Below are three, very short, videos concerning the impending dangers looming on the horizon for every State, County, and Local governments across the fruited plain of America. It will make your head spin!
It used to be when anyone wanted a good paying job, he or she would go to either a trade school or college, receive a certificate or degree, and go work for a company in the private sector or start a business. It was hard work, it was competitive, and if you walked away with a six figure salary at the end of the day it was well deserved. After all, you would be paid what you're worth according to your ability to produce; and if you didn't work, you didn't get paid.
Take my grandpa, for example, after being honorably discharged from the U.S. Army after serving four years in combat missions during the Korean Conflict, he went to trade school and became a Licenced Master Electrician. He and another Veteran opened up their own electrician business. With hundreds of small and mid-sized business clientele, they made a pretty good living and build their own retirement. They finally closed their doors after almost 40 years of business. My Grandpa passed away a few years ago and received a formal military burial ceremony for serving his country with honor.
Another example is my wife's grandpa, who for over 40 years worked as a full-time maintenance man for a private land lord, owned and rented some homes of his own, and also had a painting business on the side. Today, he lives comfortably on an island in the Caribbean, with only the money he has saved up all those years.
I bring up these two examples because this used to be the norm for many past generations. They worked hard, paid their taxes, saved for their own retirement, and never complained about what they were left with after all those years of hard-toil. With the good Lord and good health, they were the masters of their own destiny and earned their keep.
However, all of that has changed, today. The recent Wall Street bubble and Real Estate bubble left many Americans with the euphoria that the good times were here to stay, and not only did greedy speculators capitalize on the artificial bubble, but so did government unions, all over America.
At a time when we're experiencing record unemployment rates and economic uncertainties in light of the fact that for the first time in the history of our nation, our bonds have been downgraded , one would get the sense that governments will be making similar cuts as private sector jobs are, right now. Unfortunately, and much to the chagrin of many hard-working taxpayers, that is not the case.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, from 1989 to 2009, government spending increased 66% to over five trillion dollars - federal, State, and Local. Much of that increase came in the way of higher salary and pensions that have spiked significantly in the six figures - in some cases over a half million dollars a year with free medical benefits and cost of living adjustments. Not bad, when you're the founder and CEO of a competitive company that provides goods that everybody voluntarily purchase without being forced against their will. But when it's a government worker making these exorbitant salaries and bloated pensions at the expense of taxpayers, and they have their own lobbyists and elected members making sure they get all the sweat heart deals; some how I get the feeling that people aren't voting with their feet, anymore.
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