A guest editorial by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in the March 4 issue of The Wall Street Journal explains the real cause of the fiscal shortfalls being faced by state governments, particularly in regard to pension plans. The problem is simply the market crash and the recession. Pension plan assets lost value when the market crashed, and state tax revenues are down because of the recession.
But was it teachers and firefighters who brought down the global banking system, and who wiped out our savings? No, of course not. It was the greed and recklessness of Wall Street investment bankers that wrecked the system, yet these people have been asked to make no sacrifice whatsoever to repair the destruction they caused. They still have their jobs and award themselves fat bonuses. But Republican governors are clamoring to blame teachers, firefighters, and other public employees for the disaster, and are demanding that they give up wages, pensions, and even the right to union representation to pay for shortfalls caused by a corrupt and dysfunctional financial sector.
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