At Some Point The Jig Will Be Up

In response to this Jonah Goldberg post, John Derbyshire had this:

RE: NY TRANSIT STRIKE [John Derbyshire]

Jonah: Right on. And the NY transit strike is just the opening battle in a war that will engage more and more of our attention in the years to come -- the war between the government people with their gold-plated benefits packages and retirement plans, and the rising resentment of us private-sector saps, who have to pay for it all with our taxes. Look at the letters columns of the local press. People know what's going on. Quotes from NY commuters printed in America's Newspaper of Record this morning (but not online):

"I'm going to have to work till I'm 80 so some 20-year-old can retire at 55? I don't think so."

"I would love to have a job that would give me a 3 percent raise every year, benefits for life, both medical and dental, and retirement at 62 [sic] with a full pension. If any openings occur, let me know."

"I heard a transit worker complain to a reporter about how the MTA wants more productivity from its workers without an increase in pay. Welcome to the real world."

Etc., etc. Did you know that "Overall, 90 percent of public employees enjoy a defined-benefit pension, compared with only 20 percent (and falling) of the private work force"? (Quote from Time magazine, 10/31/05 issue, "Where pensions are golden".)

When you are in your seventies, you will still be schlepping to work every day, so your taxes can fund the Caribbean cruise of some cop, subway motorman, or schoolteacher who retired at 55. How will you feel about that? Mad as hell, that's how. Inevitably, your mad-as-hell-ness will translate into politics sooner or later. Government people--enjoy it while you've got it. It won't last much longer.

Public sector labor unions are an abomination. There is even a case--I have made it somewhere, but can't find the reference--for disenfranchising people who make their living from public funds. You'll be hearing much, much more about all this in the years to come.

Posted at 10:02 AM