Tea party made clash with public-sector unions inevitable
A showdown like the ones we’re seeing in state capitals across the Midwest has been building since the idea of a tea party movement was born on a Chicago trading floor.
It’s fitting that union members began amassing in, and Democratic lawmakers fleeing from, the Wisconsin state Capitol within days of the second anniversary of CNBC’s Rick Santelli’s now-famous, on-air tirade from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Santelli, you’ll recall, ranted about federal bailouts and then called for “a Chicago tea party” to protest them.
Two months later, tea parties were held nationwide, and American politics was transformed. Just ask any member of Congress who was involuntarily retired last year by the voters.
The tea party caught on as a popular movement in large part because, in the aftermath of the financial panic and the bailouts and the stimulus, the common American taxpayer looked around and realized he was the only “special interest” without a seat at the table. The tea party finally gave him that seat.
While the tea partyers’ outrage was raw, most of the special interests were smart enough to keep their efforts to remain entrenched hidden in the usual back channels, whether in Washington or state capitals. The only special interest to show its face while pushing back against the tea party? Labor unions.
And when it comes to public sector labor unions, no special interest is more pernicious.
The fundamental arguments against allowing government worker unions have been well-known since at least the days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who opposed them.
The government, unlike private companies, makes no profits for which workers can bargain. To meet their demands, government can only raise taxes or cut other spending, with no external pressure beyond the electorate.
Yet, increased promises to government workers invariably are designed to incur greater costs in the future, so the voters who pay closest attention to them are the workers.
And it is all too clear to elected officials — particularly on the state and local levels — that they risk their political careers when they refuse the demands of unions for teachers, police, firefighters. These people vote in large numbers.
Taxpayers are a larger voting bloc, but before the tea party they were an amorphous — and therefore voiceless — group. Now that they are organized, they are electing people like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker who are willing to side with taxpayers over the unions — and people like the commissioners in Georgia’s DeKalb County who this week voted for layoffs rather than higher taxes.
So, this faceoff has been coming. But it won’t be the last one.
AOL News Opinion editor John Merline recently wrote that payments to individuals now total $2.3 trillion, or more than two-thirds of the federal budget. Most of the money goes to senior citizens via Social Security and Medicare, whose expansions beyond a safety net have turned retirees into a powerful special interest.
Meanwhile, a similar proportion of federal income tax receipts, 59 percent, comes from the top 5 percent of earners.
“When you put these two trends together,” Merline wrote, “what you find is that the federal government has over the years essentially turned into a gigantic wealth-transfer machine … whatever your [political] view, this situation will make getting the federal budget under control increasingly difficult, since it will invariably involve pitting those writing checks against those cashing them.”
Add public workers to Merline’s figures, and the number of check cashers is even larger. From Madison, Wis., to DeKalb County, the clash between the check writers and the check cashers is just beginning.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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64 comments Add your comment
fairness for all
February 24th, 2011
8:16 am
amen kyle and don. let’s hope the taxpayers win this one and the many to follow. if education wants unions let there be open competition where the money follows the students. the teachers in wisconsin are not receiving less money so they will not leave. they are simply being asked to contribute to their own retirements and insurance. something most states teachers already do. go figure. it’s not about the teachers, the kids, the taxpayers—it’s all about unions retaining the power to elect and control elected officials. there is no place for unions in a non-competitive environment such as government.
Ron Paul/Herman Cain 2012
February 24th, 2011
8:26 am
Freedom Lover’s got it right! all you come-latelies were clueless before the TEA party uprising!
Dr. Ron Paul’s been developing his camp now for 11 Congressional terms! Let’s work to get
RP and Hermain Cain to the forefront and into the White House!
http://www.CampaignforLiberty.com
Presidents day money bomb netted about $750,000! Looks like people DO want Ron Paul to run again!
old timer
February 24th, 2011
8:33 am
This is an interesting article about unions. Unions have no place in public employees life. We taxpayers foot the bill.
http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbarone/2011/02/24/public_unions_force_taxpayers_to_fund_dems
carlosgvv
February 24th, 2011
8:55 am
“the tea party finally gave him that seat”
Kyle, I like to think you are smart enough to know the above statement is nothing more that political propaganda. The Tea Party candidates had to raise huge amounts of money to get elected, just like everyone else. You know perfectly well “special interests” furnished most of that money and fully expect a return on their investment. The names may be changing but huge campaign bribes still run all politics in our country.
John
February 24th, 2011
9:23 am
Something to think about…
Are you sick of highly paid teachers?
Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do – babysit! We can get that for less than minimum wage.
That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan– that equals 6 1/2 hours).
Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day…maybe 30? So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.
LET’S SEE….
That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).
What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.
Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here! There sure is! The average teacher’s salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student–a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!!
Get with it.
