Federal taxes for the rich were cut, reducing distributions to states and, in turn, communities. Thanks to financial deregulation Wall Street defrauded everybody, further reducing tax revenues and clobbering pension funds, then Wall Street was bailed out by the American taxpayers. And now cops, firemen and teachers are being denounced for being greedy? Huh?
I live in Massachusetts, the leader in public sector pension fraud, especially in Boston. The fire department has been particularly rife with abuse. The most notorious case was the allegedly disabled firefighter who was into competitive bodybuiding. But the real abuses are at the top. Retired state senator Billy Boy Bulger is a smooth operator who really knows how to work the system. He’s the brother of crime boss James Whitey Bulger, who knows how to work the other side of the fence. One of the first things that Mitt Romney did as governor of Massachusetts was force Billy Bulger out as President of UMass, but there was nothing Romney could do about Bulger’s sweet pension. Later, Romney introduced a health care system that became the basis for what the Democrats enacted in Washington. Romney has a tendency to shift his stated position as it suits the moment, but he’s not corrupt and when push comes to shove he does what he knows is right — like Scott Brown, come to think of it. I had my doubts about Brown as senator, but he’s AOK.
Speaking of brothers taking all they can get, there are the Kochs, who have done an impressive job of building up the wealth that was left to them by their father. They’ve set their sights on Wisconsin, and it seems plausible that they intend to buy up the no-bid contracts for operating that state’s power plants, but they don’t want to employ public union workers, so Governor Walker is determined to bust the unions for them.
I’m not familiar with what Governor Daniels has done in Indiana, but I agree with what Brooks and Shields say here about Governor Walker. Mark Shields reminds us of the importance of the G.I. Bill after WWII. My father went to college on the G.I. Bill, and he met my mother there. After the war Joe Sinnott worked with his father at a cement factory for a few years. Joe’s thousands of fans have the G.I. Bill to thank for making it possible for him to attend the School of Visual Arts in New York.
Many serious problems facing us today you list here so succinctly in your first paragraph, and also in your posting “Down the Hatch.” Reading the March 7th issue of Time magazine, page 32, under the heading “Provide, Provide, Provide,” it states that “regimes throughout the (Middle East) region have not done enough to provide sufficient jobs, education, housing, dignity.”
Well, the mighty USA is having the same problems, with the addition of health care coverage at an affordable cost to all those who desire to purchase it, without pre-existing conditions triggering a rejection of enrollment. (This recently happened to me, over relatively minor and even trivial past health history. Except for the fact that middle age is a health “risk” in itself.)
Okay, here’s the dreamer in me: this idea will NEVER happen, because there will be a thousand reasons why it’s too expensive to implement, administrate, blah, blah, blah. Public education has been free in the U.S. through grade 12 for a long time, but what kind of decent job can anyone get in these modern times with only a high school education? (One of the reasons for the growing gap between the “have’s” and the “have not’s” here in America. College education can be very expensive!) There should be an alternative to joining the armed forces and possibly going off to serve in combat zones like Afghanistan and Iraq, as is currently the case., in order to get free college education in return. I say, give high school graduates the OPTION of serving 2 years in service jobs in the USA, in return for which they can receive 2 years of free education at a junior college, or trade school, and learn some higher level job skills… in addition to the skills they may have already learned during their 2 years of domestic government service. No doubt this would appeal to girls especially, who are less likely to sign up with the military in order to qualify for a free college education.
Of course, the Pentagon would HATE this idea, because it would compete with them for soldier recruits. But America might find a young work force to step in for 2 years, filling in the gaps of places where budget cuts in today’s economy do not allow the retention of personnel they once had, never mind the expansion of worthwhile programs.
The now-former police chief of my town — who graduated from the same college, same year, that I did — retired last year. It was the earliest possible date he could do that and not get a better benefit by staying longer. So he’s 55 or 56, collecting his retirement, and is now working as an independent security consultant.
“the leader in public sector pension fraud” — Ouch! I was hearing this morning on WBUR about a former cop-of-the-year now fraudulently claiming disability. Ah! The American Dream! To work hard for a bit, earn some money and recognition, then pretend to be unable to work, so as to collect money from a previous job, while perhaps earning a second living doing another job. Maybe even parlaying that job into a future disability gig as well!! That’s it, right?