Unions in America

I'm a little pissed off about the negative spin unions are getting.  Somehow, I don't think that people earning a decent wage, having health insurance, and a decent pension upon retirement are evil.  I also don't think that treating employees with fair, consistent, humane standards are inherently evil, either.  Why is their outrage against THAT?

Yes, union officials shot themselves in the foot years back when they became the greedy, power hungry, dick-heads they rallied against.  Union employees shot themselves in the foot when they became a lot of spoiled, complacent whiners. They are partly to blame for their own demise. 

At the local government level, the greediest players securing obnoxious pensions for themselves were NOT part of the union or part of a union contract, but the back lash is dressed up in that.  The ones with the highest pensions helped themselves.  The Press Democrat just can't come out and make that distinction.  Rod Dole et al are laughing all the way to the bank.

On the private employer side, I have seen employers file bankruptcy leaving behind unpaid wages and such.  The employers CRIED and swore under oath they had no money anywhere to pay their debts.  I find out later that as they stiffed their employees, they were taking a cruise around the world.  Fuckers.

Keep Digging... it only gets worse

Well, kudos to the Press Democrat for shedding some light on the self-serving politicians securing obnoxious pensions and benefits for themselves.  As I blogged over and over again -- the goal of all politicians is to climb the ladder of this insane system, surround themselves with fuzzy department math and accounting methods that make sense to none to keep us all from trying to figure it all out.  All politicians need to do is to make you believe they are serving you.  Bullshit.  Listening to you is a minor inconvenience they must endure to reach that $200,000+ per year pension.  Then they have the audacity to tell us that the county is broke while they slash library hours and rank-and-file hours.  Remember all of this when they want to raise taxes and cut services.  

If we keep digging we will discover the credit cards that pay for housing mistresses and dinners.  At the very least, some of them will want to reimburse for the personal expenses and use the company card to launder money so the wife does not find out.  Most of them don't even bother.  Accounting heads look the other direction. Also think about that when they toss election literature on your doorstep featuring themselves with their kids, dog, spouse and oak tree in the background touting family values.  Gag me. 

Will the public finally get pissed?  I sure hope so.  I don't begrudge anybody a decent retirement.  We all should have one.  This is just sheer greed and power not being used for the common good.

Overpaid Pubic Pensions

I told you so.  The real California budget crimes are not happening by the rank and file DMV clerks.  It's the upper echelons of our political elite raping us.  They don't care, either.  Any politician's goal is to climb the ladder to secure obscene pensions when they retire.  Finally.  Sonoma County pensions were revealed.  I'm sure it was like pulling teeth to obtain information that should be disclosed to the public.  They don't WANT you to know how obscene their pensions are.  People would be PISSED (and rightfully so).  This is just the tip of the iceberg, people.  Keep digging and you will be even more and more disgusted.  We have not even touched on Sonoma County retiree health benefits and other perks they get from OUR hard-earned tax dollars.  If this is going on at the county level, imagine what's happening at the state level.

While our so-called county representatives cash their bloated pension checks, one in eight in the county live in poverty.  Think about that Rod Dole, Bill Cogbill and Michael Chrystal when you tee off at Mayacama.   Oh, and BTW.... none of the above listed were under a union contract.