February 24th, 2011
9:25 am
So how does eliminating collective bargaining save the state one penny? It does not! All it does s make it impossible for workers to protect themselves and take whatever an employer dishes out. Why do you think the billionaire Koch brothers are so interested in Wisconsin? They financed walker’s run for office and in return, they want to crush the unions at their coal plants and paper mills. You conservatives may hate unions, but just wait till their is no worker’s rights in this country and we’ll see all of you middle class Republicans changing your tune.
Also, Walker claims there is a $137 million deficit — it is not because of a drop in revenues or increases in the cost of state employee contracts, benefits or pensions. It is because Walker and his allies pushed through $140 million in new spending for special-interest groups in January. If the Legislature were simply to rescind Walker’s new spending schemes — or delay their implementation until they are offset by fresh revenues — the “crisis” would not exist.
Hey Kyle.
February 24th, 2011
9:27 am
“the tea party finally gave him that seat”
NO. The billionaire Koch brothers gave him that seat.
joe
February 24th, 2011
9:32 am
The Tea Party has a bright future. We independents see the neither the GOPs and especially Dems, want no party of cutting the budget or reducing our debt. This is priority #1, at least for the next couple decades. If the business as usual politicians won’t do it, we’ll find some Tea Party candidates who will, and we will vote them into office to cut, cut again, then cut some more. If those in unions or those taking entitlements don’t see the error of their ways, they soon will feel the pain us providers currently have. Why on earth should we taxpayers pay for union benefits and pensions? Its bassackwards.
Get with it.
February 24th, 2011
9:46 am
OK Joe, I’ll bite… what does the Tea Party think about corporations paying no taxes. What does the tea Party think about billions in subsidies given away to big oil companies? It’s easy for tea Partiers to bash the teachers who teaches their kids or the fireman who risks his life everyday… but not so much for major corporations. No wonder people like the Koch brothers finance the tea Party movement… it plays right into their wealthy hands.
JF McNamara
February 24th, 2011
9:52 am
Kyle,
I still stand by what I wrote the other day. They have to have some sort of power less they be taken advantage of. Until teaching becomes a sought after profession instead of one people avoid, its a useless argument you are making.
For all you out there so jealous of what teachers and other public employees receive, they are taking applications every day. Something’s telling me you won’t be quitting your day job. If that’s the case, then stop whining.
It’s like crabs in a bucket. One group of indentured servants is mad at another group of indentured servants, and the owners reap all of the rewards. That’s just dumb.
Willie Rae,
Yeah, Cynthia is pathetic. She’s consistently getting 400 – 500 comments while Kyle gets about 50 with his weighty topics. You’re an anonymous poster bullying a woman on another persons forum. Who’s more pathetic than that?
Innocent Public Worker
February 24th, 2011
10:16 am
Here’s what I don’t like about the tea-party anti-union rally. Yesterday, I was walking from my public sector job to my car parked near the GA State Capitol where pro-union and anti-union/tea party rallies were occuring simultaneously. I had to pass by a group of tea party activists who were armed. They were armed with a rifle and a MACHINE GUN. I understand people who believe they have the RIGHT to bear arms under the Constitution. But, just because you have the right to do something doesn’t mean you should. I resent these people who think it is wise to bring deadly weapons to an emotionally charged political rally. They put innocent bystanders like me in danger and therefore, make me want to see their weapons heavily regulated to reduce the risk that I will be shot by some wingnut. Dear Tea party – go to Hades!
jconservative
February 24th, 2011
10:17 am
“…the federal government has over the years essentially turned into a gigantic wealth-transfer machine … ”
Agreed.
What I do not understand is the failure of the Tea Party and some Republicans to attempt to cancel the 2003 Medicare Part D transfer of wealth. The money comes straight out of general taxes and will cost $650 billion in the next 8 years. It will then cost $1 trillion in the following 10 years. It is a straight give away with the beneficiaries paying nothing. Nothing!
Is it because it is a Republican program and is therefore Holy?
Or is it because it is, in the end, a giveaway to the drug industry?
CJ
February 24th, 2011
10:44 am
It’s worth repeating that the Tea/GOP folks do not oppose government spending, as they would have us believe. They do, however, oppose government spending for programs that primarily help the poor and middle class.
On the other hand, they support, protect, and seek to grow any government spending that primarily helps the plutocracy: farm subsidies, oil subsidies, refusal to allow the government to negotiate with big pharma over drug prices (leading to higher government spending), military industrial complex, prison industrial complex, misbegotten wars, nuclear subsidies and guarantees, and on and on. They even support government mandates by way of requiring us to place our social security savings into accounts maintained by the big banks and investment houses that nearly took us out a couple of years ago.
Let’s be clear. Today’s Republican/GOP Party is the same borrow-and-spend party that got us into this mess in the first place. Anybody who believes otherwise isn’t paying attention.
John
February 24th, 2011
12:57 pm
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