If you have not read Steve Greenhut’s book on America’s public employee crisis, called Plunder!, this is the sort of thing that would be in store for you for a few hundred pages:
What does it look like when a city of almost 300,000 flirts with becoming America’s largest ever city to go bankrupt? Welcome to Stockton, Calif.
…
The city’s fiscal history “has eerie similarities to a Ponzi scheme,” says Bob Deis, the city manager Stockton hired in 2010. Over the years, the city promised employees huge—and unfunded—salaries and benefits, so when trouble struck officials began cutting back on services such as police and fire protection, plus libraries and parks. (wintercow comment here)
…
The city recognizes more than 100 different categories of “additional pay” that employees can earn to boost their salaries but that still make basic compensation packages appear reasonable to the outsider. A fire captain earning an annual base salary of $101,000, for example, can easily increase that by $35,000 thanks to additional pay for everything from automatic annual stipends for uniforms (regardless of need) to more schooling.
Stockton safety employees with 30 years of service receive 90% of their highest working salary as a pension, with cost-of-living adjustments up to 2% annually for the rest of their lives. And while the state requires workers to contribute between 7% and 9% of their salary toward pensions, Stockton agreed in a series of agreements with various municipal unions going back to the 1990s to pay the worker portion of the contribution along with its 20% employer share.
…
Stockton Mayor Ann Johnston voted for these expensive measures when she served on the city council. “We didn’t have projections into the future what the costs might be,” she told the Record, a Stockton newspaper, earlier this month. She added, “I learned that you don’t make decisions without looking into the future.” (wintercow: repeat this to yourself again and again, particularly when the “E”nvironmentalists argue that private market incentives are short-term focused at the expense of long-term sustainability)
Council votes to approve ever-greater benefits were often unanimous, according to Record columnist Michael Fitzgerald. “Nobody gave thought to how it was eventually going to be paid for,” says Mr. Deis, the city manager. (wintercow emphasis added)
…
The big question is whether Stockton is only the tip of an iceberg. The 50 states alone have promised their employees retirement health-care benefits amounting to a $627 billion future liability—and funded only 4% of that cost, according to a recent accounting by Bloomberg Data. Unfunded state and municipal pension liabilities range up to $4 trillion, depending on what future investment assumptions you make.
Read the rest. OK Progressives and believers in good government: I respect that on the campaign trail and in blog posts you get to conjure up stories of “greedy profit-drive insurance companies” dropping coverage (extra credit: go find out how prevalent that really is), and you revel in the theoretical idea of market failures. I’d like you to defend Stockton. I’d like you to demonstrate how this is just such an anomaly that we have no reason to generalize that the same incentive structures doom cities across the country (such as my very dear hometown of Rochester). I’d like you to argue that what we are seeing in Stockton is the result of social forces institutionalizing unbalanced power relationships between rich and poor. I’d like you to argue that raising taxes on the rich will solve the problems in Stockton. Go ahead. Try it.
One irony is that the pension funds and health and welfare funds have suffered from the chaos created by the economic rocket scientists in government. I read recently CALPERS has lowered its expected rate of return, implying that the state will have to kick in even more to an already underfunded system.
I would not blame this mess on the greed of the individual state employees at the bottom of the food chain, but certainly the politicians who secure the votes of the teachers, police, firefighters, ditch diggers, etc., bear the blame for being thoughtless about the consequences of foolishness, promising The Free Lunch.
436182 176497Attractive portion of content material. I just stumbled upon your weblog and in accession capital to assert that I get in fact loved account your weblog posts. Anyway I is going to be subscribing to your augment and even I success you get admission to constantly swiftly. 203640
218545 553028This style is steller! You certainly know how to maintain a reader entertained. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (nicely, almostHaHa!) Great job. I genuinely enjoyed what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool! 143978
337232 134411Excellent information numerous thanks sharing and reaching us your subscriber list. 296802
940493 836657Some times its a pain within the ass to read what blog owners wrote but this internet internet site is truly user genial ! . 549707
Thanks for sharing, this is a fantastic article post.Really thank you! Awesome.
Mexican Easy Pharm: mexican pharmaceuticals online – Mexican Easy Pharm
266781 256708The next time Someone said a weblog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me just as a lot as this. Come on, man, I know it was my choice to read, but When i thought youd have some thing intriguing to say. All I hear is actually a handful of whining about something you could fix within the event you werent too busy searching for attention. 774170
I really enjoy the blog article.Really thank you! Really Cool.
