I received comments regarding public sector wages in the face of declining private sector income. A short history is in order.
After WWII (1945) the economy boomed. Unions asked for and received good wages and benefits. The public sector was slow to catch up. In the latter 1960's high school seniors would go to work in the paper mills in the weeks after graduation and immediately be making more than their high school teachers.
Teachers and municipal employees unionized but never did quite catch up.
Over the years private sector jobs began migrating overseas and wages began to drop.
True. In 2007 public sector jobs look good to many in the private sector.
Question: Should public sector jobs pay less with fewer benefits to more closely mirror the private sector?
Answer: No. We should be constantly working to bring private sector wages and benefits up to a living wage.
I don't have the answers to that riddle, but I refuse to dumb-down anyone who has managed to figure out how to pay their bills. I would want to be brought up to that level of pay, not bring them down to mine.
Also. Only nine states in these Untied Skates of America have lower corporate taxes than Wisconsin and still we have companies moving out.
Dick Cheney's buddies at Halliburton, which keep the war machine oiled, just moved their corporate headquarters to Dubai.
How soon will Oshkosh Truck become DUBAI TRUCK?
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2 comments:
The problem with your theory is that public sector unions are the only ones seeing increases.
Private sector, both union and non-union are having difficulties.
Public sector unions succeed because they are funded by taxpayers, not corporations. If corporations were in-charge of the public sector, they too would be in decline.
So...even though we as taxpayers are earning less and paying more for healthcare, we are asked to contribute to higher taxes, to in-part pay for even greater benefits to those working the public sector jobs in our cities.
This trend is not healthy, and may result in the end of the middleclass as we know it.
The real problem with your theory is the public sector only gets paid by taxes paid by the private sector. So in effect, when you are 'okay' with public sector wages being higher - you are stealing from private sector employees.
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