Kudos to Lanny Ebenstein, an academic not afraid to denounce Keynesian economics, not afraid to be frank about the California public workers overbearing pension obligations. And Kudos to the LA Times, a liberal publication willing to cast in a professional light one person's crusade to curb outrageous entitlements in the public sector.
Following in the footsteps of Republican Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Ebenstein argues convincingly that public unions should be stripped of their collective bargaining rights. His reasoning: unions are "bargaining with with bosses they've likely campaigned to reelect." Even FDR, the standard bearer for the Democratic party, refused to allow public workers to organize, despite his many friendly overtures to organized labor during the Great Depression.
I commend Mr. Ebenstein for criticizing Governor Walker's moderation toward public safety employees. If police and fire department employees are permitted to retire as young as 50 with a six figure salary and lifetime benefits, pretty soon there won't be any municipality left for public safety officials to protect.
I also enjoyed reading that Ebenstein the public official -- a professor in the University of California and a school board member -- is not afraid to put his own pension on the chopping block for the sake of his state's fiscal future. I wish that public employees of all stations had the same integrity.
Yet since they do not, I wish Mr. Ebenstein the best in his endeavor to get a collective bargaining ban on the California ballot next year. I know I will be one of the first to vote for stripping public employee unions of their power to bargain collectively.
No comments:
Post a Comment