Friday, October 2, 2009
Public servants? No, we are the servants
How public employees became the new labor aristocracy
An article of mine at American Thinker, Taxpayers: Eat Your Hearts Out, Suckers outlined the myriad of abuses taxpayers suffer from the demands of government workers. I was not writing about the rules and regulations, or the rudeness and inefficiency and incompetency that many of us suffer when dealing with government workers (not all, mind you, but many).
I was instead writing about the gold-plated contracts and benefit packages government workers enjoy, courtesy of you and I. Even if government workers were superlative, however, they are still vastly overpaid. This is made clear in an op-ed in today's Boston Globe by Jeff Jacoby and by an article in the new conservative publication, National Affairs, which uses California as the textbook example of what happens when politicians serve the desires of public workers rather than the needs of private citizens.
Jacoby writes about the myth of the underpaid public employee:
Take account of total compensation - wages plus benefits - and the disparity [between public and private sector employees] is even more striking. In 2008, total federal civilian compensation averaged $119,982 - more than twice the $59,908 in wages and benefits earned by the average private-sector employee.
Chris Edwards, a scholar at the Cato Institute, has documented the steady widening of the gap: In 1960, federal workers averaged $1.24 for every $1 earned by a private employee. By 1980, the federal advantage was up to $1.51; in 2000 it was $1.66. Now it is $2 - and climbing....
He provides examples of the dreams of public workers being fulfilled at our expense. He also notes that the resistance grows and profiles the work of one principled businessman who has had enough and has founded a group-The Free Enterprise Nation-to try to inform the public about the severe impact of these plush payrolls on our future... [snip]
The second article portrays the downfall of California as being the result of bad government policy. One of the causes of the fiscal basket case that is California: public labor unions. Among the worst are the powerful teachers' unions: one of the most powerful of Democratic interest groups. Teachers spend a lot of their free time-and they often have plenty-canvassing for Democrats, handing out flyers, manning phone boots, funding campaigns. The payoff? Great pay and benefit packages from politicians in their pockets.
The percentage of unionized public employees in California is 20% higher than the national average.... Awarded collective bargaining rights with nearly every sector of government during the 1960s and '70s, the unions subsequently exploded into a political force to be reckoned with and a primary cause of California's fiscal hemophilia.
The result of the teachers' flight from responsibility has been unadulterated dysfunction. In Los Angeles schools, one out of every three students drops out before graduation. And a research team from the University of California, Riverside, recently concluded that by 2014 - the year all students are required to be proficient in math and English under No Child Left Behind - nearly every elementary school in the state will fail to meet proficiency standards. [....]
But no matter how egregious their misconduct, California's public-school teachers can always skirt the consequences. With 340,000 members statewide, the California Teachers' Association is perhaps the most powerful interest group in state politics. In 2005, for instance, the organization spent nearly $60 million to defeat ballot measures aimed at bringing more accountability to California schools.
These contracts are killers. They are black holes that will suck in vast amounts of our money-investments that could go towards our childrens' futures instead get sucked up, along with the pina coladas, by retired government workers relaxing on a beach.
Public workers are not public servants. We are the servants.
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Democrat Compares U.S. Health Care System to Holocaust
Subject: txt 1st hcare bdd vals reps libs -
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) last night doubled down on his wild health care rhetoric. On Tuesday Grayson let loose with the statement that Republicans had no health care plan and just wanted everyone to ''die quickly'' instead of getting care. Yesterday, after Republicans demanded an apology for the slander, Grayson returned to the House floor where he apologized to people who have died and their families, comparing America’s health care system to the Holocaust...
[More liberal 'civility'.
BTW: this is Holocaust {intentionally reduced so it's less visible}:
This is the health care that everyone in American, including those here illegally, are entitled to use now and cannot be turned away by law in any state:
Yeah, comparable.]
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Veterans Affairs won't release any more care home reports
Subject: txt 1st hcare -
Facing congressional scrutiny over details revealed in a review of care given to veterans at one of its Pennsylvania facilities, the Department of Veterans Affairs slammed the door on the release of similar reports nationwide.
In a directive dated Friday, VA officials in Washington informed local agency officials that inspection reports like the one on the VA nursing home in Philadelphia are not to be released to the public.
[Even though they're publicly funded. This is government run health 'care'.]
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Nothing for Everyone
Subject: txt 1st hcare -
The health care reform proposals put forth so far by Democrats, and supported by President Obama, have the unique gift of satisfying virtually no one.
