America Is In Crisis
Our country is going bankrupt. It's plain and simple and you don't have to be an economics "expert" to know and understand this concept. Some Americans (but not enough) are beginning to get it loud and clear. It's most evident at the gasoline pumps across America.
Prices are climbing at astounding rates. This is the beginning of what the real "experts" call hyperinflation. Inflation is the rise in prices for goods and commodities over a time period. The more accelerated (shorter time period), the higher the inflation. This means that it takes more and more of your dollars to pay for everyday things like gas, shelter, food - you name it. Prices go higher and higher trying to chase these items because of demand for the items and the DEVALUATION of the currency. Hyperinflation is just extreme inflation.
We can thank Obama's policies and the Federal Reserve Bank for our inflation. It is a deliberate policy to devalue America's currency. You may have noticed that it is getting worse on a regular basis. Your food, gasoline, and clothing are a few prime examples of where price increases are most noticeable. The Federal Reserve Bank (Ben Bernanke) calls it "Quantitative Easing." That's a trick phrase that means that the government is deliberately making your money worth less and less faster and faster. This policy DESTROYS CURRENCY and it's destroying America.
History Shows This Fails
Over time, governments have tried to print money to get out of economic trouble. History illustrates in every example, that this method fails and causes the destruction of the economy for the unsuspecting country.
The United States is doing just that as you read this. Why? This is a deliberate policy to "Fundamentally Change America" into Obama's vision of what America should be. We don't know what that is, but we do know it is NOT the America you want or will even recognize if we allow this to happen.
In fact, the world is beginning to wake up and experience inflation just like we are. This is caused by the fact that the US dollar is the international currency. All world-wide goods are bought and sold in dollars - not other currencies. This will change in the near future. The world's biggest leaders are already planning on dropping the US dollar as the international currency. This will cause the collapse of our economy. If you think 17-20 unemployment is bad now, wait until it hits 25% to 30%!
Act Now or Forever Be Silent
Americans are in denial. They don't want to believe what they're seeing. They'd rather just ignore it and hope that it will all go away. This is exactly what the Jews did in Nazi Germany in 1935. The did not leave Germany when they saw the oppression of the Jewish community. They couldn't believe that this could happen to them. They did not leave Germany and most died because of this decision.
If you don't begin to take responsibility and face the reality that America is broke and we need to start taking DRASTIC CUTTING MEASURES NOW, then you will all face a similar fate (perhaps not death), but equally as bad in many ways. Your way of life, and your lifestyle, will be more like a third world county. The won't be an American Dream. Your government will step in and control all of everyday life and your freedoms will disappear completely. Don't believe it?
Action To Take
Stand up and fight for your liberties. They are under attack. Don't be naive. This can and will happen if you let it. Scream at your loudest and let Congress know that they need to get serious instead of putting-off the hard choices of cutting spending.
Or
Remain silent. Be taken-over and be told what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. Watch the greatest country fail and feel guilty for never acting. You will deserve it!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
Gold Standard Push
Utah Revives the Gold Standard
The Utah State legislature just voted to revive the gold standard. The new legislation will recognize gold and silver coins issued by the Federal Government as legal currency in the state. These coins would legally replace the paper currency used and currently accepted.
The new law would also exempt gold and silver from being charged any state capital gains taxes. This is especially important as the price of both gold and silver are climbing every week. Utah is not the only state doing so. There are eleven other states considering or in the process of passing similar legislation.
Why This Is Important
A piece of paper printed by the government is a promise to pay. That's all it is - a promise. This promise use to be backed-up by gold bullion. We have been off the gold standard since the 1970's.
Since Ben Bernanke (Federal Reserve Chairman) has been printing TRILLION$ of dollars any time HE wants, the value of our currency has been steadily falling. Also thank Tim Geithner for borrowing these newly printed dollars by buying US government bonds and putting the USA into deeper debt. (In other words, we are buying our own debt with printed money). Check the local gas station prices for instant verification! We have seen gas prices skyrocket $.40 in ten days in North Carolina. It can't be any better where you live! The same holds true for food prices, clothes, and various other commodities.
This is a deliberate action by the Federal Government that they call "Quantitative Easing." This is a euphemism for "monetizing" the debt. That's a fancy term for "devaluing" or causing the dollar to loose its purchasing power on purpose.
These are Obama's policies. Destroy the purchasing power of our money! It is deliberate, planned, and calculated. He wants this to happen as part of the "fundamental change" he spoke about.
