Funny you should say that. Many of my son's buddies are cops and here in Florida our new governor just cut their pensions in half. They are furious- my son got into a discussion with them about it over a few beers this weekend. They kept saying "we're public servants" and my son agreed and said they should be the last to get cuts etc. The discussion kept going back and forth..with reminders about high unemployment and how the private sector has had layoffs, cutbacks in benefits etc..finally my son said "THERE ISN'T ANY MONEY!!!" That was the argument that finally got through to them.
I honestly don't think a lot of people understand how economics work or what a budget is..
In a way you can understand the cops’ frustration. Every day they’re out dealing with low life thugs and they see the money being handed out to non-productive sectors in our society.
Why cut firefighters and cops and not cut welfare, foodstamps, housing, cars (including gas cards, AAA and insurance) and cell phones for the parasites?
The possibility that worries me is that the GOP legislators and/or Governor might cave under pressure. What they should have done was split the collective bargaining off from the the funding(a simple majority would do that) part and passed it as separate legislation and they would be done now. One reason I heard for them not doing that is that some of the Senators would not go along. If so they made it more difficult and I question their nerve. We really need a win here.
I honestly don’t think a lot of people understand how economics work or what a budget is.
When your paycheck is guaranteed to be there every week, why do you need to understand economics or budget, or save for a rainy day.
Public sector unions are about to get an education in economics, budgets and the value of saving for tough times.
You’re absolutely right. The typical public union worker’s thoughts are, “I want more.” They are indoctrinated by the union masters to think, “I have the right to get more.” They know nothing of economics, business, the impact of taxation on private sector labor, none of that. They just want and think they should have more. The unions are kind of like Al Queda recruiters. They indoctrinate hatred in their membership. It never enters their thick, dense, greedy minds that THERE ISN’T ANYMORE!!
My in-laws are retired, living off his state pension, which is being curtailed (currently med benefits). His argument is, "I was promised this pension!" I told my wife, "the government makes all kinds of promises to all kinds of people. Welcome to the real world."
The problem here is that government workers are having to start dealing with the reality the rest of us in the private sector started dealing with several years ago, and they don't like it any more than we do.
On another note...my state, like most states, has specialty plates, one of them being a fireman's plate. It's easy to spot being red and orange with the silhouette of a fireman. It was designed to honor these brave men and women, which it does, but unintended consequences have set in: they're mainly on very expensive vehicles--your BMW's, your Uber SUV's, etc. Personally, if I were in a union making bank off an unemployed public I'd want to keep a low profile these days.