It is amazing to see almost zero coverage in media about crisis in local / small governments in US. There is big crisis looming in every corner of US. It includes from big states like California to small city / county governments. I think these state and small governments employ around 8 Million people in US. This is excluding Education and Hospital jobs. This itself is more than two third of total government jobs.
So far these governments bucked recession as they were funded by Federal Government under stimulus programs. As Federal government didn't wanted these local governments also to start doing layoffs when rest of private sector America is doing it. They funded them with cash. Now, with economy coming back to track and stimulus funds vaporizing away, these governments are still facing huge deficits, as tax receipts haven't improved. As a result they are coming up different ways to cut costs. Primarily laying off their employees, cutting down on services and increasing cost of services where possible.. Biggest component is cutting down number of employees.
Will it fix their problem? I think that is going to worsen the problem. As all of these governments have very simple rule of laying off their employees... Performance.. are you kidding!!! that is probably last thing.. Only thing they have in consideration is Seniority.. So it is LIFO... Last In First Out.. Essentially they are getting rid of their so called least skilled and young man power.. Is it true.. I can't say..
Another of their biggest problem is unrealistic Pension plan.. Apparently, if you work 15-20 years with them and you decide to retire you will be getting almost 90% of your pre-retirement income.. What a great moronic plan.. I strongly believe that all these governments should file for bankruptcy and get rid of all these moronic labor contracts and start with clean slate. The kind of obligations these governments have is amazing. Whatever they do in their books to juggle it, ultimately it will come back to them.
Even though I am not republican fan, I do strongly support Wisconsin governor with his plans to get rid of unions for state workers or so called collective bargaining. This collective bargaining should be made synonym of Black-mailing. We need some very fundamental changes in Government sector jobs in US. It needs to run the way decent performing private sector companies run their business. Only performance is your job security.. Only performance is your growth potential... Only performance is your higher rate of income and thus savings in your retirement account..
After all this mess, if we don't fix it we will never fix it. There is decent public support for it.. In case of Wisconsin, their masses has given very clear mandate to their Governor to get rid of their bureaucrats.
So far these governments bucked recession as they were funded by Federal Government under stimulus programs. As Federal government didn't wanted these local governments also to start doing layoffs when rest of private sector America is doing it. They funded them with cash. Now, with economy coming back to track and stimulus funds vaporizing away, these governments are still facing huge deficits, as tax receipts haven't improved. As a result they are coming up different ways to cut costs. Primarily laying off their employees, cutting down on services and increasing cost of services where possible.. Biggest component is cutting down number of employees.
Will it fix their problem? I think that is going to worsen the problem. As all of these governments have very simple rule of laying off their employees... Performance.. are you kidding!!! that is probably last thing.. Only thing they have in consideration is Seniority.. So it is LIFO... Last In First Out.. Essentially they are getting rid of their so called least skilled and young man power.. Is it true.. I can't say..
Another of their biggest problem is unrealistic Pension plan.. Apparently, if you work 15-20 years with them and you decide to retire you will be getting almost 90% of your pre-retirement income.. What a great moronic plan.. I strongly believe that all these governments should file for bankruptcy and get rid of all these moronic labor contracts and start with clean slate. The kind of obligations these governments have is amazing. Whatever they do in their books to juggle it, ultimately it will come back to them.
Even though I am not republican fan, I do strongly support Wisconsin governor with his plans to get rid of unions for state workers or so called collective bargaining. This collective bargaining should be made synonym of Black-mailing. We need some very fundamental changes in Government sector jobs in US. It needs to run the way decent performing private sector companies run their business. Only performance is your job security.. Only performance is your growth potential... Only performance is your higher rate of income and thus savings in your retirement account..
After all this mess, if we don't fix it we will never fix it. There is decent public support for it.. In case of Wisconsin, their masses has given very clear mandate to their Governor to get rid of their bureaucrats.
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