Support the Gold Standard
Anyone who brings gold back as our currency is trying to save you from the pending disaster. This disaster will occur when the rest of the world (countries who depend on the dollar) decides to drop it as the international currency. THIS WILL HAPPEN! Foreign countries have already been meeting secretly and discussing this idea for some time now. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently publically proposed doing just that - Drop the dollar as the medium of exchange world-wide.
Keep your eyes on the gas pumps. Watch your dollars shrink. We are in CRISIS and Congress is piddling around and pussyfooting by cutting spending in Billions - NOT TRILLIONS! The "SHXT" is going to hit the fan - be prepared when it does. Support all efforts to bring back gold as currency here in the USA. Your paper dollars will become worthless. It's guaranteed. Remember the government's promise. (A promise is a wish to a fool).
The Utah State legislature just voted to revive the gold standard. The new legislation will recognize gold and silver coins issued by the Federal Government as legal currency in the state. These coins would legally replace the paper currency used and currently accepted.
The new law would also exempt gold and silver from being charged any state capital gains taxes. This is especially important as the price of both gold and silver are climbing every week. Utah is not the only state doing so. There are eleven other states considering or in the process of passing similar legislation.
Why This Is Important
A piece of paper printed by the government is a promise to pay. That's all it is - a promise. This promise use to be backed-up by gold bullion. We have been off the gold standard since the 1970's.
Since Ben Bernanke (Federal Reserve Chairman) has been printing TRILLION$ of dollars any time HE wants, the value of our currency has been steadily falling. Also thank Tim Geithner for borrowing these newly printed dollars by buying US government bonds and putting the USA into deeper debt. (In other words, we are buying our own debt with printed money). Check the local gas station prices for instant verification! We have seen gas prices skyrocket $.40 in ten days in North Carolina. It can't be any better where you live! The same holds true for food prices, clothes, and various other commodities.
This is a deliberate action by the Federal Government that they call "Quantitative Easing." This is a euphemism for "monetizing" the debt. That's a fancy term for "devaluing" or causing the dollar to loose its purchasing power on purpose.
These are Obama's policies. Destroy the purchasing power of our money! It is deliberate, planned, and calculated. He wants this to happen as part of the "fundamental change" he spoke about.
Support the Gold Standard
Anyone who brings gold back as our currency is trying to save you from the pending disaster. This disaster will occur when the rest of the world (countries who depend on the dollar) decides to drop it as the international currency. THIS WILL HAPPEN! Foreign countries have already been meeting secretly and discussing this idea for some time now. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently publically proposed doing just that - Drop the dollar as the medium of exchange world-wide.
Keep your eyes on the gas pumps. Watch your dollars shrink. We are in CRISIS and Congress is piddling around and pussyfooting by cutting spending in Billions - NOT TRILLIONS! The "SHXT" is going to hit the fan - be prepared when it does. Support all efforts to bring back gold as currency here in the USA. Your paper dollars will become worthless. It's guaranteed. Remember the government's promise. (A promise is a wish to a fool).
Thursday, March 3, 2011
TSA Has Bigger Plans for Us
You Think It's Bad Now-Just Wait
If you have traveled by airplane recently you know what a joy it is to travel and experience TSA's "friendly approach." If you skip the scanner, you have to be fondled in your private parts by a TSA "screener." (Pervert, would be a better name).
If you're worried about them unionizing, that's child-play! There's much more to be worried about.
All In The Name Of Security
A lot of Americans are OK with this because they think that this infringement of personal liberties actually prevents terrorist attacks. This remains to be seen. Illegal search and seizure really cannot be justified on ANY basis now can it?
Since implementing these intrusive techniques, TSA has NOT prevented numerous illegal weapons from being discovered by their intrusive techniques. However, the Lame Stream media fails to report this and let you know the real facts.
But Wait, There's More Coming
OK, so you still think it's alright to keep this in place at airports. So how about at train stations, stadiums, all public events, public sidewalks, or subways? The TSA is secretly considering to use their body scanners at all of these places WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION! In fact, they already have!
It's in a report titled "Privacy Impact Assessment for the Rail Security Pilot Study Phase II at PATH, July 12, 2006". This report is 176 pages of a government plan to periodically peek under your clothes without you having any knowledge of their invasion of your personal body. This is scary stuff America. Just the idea that the government is thinking about doing this is bad enough, but they have already carried out experiments with this technology in New York. They used a van containing a scanner that x-rayed unsuspecting "victims" on the city streets.
Big Brother Is Here!
The Patriot Act allows the government to search and seize anything of yours that they want without court order. Now they are expanding their ability to scan YOUR BODY without your permission all in the name of "Security." Forget about the radiation!
America, if you're not getting the message, there's little hope for you and your family. This isn't about security any more than it will "protect" you. It's about Big Government taking more and more control over your lives.
