UNIONS - Do they really help?

One city after another is crumbling under the with of union pensions and too small payments for health care premiums. WHY? Because unions have negotiated for these benefits. So who is to blame?

The people in government are to blame. Unions can only do what they can get away with.

And the VOTERS ARE TO BLAME !!!

WHY ???

Because the people who get elected have an obligation to "look out" for the needs of the community they were elected to serve. Whether it's a mayor or village manager or governor of a state, their first obligation is to protect the people of their jurisdiction.

When unions spend their union members' dues to get a "friendly-to-unions" person elected, they are working for a few union members at the expense of many citizens. After all, it is the citizens that have to pay the salaries of the elected officials and it is the citizens who have to pay for the pensions of government employees and union members.

HOW do citizens pay for these salaries and pensions?

The citizens pay excessive real estate taxes or sales tax or state and federal income tax.

All these taxes would be much lower if the pensions agreed by government elected employees were
downsized and reduced to level approaching the private sector (The private sector is the part of the business community that encompasses all businesses and none of the government entities.)

So what does this mean? In Stockton, CA real estate taxes have soared over 100% and still that was not enough to cover the pension and government salaries. So the city went bankrupt.

Five other cities have also gone bankrupt for the same reasons. And the number of cities, counties and states that will soon declare bankruptcy will climb.

The state of Illinois has 5 to 6 Billion in debt. The state of Illinois have the highest sales tax and the highest liquor tax and the highest gasoline tax in the USA. And still the debt is increasing.

The City of Chicago's budget is a mess and now the Chicago teacher's union is threatening a strike if they do not get a guaranteed 3% raise every year for several years. With the student drop out rate among the worst in the nation, these teachers should be happy with their $55,000 to $136,000 salaries for 9 months of work. Instead these greedy teachers are demanding a raise and not having to increase their medical insurance premiums.

THIS IS THE UNION'S FAULT !!!  THE UNION WANTS MORE UNION DUES. SO THEY FIGURE IF THEY GET A LARGER SALARY FOR THIER MEMBERS, THE UNIONS CAN RAISE THE UNION DUES. AND WITH THAT EXTRA UNION DUES, THEY CAN SPEND THAT MONEY TO HELP ELECT UNION FRIENDLY GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.

SO IT BOILS DOWN TO THE CITIZENS. THEY HAVE TO BE INFORMED AND THEY HAVE TO ELECT PEOPLE WHO HAVE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY.

If this out of control debt continues, it could cause your city or state to go bankrupt next. And moving is not an option when a city bankrupts because property vales drop like a rock immediately. The only way to move is to walk away from your home and declare bankruptcy yourself. Then you can move to another state. But beware, that city or state might be the next bankrupt city and state.

So again, we need to vote our pocket books. THERE ARE MORE NON-UNION CITIZENS THAN UNION MEMBERS. SO YOUR VOTE CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE. VOTING FOR THE FISCAL RESPONSIBLE PERSON IS IN YOUR SELF-INTEREST.

Tell your elected officials that you want to stop the unions' ability to be able to negotiate with any government city, county and state. And that will begin a first step towards solvency.

Want proof ????????

Look what the governors of New Jersey and Wisconsin did. They were able to reduce the state's debt and reduce the real estate taxes. Proof is in the real action. Follow the real action --- not the politicians' words and you will have better government and lower taxes.

And that's the way I see it...
Straight Talk with Jay Clifford.