By Wayne Allyn Root, Former Libertarian Vice Presidential Nominee and Best-Selling Author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian”
The world is backwards. It should be the taxpayers striking in the streets of Wisconsin. But, private sector taxpayers can’t afford to take a day off, let alone a week. Doesn’t that say everything? Only government employees with their powerful unions, lifetime job security, short work-weeks, loads of sick days, nonstop holidays, early retirement, and bloated pensions, can afford to stand in the street protesting. Common sense tells us anyone with this much time to protest and the ability to abandon their work duties, is greatly overpaid.
It’s time for a reality check. These $100,000 per year teachers keep talking about “the kids.” Exactly who is teaching those kids while their teachers abandon their jobs and commit fraud with fake doctor’s notes? If they cared about the kids, they’d be in the classroom. They’d leave the striking and lobbying to their union leaders and lobbyists. It’s the students (and their parents) who should be on strike. Wisconsin teachers are the highest paid in the Midwest, but their students’ performance hasn’t improved. Where’s the taxpayer’s union? Where's the students' union? Are students and taxpayers getting their money’s worth? Perhaps they should be on strike.
I’m a small businessman. Like all private sector workers, I have no time to protest or strike. Take a day off? How could I do that? I run a business. People depend on me. I’m on call 24/7/365, weekends, holidays, birthdays and anniversaries. Vacations are “working vacations.” The phones never stop ringing, the emails never slow down. I have to work 16-hour days just to pay my taxes. Who benefits? Those government employees protesting in the streets of Wisconsin.
Is it fair that government employees can be paid as much as 70% more than the same jobs in the private sector? Is it fair that private sector taxpayers work to age 65, 75, or even longer, to pay obscene taxes, so government employees can retire at age 50, with bloated pensions? Does any of this make sense?
These public “servants” claim this is a battle for “the middle class.” Let me assure you, in the private sector a $100,000 per year job with paid medical, early retirement, and thirty (or more) years of pension is:
A) As far from “middle class” as you can get…
B) Very rare, if not non-existent.
Call me old fashioned, but the system has been rigged. Here in Las Vegas firefighters average $199,000 per year in compensation. Yes, you heard correctly. Quite a few have income of over $300,000. One fireman took 48 sick days, and still took home $232,187. Another is headed to prison for trying to have sex with underage girls. He’ll get his $200,000 pension while in prison. It’s happening all over the country. This isn’t “middle class,” it’s a privileged class. This is no more about “middle class rights” than Bill Gates and Warren Buffett fighting over caviar.
My father in law, Ralph Parks, was a hospital CEO for 30+ years. He managed a hundred million dollar institution with hundreds of employees. He was on emergency call at all hours of the day or night, holidays, weekends, birthdays, vacations. Ralph rarely enjoyed a real day off. In his best years, he was paid just over $100,000. He received no pension or lifetime healthcare. He saved money for his own retirement. He had no tenure and could be fired at any time. At age 59, he lost his CEO job. Soon thereafter he had a stroke and heart problems. He never worked again. That’s the way it works in the private sector. There are no guarantees. Why are these government employees guaranteed a job for life? Are they better, or more deserving than Ralph Parks? Why don’t they keep, or lose their jobs, based on performance?
More importantly, please explain to me how millions of government employees on the local, state, and federal level; who get holidays, weekends, and in some cases the entire summer off; without CEO job responsibilities; take no midnight phone calls; never have to risk their own money (as entrepreneurs in the private sector do); and have a guaranteed lifetime job; deserve $100,000 compensation, plus early retirement, and free medical care and pension for life – all on the back of true working class taxpayers? How is that possible? How does it make fiscal or moral sense for an average government employee to be paid more than a CEO? The answer is, of course, it doesn’t make sense. It’s “government logic.” You see it’s your money, not theirs. So the politicians don’t care.
It’s the taxpayers and business owners who should be in the streets protesting, shouting, pumping fists, screaming “SHAME.” But, of course, we’re not in the streets protesting. We have no time for strikes. We’re too busy working for a living, paying the taxes that fund the bloated salaries and pensions of government employees.
This sad story is at the heart of what has damaged the U.S. economy, created a national debt of $100 trillion (counting unfunded liabilities), and has cities, counties, and states on the verge of economic Armageddon.