Won't this lead to totalitarianism? It's a good start!
If you have traveled by airplane recently you know what a joy it is to travel and experience TSA's "friendly approach." If you skip the scanner, you have to be fondled in your private parts by a TSA "screener." (Pervert, would be a better name).
If you're worried about them unionizing, that's child-play! There's much more to be worried about.
All In The Name Of Security
A lot of Americans are OK with this because they think that this infringement of personal liberties actually prevents terrorist attacks. This remains to be seen. Illegal search and seizure really cannot be justified on ANY basis now can it?
Since implementing these intrusive techniques, TSA has NOT prevented numerous illegal weapons from being discovered by their intrusive techniques. However, the Lame Stream media fails to report this and let you know the real facts.
But Wait, There's More Coming
OK, so you still think it's alright to keep this in place at airports. So how about at train stations, stadiums, all public events, public sidewalks, or subways? The TSA is secretly considering to use their body scanners at all of these places WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION! In fact, they already have!
It's in a report titled "Privacy Impact Assessment for the Rail Security Pilot Study Phase II at PATH, July 12, 2006". This report is 176 pages of a government plan to periodically peek under your clothes without you having any knowledge of their invasion of your personal body. This is scary stuff America. Just the idea that the government is thinking about doing this is bad enough, but they have already carried out experiments with this technology in New York. They used a van containing a scanner that x-rayed unsuspecting "victims" on the city streets.
Big Brother Is Here!
The Patriot Act allows the government to search and seize anything of yours that they want without court order. Now they are expanding their ability to scan YOUR BODY without your permission all in the name of "Security." Forget about the radiation!
America, if you're not getting the message, there's little hope for you and your family. This isn't about security any more than it will "protect" you. It's about Big Government taking more and more control over your lives.
Won't this lead to totalitarianism? It's a good start!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Guest Article - The Real Problem in WI
Why Scott Walker Must Win
by Patrick J. Buchanan - syndicated columnist.
"The anti-democratic methods President Obama's union allies are using in Wisconsin testify to the crucial character of the battle being fought.
Teachers have walked off in wildcat strikes, taking pupils with them. Doctors have issued lying affidavits saying the teachers were sick, a good example of ethical conduct for the school kids.
Thousands of demonstrators have daily invaded the Capitol, chanting, hooting, banging drums. Hundreds have camped out there and refused to leave so the Capitol building can be cleaned.
Is this democracy in action? Is this what 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green went out to see that Saturday morning in Tucson?
Picketers have carried placards with the face of Gov. Scott Walker in the cross hairs of a gun sight. He has been compared to Hitler, Mussolini, Mubarak. Democrats have fled the state to deny the elected Wisconsin Senate a quorum to vote.
Such tactics cannot be allowed to triumph in a republic.
Why is the left behaving with desperation? Because it senses what this battle is all about. Not just about pay, but about power.
The Republicans are not only resolved to guarantee government workers pay a fair share of the cost of their pensions and health care. They are in a purposeful drive to disarm and demobilize the tax-subsidized armies of the Democratic Party and end sweetheart deals between unions and the poodle politicians they put into office.
"Walker wants to end collective bargaining," is the wail.
Actually, what the governor wants to end is the scandalous practice of powerful unions raising millions and running phone banks and get-out-the-vote operations for politicians who thank them with wages, benefits and job security no private employer can match.
Since the 1960s, government unions have been able to sit behind closed doors with the politicians they put in office and write contracts, the cost of which is borne by taxpayers who have no one at the table.
They call this collective bargaining. A more accurate term is collusive bargaining. [my emphasis] And Walker means put an end to the racket.
When Ford sits down with the UAW, Ford negotiators represent the executives, directors and shareholders. Should they give away the store and Ford have to raise prices, and be undercut by Honda, all Ford workers, shareholders and executives suffer.
This is a healthy adversary procedure where Ford and the UAW each represents the interests of those who sent them, and both share a stake in keeping Ford prosperous.
When government unions sit down with the politicians they put into office, the relationship is not adversarial. It is not healthy. It is incestuous. And taxpayers must pay the cost of their cohabitation.
Gov. Walker also seeks to end the practice of having the state government collect union dues from state workers.
Indeed, why should a Republican administration collect dues for the benefit of union bosses who constantly labor to see to it those Republicans are not re-elected? Let the unions collect their own dues.
Walker would also require public service employee unions to hold annual elections by secret ballot to determine if state workers want the union to represent them, or if they would prefer to have their deducted union dues put back in their paychecks.
Legislators submit to voters every two years.
Why ought not unions to do the same?
