Public pensions

My mother used to say that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. She knew that and so did all of her friends. They were well aware that big government and big business were corrupted by money and power and that certain individuals benefitted greatly from this arrangement. They wanted to do something about it but they lacked power and organization. The past 50 years the rolls of unions have changed and private unions have lost membership while public unions have grown. Even a good liberal like FDR understood the danger in public unions as they would be bargaining with tax payer money. What FDR feared has come to pass. Teachers negotiate with the school board, city employees negotiate with the city council, county workers negotiate with the county commissioners and state employees negotiate with state representatives. In each of these cases the parties are bargaining with elected officials who are using tax payer money The Minneapolis school board members appoint negotiators to determine the wages and benefits of teachers in the district. The teachers are well organized and provide time and money to people they want to get elected. Their candidates have not lost an election in 20 years. Here is a list of the current board and a bit about each. Do they seem the liberal type to you. Alberto Monserrate immigrated to the US in 1984 and started a business revolving around Spanish TV. Jenny Arneson a social worker Richard Mammen outreach worker with the YMCA dealing with juvenile defendents. Hussein Samatar founder of the African Development Center a non profit Carla Bates Psychology Department at U of M Jill Davis is the Supervisor of Anoka Area Interagency Early Intervention, a service for families with children. Kim Ellison former wife of democratic congressman Kieth Ellison. Rebecca Gagnon has a broad range of experiences, including work as a school, church, and community volunteer. This past election, the public union people combined forces with people making less than $30,000 and under the leadership of President Obama and a very good campaign strategy, were able to win on the national stage. The result is that the president will continue his policy of tax and spend and this money will be used to help the states out of their debt problems and allow them to hire more public workers which means more votes.