3 DEAD IN GREEK RIOTS

"Greek authorities say at least three people have died in central Athens in a fire during huge street demonstrations against harsh new government austerity measures.

Early reports say the victims died in a burning bank building apparently set on fire by the protesters.

Across much of the central city Wednesday, riot police armed with stun grenades and tear gas fought running street battles with rock-throwing protesters angered by the looming spending cuts.

Television footage showed police using tear gas to prevent some 50 protesters from storming the parliament building. Violence also erupted in the northern city of Salonika.

The strike halted flights, trains and ferry services across much of the country. Schools and private offices were shut and hospitals worked with limited staffs."
Voice of America

Keep your eyes on Greece. This is coming our way. The unions are driving this unrest in Europe and they intend to do it here. Look at the marches on Wall Street and the immigration marches last weekend. It's just a matter of time now.

WALMART, COLLUSION AND THE COLLAPSE OF THE FREE MARKET

Walmart plans to cut food prices and damage the already teetering grocery industry. Is this healthy competition, allowing one company, by virtue of size alone, to dominate any market to such an extent that it can destroy all its competition? Is this a free market?

Is it any surprise then that Walmart, along with SEIU and The Center for American Progress, backs the health care bill? Walgreens has already announced in Washington state that it will no longer fill new Medicaide prescriptions because it can't afford the loss in profit.

Walgreens is a pharmacy that sells other goods. Walmart, on the other hand, is a general retailer that also has a pharmacy on the premises. Walmart is happy to take a small lose on drugs because it can spread the cost around to other items due to its size.

Walmart is happy to collude with the government because this collusion will increase it market share. So I have a question. Where are all the people on the left that are always screaming about how unfair Walmart is to its workers? People like SEIU. And where are all the activists that are always screaming about Walmart destroying local economies? WHERE ARE YOU??!!

The ends justify the means.

"Wal-Mart Stores Inc will cut food prices and mount a new ad campaign over the next six weeks, a threat to other U.S. grocers that sent an industry shares index down more than 2 percent on Friday.

A Morgan Stanley analyst first reported the world's largest retailer's plan, calling it a major setback for other U.S. grocers, and the company confirmed the promotions in an email.

"While this helps address Walmart's traffic woes, we view this as a major setback for the grocery stocks, which have been rallying on hopes of a return to more rational pricing," Morgan Stanley analyst Mark Wiltamuth wrote in a note on Friday.

The Standard & Poor's Food Retail Sub-Industry Index closed down 2.2 percent.

Walmart has used aggressive pricing in grocery and other units to bring shoppers into its stores. The grocery business is particularly pressured by such pricing, as its profit margins are already low."
Reuters

"As health care reform enters the next phase, we came together at this point in the debate to add our combined voices to the momentum building behind reform. We believe the time for comprehensive reform is now. The present system is not sustainable. The status quo is not an option.

"We applaud the bipartisan efforts in Congress to craft and pass legislation.

"We are pleased that Walmart, Service Employees International Union and Center for American Progress can support three essential elements that should be included in any health care reform legislation--an employer mandate, strong efficiency provisions and a 'trigger' mechanism to ensure cost reductions."
Walmart


"Walgreens has told state officials that as of April 16, it no longer will fill prescriptions for new Medicaid patients at its 121 Washington pharmacies because it isn't being reimbursed enough by the state.

In a news release, the Deerfield, Ill.-based drugstore chain said it will continue to serve its existing Medicaid patients, but it can't take on additional losses due to reductions in the state's payments.
Walgreens had planned to stop filling Medicaid prescriptions in February at 64 of its stores in Washington, but held off while negotiations with the state Department of Social and Health Services continued.

