[quote=Allan from Fallbrook]CAR: Thanks for re-posting your write-up. Its well thought out and I like the fact that you spread the pain equally (cutbacks and taxes). I can remember my dad thundering on about Prop. 13 as a kid, and I think you’re exactly right as to how fix that particular problem (and it is a huge one).
The overall problem, as I see it, is this: California is gridlocked between a large Dem base and a vociferous GOP “insurgency”. Due to gerrymandering, both sides are ideologically reactionary, and thus unable to meet in the middle (i.e. agree to spread the pain) to fix the problems.
Regarding your #4 (illegal immigration): These are good ideas and they could be implemented and they would show results. The problem? Immigration is a political “third rail” type issue. The Dems sure as shit don’t want to touch this, and largely because Hispanics comprise a large (and growing) voting bloc for the Democratic Party. I think its safe to say that everyone in California knows about the issues tied to illegal immigration, but no one wants to fix it. So, the Dems will hammer away on raising taxes (which the Republicans will fight tooth and claw), which would “solve” the problem, in the sense that increased tax revenues would help cover some of the expenses related to illegal immigration, as well as support their constituents on the public union side. The GOP would then go to war on this issue, meanwhile screaming about cuts (which ARE necessary), and the Dems would go to the wall in opposition to those cuts. We’re then back to square one, wherein no one does shit and the circus continues.
I’ll also admit to a bias here: I loathe unions. I’m forced to work with them on a daily basis, and they add nothing but unnecessary costs and heartache to my projects. I have to pay a premium (which I refer to as an “asshole tax”) to use union workers on certain projects and I have no choice but to employ them. On average, I spend about 2x as much on union workers, and I generally get a poorer result in terms of quality and time- and cost-effectiveness.
I also own/run a business in California and, if not for our relationship with UCSD, I’d be in Nevada, Arizona or Texas in a heartbeat. California has become an intensely anti-business state. We can still innovate with the best of them (hence our relationship with UCSD), but this state is doing its level best to drive employment out.
The only way I see us not driving this thing off a cliff, is for both sides, GOP and Dem, to figure out how to meet in the middle and equally spread the pain. Sadly, I really don’t see that happening.[/quote]
Thank you for your response, Allan.
Believe it or not, I’ve had issues with union members, too. However, having worked in both public and private sectors, based on my personal experiences, the union members tended to be more highly educated and more experienced than their private sector peers (this is true in education, for instance).
I used to know a lot of journeyman carpenters and iron workers in my youth, and you just can’t compare the quality of their work with the quality of work provided by today’s “non-unionized” workers. I think you know this as well. When you consider the fact that, in the mid-late 1980s, they were making 2-3 times (NOMINAL) what today’s workers are making, one has to wonder where the savings has gone? Buildings certainly aren’t any cheaper today than they were then, and the quality of union work is far superior to that of non-union workers.
While the profit margins of the corporations (and executive compensation) have gone up rather significantly, Joe Sixpack’s wages have been stagnant or declining. IMHO, that’s a problem that’s not going away, and it’s beginning to create social instability. I believe that gross wage/income inequality breeds serious problems. I don’t see any entities (with any political power) other than unions who are willing to discuss this. Why are we, as a country, not addressing this issue instead of bashing unions?