In Wisconsin, the die is cast and Walker cannot yield.
For if he yields, the state and its 3,000 cities, counties, towns and school districts will be forever at the mercy of these unions.
If he yields, it will be a triumph for the tactics of intimidation, wildcat strikes and mass demonstrations to block legislative action.
The senators who fled will come home heroes, and Walker will have broken the hearts of the people who put their faith in him.
If Walker yields, governors and legislators across America will read the tea leaves and back away from taking on government unions. That means higher and higher taxes, as in Illinois, and eventual sinking of the states into unpayable debt and default.
The correlation of forces is in Walker's favor. Time is on his side. When you are holding a winning hand, you do not offer to split the pot.
After his opponents invaded the Capitol, called him Hitler, fled the state, and tried to shout down and shut down the legislature with raucous demonstrations, what other cards do they have left to play?
Walker has recalled Ronald Reagan's firing of the air traffic controllers as an example of how a strong leader must stand up even to a popular union when it is wrong.
There is an earlier example. When the Boston police went on strike and criminals ran amuck, and Sam Gompers came to the defense of the cops, Gov. Calvin Coolidge sent a telegram to that founding father of the American labor movement, "There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time."
Scott Walker cannot lose this fight, because his country cannot afford to have him lose it."
by Patrick J. Buchanan - syndicated columnist.
"The anti-democratic methods President Obama's union allies are using in Wisconsin testify to the crucial character of the battle being fought.
Teachers have walked off in wildcat strikes, taking pupils with them. Doctors have issued lying affidavits saying the teachers were sick, a good example of ethical conduct for the school kids.
Thousands of demonstrators have daily invaded the Capitol, chanting, hooting, banging drums. Hundreds have camped out there and refused to leave so the Capitol building can be cleaned.
Is this democracy in action? Is this what 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green went out to see that Saturday morning in Tucson?
Picketers have carried placards with the face of Gov. Scott Walker in the cross hairs of a gun sight. He has been compared to Hitler, Mussolini, Mubarak. Democrats have fled the state to deny the elected Wisconsin Senate a quorum to vote.
Such tactics cannot be allowed to triumph in a republic.
Why is the left behaving with desperation? Because it senses what this battle is all about. Not just about pay, but about power.
The Republicans are not only resolved to guarantee government workers pay a fair share of the cost of their pensions and health care. They are in a purposeful drive to disarm and demobilize the tax-subsidized armies of the Democratic Party and end sweetheart deals between unions and the poodle politicians they put into office.
"Walker wants to end collective bargaining," is the wail.
Actually, what the governor wants to end is the scandalous practice of powerful unions raising millions and running phone banks and get-out-the-vote operations for politicians who thank them with wages, benefits and job security no private employer can match.
Since the 1960s, government unions have been able to sit behind closed doors with the politicians they put in office and write contracts, the cost of which is borne by taxpayers who have no one at the table.
They call this collective bargaining. A more accurate term is collusive bargaining. [my emphasis] And Walker means put an end to the racket.
When Ford sits down with the UAW, Ford negotiators represent the executives, directors and shareholders. Should they give away the store and Ford have to raise prices, and be undercut by Honda, all Ford workers, shareholders and executives suffer.
This is a healthy adversary procedure where Ford and the UAW each represents the interests of those who sent them, and both share a stake in keeping Ford prosperous.
When government unions sit down with the politicians they put into office, the relationship is not adversarial. It is not healthy. It is incestuous. And taxpayers must pay the cost of their cohabitation.
Gov. Walker also seeks to end the practice of having the state government collect union dues from state workers.
Indeed, why should a Republican administration collect dues for the benefit of union bosses who constantly labor to see to it those Republicans are not re-elected? Let the unions collect their own dues.
Walker would also require public service employee unions to hold annual elections by secret ballot to determine if state workers want the union to represent them, or if they would prefer to have their deducted union dues put back in their paychecks.
Legislators submit to voters every two years.
Why ought not unions to do the same?
In Wisconsin, the die is cast and Walker cannot yield.
For if he yields, the state and its 3,000 cities, counties, towns and school districts will be forever at the mercy of these unions.
If he yields, it will be a triumph for the tactics of intimidation, wildcat strikes and mass demonstrations to block legislative action.
The senators who fled will come home heroes, and Walker will have broken the hearts of the people who put their faith in him.
If Walker yields, governors and legislators across America will read the tea leaves and back away from taking on government unions. That means higher and higher taxes, as in Illinois, and eventual sinking of the states into unpayable debt and default.
The correlation of forces is in Walker's favor. Time is on his side. When you are holding a winning hand, you do not offer to split the pot.