The chain said the state reimburses it at less than its cost to break even on nearly 95 percent of brand name medications it dispenses to Medicaid patients.
"Obviously, we're disappointed that the alternatives we've suggested have failed to achieve a compromise," said Kermit Crawford, Walgreens executive vice president of pharmacy. "We intend to continue our commitment to serving our existing patients, but we simply cannot take on additional losses."
Bellingham Herald

ANOTHER PRINCE GATHERS HIS ARMY

Faced with the daunting prospect of being significantly outspent by his Republican opponent, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown spoke to a labor group Tuesday and urged them to go on the offensive.

"We're going to attack whenever we can, but I'd rather have you attack," Brown said at a gathering of the California delegation of the Laborers' International Union of North America in Sacramento. "I'd rather be the nice guy in this race. We'll leave [the attacks] to ... the Democratic Party and others."
LA Times

Again, from yesterdays post, the words of Machiavelli:

"A PRINCE must defend his state with either his own subjects or mercenaries, or auxiliaries. Mercenaries are utterly untrustworthy; if their captain be not an able man the prince will probably be ruined, whereas if he be an able man he will be seeking a goal of his own. This has been perpetually exemplified among the cities and states of Italy which have sought to maintain themselves by taking foreigners into their pay."

The politicians have crawled into bed with the unions thinking they could control the situation. They won't and they never have. The unions will get their payback in the form of laws and special deals designed to destroy the free market and usher in the Utopian world that all Communists believe possible.

The unions better start thinking about who they've hired as their mercenaries.

GOVERNMENTS, UNIONS, THE GREEN MOVEMENT AND THE LOSS OF OUR LIBERTY

"Households that get their power from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power could see their electric bills go up between 8.8% and 28.4%, depending on where they live and how much energy they use, under a plan unveiled Monday by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Appearing with labor and environmental leaders, Villaraigosa said the proposed increases would ensure that the DWP meets his goal of securing 20% of its energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar by Dec. 31.

The increased revenue would help pay for new environmental initiatives, including more aggressive conservation programs and a solar initiative designed to create 16,000 jobs.

...Businesses would see increases in the average bill ranging from 20% to 26%. Any increase would become less steep, however, once ratepayers adopt conservation measures or find ways to install solar panels and sell the excess power to the DWP, mayoral aides said.

...One union leader said residents would support the increases once they knew how the money would be spent.

"When they see that there is a clear-cut plan to do what we need to do in this city -- which is to be more green, to create jobs -- then I think that most people . . . are willing to go along with that," said Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the L.A. County Federation of Labor."
LA Times

"Just look at Spain: According to a study released in 2009, for every “green job” created with government money over the last eight years 2.2 regular jobs were lost, and only 1 in 10 of the newly created green jobs became a permanent job."
Epoch Times

LA is going to institute a green plan with the backing of the unions and the environmentalists. It will cause electric bills to rise by as much as 28.4%, driving up the cost to both businesses and individual households. This will cause businesses to close or move and will cause people that would normally spend their money elsewhere, thus supporting other jobs, to spend it on electricity.

Why would the unions support this? It seems counterintuitive in that the affect of this legislation will be most keenly felt by the working people. Isn't that the group that the unions claim to support?

If we take the numbers from Spain, a country that has bought into the green argument, we find that for every green job created 2.2 traditional jobs are lost (Jaun DeMariana). I broke out the abacus and did the math; if LA's green initiatives creates 16,000 green jobs 35,200 traditional jobs will be lost. That is a net loss of 19,200 jobs.

So why would the unions back this? I've got a theory. Most of the green jobs will be created through the government; either directly in administration and enforcement or by mandates to the private sector. These jobs will either be created in union environments, such as the government, or will require adherence to the "prevailing wage", a code word for unions. The 19,000 plus jobs that will be lost in the private sector will be mostly non-union jobs.

This isn't about the environment. This is about union power and control. And "social justice".

