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Killing the
Goose
By Kate Burch
Listening earlier this week to some candidates for our County
Commission made me curious about the financial health of our county and
city. Casual observation reveals many abandoned houses in our
city (over 7,000, I have learned), broken curbs and potholed
streets. When my family moved to the area in 1956, it was quite
prosperous, with outstanding opportunities for employment, good
services, safety, and notable arts and entertainment offerings.
Over the years, high costs of labor forced all of the major industries
to move out, and the population has declined steadily since its peak
around 1970. Still, we have over 4,300 county employees, whose
wages and salaries alone cost every man, woman, and child more than
$330 yearly. It’s hard to find figures for the debt, but I
believe it is considerable.
Municipal governments have a higher unionization rate than any other
industry in the nation. Paying city and county workers the wages and
benefits demanded by the unions keeps those governments strapped for
cash. Citizens are already taxed to the max, so new taxes are not
a good option to raise more revenue. Increased spending is held
in check by balanced budget requirements that affect local governments,
unlike the federal government. One result is that the
left-leaning leaders of many cities have turned to new regulations to
advance their socially liberal agenda. Examples include New York
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s law mandating paid sick leave for any business
with five or more employees. Demand for a $15 minimum wage is
another. Democrat mayors around the country want to pass laws
prohibiting rent hikes and evictions. There seems to be no dearth
of funds for reconfiguring streets to create bike lanes and limit the
room available for car traffic, but who will be able to start up a new
business or, lacking a cadre of smart tax attorneys on staff, keep a
business going and hire people?
Meanwhile, due to increased federal spending and regulation, a failed
stimulus that enriched well-connected elites at the expense of the
average American, and the constraints of laws like Obamacare, the U.S.
has continued to lose standing on the Index of Economic Freedom.
We are now #11, behind countries such as Switzerland, Australia, and
Canada. Increased economic freedom brings more prosperity, better
health and education, and a cleaner environment. Our declining
status is truly bad news.
Sometimes it is instructive to pay attention to the words that we
use. The money paid to an employee in exchange for his or her
work is referred to as “compensation.” The Latin root of the word
means “weighed against,” implying that there is parity between the
value that an employee adds to the company and the pay given in
recompense. The same concept would apply to education, in which a
student reasonably would be graded commensurate with performance and
the quality of work. Sadly, there is too often no such
parity. When there is no demand for excellence, nor even any
incentive to excel in these days of trophies for all, too many take the
easiest path and are robbed of pride, dignity, and opportunity.
Unsustainable, as they say.
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