San Bernardino on Tuesday became the third California city in less than a
month to seek bankruptcy protection, with officials saying the
financial situation had become so dire that it could not cover payroll
through the summer.
The unexpected vote came at the suggestion of the interim city manager,
who said the city faces a $46-million deficit and depleted coffers.
Six paragraphs into the story, you get to the reason why:
The city's fiscal crisis has been years in the making, compounded by the
nation's crushing recession and exacerbated by escalating pension
costs, lucrative labor agreements, Sacramento's raid on redevelopment
funds and a city reserve that is tapped out, officials said.
Miller told the council that the city faced major deficits for the next five years.
The deficits remain even after the city negotiated $10 million in
concessions from employees and slashed the workforce 20% over the last
four years.
So having unfunded liabilities tied to lifelong pensions, catering to every public union demand and having a state government playing shell games with state finances drained whatever reserve the city had.
San Bernardino's tax revenues have declined by as much as $16 million
annually over the last few years, primarily because of drops in sales
and property taxes.
The end result of having progressive policies in place means people end up voting with their feet and leaving the state.
Tom Blumer of News Busters noticed an odd detail or two missing from the Toledo Blade's report on the incident. The fact that the word "Scab" was spray painted on the side of John King's SUV (other reports say scratched but the picture looks like it's been vandalized with spray paint) wasn't mentioned and neither was John King's name.
If you knew nothing else about the event and only relied on the Blade's story, you would think that what occurred was some kind of random act of violence:
Lambertville man shot in arm after man tries to slash his tires
A man was shot in the arm Wednesday night when he interrupted a suspect trying to puncture his vehicle’s tires with a knife, authorities said.
... When confronted, the assailant shot a small caliber pistol at the victim, grazing his left upper arm. The victim was treated at the scene and was to seek medical treatment on his own, sheriff's deputies said.
The suspect was described as being in his mid-20s to early 30s, white, of medium build, and about 6 feet tall. He was wearing a dark-colored T-shirt, jeans, and a dark-colored baseball hat.
The shooter also scratched the word, "Scab" on the victim's car. If it was a smash and grab, they wouldn't stop to key their name on the side of the SUV.
Last Wednesday, however, the attacks on Mr. King became much more serious when he was awakened late in the evening at his home in Monroe County, Michigan and saw that the motion lights in his driveway had come on. When he looked out his front window, he saw a figure near his SUV and went outside.
As soon as he got outside his front door, King yelled at the individual who was crouched down by King’s vehicle. As soon as King yelled, the suspect stood and, without hesitation, fired a shot at Mr. King.
Luckily for King, as he yelled, he also stumbled. If it weren’t for that, however, John King’s injuries might have been much, much worse. In fact, he might have been killed.
Upon scrambling back into his house, King got to his cell phone and called 911. However, due to the pain in his knees and shoulder from falling, King was unaware that he had been shot in the arm.
Leaders of the major unions say it’s too early to talk about how many are paying by writing checks or arranging automatic withdrawals from bank accounts, but two locals contacted by the State Journal reported early successes and continuing efforts to win 100 percent participation.
The local representing Jefferson County highway workers reported 70 percent are on board with a $35 a month payment, while just under half of Grant County support service workers have chipped in the $35 to $40 a month their local has requested. [Bold mine]
If the root of the fight over public unions in Wisconsin wasn't obvious enough to begin with, it should be crystal clear now. It wasn't over worker's rights. It wasn't over their claims of Gov. Walker trying to establish himself as a dictator or anything else equally absurd. It was about one thing.
Money.
Because the unions pay the dues, the union heads funnel those dues to Democrat candidates and the Democrats enable the unions. It's a vicious circle.
No matter how much they decry the 'evils of money' and hoist themselves as the champion the 'little man', they cling to money like a deer tick on a hunting dog's leg.
Smart budgeting ends up with extra money for the schools.
Imagine that. The sky didn't fall down in Wisconsin after all.
Cost savings from worker contributions to health care and retirement, taking effect today as part of the new collective bargaining laws, will swing the Kaukauna School District from a $400,000 budget deficit to an estimated $1.5 million surplus…. The district… plans to hire teachers and reduce class size.Let’s stop and think of all the protesters who carried signs asserting that their opposition to Scott Walker was for the children.
Members of Wisconsin State Employees Union, AFSCME Council 24, have begun circulating letters to businesses in southeast Wisconsin, asking them to support workers’ rights by putting up a sign in their windows.
If businesses fail to comply, the letter says, “Failure to do so will leave us no choice but (to) do a public boycott of your business. And sorry, neutral means 'no' to those who work for the largest employer in the area and are union members."
Jim Parrett, a field representative of Council 24 for Southeast Wisconsin, confirmed the contents of the letter, which carries his signature. But he added that the union was also circulating letters to businesses thanking them for supporting workers’ rights.
Parrett said that since the letters were sent out, he has received threatening phone calls as well as calls from people supporting the state workers.
"I've gotten a lot of threatening phone calls," Parrett said.
Parrett said he believed the letter campaign was going on in other parts of the state. His region includes Racine and Kenosha counties, as well as parts of Waukesha and Walworth counties.