From the website of Los Angeles County Federation of Labor:

Community and Social Justice

The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, is proud to be an active member in our local communities. The Federation is honored to work with several community-based organizations who have spent years dedicated to grassroots empowerment and social justice in L.A. County.
Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California (APALC)
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)
Central American Resource Center (CARECEN)
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)
Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE)
Coalition for Economic Survival
Coalition LA
Community Coalition
Friends of Labor
Hermandad Mexicana
Industrial Areas Foundation / One L.A.
Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE)
Los Angeles Trade Technical College, Labor Center
Liberty Hill Foundation
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)
Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE)
SCOPE / AGENDA
Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles (SCLC)
Strengthening Our Lives (SOL)
UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles

In the name of "social justice" this union will destroy the livelihood of thousands. The end justifies the means. No sacrifice is too great to achieve the perfection of man through a Socialist Utopia. And the government, believing it can control this evil gets in bed with the enemy of the people that it claims to serve.

Our politicians don't serve us though, do they? They have used their power to establish their kingdoms. They have become Princes and Kings, raising walls of stone around the government of the people to protect their own power. The unions serve as their mercenary armies, repelling the desires of the people. In the end, this will be their undoing, for as Machiavelli warned:

"A PRINCE must defend his state with either his own subjects or mercenaries, or auxiliaries. Mercenaries are utterly untrustworthy; if their captain be not an able man the prince will probably be ruined, whereas if he be an able man he will be seeking a goal of his own. This has been perpetually exemplified among the cities and states of Italy which have sought to maintain themselves by taking foreigners into their pay."

The unions are working with the Communist/Progressives to create a "New World Order". Our politicians have worked with them because the unions have offered them support through campaign financing, buying their loyalty. The politicians have. like all addicts, become dependent on union money, unable to make independent decisions for fear that their drug of choice will be taken from them. The unions are now using public monies to achieve their ends. The good and the will of the people be damned. The mercenaries have removed the Prince from power and taken hold of the throne for themselves.

We've lost so many battles at the local level that we are about to lose the war at the national level. We need to flank our attackers and hit them in the rear. We need to take back our government, starting at the city, working up to the county and eventually the state.

The Tenth Amendment is the answer:

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

We must reestablish our base of operation at the state level. If the states refuse to enforce any laws passed by the Federal Government unless they are expressly authorized in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution, the efforts of the Communist/Progressives will come to a standstill.

This is our best and maybe only way out short of war. We must crush the evil that we are confronted with, but without resorting to violence. We must exhaust all legal means within our powers. If war begins, all is lost and evil wins.

You have to make a choice. To do nothing is still a choice; a choice for Communism and slavery. If you love freedom get involved and fight. Call, mail, go to public demonstrations. Do something!

Years from now, God willing and we still live in a free country, do you want to tell your kids and grandkids that you sat it out, that you lived through maybe the single greatest turning point in American history and did nothing?

"...From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

Henry V
William Shakespeare

THE POPES ON HEALTH CARE AND HUMAN RIGHTS

(I'm going to preface this by saying, "I need to get a different hobby!")

The quotes at the end of all my ranting come from Pacem in Terris Pope John XXIII's 1963 encyclical. Most of the "social Justice" claims that come from groups inside and outside the Church are based on this work. I suggest reading it to understand how the Church views this issue without having it filtered through the lens of special interest (like me).

It is vital to understand the Church's teaching on subsidiarity; the idea that all things are best addressed at the lowest possible level. I believe that the current "social justice" movement in the Church badly mis-states the intention of John XXIII in this encyclical by consistently rejecting subsidiarity. These religious and lay proponents of "social justice" look to the government for solutions, not the individual. They have also corrupted the teachings on human rights found in this encyclical to their own ends. As an example, this from the Immaculate Heart of Mary Social Justice Committee:

Because human rights are relational, they can come into conflict. One person's right to work could interfere with another's right to a healthy environment. One person's right to private property could clash with another's right to food or shelter. Three (3) principles of Catholic social teaching should govern public decisions in such situations.

