a simple example of 500 or more tractor trailers blocking highways surrounding political buildingd, garbage piling up no snow removal, but the unions must hold steadfast in denying all services until rights are restored,

[kwagner99]

Pure crap

[edyken77]

Just sucks that the unions aren't willing to just give up and surrender all the money to the billionaires. I just feel so bad for the billionaires, ya know? Like even though I'll never make over 100k a year I just want to help them so they can have all the money. Is that so wrong?

[magicfansgk]

@edyken77 Think about what you posted. The "billionaires" you are talking about are the tax paying citizens. These are public employees, paid for by tax payers which is me and you. When a Union demands high pay and benefits from an employer, they are taking from profits of the company. The Government does not make a profit. The Government is an expense. They are taking money from your wallet and you don't even realize it but sit there and defend them because you hate capitalism. Typical.

[wmarkhay]

This does make an enlightening point which helps explain a domestic conflict with my liberal wife/public sector employee whose retirement is with the Wisconsin state retirement fund. The example of how many people want the exemplified public jobs compared to available openings is valid, but what she sees in her particular position (nurse practitioner) is an INABILITY to hire qualified folks because our county pays so much less than private employers in our greater Twin Cities metro area.

[dozapictures]

@wmarkhay I don't doubt that. From my research, it doesn't seem that there is uniform overpayment across states or across employee types. It very much depends on the environment that exists in the state, which includes whether there is collective bargaining and/or binding arbitration. Specific employee groups seem to benefit more than others. Police and fire unions seem to hold a great deal of political power, so you see them reap the most rewards.

[huygigh]

Why argue? Union members are brainwashed, they don't see the cycle of politicians handing out higher pay and benefits to BUY votes, then kick the "unforseen" financial trouble down the road. The grocery store analogy hits the nail on the head, if choice is limited to a single option, the single option holds all the cards.

[MSotelo503]

The was not misleading but maybe a little bias. It did lay out all the facts on simple terms, In order to fully understand the problem you must compare and contrast like they thought us in 1st grade. Taking a look at both side is ideal and only affects the people opposed to it. Although with everything it got its goo and bad.

[ltlwatcher]

I am a state employee making 46K a year. With my education and experience, I can *easily* make 60K in the private sector (I just passed the CPA exam. I am on my way to get my CPA). Oh, and I pay for my health insurance too. This video is a load of cr*p. 269K a year? Did they assume policemen have life expectancy of 300 years? My pension is far worse than it is described here.

[BattyFred]

@ltlwatcher so, why haven't you gone out to the private sector to make more money?

[illSavant]

@ltlwatcher believe it

"Apparently over 6000 retired government workers get $100K+ pensions (4820 as of May 2008) and the number grows by 120 a month. Not surprising considering in 1 bankrupt city alone we saw a multitude of city employees making $100K+ [May 7, 2008: Vallejo California Votes for Bankruptcy] [May 8, 2008: It Pays to be a Firefighter in Vallejo]" From seeking alpha dot com

[dozapictures]

@illSavant I checked the number today for California - its now over 14,000 public employees receiving pensions over $100k per year (Calpers, Calstrs and UC). Google "California Pension Reform" for the database.

[huygigh]

@ltlwatcher *Easily*? Why don't you then? Oh, because you'd have to gather your own clients, pay your own health insurance and pay for your own retirement plan? I would be willing to bet that the 46k is your take home, without adding the health insurance and retirement package!

[psKESEY56]

Excellent analysis, and I like the injection of humor as well.

[firebadge8]

I don't see any pensions like this coming our way where I work. I don't get free health care like the politicians, nor do I get a nice big pension after only a couple years like the politicions. Anyone who thinks fire and police jobs are so easy and harmless to their health should try it , see what it would take compensation wise to do it for 25-30 years. And I would like to see any politician try to do this job past 50 years old. this job puts much wear on the body.

[canard651]

What a load of crap.

Carefully constructed crap to be sure. I found it entertaining, but clearly stilted to its point of view to the extent that it did not paint an accurate picture.

[dozapictures]

@canard651 Can you be specific about what you thought was false or misleading?

[TheSpeakerFTD]

Nice to see some thoughtful analysis instead of more hype and yelling