Please understand that if we don't get government employee unions under control, we face disaster. All of us lose. And good luck with those $100,000 pensions. Soon $100,000 may buy you a loaf of bread.
Wayne Allyn Root is a former Libertarian Vice Presidential nominee. He now serves as Chairman of the Libertarian National Congressional Committee. He is the best-selling author of "The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gold & Tax Cuts." His web site: www.ROOTforAmerica.com
[ add comment ] | permalink | related link |
( 3 / 1428 )By Wayne Allyn Root, Former Libertarian Vice Presidential Nominee and Best-Selling Author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian”
Ronald Reagan stood up to the Air Traffic Controllers and in response to the threat of a strike simply fired them all. Can you imagine? Air Traffic Controllers- unique individuals with rare and valuable skills, thought irreplaceable, fired en masse. And we never noticed. Supervisors filled their shoes for months, while new ones were trained. Not a single accident. What happened to those Air Traffic Controllers who lost today’s equivalent of $100,000 per year jobs? Few ever found a job with that kind of pay again.
It’s time for a Reagan moment in Wisconsin. The average Milwaukee teacher compensation at retirement age is about $100,000 per year. Yes, I said $100,000. That’s not being reported on the nightly news, now is it? And, what good is all that bloated compensation doing? Milwaukee has a depressing 68% graduation rate. Two-thirds of Wisconsin 8th graders read below grade level.
That $100K annual teacher’s compensation is the highest in the Midwest. Yet, during a ten-year period, while Wisconsin teacher salaries rose dramatically, students saw no improvement. None. Proving once again, taxpayers, students and parents get nothing in return for higher teacher pay. Who spends the most on teacher pay? California and Washington D.C. -- all for dismal results.
Government employee unions, teacher unions in particular, have to be the only business (or should I say “racket") that asks for raises for horrible performance. The worse they do, the more they ask for. It’s always “the money.” The teacher unions never mention that private and Catholic school teachers make far less, with far superior results.
What drove GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy was not the bloated salaries for blue collar union workers. It was the gold-plated pensions and free lifetime healthcare that killed the automakers. Wisconsin (and every other state in the USA) faces the same problem with their public employee unions.
Today, a teacher reported retiring at age 55, after working part-time for 5 short years. She gets “only” about $250 per month for life from the taxpayers of Wisconsin. Receiving $250 per month doesn’t sound like much, until you do the math. If this teacher lives to the average age of 78, she’ll be paid over $65,000 in pension. With cost of living increases it probably goes to $75K. Perhaps that doesn’t sound like much. But, when you realize her entire 5-year working salary was $35,000, taxpayers will pay her twice that much in retirement. But what if she lives to 100? Perhaps triple or quadruple her working pay.
Now, think about all the full-time teachers in Wisconsin making $100,000 (or more) who have not paid a penny toward their retirement, but will get handed multi-MILLION dollar pensions for 25 to 40 years of not working.
But, it gets worse. Wisconsin taxpayers also pay all their post-retirement health care costs, and pay for new teachers to replace them. Ever wonder why America is broke, busted and insolvent? That is why.
Here’s the irony. While these government employees get gold-plated pensions and free lifetime healthcare, the taxpayers who are paying their bills struggle to survive.
Why should taxpayers work their fingers to the bone until the day they die to support teacher and other public employee bloated wages and pensions? It’s time for anger and revolt alright. It is taxpayers who need to go on strike!
It’s time for Governor Walker and other Governors across America to invoke Ronald Reagan. The message is simple: “Accept these modest cuts and end abusive collective bargaining by public employees or “YOU’RE FIRED.” And be sure to charge the teachers at the protests who hold fake doctor notes with fraud.
Good luck finding any job in the private sector paying $100,000 (or even $50,000), to work 8 to 3 with weekends, holidays, sick days and two months off in the summer, then retire young with a bloated pension and healthcare for life.
It’s time to stop being polite and politically correct. Rome is burning. The national debt and unfunded liabilities now totals $100 trillion. The clock on America’s survival is ticking. It’s time to invoke Reagan.
Guess what? If Air Traffic Controllers can be replaced, so can teachers, at far lower salaries and drastically reduced pensions. Look at the test scores. It can’t get worse. I bet we can get the same results for 30% less. Heck, bringing in fresh blood with new, creative ideas might improve the results. How can we find out if we don’t give it a try?
