Comments on: Chris Christie Redux

By: Dimsdale

Dimsdale — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:05:23 +0000

Oh, and health care costs have increase around 30% since we got MassCare, the twin sister of Øbamacare, which is an effective wage cut in itself.

By: Dimsdale

Dimsdale — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:03:57 +0000

Oh yeah, been there done that. Just recently in fact. The teacher's unions in MA endorse Democrats right down the line, year in and year out, and in between elections, cry and moan about how the effectively all Democrat legislature doesn't listen to them, or even honor negotiated contracts! They still think the Dems give a flying fig about them other than to get their votes.

Naturally, we are legally proscribed from having strikes, so we have no teeth whatsoever. The Dem legislature refuses to fund even meager raises, putting it off year after year, while more favored or more powerful unions get their requested funding.

I am happy to have a job, but I wish that the Dems would at least deign to kiss us before they, er, um, ignore us. (whew!)

By: djt

djt — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 06:24:34 +0000

I don't have research and specific numbers, but certainly most of the teacher contracts signed this year, most of which were for 3 years starting in sept, had freezes for the first year and small increases (usually less than 2%) for the following two. The contracts also call for teachers to pay a higher percentage of their health insurance premiums. I'm not saying these are some magnanimous gestures for which they should be congratulated, I think its the right thing to do, but it is worth pointing out that it is already happening more than most people think.

By: winnie888

winnie888 — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 04:32:05 +0000

Well, in Jim's defense, he doesn't hold public office…

It would be reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally nice to have those who do hold public office be able to make difficult decisions and not just spend maniacally….to suggest pay freezes even if it doesn't affect them personally.

I guess I don't understand unions very well…I was raised working in the private sector by parents who owned a small manufacturing business that provided jobs to kids right out of high school and taught them a trade from the ground up. Raises were NOT guaranteed…they were based on merit. And if someone sucked badly enough to not deserve a raise, they probably weren't cut out for the work.

The state has "issues"…no one sector should be shielded from the tough decisions that have to be made.

By: Dimsdale

Dimsdale — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:20:16 +0000

Ooooo! That was snarky! If you have a state job and are reasonably well paid, are you going to kvetch because you can't have an automatic raise? Temporarily putting the brakes on automatic raises the state cannot afford is called having a budget and sticking to it. Even the Dems claim to want to use "paygo" in legislation, although it has yet to happen.

Didja ever notice that, if it comes to that, unions will sacrifice workers to get raises?

By: sammy22

sammy22 — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:43:58 +0000

I read the verb "freeze" twice in Jim's post. But then, Jim is always compassionate about spending/taking away other people's money.

By: Dimsdale

Dimsdale — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:34:30 +0000

Certainly not in the long term, and the pols have no intention of cutting or freezing anything, hence the threats of cuts to vital services, but not the chaff. A cut is not a freeze, and not spending money you don't have is not a "price control". It is a "spending other people's money control".

An onerous tax is a price control though, as is a burgeoning deficit.

By: sammy22

sammy22 — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 10:51:55 +0000

Somehow I seem to remember that someone said at some time, that wage freezes and price controls do not work.

By: Dimsdale

Dimsdale — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:26:22 +0000

Even more insidious is the cut in projected increases, also known as flat funding, which is also called "cuts" by the Dems in the talking points they distribute to their media flying monkeys.

By: Dimsdale

Dimsdale — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:24:48 +0000

I agree: they pull out the "cut teachers, firemen and police" from the playbook almost as fast as they pull out the race card. You never hear "cut the administrators" or "cut the deputies to the assistant butt kissers". No, they cut really needed services, and the the threatened groups can always be counted on to scream loudly on demand. Of course, stories of the coming "apocalypse" and "draconian cuts" are dusted off by the complicit press and played up on the front pages, editorials and top stories. And, of course, the timeless "it's Bush's fault".

The public relents, and they bend over and say "please sir, may I have another?"

Pathetic.