Watchdog.org has just released a very interesting list called “Meet The Bosses: Big Labor’s Top 100.”
Normally I don’t care much about what other people earn. I think we should all work hard, focus on our own lives, cheer on those who are succeeding, and pray we’ll achieve such success ourselves. I say “normally” because many of these same Big Labor bosses organize and fund rallies to attack what other people do for a living, and how much money they earn. It’s the height of hypocrisy, and it’s one of the reasons why our economy is in such a terrible state. Union bosses do what’s right for themselves and their organizations, at the expense of everyone else. The envy and bitterness they spread are distracting too many Americans from doing what’s right for their own families.
I don’t care that the Major League Baseball Players Association has eight men on the list — all men, by the way — who earn a combined $7,779,735.30 per year. If the players want to have that kind of money taken from them in dues, and the American public still wants to go to baseball games, good for everyone involved.
I don’t mind that the Boilermakers AFL-CIO Nattional Headquarters has nine guys — yes, once again, all men — in the top 100 moneymakers earning a combined $3,494,169, with the average individual salary hovering at a paltry $400,000 per year, oh but never mind. THEY aren’t the 1 percenters.
What I mind are the public sector unions — the ones you and I are forced to pay for, the ones who are in lock-step with the Democratic Party, in all levels of government. This vile quid pro quo has unionized public employees and politicians scratching each others’ economic backs while dumping bad service, bad attitudes and high costs on us all.
Of course you know what I’m talking about. Go into nearly any government building to take care of some bit of obligatory government business. You will be sitting in an overcrowded room, filled with children running around and parents nowhere to be found. For over an hour you’ll be watching a sign flash random red letters and numbers that you hope someday will be yours. “A-221 to window 2, B-174 to window 7.” Your number F-217 may never arrive and you just hope you’ll be out of the office before Obama is out of the White House. You finally get called and receive a look that says, “Why are you here bothering me?” Bet the farm, that attitude is coming from a public sector union employee.
Bad teachers and lousy education policies like Common Core are protected by people like American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, who made $543,150 in 2013, and National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel, who was paid $411,172. These are the same people organizing against local and state officials as they struggle to get budgets under control. Fiscally responsible officials are verbally, and sometimes physically, attacked by “the little guy who can’t get by on what he or she is making.” And remember, THESE union leaders can’t be 1 percenters because they care too much!
I feel for the “little guy,” I really do. But instead of complaining so much and attacking people who are trying to fix problems, Little Guys should go after their union leaders who are eating caviar, sipping champagne and supporting the politicians that have gotten us into this mess.
- Education — a mess
- Airport security — a mess.
- The Post Office — a mess.
- Government services — a mess.
Thank you public sector unions!
And now you want to push for a much higher minimum wage? The basic economics should be obvious: When you artificially inflate wages, prices for everything goes up. Why are the unions pushing this — so the union bosses can demand more from their members? Who cares if jobs are lost, as long as the wage base creeps up a bit, creating a bigger pot of money that can be skimmed for union dues? My brothers and sisters, stand up and say, “No, thank you!”
I’ve heard the arguments: “You can thank the unions for the five-day, 40-hour work week.”
OK. Thank you, union pioneers, for what you accomplished in 1937. But it’s 2014 now, and you’re getting in the way of progress, not moving us along.
It’s hard to “Look for the union label” when so many of us are looking for work so we can pay our outrageous taxes, which fund overblown salaries for unionized public employees. When politicians “negotiate” with public union bosses, taxpayers don’t have a seat at the table. We’re the fresh meat getting chopped up and sold on the table.
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