After his opponents invaded the Capitol, called him Hitler, fled the state, and tried to shout down and shut down the legislature with raucous demonstrations, what other cards do they have left to play?
Walker has recalled Ronald Reagan's firing of the air traffic controllers as an example of how a strong leader must stand up even to a popular union when it is wrong.
There is an earlier example. When the Boston police went on strike and criminals ran amuck, and Sam Gompers came to the defense of the cops, Gov. Calvin Coolidge sent a telegram to that founding father of the American labor movement, "There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time."
Scott Walker cannot lose this fight, because his country cannot afford to have him lose it."
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
So Lame...
Remember The Tea Party Protests?
Do you recall when the Tea Party first hit the scene? The Lame Stream media was not hesitant to criticize them for a variety of things - including being "racists." They reported on the signs and how hateful they were. However, now that the Unions are demonstrating, the Lame Stream media is completely silent about political signs and even violence.
It's true, the media is NOT reporting that the union demonstrations in Wisconsin have been infiltrated by Communists and Socialists who display their signs at every rally. Also absent is ANY objective reporting when it comes to HATE SPEECH or DEATH THREATS at these rallies. Both of these things have occurred on several occasions, but if you're watching MSNBC you will NEVER see them on TV. You'll never know that it is happening because they never report it.
Sick and Tired Yet?
Haven't you had enough of the propaganda being transmitted as the "news"? The Lame Stream media is corrupt and is just another wing of Big Government. They no longer report the news. They feed you what they want to to see and hear. The politicians are the same.
Are you getting the BIG PICTURE of what's really happening in the middle East? Are you being told about why gasoline prices are skyrocketing? Do you even have an idea of how much trouble America is in with the nation debt? We are bankrupt! Are you aware that the dollar is considered as a failing currency and should be dropped as the international currency by the IMF?
Is your head in the sand or don't you care? Wake up America, and start thinking for yourself. Get out of denial and face the music. Stop relying on the traditional media for your information. It's POISON not news! Stop buying newspapers and Progressive magazines. They are brainwashing you!
Try going outside the USA for the REAL news.
Do you recall when the Tea Party first hit the scene? The Lame Stream media was not hesitant to criticize them for a variety of things - including being "racists." They reported on the signs and how hateful they were. However, now that the Unions are demonstrating, the Lame Stream media is completely silent about political signs and even violence.
It's true, the media is NOT reporting that the union demonstrations in Wisconsin have been infiltrated by Communists and Socialists who display their signs at every rally. Also absent is ANY objective reporting when it comes to HATE SPEECH or DEATH THREATS at these rallies. Both of these things have occurred on several occasions, but if you're watching MSNBC you will NEVER see them on TV. You'll never know that it is happening because they never report it.
Sick and Tired Yet?
Haven't you had enough of the propaganda being transmitted as the "news"? The Lame Stream media is corrupt and is just another wing of Big Government. They no longer report the news. They feed you what they want to to see and hear. The politicians are the same.
Are you getting the BIG PICTURE of what's really happening in the middle East? Are you being told about why gasoline prices are skyrocketing? Do you even have an idea of how much trouble America is in with the nation debt? We are bankrupt! Are you aware that the dollar is considered as a failing currency and should be dropped as the international currency by the IMF?
Is your head in the sand or don't you care? Wake up America, and start thinking for yourself. Get out of denial and face the music. Stop relying on the traditional media for your information. It's POISON not news! Stop buying newspapers and Progressive magazines. They are brainwashing you!
Try going outside the USA for the REAL news.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Guest Article - Ann's Got It Right
LOOK FOR THE UNION FABLE
By Ann Coulter - Syndicated columnist
"The good news out of Wisconsin is that public school students' test scores skyrocketed last week, mystifying educators. The bad news is many student-teacher love affairs were hard-hit without access to janitors' closets and locker rooms.
Democrats are acting as if Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's demand that public sector employees give up collective bargaining would have George Washington rolling in his grave (a clear violation of Gravediggers' Local 803 regulations concerning the rolling of the dead).
In fact, government employees should never, ever be allowed to organize. [my emphasis]
The need for a union comes down to this question: Do you have a boss who wants you to work harder for less money? In the private sector, the answer is yes. In the public sector, the answer is a big, fat NO.
Government unions have nothing in common with private sector unions because they don't have hostile management on the other side of the bargaining table. To the contrary, the "bosses" of government employees are co-conspirators with them in bilking the taxpayers.
Far from being careful stewards of the taxpayers' money, politicians are on the same side of the bargaining table as government employees -- against the taxpayers, who aren't allowed to be part of the negotiation. This is why the head of New York's largest public union in the mid-'70s, Victor Gotbaum, gloated, "We have the ability to elect our own boss."