“It’s going on in other parts of the state,” he said Wednesday.
Parrett referred questions to Marty Beil, the head of the Wisconsin State Employees Union. Beil was not immediately available for comment.
Nothing like a little intimidation to start the day off.
Since the MSM appears intent on downplaying the growing intimidation and escalating threats of violence around the union power issue, I am reprinting verbatim an email that was sent to Republican senators. The email was signed, but I have deleted the name pending what I hope will be a thorough police investigation.
[. . .]
Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your familes
will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks. Please explain
to them that this is because if we get rid of you and your families then it
will save the rights of 300,000 people and also be able to close the deficit
that you have created. I hope you have a good time in hell. Read below for
more information on possible scenarios in which you will die.
I missed a couple of things the other day about Rob Lewis the service industry worker, which was graciously linked by Bob Belvedere over at The Camp Of The Saints.
So yeah, I'll be wearing a 'Captain Obvious' cap. Much like before.
Noodles & Company is a franchise. Chances are, Rob's boss isn't even the boss of the company. The franchise location where Rob works under control of the corporation *gasp* of Noodles & Company. Which is done so if someone walks into one franchise store and buys a dish they like, they can walk into any other Noodles & Company and get the same dish, made the same way.
Sure there isn't much of a chance to do variations and custom dishes but the chain stores are helped out in the way of name recognition, a set menu and advertising.
I also forgot to mention risk. Rob's boss had to have put up a substantial sum to get his restaurant running. The franchise fee, lease on the building, deposits on utilities, with money on loan from the bank. He needed all of these done even before he can open the doors to the public. Couple that with the chance his place has a 23% chance of failure within the first year. There's bound to be a few sleepless nights when starting out.
And Johnny Come Lately Rob Lewis wants an equal share of the profits because he can flop a spoonful of stir fry on a plate after watching a ten minute instructional video about the importance of food safety? The level of risk by his boss (lots) isn't exactly the same as the level of risk done by Rob (slim to none).
Parts of the video is some meeting of a few people who are looking to organize a union for something. One of the guys running the meeting goes into a squawking diatribe about the usual left wing offenses. Koch Brothers, 'The Rich', blah blah blah. It's been said before and will be said again. I'm only thankful that the video is edited enough to where his speech is way less than two minutes. More info about that meeting here.
I suspect I'm going to be preaching to much of the choir with this. At the very least, most people understands how businesses are ran.
There are two parts where Mr. Lewis is showing his disconnect from reality.
“You either work for someone else or you work for yourself. And most people work for someone else in a way that they aren’t free. You don’t really get to decide your work. For example, I work at Noodles, a restaurant, and basically it’s a dictatorship there. We’re told exactly what we’re going to cook, how we’re going to cook it, what time we’re going to get there. And basically if they don’t like what we’re doing, they try and tell us what to do. If we don’t listen, they get rid of us,” the employee said.
He's correct to a point about working for someone else or for yourself. Most people are employed by someone else. But its a mutual exchange. For the most part, it's time and labor on behalf of the employee in exchange for a set rate of dollars per hour. If Rob doesn't like it, he can leave Noodles and work elsewhere. Maybe he can find a job with a higher rate of pay. That's part of the perks and risks of living in a free market. All this should have been taught in Econ 101 in high school.
It can be said that even self-employed people are still working for people. Directly for their clients and customers.
As a restaurant that is dependent on repeat service and loyal clientele, consistency in food preparation is key. If the customers who walk into Noodles don't like their food, they will go someplace else next time. There are plenty of other restaurants in the area who would be happy to take in the hungry customer. Noodles doesn't have the benefit of being on the exit ramp near a busy highway where most customers would be one timers.
The second part of the disconnect is here:
The employee continued, “And so we’re not able to actually cooperate in a way that we make decisions together. I try to convince my fellow employees that we should have a union at Noodles so it’s a source of power to start with and then I think in terms of the bigger picture, we need to look at revolutions in a way that you actually get rid of any sort of dictatorship is by having workers take control of the place where they work.”
Who knows what kind of guy Mr. Lewis's boss is. But the key is that Mr. Lewis is free to leave the job and work elsewhere. His boss is the person who put up the money to buy the franchise of Noodles. He rents the building that the restaurant is located at. He has to make it work so that his employees get paid. Keep an eye out on the food. And so on and so forth. Stands to reason why he should be receiving a larger share.
And as a service industry based restaurant based in a college town, I'm sure that he has no end of job applicants to sort through. And with a minimal amount of training, the new person can be serving noodles with the best of them.
There may be a few other reasons but the main reason why people like Mr. Lewis want to unionize such an entry level position is for protection. He should be happy to have a job.
Now if only he would use his energy for socialism towards his job, he might eventually become a free market kind of guy.
Anyway: Stick with the video until the very end to see the free market transaction take place and you'll be doing one of these.
The Capitol police had set a deadline this afternoon for the grievance mob to clear out their sleeping bags, crock pots, and other makeshift camp paraphernalia. The occupiers ignored them. The Capitol police then promptly…capitulated. Rest assured, rewarding the breakdown of civil order will lead to more civil disorder.