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If we don't want it -- Obama Delivers
Subject: txt 1st hcare bdd reps libs -
The majority of the American people do not approve of Obama's health care plan.
Current Associate Press poll place the disapproval rate at 52%. President Obama plans on making health care reform a reality, including taxing those who fail to comply, in spite of what the American people want.
Support by Chicagoan's for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Chicago in 2016 has gone from 62% in February to 47% on September 3rd. President Obama is helping his buddy Mayor Daley, and is making a special Air Force One flight to Denmark to make certain that Chicago is the site for the 2016 Olympic Games.
It appears that Congress is planning to vote on health care bill proposals without even taking time to fully disclose the legislation. Laws affecting your income and health care will be voted on in the abstract. So corruption and money can buy the final draft and become laws all Americans will have to obey.
Is this the Change that America Hoped for?
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MAJORITY LEADER PROTECTS HOME STATE
If ObamaCare is so great, why does Nevada need protection from it?
The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, has secured a special deal protecting his state against the costs of expanding Medicaid under one of the major health care bills moving through Congress.
Reid, a Democrat, complained about the impact on Nevada when the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, unveiled his bill on Sept. 16.
Now Baucus has modified the bill to spare Nevada and three other states, and Reid, who faces a potentially difficult race for re-election next year, is taking credit for getting a "major increase" in federal money for his state...
[Again, it has nothing to do with improving health care.]
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China displays upgraded missiles in October 1 parade
Subject: txt nsec intl -
Beijing- Upgraded missiles were featured prominently in China's Oct 1 military parade which celebrated 60 years of Communist Party rule, the Xinhua news agency said, citing a commander of the service that controls nuclear weapons.
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Oil, Ideology Keep China From Joining Push Against Iran
Subject: txt gwot nsec -
In its effort to muster support for sterner action against Iran, the Obama administration will have to overcome China's reluctance to punish a country that is one of its top oil suppliers and a major beneficiary of its energy-related investments.
The administration's frustration with Beijing is growing. U.S. officials have noted that China has appeared even more reluctant than Russia to take action against Iran after disclosures about its nuclear program. U.S. officials said they are particularly concerned that China has blocked their efforts to target freight-forwarding companies based in Hong Kong that reship goods, including prohibited weaponry, to Iran.
The Chinese "have not displayed a sense of urgency" on Iran, said a senior administration official. Instead, the official said, China has attempted to "have it both ways," preserving its relationship with Iran while also working with the United States and other countries involved in the effort to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
Why is China protecting Iran? Two reasons, analysts say: oil and ideology...
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Polish Prez Not Happy After Obama Reneged on Missile Plan
Subject: txt nsec intl sclm -
On Thursday, FNC viewers got to learn of a little reported diplomatic faux pas on the part of President Obama, as the administration announced on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland that America would back out of the plan for a missile defense shield previously worked out with Polish President Lech Kaczynski.
On Special Report with Bret Baier, host Baier showed an interview with the Polish president who did not seem happy with President Obama’s foreign policy decisions.
Kaczynski signaled his belief that the deal he had worked on with the Bush administration was important to his country:
"I thought that the August 2008 deal, I considered that to be a success. I worked very hard to bring about the deal, to make it successful. I would like to be honest with you, and I will just say that I did everything I could to just finalize the deal. I cannot say I was happy. It was a very important deal for us."
Baier then brought up the bad timing of the Obama administration’s announcement...
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The Coming Russia-Georgia Clash Over Abkhazia
Subject: txt intl russia -
All summer, Kremlin officials hinted that hostilities between Russia and Georgia could rise to a boil again. Now it looks as if Moscow has decided to turn up the heat.
Last week a Russian patrol boat carrying rockets docked in a port along the coast of Abkhazia, one of Georgia's Russian-backed breakaway republics. Moscow has promised nine more ships to follow...
[Weakness invites aggression.]
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Despite suspicions, Obama urges better Russia ties
Subject: txt intl - nsec -
U.S. President Barack Obama called for better ties between NATO and Russia on Tuesday and said the two sides should work together even as Moscow voiced suspicions about revamped U.S. missile defense plans.
"It is important for us to reach out to Russia and explore ways in which the missile defense configurations that we envision could potentially lead to further collaboration with Russia on this front,"
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Spain contest bans Israeli team affiliated with West Bank college
Subject: txt israel - intl -
Spain said Thursday it has disqualified a group of Israeli academics from a solar power design competition, the latest in a series of low-level European sanctions against Israel.