1. The needs of the poor take priority over the wants of the rich

2. The freedom of the dominated takes priority over the liberty of the powerful

3. The participation of marginalized groups takes priority over the preservation of a political order which excludes them.
(Read Centesimus Annus for a clarification of true Church teachings on these issues)

Compare this to the quote below from Pacem in Terris:

"...One of the principal duties of any government, moreover, is the suitable and adequate superintendence and co-ordination of men's respective rights in society. This must be done in such a way 1) that the exercise of their rights by certain citizens does not obstruct other citizens in the exercise of theirs; 2) that the individual, standing upon his own rights, does not impede others in the performance of their duties; 3) that the rights of all be effectively safeguarded, and completely restored if they have been violated."

While todays proponents of "social justice" are more than happy to have the rights of one group elevated over another the Church teaches that this should not and cannot happen.

Pacem in Terris, by stating that man has a right to healthcare, food housing etc., can be used to support the Communist/Progressive social agenda, but only if one omits the teaching of subsidiarity, a hard and fast doctrine of the Church. The duty to provide the services that are necessary to these rights fall on the individual, through an act of free will and cannot be forced upon us by the state. If the state is allowed to force these obligations on us it will have become a Socialist state.

"...His words deserve to be re-read attentively: "To remedy these wrongs (the unjust distribution of wealth and the poverty of the workers), the Socialists encourage the poor man's envy of the rich and strive to do away with private property, contending that individual possessions should become the common property of all...; but their contentions are so clearly powerless to end the controversy that, were they carried into effect, the working man himself would be among the first to suffer. They are moreover emphatically unjust, for they would rob the lawful possessor, distort the functions of the State, and create utter confusion in the community".39 The evils caused by the setting up of this type of socialism as a State system — what would later be called "Real Socialism" — could not be better expressed."
Centesimus Annus

I have stated many times in regards to the proposed health care takeover that we don't have a right to health care and I stand by that statement. The "right" to health care that is being proposed by our government tramples on the rights of others and true rights (see Pacem in Terris) cannot do that. I believe that Centesimus Annus also supports my belief along with Pacem in Terris .

Our rights to health care, food, shelter, etc. are rights in that we cannot be refused something necessary to support our right to life. In other words, if I am in danger of death and you have the means to save me you are obligated to do so. This is manifestly true in that refusing to supply life saving care is tantamount to murder and thus a mortal sin. The same thing can be said of housing, food, etc.

That being said, can I demand that another surrender his right to his labor or his property to give a third party shelter? Well, I suppose I can demand it; hell, I can yell as loud as I want. He still is under no obligation to me to supply anything to another. His obligation is to the one seeking shelter and no one else.

For the state to force anyone to fulfill an obligation for which they have no responsibility is Socialism and Socialism has been condemned by the Church in no uncertain terms.

The only responsibility that the state has regarding our rights is to see that they are not infringed. It cannot do this by trampling some to protect others. Are we obligated, through our association with the state to provide, through the state, some limited health care to those that have absolutely no way of acquiring it? Yes, because we would be obligated as individuals. However, this obligation is limited to extreme circumstances and to protecting life.

We do not possess an unlimited right to state sponsored health care, regardless of what the Democrats, the USCCB or the unions believe. To say we do is a lie. The Church has never taught this and never will. It conflicts with natural law and true human rights.

Read both Pacem in Terris and Centesimus Annus. Truth cannot contradict truth (you'll have to go here for that one)and these encyclicals work hand in hand to support the truth.

From Pacem in Terris:

"...But first We must speak of man's rights. Man has the right to live. He has the right to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of life, particularly food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest, and, finally, the necessary social services. In consequence, he has the right to be looked after in the event of illhealth; disability stemming from his work; widowhood; old age; enforced unemployment; or whenever through no fault of his own he is deprived of the means of livelihood."

"...As a further consequence of man's nature, he has the right to the private ownership of property, including that of productive goods. This, as We have said elsewhere, is "a right which constitutes so efficacious a means of asserting one's personality and exercising responsibility in every field, and an element of solidity and security for family life, and of greater peace and prosperity in the State."