The police officers who refused to enforce the order to clear the Capital Building of people should be immediately fired. By their action of solidarity with the Socialist/Communist/Marxist Union Members and out of state hired thugs/protesters, those police have provided aid and comfort to law breakers and, therefore, have violated their sacred oaths to protect and to serve.
If anything, this shows the difference how a Nation of Men behaves as opposed to a Nation of Laws.
Oh my goodness, did I hear a drum circle in the video? Anyway, the man with the Gadsden Flag was correct with his definition of what Fascism is. Not that it mattered to the rest of the protesters.
The confrontation starts at about the 7:30 mark in the video. Obvious language warning.
Anymore, the 'New Tone!' just like any other progressive idea. Repackage the old idea and slap a new name on it.
War on poverty? Redistribution of wealth with welfare and food stamps.
Cap and Trade? Redistribution of wealth with a made-believe commodity of 'Carbon Credits' that make richer countries have to buy with real money from poorer countries.
New Tone? Same old hate, hostility and projection from the left there always has been.
I'll give the progressive democrats this: The party knows how to recycle.
As much as I would have loved to see Tabitha Hale, the woman assaulted, kick him back in the jewels, violence is the end game for many of the progressive type protesters.
They would be able to use that one event as a chance to say, "Look how violent those right wing types are! They punch back!" And a willing media will lede with that story for at least a week.
As it stands now, the guy may get a slap on the wrist. Makes me wistful for the days of vigilante justice.
Damn, I've read too many western books growing up.
The smartest thing to do with the entire big mess of public schools in the U.S. is to give them straight-out to the teachers. If they believe that their services are worth more and more money every year, let them prove it. Let them earn it. Let them make a payroll. Let them figure out how to compete in the marketplace of ideas and students.
Teachers deserve to own the schools, and to have a say in how their schools function. Let them be shareholders, let them be on the board of directors. Create companies and give the damned school buildings for free to them. Let the teachers vote on their own Board of Directors, CEO's, CFO's, salaries, and more. What the hell, give 'em all five years free of taxes.
Let them GO.
Be sure to read the entire thing because there is more than the bit about the schools.
More: Back in my days as a security system technician, the company I was with bent over backwards in order to get a chance to submit a job bid on a new high school being constructed.
The sheer number of hoops the project manager had to jump through in order for a chance to just place a bid was amazing to me.
And after everything was done, the bid went to a someone else. Nothing wrong with that-- all part of business-- but for about a month, the project manager's main focus was on that bid. Everything else got pushed off onto the rest of the staff. All for a chance to get at that sweet, sweet public school building fund.
[T]hey've been soaring in the public sector. Last year, for the first time, the number of unionized public employees exceeded the number of unionized private workers -- 7.9 million to 7.4 million.
Now, since the country has five times as many private jobs as public ones, this was possible only because the public unionization rate (37.4 percent) was more than five times higher than the private one (7.2 percent).
Another big difference: The average federal worker is compensated at $123,000 a year, including $42,000 in benefits -- more than twice what the average private worker gets. (State and local government employees don't do as well, but still beat private-sector pay.)
And these days a public job is a lot more likely to be truly a 9 to 5 affair than a private one.
I don't know if Obama was born in the US or abroad and I don't care. Part of the reason why he doesn't show his birth certificate is to marginalize those demanding to see it. But his behavior is very un-American. Case in point: Barack reported the United States to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights because some states have right to work laws and can't organize into unions. To me that's a feature, not a bug.
Stuart Varney embodies the American spirit more than Barack Hussain Obama ever has.
And yet even more union corruption. Enough to grind my teeth down to nubs. They say they are for the little guy. They say they are for the working man. But why is it the higher ups keep on lining their pockets at the expense of the membership?
4. The attendees saw a continuity between George Bush and Barack Obama, spendthrift and ineffectual Republicans and Democrats. To me, this was the most interesting aspect of the crowd. There were definitely more Republicans than Democrats (who may have been missing almost totally), but virtually everyone we talked with identified as an independent. Who was fed up with the past decade, really, not just the past 18 or so months of Obama.
During my time there as a low voltage tech in Michigan, I had to install a replacement alarm system in a house where the original was stolen. Yes, it's that bad there.
To begin with, Chevy is synonymous with Chevrolet. The same way FexEx is the same as Federal Express and Coke is the same as Coco-Cola (Certain middle American countries not withstanding).
General Motors Corp. employees should no longer refer to Chevrolet automobiles as "Chevys," sales and marketing officials said in an internal memo.
Alan Batey, vice president for Chevrolet sales and service, and Jim Campbell, GM vice president for marketing, said in a memo issued Tuesday to employees at the corporation's Detroit headquarters "consistency" is important for the Chevrolet brand -- and it would be helpful in that regard to stop referring to Chevrolets
at Chevys, The New York Times reported.
The management at GM needs to look at their contract with the UAW if they want to be realistic about getting competitive.
Besides, this song wouldn't be the same if I drove my Chevrolet to the bidet.