Thanks a lot for the post.Much thanks again. Will read on…
I think this is a real great blog article. Great.
A big thank you for your article post.Thanks Again. Want more.
666565 828105I undoubtedly did not realize that. Learnt something new today! Thanks for that. 598592
Wow, great blog post.Really looking forward to read more. Great.
This is one awesome blog.Thanks Again. Want more.
Thank you for your article post.Thanks Again. Much obliged.
I appreciate you sharing this article.Much thanks again. Great.
Awesome article post.Thanks Again. Fantastic.
I really like and appreciate your article post.Really thank you! Cool.
Great blog post.Much thanks again. Want more.
277317 858780Informative Site Hello guys here are some links that contains details which you could discover valuable yourselves. It is Worth Checking out. 746207
Thanks for sharing, this is a fantastic article.Much thanks again. Fantastic.
Really informative post.Really thank you! Want more.
I think this is a real great blog.Much thanks again. Awesome.
Major thankies for the article.Really looking forward to read more. Cool.
Major thanks for the article post.Really looking forward to read more. Really Cool.
Thanks again for the post.Thanks Again. Cool.
Thanks a lot for the article post.Really thank you! Will read on…
Wow, great post. Fantastic.
This is one awesome article post.Thanks Again. Fantastic.
Really enjoyed this post.Really looking forward to read more. Keep writing.
Hey, thanks for the blog.Really thank you! Much obliged.
Thanks a lot for the post. Cool.
wow, awesome article post.Really looking forward to read more. Much obliged.
A big thank you for your blog.Thanks Again.
Very neat article post.Much thanks again. Really Cool.
Thanks for sharing, this is a fantastic article post.Much thanks again. Really Great.
Im grateful for the article post.Really looking forward to read more. Cool.
Really enjoyed this blog post.Thanks Again. Cool.
Im thankful for the article.Really looking forward to read more. Really Great.
Usually I do not learn post on blogs, but I would liketo say that this write-up very forced me to check out and do it!Your writing style has been amazed me. Thanks, very nice article.
Thank you for your blog article.Really thank you! Will read on…
Thanks-a-mundo for the blog.Thanks Again. Really Great.
Thanks so much for the blog post.Really thank you! Cool.
I loved your blog.Really looking forward to read more. Keep writing.
Im obliged for the post. Great.
Awesome article post.Really thank you! Great.
A round of applause for your post.Really looking forward to read more. Great.
dang nh?p alo789: dang nh?p alo789 – alo789in
Really enjoyed this blog.Thanks Again. Awesome.
Muchos Gracias for your blog.Thanks Again. Awesome.
Im grateful for the blog.Really thank you!
888594 568491This will likely be a terrific weblog, would you be interested in performing an interview about just how you developed it? If so e-mail me! 283947
369726 390990I adore gathering useful information, this post has got me even much more info! . 419385
Hey, thanks for the blog article.Really thank you! Really Great.
ivermectin ireland – ivermectin stromectol stromectol covid 19
I loved your blog article. Really Great.
Really appreciate you sharing this blog article.Thanks Again. Keep writing.
A big thank you for your blog post.Thanks Again.
Enjoyed every bit of your blog post.Thanks Again. Want more.
Very good blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Will read on…
Thanks a lot for the blog post.Thanks Again. Awesome.
Thanks for the blog post.Much thanks again. Want more.
Im grateful for the article.Thanks Again. Really Great.
I value the blog article.Really thank you! Cool.
Im thankful for the article post.Really thank you! Much obliged.
Really informative article.Really thank you! Awesome.
Very neat post.Much thanks again. Great.
I really like and appreciate your post.Really thank you! Really Great.
Really appreciate you sharing this post. Will read on…
Thanks for the blog article. Fantastic.
I am so grateful for your article post.Much thanks again. Really Great.
I cannot thank you enough for the blog article.Thanks Again. Fantastic.
I really enjoy the post.Really looking forward to read more. Really Great.
F*ckin’ amazing issues here. I am very glad to look your article. Thank you a lot and i’m looking forward to contact you. Will you kindly drop me a e-mail?
Im thankful for the article post.
I appreciate you sharing this article.Really thank you! Great.