Comments by "blunty gagnon" (@megagagnon1) on "Scott Walker Declares War on Labor" video.

@funeralsong34 I noticed on your page you said we don't pay enough in taxes. In 1909 government spending, federal, state and local, was 8% of the GDP. In 2009 government spending, federal, state and local, was over 40% of the GDP. Spending translates into taxes, one way or another, in one form or another.
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Public sector unions are an attack on the middle class, not the defenders of them. Public sector unions have an inherent conflict of interest and shouldn't be allowed to exist. They're leeches feeding on the taxpayers. The decline of unions and the decline of the middle class has happened concurrently, but both are just symptoms of our lack of protectionist policies. And unions aren't fighting corporations, they're working in concert with them by supporting big government.
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@funeralsong34 Read about the DC voucher program, a true tragedy. Parents raved about it, it was a godsend, an alternative to the horrible DC public schools. DC public schools spend $28k per student, these vouchers were $7500 - and the schools were loved by those who got to get in. First thing Obama did when he got into office was to defund this program. He was beholden to the unions. The real value of vouchers is it allows parents to choose and decide what school is good or bad, unlike public.
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@funeralsong34 Oh and the public sector is so competent. That explains why the public school system is so wonderful, especially in places like Detroit and DC. TSA agents are public sector by the way.
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@funeralsong34 You mean company or corporation? Corporations like any bureaucracy are inefficient, and because of crony capitalism they're not truly capitalist entities. Companies can be inefficient, and live, sure, but that's private money going down the hole. Government inefficiently is our money going down the hole. Your numbers are cherry picked at best - excellent article at cato which explains true cost of public schools, for example LA school district $25k per year per student.
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@funeralsong34 Screw the new employees? No, not at all. I just want it completely privatized. I'd fire all the public sector employees and have open-bid contracts for all the services they do. Nullify all the contracts. Fire them all. Save the taxpayers money.
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@funeralsong34 If a company is inefficient and wastes millions, they'll go out of business. If the public sector is inefficient and wastes billions, they raise taxes. Vouchers for all the children would let the market decide how much a teacher gets paid - that's how the rest of us in the private sector get paid. Give the parents the freedom to choose. Funny how liberals believe in a woman's right to choose to abort her baby, but don't believe in a woman's right to choose how to educate her baby.
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@funeralsong34 The private sector is better and cheaper. Competition does that. The average salary for a Milwaukee Public School teacher is $56,500. When fringe benefits are factored in, the annual compensation will be $100,005 in 2011. And that's how the public sector bankrupt cities and states.
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@funeralsong34 In California, unions decide who gets into office. They tell the politicians what they want, and if they don't get it, the unions, who have a large cohesive block of voters, will vote him out of office. "Negotiating" isn't a reality - in the private sector, the Boss tries to pay the worker as little as possible, the Employee tries to get as much as possible. They negotiate. In California, Unions are the Boss and the Employees, and politicians who supposedly represent taxpayers....
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@funeralsong34 Cops and firefighters make six figure salaries in Las Vegas. Teachers have good salary and benefits, but the big bucks come when you become a school administrator. The Post Office is now a quasi-private entity - it gets bailed out by the government each year for a few billion - i think last year was $5 billion. Supposedly loans but there's no chance they'll ever be paid back. And working in City Hall - mucho bucks. Yes, public sector workers are leeches - some bigger than others.
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@funeralsong34 Government workers control the state government in lots of states, most especially California. It doesn't take 50% of the voters, it takes one large cohesive block of voters. And far from helping the middle class, these public sector unions are hurting the lower and middle classes most of all. They're leeches.
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@funeralsong34 I messaged you the Cato video. Voucher schools are generally a fraction of the per student cost of public schools, but the chief problem of looking at them is there have been so few programs and those programs have been small scale. They were allowed and designed to fail really - that's what public sector unions try to do, try to make alternatives look bad. But all that is moot - the beauty of voucher programs is you know exactly the cost going in - a $7k or $10k voucher
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@funeralsong34 Public employees vote their bosses in or toss them out. Unions will make or break a politician based on how generous he is with the taxpayers money. Push through a general pay increase for the union employees, get reelection. That's a conflict of interest. Two parties working together to steal from the taxpayers. Private sector unions don't have that kind of conflict of interest. Read the LA Times article "The $500 billion pension bomb" - unfunded public sector pensions in cali.
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@funeralsong34 No they werent put there 50 years ago. They've been renegotiated a few times and beholden politicians have caved in to the unions demands every time. It's only in the last 10 years that pensions have become a monster. They won't be paid - the state will default one way or another.
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@funeralsong34 It's a direct tit for tat - we're demanding this kind of contract, and if you don't give it to us, you're out. This has destroyed many cities and states, and public sector pay packages have skyrocketed in the past ten years. The evidence is clear, the damage is everywhere.
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@funeralsong34 Read the LA Times article "The $500 billion pension bomb". It's online. Public sector employee pensions have destroyed California - who's next?
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