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Originally Posted by Rumnlime
So let me get this straight. Public sector employees have unions, benefits, and pensions, while these are disappearing in the private sector. You think the solution, then, is to eliminate the benefits in the public sector and trash their unions? How about the other solution? Force private sector employees to provide these benefits? Are you a sailor? Ever hear "A rising tide raises all boats?" I'm a public sector employee and I work hard. I'm paid well for it and looking forward to retiring (at 66) on our boat. But I'd have to work 20 years and save every penny of the money (not eating or paying any other bills) to buy the lowest priced house in the city I work in.
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You want security? Tell it to the Marines. There's your security.
Unions? Most people do the simple math and figure out that they'd be giving ten percent of what they could make from their employer to some stranger just for the privilege of that stranger negotiating for them. Many of us have decided to eliminate the middle man.
Government unions are a bit of an oxymoron. They're really nothing more than lobbying firms. Their union contracts are not rooted in the real world where either employees or businesses have to actually pay for escalating costs like medical benefits. Government employees, their unions, and their legislative masters have one glaring difference from private industry. They don't have to actually pay for what they do or think is correct; they have the tax payer for that nasty little detail.
Your government retirement and benefit package will far exceed anything realized in private industry unless the retiree has invested extremely wisely or been lucky. While government civil service pensions are under no threat whatsoever, Social Security ain't lookin' too secure. Oh yeah, we raided that fund so we could hire more government employees and could afford to pay them well and retire them well.
Yes, a rising tide does lift all boats but the tide in this case is controlled by the invisible hand of the market, not the wishes of government. If you think that government can do this just take a look at the history of post-war Britain, specifically the denouement of her socialist polices in the 1970's and 80's.
The reason you cannot afford a house within the city you work is an absence of market forces. Things like rent control and restrictive zoning laws mean that the cost of out of date and insufficient houses rise while making what few new houses are built prohibitively expensive. Eliminate excessive zoning requirements and rent control in, say, Manhattan and the Bronx, and you'd see a veritable explosion of demolition and new building almost overnight. Instead, what you have is a government run housing lottery that satisfies only those wealthy enough to opt out of it. Or do you think that there is no room for more housing in NYC?
Reagan said that government isn't the solution, it's the problem. Wrap your mind around that and you'll begin to live free.