Spain expelled the team representing Ariel University Center of Samaria from an international contest called the Solar Decathlon
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'Buycott' challenges Israel boycotters
Subject: txt israel -
A new Web site set up by pro-Israel Canadians seeks to defy anti-Israel boycotts by encouraging subscribers to deliberately buy Israeli products that are being boycotted.
The campaign, titled ''Buycott Israel,'' was organized by the Canada-Israel Committee together with the Jewish federations of Vancouver and Toronto and the Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region, to counter the increasing number of boycotts in Canada over the last year...
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DEMOCRATS FAVOR TRADE SANCTIONS ON AMERICANS
Subject: txt trade -
Congressional failure to ratify the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement -- a deal that was signed almost three full years ago -- has so far cost American exporters $2 billion - increasing $1.9 million each and every day:
- Since that time (November 22, 2006, when the trade agreement was signed), American exporters have paid approximately $1.9 million per day in Colombian tariffs that they wouldn't have paid if the Democrat-controlled Congress had just passed the FTA back then and thus allowed it to enter into force.
- That means that Congress' and (now) the President's partisan stalling has resulted in a pointless tax on American businesses of almost $2 billion ($1.9798 billion = 1042 days times $1.9 million) and counting.
Daniel Griswold, director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, explained Tuesday in the Washington Times how U.S. trade policy punishes poorer people abroad, and amounts to a regressive tax here at home:
- America's highest remaining trade barriers are aimed at products mostly grown and made by poor people abroad and disproportionately consumed by poor people at home.
- While industrial goods and luxury products typically enter under low or zero tariffs, the U.S. government imposes duties of 30 percent or more on food and lower-end clothing and shoes -- staple goods that loom large in the budgets of poor families.
The Obama administration and Congress could easily remove the sanctions that burden America's exporters and lower-income consumers.
But the Democratic Party playbook counsels more exaggerations about evil foreign labor practices as a sop to Big Labor...
[again it's the unions]
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Why does Obama keep snubbing the British?
Subject: txt intl -
At the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, and at the UN Security Council meeting before that, Barack Obama continued his administration's new policy toward Great Britain: declare that the "special relationship" between the U.S. and the U.K. is as strong as ever, and then act as if there is no such relationship at all. The British papers were filled with the news that the president would not grant Prime Minister Gordon Brown a one-on-one meeting...
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The Ugly American
Subject: txt reps intl libs bdd -
Five decades ago, during the heart of the Cold War, a term entered modern political vocabulary: "The Ugly American." Based upon a 1958 novel of the same name, the phrase began to be used to describe the whole range of thoughtless mistakes that Americans had made -- which had led to the loss of American friendship among the peoples of the world.
Today, the Obama Administration has brought the Ugly American back to life.
Our nation and our people have always had jealous rivals. The French, whose revolution failed miserably, are loath to respect an American Revolution that proved a spectacular success. Marxist ideology led Russia and China to be hateful to America, whatever ordinary citizens of those countries might have felt. Arabs and Moslems, seeking someone to blame for their poverty and impotence, find America (and Israel) very tempting targets.
But America still has many natural and cultivated friends, though in less than one year, Obama and his lieutenants have succeeded in irritating, confusing, and angering these friends. It is as if Obama has contorted the Arab maxim "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" into the "enemy of my friend is my friend."
Obama seems determined to be the Ugly American.... [snip]
There are people around the world who will always hate or distrust us, like the mullahs of Iran or Kim Jong il or Castro. Obama seems determined to befriend these mortal enemies. Then there are peoples, nations, and leaders which share natural interests with America, like Israel, Poland, India, Columbia, and Britain.
Toward these nations and their leaders, Obama seems bent on being the very ugliest Ugly American...
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Disarmament for All (Except the UN)
Subject: txt nsec owg -
In the midst of one of the greatest existential threats of our times, President Obama is pursuing severe reductions in US military strength. His recent statements at the United Nations have merely added fuel to the fire. When combined with his pledge to reduce US nuclear weapons stockpiles by 80 percent, a clear pattern emerges.
These actions would seem irrational, even by Obama's standards, if they weren't in keeping with a 50-year old strategy aimed at unilaterally disarming the United States in order that a "progressively strengthened" UN Peace Force might be established.