"...Nature imposes work upon man as a duty, and man has the corresponding natural right to demand that the work he does shall provide him with the means of livelihood for himself and his children. Such is nature's categorical imperative for the preservation of man."

"...The natural rights of which We have so far been speaking are inextricably bound up with as many duties, all applying to one and the same person. These rights and duties derive their origin, their sustenance, and their indestructibility from the natural law, which in conferring the one imposes the other.

Thus, for example, the right to live involves the duty to preserve one's life; the right to a decent standard of living, the duty to live in a becoming fashion; the right to be free to seek out the truth, the duty to devote oneself to an ever deeper and wider search for it."

"...Since men are social by nature, they must live together and consult each other's interests. That men should recognize and perform their respective rights and duties is imperative to a well ordered society. But the result will be that each individual will make his whole-hearted contribution to the creation of a civic order in which rights and duties are ever more diligently and more effectively observed."

"...Man's personal dignity requires besides that he enjoy freedom and be able to make up his own mind when he acts. In his association with his fellows, therefore, there is every reason why his recognition of rights, observance of duties, and many-sided collaboration with other men, should be primarily a matter of his own personal decision. Each man should act on his own initiative, conviction, and sense of responsibility, not under the constant pressure of external coercion or enticement. There is nothing human about a society that is welded together by force. Far from encouraging, as it should, the attainment of man's progress and perfection, it is merely an obstacle to his freedom."

"...Hence, before a society can be considered well-ordered, creative, and consonant with human dignity, it must be based on truth. St. Paul expressed this as follows: "Putting away lying, speak ye the truth every man with his neighbor, for we are members one of another."(25) And so will it be, if each man acknowledges sincerely his own rights and his own duties toward others."

"...Hence, a regime which governs solely or mainly by means of threats and intimidation or promises of reward, provides men with no effective incentive to work for the common good. And even if it did, it would certainly be offensive to the dignity of free and rational human beings. Authority is before all else a moral force. For this reason the appeal of rulers should be to the individual conscience, to the duty which every man has of voluntarily contributing to the common good. But since all men are equal in natural dignity, no man has the capacity to force internal compliance on another. Only God can do that, for He alone scrutinizes and judges the secret counsels of the heart."

"...We must add, therefore, that it is in the nature of the common good that every single citizen has the right to share in it—although in different ways, depending on his tasks, merits and circumstances. Hence every civil authority must strive to promote the common good in the interest of all, without favoring any individual citizen or category of citizen. As Pope Leo XIII insisted: "The civil power must not be subservient to the advantage of any one individual, or of some few persons; inasmuch as it was established for the common good of all."

Nevertheless, considerations of justice and equity can at times demand that those in power pay more attention to the weaker members of society, since these are at a disadvantage when it comes to defending their own rights and asserting their legitimate interests."

"...One of the principal duties of any government, moreover, is the suitable and adequate superintendence and co-ordination of men's respective rights in society. This must be done in such a way 1) that the exercise of their rights by certain citizens does not obstruct other citizens in the exercise of theirs; 2) that the individual, standing upon his own rights, does not impede others in the performance of their duties; 3) that the rights of all be effectively safeguarded, and completely restored if they have been violated."

SLAVES TO THE SYSTEM

I watch the markets climb day after day along with the incessant happy talk from the traders about recovery and a return to the days before the depression began. But how does any of this translate to the average American? All of the money feeding on itself on Wall Street doesn't seem to be creating new jobs. Investing used to denote, for the most part, a commitment to an idea. The investor looked for the company or individual that had built the better mousetrap and gave him his money, in hopes of a return on investment after the mousetrap became profitable. Stocks were meant to raise capital to help in the development of companies which would create jobs, make profit and grow the economy.

Now the stock market has become a play ground for the gambler. It isn't about long term risk and reward but about short term gain. Some bet that the mousetrap will succeed, some that it will fail, but none are concerned about anything but themselves. The greater economy and the lives of the average American be damned.

