PUBLIC EMPLOYEE UNIONS (PART 2 of 2): ARE THEY TO BLAME FOR OUR BUDGET CRISIS?

Fox Business Anchor John Stossel (recently departed ABC news anchor) reports on the significant fiscal impact of public employee unions(PUE)(teachers, police, firefighters, etc...) on state and local governments. He interviews Steven Greenhut, author of "PLUNDER!: How Public Employee Unions are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling Our Lives and Bankrupting the Nation"

Greenhut alleges that due to the powerful political influence of public employee unions, they have gained an unsustainable level of pay and benefits, untouchable even in a fiscal crisis unless there is mutual agreement to reduce pay and benefits. It is also very difficult to nearly impossible to fire any public employee. This has led to higher taxes, depleted services, and excessive levels of debt with most of the available funds paying the union workers and paying the required contributions of their pension funds at the public's expense.

http://www.amazon.com/Plunder-Employee-Treasuries-Controlling-Bankrupting/dp/...

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• public employee unions
• teachers
• police
• firefighter
• vallejo
• CA

[MRKetter81]

@goodwill2ndin Sleeping in bunk beds with men and sliding down greasy poles is nothing compared to what a crab fisherman does over the Bering Sea who can't even step out on deck with out risking his life, or how about the bomb squad for the military; who risk having their legs and appendages blown off to keep some asshole like your safe who could care less why you do your job.

You don't have a damn clue what danger is, so shut the hell up.

[wtong89]

People need to know that the Public sector job does nto create any goods or services, thye get their capital from tax payers. Private sectors do create goods and services, thus earning their capital from consumers. So Private sector may get paid more than Public sector because they make their money, while public sector jobs take money from tax payers. So cut hte crap about ppl in hte public SEctor wanting a good paid job, go find a private sector job then.

[buddyisreal23]

@VaticansHolocaust well said

[goodwill2ndin]

I would like to see these guys run into a fire or try to fight a fire with an understaffed piece of apparatus. Look at how many people in past years have lost their lives in areas where the closest fire station's were shut down, yet they still insist on closing more.

[VaticansHolocaust]

@Marakulous43 Privatization of police is also through private businesses (contractors) competing to be hired to enforce the law. Today, a store owner hires a security guard (provided a security company, not police dept.) with the incentive to find the best guard for the price. LEOs would be working for private contractors competing with one another to provide the best service. Think of it as states and cities seeking to hire the best (quality for the price) security guards.

[VaticansHolocaust]

@Marakulous43 Privatization comes down to entrepreneurs and private sector contractors. Rather than forcing every (taxpaying) citizen to pay for public education (regardless of cost), the parents would receive a voucher for their share of the education funding. The parent would decide where/how that money is spent, which leads to better schools because private sector educators need to optimize their competitive advantage (ie, quality and cost) to stay in business. (continued)

[Marakulous43]

I'm not a fan of unions but I see some people calling for the privatization of education and police and other stuff. My questions is how do you do that, how is that possible??? And please keep the answer as simple as possible...I'm only 20 years old lol!!!

[OhmgrownCron]

4:46 Epic win

[OhmgrownCron]

4:46 Epic win

[arivas713]

Leeches!