Don Roach

Union leaders are now saying that Rhode Island’s wealthy need to pay for the broken pension system. According to the Projo:

Union leaders proposed raising the income tax on wealthy Rhode Islanders Thursday as a means of offsetting the burgeoning cost of retiree benefits crippling cities and towns.

Really? So let’s get this straight, bad pensions negotiated by previous legislators should be paid by wealthy people who are most likely not part of a union….and this is what is called fair?

I don’t think so.

Union leaders juxtaposed raising taxes on the wealthy against the state reneging on contract pension benefits of union employees. Ok, let’s go there. Would a multi-millionaire be significantly hurt if they paid an extra 1-2k per year in taxes? No. Would a typical union retiree who isn’t getting double/triple pensions significantly be harmed if they lost 1-2k in pension benefits? Possibly, but certainly more likely than a rich person paying an extra 2k.

However, what union leaders are forgetting is that is not the paradigm. The paradigm is can the state and its cities and towns afford to support the current pension system as is? That answer is a big he– no!! So, go ahead raise taxes on the rich today, you’re going to continue to have to raise them again and again and again if the system is not fixed. Adding an influx of cash today only delays tomorrow’s pension liabilities.

Thus, the solution is not to further tax the rich. The solution is figuring out how to ease the burden on the state and easing that burden will likely require change in benefits.

Because the real paradigm is not who can afford a tax increase versus a benefit decrease. No, no my friends, the real question is will the state and cities and towns be able to pay 1 dollar of pension costs if the system goes unchanged? I’m sure retirees would rather receive 95% of their benefit today versus zero, no?

I think union leaders need to come to grips with that likelihood. If they don’t they’re in for a rude awakening.

There seems to be a theme in my recent posts regarding what I increasingly view as hypocrisy of the left. Make no mistake, there is hypocrisy on the right as well. If it’s something that irks me, be sure I’ll write about it.

Today, I was going through the Projo politics blog and came across this little tidbit:

With controversy continuing to swirl, the president of the largest state employees union has notified the candidates for governor that this Saturday’s gubernatorial forum is off. Over the weekend, the forum morphed from a closed-door event to one open to media coverage, but the invitations to speak — and answer union members’ questions — was still limited to former U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee and the two Democrats: Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch and state Treasurer Frank T. Caprio.

There is one name that is conspicuously missing, John Robitaille, an announced Republican candidate for governor. You could also include Ken Block as a notable omission as well. The world’s worst kept secret is that unions in this state only support Democrats. One could argue, “well they invited Chafee” and sure, that’s an argument.

However, the point isn’t that they only invited two Dems and a flopper…err..independent. The point is that they didn’t invite other major candidates. You have to ask why not? Most likely, they didn’t feel Robitaille’s aims fit within their own and Block may be viewed as non-viable.

Whatever the case may be, different groups trying to hold forums, debates, or other functions that help us get to know candidates often trip over themselves as they seek to invite only like-minded candidates.

So while the Council maintains that a later forum will be open to anybody, their initial bias was demonstrated in this short circuited attempt. And time and again, groups like these demonstrate that they do not have the ability to be fair, to respect the right of their opposition to speak, and that’s too bad.

Had they invited all the major announced candidates there wouldn’t have been an issue at all. But their political bias didn’t think in terms of fair, only in terms of whatever furthered their own cause. As we enter this political season we need to hold all groups accountable for being willing to allow all people to participate in the process, even if some disagree with the aims of said groups. Doing otherwise undermines the credibility of such events and only stifles the dialogue we need here in RI as we face a critical decision in November.