And this is why our cities, counties, states and country are failing. We've built a system of taxation and the service it supports based on the idea that there would always be jobs and that those jobs would always grow in number and wages. Unions have built themselves and their power around the principle that the worker has a "right" to the wealth of others. Governments have stopped trying to even make the pretense that they were created by the people to serve the best interests of the people. They are fighting for their survival in the new reality of shrinking revenues and higher demands for services they've addicted their citizens to. Governments believe they have the "right" to the wealth of others, too.

Wall street, government and the unions are all linked in their avarice. Each works with the other in a circle of destructive greed aimed at amassing power through the bald faced theft of the peoples money and freedom. And most can't see it. The white collar worker is mad at the unions, the blue collar worker is mad at Wall Street and everybody is mad at the government while at the same time holding out their hand for the dole.

As our cities, counties, states and country collapse we will be rounded up into smaller and smaller areas because it's too inefficient to service a large urban area. The unions will refuse to give, keeping the cost of government supplied services high. Wall Street will invest in short term gain, not caring about the country, just their own wallets. Government will increase taxes to pay for the dwindling services we've come to rely on, taking more and more of the little wealth in the private economy. Eventually the only good jobs left will be government jobs. So the government employee will work for a wage which is handed back to the government so that the government can supply the services the free market used to supply.

Welcome to the "Brave New World", comrade.

"The superintendent calls it the "Right-Size" plan," but many Kansas City, Missouri, residents say it's plain wrong.

Superintendent John Covington called for the closing or consolidation of almost half of the city's public schools. A divided Kansas City school board voted Wednesday to approve the downsizing...

...Covington proposed the "Right-Size" plan arguing that the financial future of the entire school district was at stake. The plan shutters 28 of Kansas City's 61 public schools, cuts 700 jobs and saves $50 million to help reduce a burgeoning deficit."
CNN

"A while back, Tasha Kheiriddin wrote about the Detroit mayor's plan to forcibly relocate parts of the crumbling city's dwindling population, huddling them together in greater densities for the sake of efficiency. Why spend good money sending garbage trucks out to neighbourhoods that have been all but abandoned, after all?

"If we don't do it, you know this whole city is going to go down. I'm hopeful people will understand that," said Mayor Dave Bing. "If we can incentivize some of those folks that are in those desolate areas, they can get a better situation."

Fair enough. Efficiency is good, though herding people out of their homes and forcibly replanting them elsewhere has some disturbing historical connotations. But let's ignore that for the moment; it still leaves the question of what to do with all those newly-depopulated areas. What, exactly, did Mayor Bing have in mind?

Well, now we know. Amber waves of grain, or something close to it. According to this report from Associated Press:

Operating on a scale never before attempted in this country, the city would demolish houses in some of the most desolate sections of Detroit and move residents into stronger neighborhoods. Roughly a quarter of the 139-square-mile city could go from urban to semi-rural.

Near downtown, fruit trees and vegetable farms would replace neighborhoods that are an eerie landscape of empty buildings and vacant lots. Suburban commuters heading into the city center might pass through what looks like the countryside to get there. Surviving neighborhoods in the birthplace of the auto industry would become pockets in expanses of green."
National Post

"The city's major hospital network, which runs Miami's only round-the-clock trauma center and is a safety net for the poor and uninsured, is running out of money and could close, a predicament that illustrates the precarious financial state of many hospitals around the country.

The Jackson Health System will have little cash on hand by the end of March if it does not receive a $67 million advance from the county, said Marcos Lapciuc, treasurer of the Public Health Trust, the institution's governing board.

"We are very close, if not already in, a health care death spiral," Chief Operating Officer David Small said."
Yahoo

"If the Jackson Health System runs out of cash, the county would be responsible for paying Jackson's 10,500 union workers, but not necessarily the other 1,500 employees, according to a legal analysis by County Attorney R.A. Cuevas Jr.

