Perhaps Obama has seen the error of his ways after the egregious money grab by Wall St. that was the 1st stimulus.
Perhaps Obama has come to realize that natural law must prevail and that government structures/projects that contribute far less that they are worth and corporations that pay 100's of $millions to senior staff on the one hand and ask for handouts on the other are nothing more than pikers that drain the blood from any pareto optimal (i.e. best for the most) economic model.
In other words, perhaps Obama has painfully come to realize that the North American economy has swung as far as it can in the direction of the self interests of monopoly/oligarchy (i.e. gov't and Wall St.)...away from the perfect competition model where competition based upon merit of competitive performance drives the economy.
Perhaps Obama now realizes that "too big to fail" is just a euphemism for "too fat to run/compete".
The current economic model characterized by ever larger bailouts, ever ridiculous law-making in the face of stupid deregulation legislation, and exponential government and government-related salary loads is not sustainable.
It's time for the self-cleansing process to kick in and natural law to prevail.
No more stimulus packages and a return to the idea that government jobs are "service of the people" jobs not "plum highly paid" titles. A return to the ideal that "service of the people" is the primary requirement of any government paid job not the tax paid large salary and second to none pension benefits.
There used to be the idea that government jobs were relatively low paying because these jobs were secure and besides were for "the service of the people".
If Obama wants to get really serious about solving the current crisis, he needs to begin at home by implementing a 10% pay cut or its equivalent across the board for any job attached to the government. I'm quite certain that for those persons impacted, there are 90% of the 17% currently unemployed who will happily step in to take their place at a much reduced pay and pension scale.
In a way, the problems of the Detroit public school system is the first wave to hit the beach representing how out of wack things have gotten for governemnt "service" jobs
globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Note, only 3 ways out for the Detroit Public School system:
1) Raise revenues
2) Reduce costs
3) Declare bankruptcy
Also note that salaries comprise such a large component of the educational system that cutting costs necessarily means cutting salaries.
As mentioned, it may well be that the example of the broken Detroit Public school model is just a precursor of governmental broken models to come.
Today, in Toronto, we have garbage workers, being paid $20 to $50 an hour, out on strike for the 20th successive day leaving the city wallowing in garbage. Not only garbage workers but other related unionized workers, such as day care and park employees, are also out....In this economy, I don't get it. Any unemployed person would happily take on these jobs at 10% to 25% lower pay in this economic environment.
It is now time to enact Reagan-like air-comptrollers legislation and bring in new hires (again plenty of them given escalating unemployment ranks) to clean up the mess.
The same goes for other public sector "services", like the teachers, the police and firemen, who periodically hold the public at ransom by striking.
Heck, there are so many qualified unemployed persons out there, why not widen the hiring qualifications and make these persons available, especially for the well paid, highly secure public "services" jobs.
Mr. Obama, just a suggestion, but I think any solution to the current crisis begins "at home" and a perfectly reasonable starting point would be a 10% cut across the board for all salaried government "service" workers coupled with a review of "service" job prerequisites with a view to opening up the doors to the 17% unemployed sector for those currently in "service" jobs who choose to strike/walk. Like tax increases, this seemingly hard line policy could be couched in language that is is only a short term tactic to set an example to the rest of the country.
It's time that Government recapture its role as a "service" for the people, not a self-serving monstrosity or a tool of a Wall St. as has recently become all too apparent to Main Streeters.
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