Oh, did I mention my daughter, Dakota, was home-schooled and is now a freshman at Harvard? Where’s my pension?
Where’s The Donald when we need him? Wisconsin teachers union — “YOU’RE FIRED!”
That's a good start. Next week, let’s have this same conversation with the all the rest of our government employees.
Wayne Allyn Root is a former Libertarian Vice Presidential nominee. He now serves as Chairman of the Libertarian National Congressional Committee. He is the best-selling author of "The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gold & Tax Cuts." His web site: www.ROOTforAmerica.com
[ add comment ] | permalink | related link |
( 3 / 1378 )By Wayne Allyn Root, Former Libertarian Vice Presidential Nominee and Best-Selling Author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian”
Welcome to “the Gold, Silver and Bullet economy.” Great job Obama is doing as President and CEO of the American economy, huh? I don’t mean to say, “I told you so.” But I told you so. When I ran for Vice President of the United States on the Libertarian Presidential ticket, I played a modern day Paul Revere. My warning was “The communist is coming! The communist is coming!”
I was among the first to sound the alarm about the danger of putting my Columbia college classmate in charge of the U.S. economy. I stated publicly, early and often, that at best, Obama is an incompetent community organizer with zero business experience who never created a job, made a payroll, or paid an employee’s health insurance – a radical who would manipulate the U.S. economy as a frightening experiment in union activism, affirmative action, social justice, and income redistribution. Or, at worst, Obama is a socialist or Marxist out to overwhelm the system and destroy capitalism. Unfortunately, BOTH descriptions appear to be true.
From the results so far, it appears that America has hit the “Daily Double.” Obama is both a Marxist bent on the destruction of capitalism AND a naďve, dangerous fool with no clue how to create even one job outside of government or a union (with government funding).
Barack and Michelle Obama are our very own Juan and Eva Peron. Following the exact same game plan of massive expansion of government and unions, the Perons destroyed Argentina’s economy for generations, devaluing the currency to the point of hyper-inflation, and finally bringing about default, insolvency, and bankruptcy.
Take an honest look at where Obama and his radical cronies have put us. Our economy is in freefall. Real unemployment -- including those Americans that have given up or are underemployed -- is at or near twenty percent. ‘Real inflation’ -- counting food and energy prices -- is climbing. Annual deficits are headed for an unimaginable $2 trillion. The ‘real’ national debt (including unfunded liabilities, such as Social Security, Medicare and government pensions) is in the neighborhood of $100 trillion, money the taxpayers of America (and their children) are obligated to pay, but have no idea how.
Then there’s the biggest nightmare yet to face our country -- the insolvency and bankruptcy of cities, counties and state governments across the USA. If you like the chaos and idiocy occurring right now in Greece…I mean Madison, Wisconsin…you’re going to love the next few years of chaos and rioting on the streets of America.
I have repeatedly predicted America would soon face an Egypt-like moment, with Obama’s entitlement-addicted supporters protesting, rioting and holding the U.S. economy hostage. Today teachers in Wisconsin are staying out of school, refusing to do the job taxpayers are paying them to do, threatening the lives of the Governor and GOP State Senate, and committing fraud by getting “sick day” letters from union-backed doctors. Today it is the Democratic legislators of Wisconsin committing fraud and refusing to do the job they were elected to do. Anger and chaos reigns in the streets of Madison. But tomorrow (or soon thereafter) it will spread throughout the USA.
Americans must face the fact that our country is out of money. There is no choice but to reduce the size of government, which means reducing the number of government employees and their obscene pensions. Madison is a preview of what is to come from even a modest proposal to do so. Be aware, our streets could soon resemble those of Cairo.
Remember the Obama supporter who cried at his rally and said to the reporter, “Obama’s election means I’ll never have to worry about rent or gas again.” She’ll be in the streets protesting and rioting as it dawns on her that the gravy train may be over. How about $200,000 per year firemen in places like Las Vegas who, allegedly, have been cheating the system by fraudulently coordinating overtime and sick days? They’ll be in the streets alongside the $100,000 per year teachers of Wisconsin, as they all fear the gravy train has run dry. There will be massive protests, strikes, firings, and economic disruption like America has never seen.
