Yet.
But the hate rhetoric is winding up and the herd is going into emotional mode. That means reason will probably take a back seat at some point. In today's news the headline is, "NJ Union Members Told To Brace For Coming Fight"
Within that article, National
I think we have to stop there for a minute and pause. This is not the little guy vs. the big corporation demanding fair pay and work conditions. This has nothing to do with corporations. It's about unionized public sector workers. When unions fight big corporations you have to admire them because why should those corporations suck up all the profits which were generated by the labor of workers? It makes perfect sense that profits should be shared fairly with the laborers who created them.
But again, don't let your mind be swayed in that direction because this is a different matter. This is state workers vs. the state. OK, so it's still David vs. Goliath, right? The only problem with that thinking is that Goliath is not a productive economic enterprise which profits from the labor of its employees. Instead, it is basically a semi-symbiotic parasite on the economy and on society. Goliath has no money of its own. It never earns money. There are no profits to share. Any money it does acquire must be taken from the citizens under threat of legal action. Many of the services provided by Goliath are of little to no value to many of the people who are being legally required to pay for them.
Everyone deserves a fair wage for what they do no matter who it is. The only questions are, what is fair and do we even need what you are selling? Public employees provide a service to the public. But if payment for that service means that work-a-day people cannot afford their own homes or to have their own medical insurance then at some point the service can become too much of a good thing. Can you imagine how you would react if the water company demanded that you water your lawn every day year 'round because they needed the revenue to fund their medical and retirement benefits of the type that private sector employees never get? You lawns would be waterlogged all the time and your water bill would be astronomical. At some point you would probably dig a well so that you could rid yourself of their parasitic services. But when government is involved you can't do that and so the only way to say "no mas" is to decline further tax increases.
If promised benefits cannot be paid then either charge those who made the deal with fraud for knowing that they could never be paid or default on the promise like businesses do all the time. Heck, go ahead and do both! But whipping up the people against each other is not going to result in more money squeezed from the turnip, especially when the private sector doesn't get the same average salary and benefits as public workers. Now that awareness on this issue is so high, the public is not going to agree to make an unfair situation even more unfair. Let's not see people hurt and property damaged with this kind of infighting. If public workers don't like the new deal, then quit. That's all private workers could do when their employers imposed 10% pay cuts. But under no circimstances does any service provider have the right or the moral imperative to force unwanted levels of service upon its customers.
