Saturday, February 7, 2009

Without a conscience view: Duluth's Bernie Madoffs













As the economic times continue to get worse, one growing group of local employees are continuing to see their wages, benefits and job security rival that of the conscience of gluttonous CEOs.

Private sector employee retirement and investment accounts have dropped faster than the ball in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. Duluth home market values dropped an average of 11 percent in 2008 but this decline in market value is not reflected on your property tax statements.
The proliferation of local government spending resembles a denial of the reality of the economic times but when the truth is known one can see that this is clearly mindless voting by public union controlled politicians.

To make matters worse, Duluth local government unions are doubling their spending in the upcoming 2009 local elections. The same public employee unions through their Political Action Committees, PAC, spent nearly $130,000 in Duluth’s 2007 local elections according to a published article in the Duluth New Tribune. Political insiders know that the $130,000 is grossly understated when a value is added for all of the campaign work being done on the taxpayer dime (labor and use of public assets) and public union employee personal time.

Duluth’s Central Labor Body, CLB, is dominated by local public employee unions including AFSCME and the Duluth Firefighters PAC. The CLB in its December 17, 2008 edition of Labor World boasts that CLB is going to ratchet up politics locally in 2009. The following is from the CLB statement:

Beginning in January the amount of per caps that are allocated monthly to the COPE (Committee On Political Education) and GOTV (Get Out The Vote) funds will be doubled.

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Can I afford to retire as I have previously thought?

2. How am I going to pay for my medical insurance and expenses when I retire?

3. How come the natural gas purchased from City of Duluth owned Comfort Systems to heat my house is over twice the cost of the same natural gas in St. Cloud?

Many local public employees are not in the same situation as you. The have free lifetime health care for their spouse and self. Do you?

Are your wages and benefits getting better and better? Take the time to read one of the most informative articles published in Forbes Magazine on how in the public-sector America things just keep getting better and better.


Finally, stop voting for mindless without conscience AFSCME and DFD controlled politicians who are clearly not representing your interests.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excellent article ! Thanks for sharing BOHICA. Everyone, get the word out, more people need to read this article and know the truth. Print it, share it, post it, blog it. Those salaries and benefits are not sustainable.

Anonymous said...

Shame on those people. I thought they were there to serve that public, not take more and more money from the public. I thought those were "blue collar" jobs. Lawyers and doctors don't even make money like that.

Anonymous said...

This is exactly what's wrong with Duluth. Look at the money these people are making. Lots of people will much more education make less. Public employee unions have become obscene. They’re all about self service instead of public service for the people. Thanks for the informative article.

Anonymous said...

Really, that's ridiculous. You are comparing a PACs to Bernie Madoff, I'm not seeing the connection (it was a poor attempt to soil the name of local PACs. Where do you get your info that any PAC work is being done on taxpayer money, site your sources!

P.S. I know you wont post this because you are afraid of LOGIC, but at least think before you post.