If current trends hold, the economy will continue to decline and government debt will continue to grow, threatening the national security and solvency of America. The real unemployment rate will remain in the twenty percent range, or scale to unimagined levels. And with the Fed desperately papering over the problem with credit, it eventually faces two ugly alternatives: hyper-inflation or an unparalleled credit contraction deflation.
Imagine the U.S. as a bankrupt, debtor nation with our economy in shambles, forced to fight a global World War III. See the turmoil and civil war occurring in the Middle East at this moment, threatening oil supplies. This disastrous, worst-case scenario for America and the world appears to be taking shape right now.
My advice in the face of economic Armageddon? Be Prepared. Invest in the only commodities enjoying a bull market: Gold, Silver and Bullets. Stock up -- that’s the economy of the future.
Wayne Allyn Root is a former Libertarian Vice Presidential nominee. He now serves as Chairman of the Libertarian National Congressional Committee. He is the best-selling author of "The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gold & Tax Cuts." His web site: www.ROOTforAmerica.com
[ add comment ] | permalink | related link |
( 3 / 1406 )By Wayne Allyn Root
This isn’t insanity. It’s insanity squared. Since the day Obama took office he has tried to fleece, tax, regulate, redistribute, harass, and hound small business to death. I’ve argued again and again in media appearances and commentaries that Obama’s strategy appears to be right out of the playbook of Cloward & Piven, two Marxist professors from Columbia University (where Obama and I graduated as classmates in 1983). That strategy is overwhelming the business community, taxpayers, and high-income earners with so many socialist, Big Brother-like, job-killing bills, that we get dizzy and exhausted trying to keep up with them. Eventually they overwhelm the economy, cause massive unemployment, crisis, and dependency on big government. It’s happening before our very eyes -- millions of Americans are now on 99 weeks of unemployment benefits; 45 million are dependent on food stamps; over 90 teenage girls are pregnant at the same time in one Memphis high school -- all sure to go on welfare, food stamps and aid to dependent children for life. That’s one school. The system is officially overwhelmed.
It’s true that Obama took a few days off to portray himself as a friend to business and a born-again tax cutter. But after a short rest, the old Obama is back. The man is a relentless Ginsu salesman for taxes, spending and socialism. The overwhelming attack has started all over again.
In just the past few days, Obama has put the White House in partnership with the Bar Association in a brazen attempt to impose lawyers on every businessman and women in America. Then he suggested dramatically raising unemployment taxes on businesses. Then he proposed a dramatic reduction of tax deductions for homeowners and charitable givers. Next up in the “tax murderer’s row” was Obama’s announcement of his 10-year plan to reduce the national debt. It happened to cut the debt by a measly $1 trillion, while simultaneously raising taxes by about $1 trillion -- including the largest income tax increase in U.S. history. Obama is relentless -- he attacks from so many angles, that even the strongest of fiscal conservatives eventually grows weak and punch drunk.
But wait, we’re not done. Obama has more! The “Ginsu guy" is also selling a big heaping dose of Big Brother-- simultaneously attempting to unionize American business through new rules implemented by the National Labor Relations Board, and impose cap and trade (that he couldn’t pass through Congress) through new EPA rules. Those draconian new EPA rules put Obama and Big Brother in control of industrial America, big energy, even the trucking industry -- the delivery system for all goods.
But wait, Obama isn't done yet. There’s more to dislike. The IRS has just announced a request for thousands of new auditors and agents, at a cost of almost $400,000,000 just to oversee the start of Obamacare in 2012. We get 81 new IRS agents just to oversee the new tax on tanning beds. What a deal! Wait until you see what the IRS requests when Obamacare moves into full gear.
Back to the biggest insult of all -- the lawyers. Obama has put the government in partnership with the American Bar Association. This re-defines unconstitutional. From now on, anyone who calls the White House or the Department of Labor to complain about their boss will be given a Toll Free 800 number (think Ginsu knives) that connects directly to trial lawyers. The American Bar Association has agreed to provide an army of lawyers that will work for free -- no up front legal fees, only a cut of the action -- to sue American business.
But wait, there’s more. Michelle Obama wants to encourage breast-feeding, especially (her words) in the African-American community. So from now on the IRS will make breast pumps and other breast-feeding products tax deductible. Will she offer “extra credit” for being black and breast-feeding? Perhaps our first-ever affirmative action tax deduction?