It's unclear exactly how big a tab that might be, but it would be a huge chunk of the $86 million of salaries and benefits that the public hospital system spends each month. At present, Jackson is expected to run out of cash in May or June unless drastic cuts are made."
Miami Herald

"Township officials expressed frustration that several unions representing Moorestown government workers have not agreed to reopen contract negotiations.

Last month, township council asked the unions to consider making wage and health benefit concessions this year even though they have contracts that continue through 2012 and guarantee annual pay raises of 3.75 percent.

At Monday night's council meeting, Township Manager Christopher Schultz disclosed to the public the specifics of council proposals to the unions -- a wage freeze and a payroll contribution to health care benefits to help cut costs to the township.

As of Monday night's deadline to respond, township officials said none of the unions had agreed to reopen negotiations."
Courier Post

"Gov. Pat Quinn today called for a 33 percent increase in the state income tax rate to raise money for education and ease deep cuts he's proposed in his new budget plan.

In his short budget speech to the House and Senate, Quinn argued that an income tax "surcharge" would be enough to restore Illinois' education budget to current levels and allow the state to get caught up on some of the millions owed to public schools, community colleges and four-year universities.

Quinn wants to increase the personal income tax rate from 3 percent to 4 percent --- a 33 percent increase --- with the corporate tax rate rising from 4.8 percent to 5.8 percent. The tax hike would bring in $2.8 billion a year."
Chicago Tribune

"The recession and the ongoing jobless recovery devastated much of the private-sector work force last year, sending unemployment soaring, but government workers emerged essentially unscathed, according to data released Wednesday by the Labor Department.

Meanwhile, the compensation for state and local government employees continued to easily outdistance the wages and benefits for workers in private business, a separate Labor Department report showed."
Washington Times

DETROIT IS OUR FUTURE IN THE RUST BELT

I'm full of stinky cheese and fish after fulfilling my obligation to perform old family traditions last night and so I'm not really up to writing. This video says it all. The combination of government mis-management and union excesses have destroyed Detroit and will destroy America if our current administration has anything to say about it.

So much of what is shown in this video could have been filmed in St. Louis, another one time great American city that has been run into the ground by the same crew. St. Louis, once second only to Detroit in the production of cars, has been turned into a Beirut clone in some neighborhoods. Maybe this isn't fair to Beirut. This city has been controlled by liberal Democrats for years. The unions have exerted control over all manufacturing, eventually driving employers away. We are still a union city, which would be great if there were any jobs to be had. Ford shut down their plant, Chrysler shut down theirs and GM is down to one shift. All of the suppliers that once employed thousands have shuttered right along with them.

This has left a huge, unskilled workforce unemployed. These are people that have made really good money for doing very little. I know plenty of them and have listened to the descriptions of their workdays. Sure, it's hot and the labor is physical but, compared to digging ditches or framing houses for a fraction of the wage, please! Most of the people that I know that were laid off from the auto plants sat around sucking up the job bank pay and made no real attempt to educate or in anyway prepare themselves for life without the automakers. They've been lulled into complacency by the socialist lies of their union and government masters.

Consequently, out where I live, the economy is terrible. The money that would have flowed into the local economy from the guys at Chrysler is gone and this is slowly causing other businesses to go under, further reducing the number of jobs available.

We've got real problems here in the rust belt. The root cause can be laid at the foot of big government, big unions and greed. There is no quick or even semi quick solution. It will be a long time, if ever before we see the economy come back around here. Detroit is just the first. Many more cities and the people that live there are going down the same road if we stick to the old paradigm of business, unions and government as usual.

People need to wake up and realize that the government uses them to acquire power for itself and enslave them, the unions use them to acquire power for its leaders and the government it supports and business uses them to make a profit. Of those three only business is honest about its intent and only business can help the worker to achieve actual growth in wealth and security. Yet, isn't it strange that both the unions and the government vilify the one thing that could lead to true independence for the people?

I wonder why?

PJTV