Democratic politicians don't think of themselves as "management." They don't respond to union demands for more money by saying, "Are you kidding me?" They say, "Great -- get me a raise too!"
Democrats buy the votes of government workers with generous pay packages and benefits -- paid for by someone else -- and then expect a kickback from the unions in the form of hefty campaign donations, rent-a-mobs and questionable union political activity when they run for re-election.
In 2006, 10,000 public employees staged a rally outside the New Jersey State House to protest the mere discussion of a cut to their gold-plated salaries and benefits. Then-Gov. Jon Corzine leapt onto the stage shouting: "We will fight for a fair contract!"
Only later, someone noticed: Wait -- isn't he management? (It takes a special kind of courage to promise 10,000 crazed union agitators that you'll fight to get them more money.)
Service Employees International Union officials openly threaten California legislators. At a 2009 legislative hearing, an SEIU member sneered into a microphone: "We helped to getchu into office, and we gotta good memory. Come November, if you don't back our program, we'll getchu out of office."
It used to be widely understood that collective bargaining has no place in government employment. In 1937, the American president beloved by liberals, FDR, warned that collective bargaining "cannot be transplanted into the public service." George Meany, head of the AFL-CIO for a quarter century, said unions were not appropriate for civil servants. As recently as 1978, the vast majority of states prohibited unionization of government employees.
Anytime there is the slightest suggestion that perhaps in the middle of a deep recession, public school teachers should pay 1.5 percent of their salaries toward their extravagant health care plans for their entire families, suddenly we get television ads of hard-working men doing dangerous jobs on docks and in foundries while being abused by their greedy capitalist overseers.
The unions must be desperately hoping that no one will notice ... Wait a minute! WE'RE TALKING ABOUT TEACHERS! This isn't the Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs" -- it's Mrs. Cooper's seventh-grade "values clarification" class.
With heavy union dues, labor has plenty of money to pay for propaganda and to threaten and bribe politicians.
On his first day in office, the Republican governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels, signed an executive order denying public sector employees the right to bargain collectively -- something that had been granted, naturally, by a Democratic governor.
As a result, Indiana government employees instantly got to take home an extra thousand dollars that no longer went to union dues -- and good employees started getting raises, while bad employees got cashiered.
But government workers think the job of everyone else in the economy is to protect their high salaries, crazy work rules and obscene pensions. They self-righteously lecture us about public service, the children, a "living wage" -- all in the service of squeezing more money from the taxpayer to fund their breathtakingly selfish job arrangements.
There's never a recession if you work for the government. [my emphasis] The counties with the highest per capita income aren't near New York City or Los Angeles -- they're in the Washington, D.C., area -- a one-company town where the company is the government. The three counties with the highest incomes in the entire country are all suburbs of Washington. Eleven of the 25 counties with the highest incomes are near Washington.
For decades now, the Democrats have had a good gig buying the votes of government workers with outrageous salaries, benefits and work rules -- and then sticking productive earners with the bill. But, now, we're out of money, no matter how long Wisconsin Democrats hide out in Illinois."
By Ann Coulter - Syndicated columnist
"The good news out of Wisconsin is that public school students' test scores skyrocketed last week, mystifying educators. The bad news is many student-teacher love affairs were hard-hit without access to janitors' closets and locker rooms.
Democrats are acting as if Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's demand that public sector employees give up collective bargaining would have George Washington rolling in his grave (a clear violation of Gravediggers' Local 803 regulations concerning the rolling of the dead).
In fact, government employees should never, ever be allowed to organize. [my emphasis]
The need for a union comes down to this question: Do you have a boss who wants you to work harder for less money? In the private sector, the answer is yes. In the public sector, the answer is a big, fat NO.
Government unions have nothing in common with private sector unions because they don't have hostile management on the other side of the bargaining table. To the contrary, the "bosses" of government employees are co-conspirators with them in bilking the taxpayers.
Far from being careful stewards of the taxpayers' money, politicians are on the same side of the bargaining table as government employees -- against the taxpayers, who aren't allowed to be part of the negotiation. This is why the head of New York's largest public union in the mid-'70s, Victor Gotbaum, gloated, "We have the ability to elect our own boss."
Democratic politicians don't think of themselves as "management." They don't respond to union demands for more money by saying, "Are you kidding me?" They say, "Great -- get me a raise too!"
Democrats buy the votes of government workers with generous pay packages and benefits -- paid for by someone else -- and then expect a kickback from the unions in the form of hefty campaign donations, rent-a-mobs and questionable union political activity when they run for re-election.
