The Economist magazine highlights the problems in France with their bloated government pensions. It is the major factor driving France towards insolvency.
The pension funds themselves are billons in the red, while the government runs on a deficit of 8%. For those of you in Ann Arbor, this means they spend $108 dollars for every $100 the government takes in from taxes.
The French government is now raising the retirement age from 60 to 62. But that won’t kick in for eight years as they try to let those not there yet to prepare for two more years of toil.
They are also going to make government workers match funds into the pensions like private workers currently do. But this won’t have an effect on the pension fund red ink for 10 years.
Predictably, the French government immediately plans on raising taxes on the “rich”, businesses and capital gains – which will stifle the economy and thus the tax base further.
Equally predictable is the reaction from the unions and the Socialist Party (called Democrats here) as they threaten strikes, violence and to repeal all of these steps - except the tax hikes - if they get re-elected to run the mess they originally built.
Meanwhile, world investors say these French government moves are mostly symbolic as the retirement age would have to go to 65 immediately to have any positive effect at all.
France is the United States. Our massive trillions in bailouts and stimulus was nothing more than free money to keep government and union pensions afloat for a little while longer. And keeping the union (both government and private) money flowing to the Democrat Party.
It had nothing whatsoever to do with job creation.
California faces a half-trillion dollar deficit that is just being ignored. And all states recently run by Democrats or are currently being run by Democrats are in the same boat.
Newly elected Republican governors are trying to fix the problem to save the worker’s jobs - and their pensions - and they are being met with the same song as French government.
The cost of public sector unions are bankrupting governments all over the world.
Until the leech known as a union is eradicated, no economy is safe.
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2 comments:
Without unions most of us would not have a decent wage or health care.
My answer to you Anon is: "Well that's a shame you whiner. Go out and earn your "decent wage and health care."
Do not resort to extortion tactics and communist policies to get "yours". Some solidarity. Your union keeps thousands of others from having jobs. And nearly every time the union membership votes between "more brothers and sisters" or keeping their wages artificially high - wages wins.
So spare me. Unions use the threat of government to extort businesses. This is done so unions can feed money to the Democrat Party. It is a laundrying money operation.
I had a union president tell me to my face that "I don't care about the people. I care about the uniion."
The former president of the teacher's union once said, "I will care about the children when they start paying union dues."
The first union charter said the union's mission is to destroy the capitalist system of the United States.
Mission accomplished.
A proud union member is a fool, selfish or a traitor. Period.
An embarrassed union member - but proud American - wants out of the union, and would trade salary to do it.
A union 4th of July picnic is like the pig celebrating the invention of the BBQ. A union is as un-American as you can get.
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