Among the document's many alarming proposals, one stands out:
"The disbanding of all national armed forces and the prohibition of their reestablishments in any form whatsoever other than those required for internal order and for contributions to a United Nations Peace Force...."
This idea has been steadily advanced during both Republican and Democrat administrations alike and, incredibly, this abominable plan is still being implemented...
[Recommended > ]
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POLL: UN not trusted on terrorism
Subject: txt gwot nsec owg -
Just 30% of U.S. voters have at least some confidence in the ability of the United Nations, while more than twice as many voters (68%) lack confidence in the U.N. to deal with the threat of terrorism. Thirty-nine percent (39%) describe themselves as not very confident, and another 29% are not at all confident.
Fifty percent (50%) of Democrats are at least somewhat confident that the U.N. can deal with terrorism, while 83% of GOP voters and 76% of unaffiliateds are not.
Voters ages 18 to 29 believe in the United Nations much more than their elders...
[Of course, it's what they're taught in our schools...]
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THE TRUTH ABOUT INCOME INEQUALITY
Subject: txt mny othr - SCLM -
Despite the conventional wisdom of Democrats, income, properly measured, has not fallen in America. Moreover, the supposed gaps between income and private sector productivity growth are greatly exaggerated, says Robert J. Gordon, a professor at Northwestern University in his new study entitled, "Misperceptions About the Magnitude and Timing of Changes in American Income Inequality," published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The conventional view is that income growth has seriously lagged productivity, so that increases in productivity yield returns to shareholders and corporate management but not to workers. However, Gordon finds that labor incomes are higher than previously measured:
- Most measures of income are constructed on the basis of households; since the number of people per household has been declining over time due to increasing divorce, longer life expectancy, and later marriage, income per person has increased faster than income per household.
- The most common inflation measure used, the Consumer Price Index for Urban areas, is too high, so incomes calculated by the CPI-U are too low; when the gross domestic product (GDP) deflator, the same measure used to calculate productivity, is used, then incomes adjusted for inflation are higher than would be the case otherwise for the bottom 90 percent of the income distribution.
- Productivity measures generally cover only the nonfarm business sector, which represented just 76 percent of GDP in 2007; less-productive sectors of the economy, such as government and households, are excluded. When these are included, total productivity is lower.
When these adjustments are made, the gap between income and productivity is far lower, says Gordon:
Horror stories about worsening income distribution in America are largely scare tactics; new policies and laws in Washington should rise or fall on the merit of the underlying facts and ideas, not on the fear that American society is spiraling hopelessly into extremes of income distribution...
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Obama's Policies Would Redistribute Nearly $1 Trillion in Wealth - Every Year
Subject: txt sclm -
By 2012, nearly $1 trillion from the top 30 percent of American families will be redistributed among the bottom 70 percent if Obama’s proposals on taxes, health care, and climate change become law, according to the Tax Foundation.
Under the Obama plan, 70 percent of American families as a group -- those earning less than $109,460 -- will receive more in benefits than they pay in taxes...
[Recommended > ]
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Stimulus Spending Doesn't Work
Subject: txt mny -
The global recession and financial crisis have refocused attention on government stimulus packages. These packages typically emphasize spending, predicated on the view that the expenditure "multipliers" are greater than one—
The bottom line is this: The available empirical evidence does not support the idea that spending multipliers typically exceed one, and thus spending stimulus programs will raise GDP by less than the increase in government spending....
[Again: before government can first 'spend' money anywhere it must first steal it out of the private sector economy. Who do you think spends such funds more wisely?]
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Exhibit A: Sept. US auto sales fall due to clunkers letdown
Subject: txt mny auto -
GM, Ford and Chrysler reported September sales declines today, revealing a tough hangover from this summer’s Cash for Clunkers buying spree.
General Motors Co. reported the steepest drop, 45 percent, when compared with September of last year. Chrysler Group LLC was down 42 percent and Ford Motor Co. had a much smaller decline of 5.1 percent.
GM blamed the decline on the clunkers program...
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Ford sales drop least in September
Subject: txt mny crpt auto gdd - : 5.1%
The six biggest automakers as measured by sales in the United States all reported down numbers for September as they felt the payback from the end of the "cash for clunkers" program.
Ford Motor Co., however, bested the field by reporting a decline of 5.1 percent for September compared to a year ago, far better than the 45 percent drop for General Motors Co. and 42 percent fall for Chrysler Group LLC...