In 2006, 10,000 public employees staged a rally outside the New Jersey State House to protest the mere discussion of a cut to their gold-plated salaries and benefits. Then-Gov. Jon Corzine leapt onto the stage shouting: "We will fight for a fair contract!"
Only later, someone noticed: Wait -- isn't he management? (It takes a special kind of courage to promise 10,000 crazed union agitators that you'll fight to get them more money.)
Service Employees International Union officials openly threaten California legislators. At a 2009 legislative hearing, an SEIU member sneered into a microphone: "We helped to getchu into office, and we gotta good memory. Come November, if you don't back our program, we'll getchu out of office."
It used to be widely understood that collective bargaining has no place in government employment. In 1937, the American president beloved by liberals, FDR, warned that collective bargaining "cannot be transplanted into the public service." George Meany, head of the AFL-CIO for a quarter century, said unions were not appropriate for civil servants. As recently as 1978, the vast majority of states prohibited unionization of government employees.
Anytime there is the slightest suggestion that perhaps in the middle of a deep recession, public school teachers should pay 1.5 percent of their salaries toward their extravagant health care plans for their entire families, suddenly we get television ads of hard-working men doing dangerous jobs on docks and in foundries while being abused by their greedy capitalist overseers.
The unions must be desperately hoping that no one will notice ... Wait a minute! WE'RE TALKING ABOUT TEACHERS! This isn't the Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs" -- it's Mrs. Cooper's seventh-grade "values clarification" class.
With heavy union dues, labor has plenty of money to pay for propaganda and to threaten and bribe politicians.
On his first day in office, the Republican governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels, signed an executive order denying public sector employees the right to bargain collectively -- something that had been granted, naturally, by a Democratic governor.
As a result, Indiana government employees instantly got to take home an extra thousand dollars that no longer went to union dues -- and good employees started getting raises, while bad employees got cashiered.
But government workers think the job of everyone else in the economy is to protect their high salaries, crazy work rules and obscene pensions. They self-righteously lecture us about public service, the children, a "living wage" -- all in the service of squeezing more money from the taxpayer to fund their breathtakingly selfish job arrangements.
There's never a recession if you work for the government. [my emphasis] The counties with the highest per capita income aren't near New York City or Los Angeles -- they're in the Washington, D.C., area -- a one-company town where the company is the government. The three counties with the highest incomes in the entire country are all suburbs of Washington. Eleven of the 25 counties with the highest incomes are near Washington.
For decades now, the Democrats have had a good gig buying the votes of government workers with outrageous salaries, benefits and work rules -- and then sticking productive earners with the bill. But, now, we're out of money, no matter how long Wisconsin Democrats hide out in Illinois."
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Guest Article - Public Employee Unions Rip-Off
Who Benefits From Government Unions?
By Michael Barone
"Everyone has priorities. During the past week, Barack Obama found time to be interviewed by a Wisconsin television station and weigh in on the dispute between Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the state's public employee unions. Walker was staging "an assault on unions," he said, and added that "public employee unions make enormous contributions to our states and our citizens."
Enormous contributions, yes -- to the Democratic Party and the Obama campaign. Unions, most of whose members are public employees, gave Democrats some $400 million in the 2008 election cycle. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the biggest public employee union, gave Democrats $90 million in the 2010 cycle.
Follow the money, Washington reporters like to say. The money in this case comes from taxpayers, present and future, who are the source of every penny of dues paid to public employee unions, who in turn spend much of that money on politics, almost all of it for Democrats. In effect, public employee unions are a mechanism by which every taxpayer is forced to fund the Democratic Party.
So, just as the president complained in his 2010 State of the Union address about a Supreme Court decision that he feared would increase the flow of money to Republicans, he also found time to complain about a proposed state law that could reduce the flow of money to Democrats.
And, according to The Washington Post, to get the Democratic National Committee to organize protests against the proposed Wisconsin law. Protests that showed contempt for the law, with teachers abandoning classrooms, doctors writing phony medical excuses, Democratic legislators fleeing the state and holing up in a motel. The lawmakers played hooky without losing any salary, which is protected by the state constitution.
It's true that Walker's proposals would strike hard at the power of the public employee unions. They would no longer have the right to bargain for fringe benefits, which are threatening to bankrupt the state government, and they would no longer be able to count on government withholding dues money and passing it along to them.
But what are the contributions that public employee unions make to our states and our citizens? Their incentives are to increase the cost of government and reduce down toward zero the accountability of public employees -- both contrary to the interests of taxpaying citizens.
