You May Not Be Interested In Math

Tick ... tock ... tick ... tock ...

The debt clock ... the debt clock ...

Quote from the article: "...clinging grimly to failing policies and dying institutions is not the way forward. ..."

But is it a way forward, and of all the ways forward it is the one that hidebound leftists, progressives, etc., (including union leaders who will always lie that they are working for their members while they act as though their members exist to be worked for the leaders' political ambitions,) will choose. And of all the ways forward, it is the one that is heading in the direction of tar pits, cliffs, and dead ends.

All brought to you by the (only) party and people who look out for the little guy.

It has to end somewhere and the end is in sight, but then the left is not noted for is long range vision. The thing is, the long range has been shortened considerably, and they still don't see it.

"If somehow CalPERS wins and courts order the struggling cities to divert their dwindling cash into its coffers, public sector unions will become even more unpopular. Voters all over "California are fed up with rising taxes as it is; throw service cuts into the mix and life will get ugly."

Yep, ugly. The collusion between public service unions and politicians is causing the downfall of what WRM calls the blue model. Journalists can go on about the success of the Scandinavian countries but (some? all?) of those countries reformed their blue model of governance. In North America, the states/provs with the old-blue model are a mess.

Fortunately in Saskatchewan the government, the conservatives I think, switched unions from defined benefit to defined contribution plan in the mid to late 80s. Those still on the old plan are already retired and those about to retire are on the new plan. This should give Sask a competitive edge in attracting business and immigrants in the future. We also never went full stupid on green energy. Financial sanity and affordable energy may offset the discouraging reality of long,cold winters.

We're no better here on the leftist part of the Left Coast.

Nanaimo's demographic is rapidly shifting from working class/young family to retiree/fixed income, while the largest (and rising) part of our fixed costs are local government.

Everything from 'wet waste' collection to charging stations for non-existent electric vehicles are seen as 'progressive' when in fact the only thing progressing are our property taxes.

I had long discussions with our Regional District Comptroller, resulting in my putting together a powerpoint program which I presented to a council meeting. It was called 'Mission Creep' and detailed how they have changed their mandate from maintaining roads, parks and libraries to instituting 'social justice' programs and monetarily unsustainable green programs.

Those on our council see themselves as progressive leaders and like nothing better than to measure themselves against their green peers throughout N. America - crowing about the recognition they receive for this or that program.

After illustrating 10 year of 'unsustainable' tax hikes (after factoring inflation and pop. growth) and how the number of city employees is growing disproportionately to the population, I asked why as a taxpayer I should pay a city gardener $30/hr plus exhorbitant benefits when the private sector gardeners working on our town house complex earn $15/hr and minimal benefits.

All I got back from them were accusations of wanting to engage in "a race to the bottom" and expecting our fine civic workers to "work for minimm wage". And of course the canard that to get good people, you have to pay good wages - meaning that the civic workers, in recognition of their superior pay/benefits, strive to do a superior job on behalf of said citizens.

I guess when I pass those city trucks with ample numbers of employees - some of whom are working while others catch their breath - I shouldn't trust my lying eyes.

The six-figure CalPERS incomes of some retired cops are nicely supplemented by contract positions they wrote for themselves and now hold - so taxpayers are coughing up to $250,000 annually to a retired police sergeant for example.

Let's see ... 482 California municipalities, most of which are running into financial trouble. Perhaps CALPERS can sue them, too.

That's a whole lot of rich lawyers.

Californians tend to use direct democracy to try to rein in their system. (Not that it's always possible.) I wonder what they'll do with this.