Is this really our country? Your home mortgage should no longer be deductible according to Obama. Neither should your charitable giving to churches or synagogues. Your money isn’t yours according to Obama. It belongs to government. It is needed for redistribution to Obama’s contributors, cronies and entitlement-addicted voters. You can’t even choose to tan without paying additional taxes. Your business will be hounded by lawyers, in partnership with government. You are ordered by government to buy health insurance or face fines or prison. And all of it will be overseen by a new army of IRS agents.
What's the difference between Obama and a Ginsu salesman? With the Ginsu guy you actually get 10 items for one low price. With Obama, you lose everything you’ve got -- your home, your income, your business. All you wind up with is a tax-deductible breast-feeding pump. Somehow without the force of government putting a gun to our heads, I don’t think Obama’s product would sell.
Wayne Allyn Root is a former Libertarian Vice Presidential nominee. He now serves as Chairman of the Libertarian National Congressional Committee. He is the best-selling author of "The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gold & Tax Cuts." His web site: www.ROOTforAmerica.com
[ add comment ] | permalink | related link |
( 3 / 1632 )By Wayne Allyn Root, Former Libertarian Vice Presidential Nominee and Best-Selling Author
On Thursday Egyptian President Mubarak turned a crisis into a tragedy. His disastrous decision not to resign could very well lead to the end of Egypt as we know it and will almost certainly lead to Egypt burning. Mubarak is so tone deaf that he stoked the flames of the anti-Mubarak revolution. Now there is no way for this to end peacefully. This Egyptian crisis is now all but fated to end in tragedy.
Mubarak’s right move was obvious. In order to end the crisis, clear the square, stop the protests and fighting, and return his nation to normalcy, Mubarak had only to announce his immediate resignation, hand the country to his hand-picked successor, put the army in charge of security, and announce a transition plan to allow multi-party elections in September. Mubarak could have told the protestors that they won and now it’s time to go home, go back to work, and get our country (and economy) running again. Unfortunately, the massive ego of a tyrant just wouldn’t allow it. To the bitter end he had to have the last word, even if it causes massive bloodshed and chaos, and leads to Egypt falling into the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Would anything have changed for the people of Egypt if Mubarak had resigned, but handed the keys to the country to the army, and his hand-picked successor? Probably very little, at least right away. Life would have returned to normal, business would have resumed, and tourism would one day (but not very soon) return. But the fact is, it would have allowed the protesters to save face and feel they had accomplished something historic: forced out a 30-year General and Dictator from a Middle Eastern nation, and opened the door to more freedom for themselves and their children.
But Mubarak just couldn’t get out of the way of his own ego. He couldn’t let the protesters in that Cairo square save face. He couldn’t give them even a small victory. That’s how it is with tyrants -- it’s all or nothing. Mubarak has decided to go down with the ship. What comes next will not be pretty.What is so sad is that Mubarak's decision hurts those that supported him- business owners, moderates, the army, anyone not interested in seeing Egypt fall into chaos and quite possibly the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Now we all watch a possible tragedy unfold. The protestors cannot back down now. They know to back down means Mubarak will arrest, imprison and torture all of them that the secret police can find. To leave the square in Cairo and disperse with Mubarak still in control is a non-starter. It’s either fight the revolution together, or die separately. That is their only next move.
The fear now is that Egypt will turn to the worst possible option -- the Muslim Brotherhood. Mubarak could have ended his 30-year reign quietly and moved on with his legacy slightly intact. If he really cared about Eqypt, he could have paved the way toward a peaceful transition. But his ego would not allow it.
Now America can only watch and wait. In the end, none of it is our business. It is all proof of why we should never take sides in the first place. Never send billions to tin pot dictators -- even friendly ones. Never send billions in sophisticated military equipment to tyrants. Because all of it can and will eventually be used against us. It is time to let the Egyptian people determine their own fate. I’m just scared and sickened at the thought of what we are about to watch happen.
Wayne Allyn Root is a former Libertarian Vice Presidential nominee. He now serves as Chairman of the Libertarian National Congressional Committee. He is the best-selling author of "The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gold & Tax Cuts." His web site: www.ROOTforAmerica.co
[ add comment ] | permalink | related link |
( 3 / 1618 )Back Next
Avatar
