{"id":539,"date":"2011-02-21T20:30:55","date_gmt":"2011-02-22T01:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/?p=539"},"modified":"2011-02-21T20:30:55","modified_gmt":"2011-02-22T01:30:55","slug":"a-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/a-proposal\/","title":{"rendered":"A Proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Considerable turmoil had emerged in Wisconsin over the cuts and changes Governor Walker has proposed for union state workers.\u00a0 At the core is the belief that unionized public employees have created an unsustainable situation.\u00a0 While most people understand the problems that business monopolies cause, they fail to realize that a union is really nothing more than a monopoly for labor.<\/p>\n

For capitalism to work effectively there must be choice and competition.\u00a0 This is what spurs the innovation and creativity that bring about the best value for the consumer.\u00a0 Unions have, for the most part, failed in the private sector because they restrict this innovation and creativity. Instead of looking to increased productivity, unions restrict choice for the employers so they can use threats and intimidation to force increases in paid and benefits.\u00a0 As such, they ultimately priced themselves, and their companies, out of business.<\/p>\n

This is bad enough when used with private businesses, but even here the market\u2019s ability to self-correct can work. Unlike private companies, however, governments cannot go out of business.\u00a0 In addition, unions in places like Wisconsin can force people to join, and then use the money they collect to become a strong political force.\u00a0 In short, they can work to put those who are politically obligated to the union, in a position to negotiate with the union. \u00a0When this happens who represents the people who have to pay the bills?<\/p>\n

The result is that whereas \u00a0government employees once were paid less that the private sector, but were compensated with somewhat better benefits and security, now both their pay and benefits far exceed the private sector.\u00a0\u00a0 According to the US Bureau of Labor statistics report<\/a>, public sector workers get paid a third more than private sector workers, while getting over two thirds more in benefits.<\/p>\n

Those defending the status quo, claim the study was not a fair comparison<\/a> and while they make a few good points there are some serious problems with their claims<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 One problem, for example, is that while government employees tend to be better educated than the private sector is this because they need more education to do their job, or is this yet another way to inflate their salaries?\u00a0 It also ignores the productivity of the private sector vs. the public.<\/p>\n

So given this, here is one proposal.\u00a0\u00a0 As long as public sector employees are making more on average than private sector employees, ban any further net increases to wages and benefits, including cost of living increases. This would then over time bring public sector payrolls back into line with the people who must pay the bills. \u00a0\u00a0This calculation should put productivity into the mix.\u00a0 That way if federal workers were more productive, then their higher pay would be warranted.\u00a0 It would also give the public sector much more of a stake in the health of the private sector that must pay the bills.<\/p>\n

This is not meant as a total solution, but it would be an important step in bringing the runaway and stifling cost of government under control. \u00a0After all, it boils down to a simple question: why should public sector employees get more than those who must pay the bill?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Considerable turmoil had emerged in Wisconsin over the cuts and changes Governor Walker has proposed for union state workers.\u00a0 At the core is the belief that unionized public employees have created an unsustainable situation.\u00a0 While most people understand the problems that business monopolies cause, they fail to realize that a union is really nothing more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,13,36],"tags":[228,260,313,345,599,678,766,877,978,1036,1049,1333,1382],"class_list":["post-539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-domestic-policy","category-economy","category-taxes","tag-capitalism","tag-choice","tag-competition","tag-creativity","tag-governor-walker","tag-innovation","tag-labor","tag-monopoly","tag-pay","tag-private-vs-public","tag-proposal","tag-union","tag-wisconsin"],"yoast_head":"\nA Proposal - Politics and Religion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/a-proposal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Proposal - Politics and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Considerable turmoil had emerged in Wisconsin over the cuts and changes Governor Walker has proposed for union state workers.\u00a0 At the core is the belief that unionized public employees have created an unsustainable situation.\u00a0 While most people understand the problems that business monopolies cause, they fail to realize that a union is really nothing more […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/a-proposal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Politics and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-02-22T01:30:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elgin Hushbeck\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elgin Hushbeck\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/a-proposal\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/a-proposal\/\",\"name\":\"A Proposal - Politics and Religion\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-22T01:30:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1e0462ceb31a6ae267de916fb1fc1e6b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/a-proposal\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/a-proposal\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/a-proposal\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Proposal\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Politics and Religion\",\"description\":\"Comments on Politics and Religion\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1e0462ceb31a6ae267de916fb1fc1e6b\",\"name\":\"Elgin Hushbeck\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/111d2d9a9a7ff4ed5376638ef5042b381a6987855b6398bfb2d91b1cf750d4fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/111d2d9a9a7ff4ed5376638ef5042b381a6987855b6398bfb2d91b1cf750d4fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elgin Hushbeck\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Proposal - Politics and Religion","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/a-proposal\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Proposal - Politics and Religion","og_description":"Considerable turmoil had emerged in Wisconsin over the cuts and changes Governor Walker has proposed for union state workers.\u00a0 At the core is the belief that unionized public employees have created an unsustainable situation.\u00a0 While most people understand the problems that business monopolies cause, they fail to realize that a union is really nothing more […]","og_url":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/a-proposal\/","og_site_name":"Politics and Religion","article_published_time":"2011-02-22T01:30:55+00:00","author":"Elgin Hushbeck","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elgin Hushbeck","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/a-proposal\/","url":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/a-proposal\/","name":"A Proposal - Politics and Religion","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-02-22T01:30:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1e0462ceb31a6ae267de916fb1fc1e6b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/a-proposal\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/a-proposal\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/a-proposal\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Proposal"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/","name":"Politics and Religion","description":"Comments on Politics and Religion","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1e0462ceb31a6ae267de916fb1fc1e6b","name":"Elgin Hushbeck","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/111d2d9a9a7ff4ed5376638ef5042b381a6987855b6398bfb2d91b1cf750d4fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/111d2d9a9a7ff4ed5376638ef5042b381a6987855b6398bfb2d91b1cf750d4fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elgin Hushbeck"},"url":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}