[Good: Ford deserves to be rewarded for taking its responsible approach to fixing itself without taxpayer bailouts.]
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Gore and Google: Pants on Fire
Subject: txt grn - msm -
Earth's self-anointed global warming czar, Al Gore, has teamed up with his business partners at Google (he's an Advisory Board member) to make the latest pitch for a planet that is about to burst into a bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Together they have created an internet video which heralds Google's entrance into the world of climate forecasting.
The video champions Google's new mapping tool which simulates a 3D map of the world predicting the effects of "climate change" through the year 2100. They claim their data is provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
According to Google, the mapping tool was introduced in partnership with the Danish Government ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Convention in December. In otherwords, this is a visual ruse to scare the hell of out of the uninformed masses.
Yet the IPCC itself believes that over the next 90+ years, even their usually enthusiastic global warming editors are not anticipating the kind of predictions that Gore/Google are spitting out:
The IPCC states, "All studies for the 21st century project that Antarctic [ice] changes will contribute negatively to sea level..." That means there is more snow and ice accumulating on Antarctica than is breaking off and melting into the surrounding waters. In addition the 2007 report declares, "...for the last two decades... Antarctica as a whole has not warmed."
Regarding the potential collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, the IPCC says, "...no quantitative information is available from the current generation of ice sheet models as to the likelihood of timing of such an event." And, regarding the swamping of major cities projected by Gore/Google, the report reads, "...accelerated sea level rise caused by rapid dynamic response of the ice sheets to climate change is very unlikely during the 21st century."
Regarding Greenland, the IPCC states: "...the total melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet, which would raise global sea level by about seven metres, is a slow process that would take many hundreds of years to complete...no quantitative information is available from the current generation of ice sheet models as to the likelihood or timing of such an event"
Gore and Google have an agenda: money.
For Gore it's the payday he'll secure through carbon trading; for the Google guys, it includes providing critical technology for the energy monitoring plans involved in the coming 'Smart Grid'...
Hmm. Besides the smoldering shorts, I'm noting noses as long as a telephone wire.
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Spreading the Taxpayers' Green
Subject: txt grn crpt bbro sclm -
Planet Gore had the scoop Thursday morning that Gore-backed luxury carmaker Fisker was receiving over half-a-billion in government loans. But the Wall Street Journal’s subsequent story adds some notable detail...
[Recommended > ]
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Take Action: Stop EPA Overreach
Subject: txt grn - action =
Carbon Dioxide is NOT a Pollutant.
AFP is engaged in a pitched battle against environmental extremists and we need your help to stop them. The Left has mobilized their grassroots to tell the EPA to choke off economic activity in this country.
Last year we battled an EPA proposal to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, a proposal that would allow bureaucrats to control everything that emits carbon dioxide in our country, including: cars, trains, planes and even your lawnmower.
Since the Obama Administration has taken hold, things have only gotten worse. The EPA is feeling emboldened and have submitted a proposal that would find carbon dioxide "endangers the public health and welfare."
That's right; the essential gas that has always been a critical component of the planet's natural life cycle will now be officially labeled by the U.S. Government as a pollutant. One lawsuit by a fringe environmental group could bring our economy to a standstill.
But, before the EPA can pass this ridiculous rule, they are required by law to listen to the people.
Click here to take action
and tell EPA that you oppose this new regulation.
and tell EPA that you oppose this new regulation.
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Redefining Sarah Palin
As President Obama fumbled badly at the UN and G-8 last week, Sarah Palin began redefining herself as presidential timber. (Snip) Palin has scared the Left into mass hysteria because of her star quality on the campaign trail with a visibly creaking John McCain. Sarah Palin is our only charismatic leader at this profoundly dangerous time. That is why her actions are so important to the fate of the GOP, and to the future of this country...
[Recommended > ]
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Sarah Palin's Book No.1 on Amazon...
[in three hours]
...and it's not printed yet.
UPDATE: cover now released;
OMG, Obama Exec Order fed txtg while drving ROFL!
Now that Health and Human Services Secy. Kathleen Sebelius has issued formal instructions on the proper way Democrats want Americans to sneeze and/or cough during the official federal flu season (into your elbow), President Obama 2day issued an Executive Order with strict new rules for feds to not text while driving. Good thing for highway safety, cuz feds not known as gr8 multi-taskers.
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-end 091002 post-
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