An argument can be made that higher pay, generous benefits and lavish pensions will attract better people to public employment. But where are the studies that show that citizens of states with strong public employee unions get better services than citizens in states without?
What citizens of states with strong public employee unions do get are higher taxes and enormous pension burdens that threaten to squeeze out funds for ongoing services, as even Democratic governors like Andrew Cuomo of New York and Jerry Brown of California have figured out.
That's why one of the great 20th century presidents was against unions for public employees who have civil service protections. No, not Ronald Reagan. It was Franklin Roosevelt who said, "Action looking toward the paralysis of government by those who have sworn to support it is unthinkable and intolerable."
So while the Wisconsin unions are defying the law, Scott Walker is in effect following FDR's lead -- and if he's successful, others may follow. That would be an enormous blow to the money power of the public employee union bosses.
Public opinion seems to be with the Republicans. Pollster Scott Rasmussen reports that 48 percent of voters support Walker, while only 38 percent support the unions.
This seems to be a sharp reversal of opinion over the last five years. Back in 2005, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sponsored a series of ballot propositions that would have reduced the power of the state's public employee unions. The unions spent something like $100 million -- all of it derived from taxpayers -- on TV ads, and all the propositions were defeated.
Now hard economic times have left voters wondering why public employees pay practically zero toward their health insurance and pensions when they have to pay plenty themselves. Wisconsin, which led the nation on civil service a century ago and on welfare reform in the 1990s, may be showing the nation the way ahead once again."
By Michael Barone
"Everyone has priorities. During the past week, Barack Obama found time to be interviewed by a Wisconsin television station and weigh in on the dispute between Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the state's public employee unions. Walker was staging "an assault on unions," he said, and added that "public employee unions make enormous contributions to our states and our citizens."
Enormous contributions, yes -- to the Democratic Party and the Obama campaign. Unions, most of whose members are public employees, gave Democrats some $400 million in the 2008 election cycle. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the biggest public employee union, gave Democrats $90 million in the 2010 cycle.
Follow the money, Washington reporters like to say. The money in this case comes from taxpayers, present and future, who are the source of every penny of dues paid to public employee unions, who in turn spend much of that money on politics, almost all of it for Democrats. In effect, public employee unions are a mechanism by which every taxpayer is forced to fund the Democratic Party.
So, just as the president complained in his 2010 State of the Union address about a Supreme Court decision that he feared would increase the flow of money to Republicans, he also found time to complain about a proposed state law that could reduce the flow of money to Democrats.
And, according to The Washington Post, to get the Democratic National Committee to organize protests against the proposed Wisconsin law. Protests that showed contempt for the law, with teachers abandoning classrooms, doctors writing phony medical excuses, Democratic legislators fleeing the state and holing up in a motel. The lawmakers played hooky without losing any salary, which is protected by the state constitution.
It's true that Walker's proposals would strike hard at the power of the public employee unions. They would no longer have the right to bargain for fringe benefits, which are threatening to bankrupt the state government, and they would no longer be able to count on government withholding dues money and passing it along to them.
But what are the contributions that public employee unions make to our states and our citizens? Their incentives are to increase the cost of government and reduce down toward zero the accountability of public employees -- both contrary to the interests of taxpaying citizens.
An argument can be made that higher pay, generous benefits and lavish pensions will attract better people to public employment. But where are the studies that show that citizens of states with strong public employee unions get better services than citizens in states without?
What citizens of states with strong public employee unions do get are higher taxes and enormous pension burdens that threaten to squeeze out funds for ongoing services, as even Democratic governors like Andrew Cuomo of New York and Jerry Brown of California have figured out.
That's why one of the great 20th century presidents was against unions for public employees who have civil service protections. No, not Ronald Reagan. It was Franklin Roosevelt who said, "Action looking toward the paralysis of government by those who have sworn to support it is unthinkable and intolerable."
So while the Wisconsin unions are defying the law, Scott Walker is in effect following FDR's lead -- and if he's successful, others may follow. That would be an enormous blow to the money power of the public employee union bosses.
Public opinion seems to be with the Republicans. Pollster Scott Rasmussen reports that 48 percent of voters support Walker, while only 38 percent support the unions.
This seems to be a sharp reversal of opinion over the last five years. Back in 2005, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sponsored a series of ballot propositions that would have reduced the power of the state's public employee unions. The unions spent something like $100 million -- all of it derived from taxpayers -- on TV ads, and all the propositions were defeated.
Now hard economic times have left voters wondering why public employees pay practically zero toward their health insurance and pensions when they have to pay plenty themselves. Wisconsin, which led the nation on civil service a century ago and on welfare reform in the 1990s, may be showing the nation the way ahead once again."
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