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How did California’s Public Servants become our Masters?
On the average for an equivalent job, public service workers make 60% more than we do in the private sector. They receive job security and lavish benefits that we can only dream about. They retire as early as age 50 with pensions and benefits worth millions of dollars. Their salaries and benefits consume 80% of our annual state budget. That doesn't leave much for everything else. The unfunded liability for their future pensions and benefits is estimated to exceed $500 Billion! This represents a monstrous claim on the future earnings of our children and grand children while delivering no benefit whatsoever.
The Public Service Union's virtual monopoly in politics in California is also directly responsible for the environmental and regulatory extremism that is steadily chasing jobs from the private sector. Why? Because with strong Public Union backing, politicians do not need to be accountable to the rest of us in any way. As a result, they create all manner of intrusive programs of highly questionble value that grow government at the expense of the private sector. They do this with impunity and without fear of losing their offices. In the last two years, California has lost over 2 million private sector jobs while the public service ranks have grown substantially in size and pay and benefits!
The last chapter of Steven Greenhut’s excellent book Plunder! is titled “It’s Time For More Than Outrage”. He is so right. It is time for action. We who depend on a vibrant and prosperous private sector outnumber public sector union members by almost four to one; and yet our influence is barely felt. We can change that. Learn more about UCAPS, a union for the rest of us!
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