Greedy public employees are bleeding us dry

In San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) workers went on strike after negotiations between the unions and state mediators broke down.  Commuters were left scrambling for alternative modes of transportation but the unions didn’t care.  Was the dispute over pay?  Not really.  BART had offered an average 2 percent wage increase per year for four years.  The fight was over what most union fights have been about the last few years: pensions and health insurance.

The average train operator and station agent make a base salary of $71,000 and average another $11,000 in overtime.  That’s an average of $82,000 per year.  Before the strike BART employees were contributing a measly $92 per month for their health insurance, a ridiculously low amount given the skyrocketing cost of health insurance.  As for their pensions, they were contributing absolutely nothing, not one dime.  The taxpayers were picking up the entire tab for the pension contributions.

These are the types of deals that are bankrupting cities and states and our federal government.  We simply cannot afford to pay for what should be the responsibilities of individual workers.  Whether or not some BART employee retires with a pension should be the responsibility of that particular BART employee.  It’s certainly been my responsibility.  I have a 401(k).  Some years my employer matches part of it some years they don’t.  I certainly don’t expect them to and when they do I appreciate it.

But that’s the problem with a lot of people in this country, isn’t it?  They’ve come to expect someone else to take care of them.  I try to watch my 401(k) like a hawk.  I contribute as much as I possibly can and I plan for the future.  I’m hoping Social Security will supplement my retirement years but I have my doubts.  If it’s even there when I retire Social Security will, in all likelihood, be subjected to means testing.  Even people like Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky have supported means testing.

Means testing, simply put, means if I do the right thing and have ample money put away for my retirement I won’t be able to draw Social Security even though the government forced me to contribute to it my whole working life.  They told me it was a forced retirement fund and I would be able to draw from it when I retired.  With means testing only those who don’t prepare for retirement will be able to draw from Social Security.  It will only be for those whose retirement funds fall below a certain level.  It turns the entire program into another welfare entitlement.

So much of what the government is doing is discouraging personal responsibility.  The harder you work and the more you earn the bigger chunk of your paycheck they take.  If you haven’t been responsible and provided health insurance for you and your family then the government will step in and take care of your health insurance.  If you don’t plan for your retirement the government will take away part of the retirement from those of us who have and give it to you.

Why on earth should anyone behave responsibly anymore?

The BART strike has been just another reminder of what happens when government officials volunteer the generosity of the taxpayers.  Those on the receiving end of that generosity spit in the face of their benefactors.  They should’ve fired everyone who went on strike and given those jobs to people who might actually appreciate them.  Unions in the private sector are vanishing quickly.  Public sector unions should do the same, while we still have some money left.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.

Stop overcomplicating the illegal immigration problem

House Speaker John Boehner has drawn a line in the sand on the Senate’s Gang of 8 bill or any bill, for that matter, that deals with illegal immigration.  He will follow the Hastert Rule.  The Hastert Rule, named for former Speaker Dennis Hastert, means that a bill will not be brought up for a vote unless it has majority support from the majority.  In other words, a majority of Republicans would have to support a particular bill before Boehner would allow a vote.

Of course, had Boehner invoked the Hastert Rule before we wouldn’t have seen a tax increase.

I’m, quite frankly, sick and tired of hearing that the illegal immigration problem is complicated.  It’s very simple.  If you broke into this country you have to leave and apply to come in the right way.  Ah, but we can’t deport 11 million people, they say.  That’s ridiculous.  We didn’t pay to import them, we won’t have to pay to deport them.  All we have to do is do what I’ve been advocating for at least ten years: Demagnetize America.

You cut off the magnets that brought these people here.  Why did they come in the first place?  Because of the magnets; the jobs and the government benefits.  You cut those off and they go home.  If the penalty for hiring an illegal alien is you lose your business license then you would never risk hiring an illegal alien.  This needs to be a federal law.  We make E-Verify mandatory.  E-Verify is a program run by Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration.  It is Internet-based, simple to use and free.  In a matter of seconds an employer can check on a potential employee and make sure they’re legal.  If there’s a problem the employee has 8 business days to present the proper documentation to straighten the problem out.  Many states are already using this for state employees and it’s the law of the land for federal employees.

With E-Verify there is no excuse in hiring an illegal alien.  If the penalty is the loss of your business you’ll make double sure you’re hiring only legal workers.  If we also make it illegal to provide government benefits to illegal aliens other than emergency services then the problem is solved overnight.

Think about it.  If you were told by your employer that you could not work in this state any longer what would you do?  You’d pack up immediately and move to another state.  That’s what we do with Demagnetize America.  We give all of the illegals and their employers six months to put their personal and financial affairs in order then we start cracking down.  Simultaneously, we secure the borders.  We put some of that drone technology to good use – unarmed, of course.  We bring our boys back from Afghanistan and we put them on the border doing something that directly affects our national security.  The drug-running stops.  The terrorists stop sneaking across our borders.  The illegals who are here go home and anyone coming to this country comes the right way.

The unemployment problem all but evaporates.  With people back to work we’re able to drastically cut the welfare programs and get the economy moving.  If only Congress were proposing all of this.  What we’re trying to do is to stop them from making the problem even worse by legalizing 11 to 20 million illegal aliens.

The good news is John Boehner is standing between us and a country-crippling illegal immigration law.  The bad news is only John Boehner is standing between us and a country-crippling illegal immigration law.