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.

This is what happens when authority is abused, when it exceeds the charge we citizens bestow upon our leaders. I’m not reporting news here that the govenor, through the Higher Education Board, forced the state’s university’s to offer in-state tuition to illegal immigrants.

When I heard the news, all I could do was shake my head. Those on my side of political spectrum talked about the additional costs passed onto to the taxpayer as part of the reason this is a bad idea. I’m a bit more practical.

Say you’re an illegal immigrant and you graduate in 2015, what are your job prospects? Say you’re deported in 2013, what’s the point of having for the last couple of years an in-state tuition cost basis while on your way back to you home country?

Unfortunately, the Governor is putting the cart before the horse. Until and unless there is immigration reform such that the millions of people who live here and have for years are integrated into the system, all in-state tuition does is offer a low cost education that will reap about zero economic benefits for the state or the student.

Why?

Because the illegal immigrant will be unable to get a job..because he/she is in the country, well, illegally. I struggle with activists who have fought for this, are fighting for driver’s licenses amongst other items, but continue to ignore the fact that people here illegally are almost by definition 2nd and 3rd class citizens. The rights conferred to them are almost exclusively basic human rights such as the right to hospital care in an emergency or help from the fire department if their house catches fire. Being here illegally forces them to constantly look over their shoulder, take on jobs where employers can only pay under-the-table, and need a Governor to give them access to education at a price they’d receive if they were here legally.

It’s exhausting just to write! Immigration activists need to take a hard look at what’s happening to their constituents and join forces with folks like me who want to make the process of becoming legal less burdensome. Encouraging policies such as this one doesn’t serve anyone, it only creates a false sense of equality. I say false because, the illegal immigrant will be able to pay the same tuition as the legal immigrant…with the caveat that the illegal will NOT BE ABLE TO GET A JOB!!!

To me that’s not a semantic difference, Governor.

One of my favorite shows as a kid was Married…with Children. Protagonist and shoe salesman, Al Bundy, often would say, “Let’s Rock!” just before facing a challenge. I adopted the phrase, using it most prominently when I was a sixteen year old dishwasher for a local Holiday Inn right before large stacks of dishes from a recent wedding reception came my way.

Well, my Philadelphia Flyers are facing a similar (LOL) challenge in the Stanley Cup Finals. Having come back from a 0-3 hole against Boston, fighting back from an 0-2 hole against Chicago, they face their 5th elimination game of these playoffs. They’ve gone 4-0 so far but this BlackHawks team isn’t your mom’s Boston Bruins, sorry Bruins fan. Now down 3 games to 2, I feel like the Flyers are much like the Rhode Island citizen – lose and there is no tomorrow.

As we enter into this election cycle, will we – citizens of Rhode Island – man/woman up and take a stand for ourselves and our children? Will we say no to the politics of the past? And to de-cliche this post just a bit, the question facing us this election cycle is whether or not we have the cajones to try something different and demand accountability from elected officials.

If we don’t then all we can expect and deserve is more of the same crap we’ve gotten for so many years. So Rhode Island,

Let’s Rock!

UPDATE: Tonight the city council voted and approved this resolution. The only council members voting against the resolution were Councilmen Navarro and Lupino. I spoke with Councilman Livingston prior to the meeting and he expressed concern at that time and during the session. However, he voted in favor of the resolution ultimately. Score one for the taxpayer.

Cranston Mayor, Allan Fung, will be introducing a resolution against a proposal to utilize binding arbitration during negotiation with teacher’s unions. Before I get to the text of the Mayor’s resolution, can I just say that it is incredulous to think the General Assembly would pass such legislation and I would think that this Council, given their penchant to want to be intimately involved with the contract negotiation process, would never consider such a proposal. It makes no sense whatsoever to utilize an arbitrator when the city is paying people to fill such roles. This past August, however,  House Majority Leader Gordon Fox gave a strong endorsement for binding arbitration when he said:

Any version of the bill that I would support … Would have a binding arbitration process that would save communities from spending money on attorney fees while eliminating the threat of teacher strikes or work-to-rule situations, which harm students

This just doesn’t make sense. Let’s say for sake of argument that binding arbitration does save taxpayers money what’s the point of electing officials when unions will have the ability to go to arbitration if they do not agree with the local city or town versus fighting it out through the normal legal process? Many credit card companies decided to go to binding arbitration versus the courts because:

[...] the credit card issuer is giving notice that if the cardholder has a dispute with the company (including identity theft, fines, penalty or late fee disputes, interest rate guarantees, etc.) he or she can’t sue the card issuer in court. Instead, they must take the case to a private arbitrator or judge.

And that makes a lot of sense…for the credit card companies and makes just as much sense for the unions. Unlike what Fox tried to spin, it doesn’t make sense for the taxpayer as you remove the checks and balances within the system and instead give overall authority to non-government people. They’ll decide what happens with your and my tax dollars in union disputes. At least with the current system if you do not like how a contract was resolved and you thought your local councilman had done the wrong thing, you could vote him or her out (same goes for the school board) but in this scenario it won’t matter who’s in office, it just matters who the arbitrator is. Ultimately, the Rhode Island taxpayer won’t control that process.

That, again, just does not make sense for the Rhode Island Taxpayer and has led Mayor Fung to present the resolution below at next Monday’s City Council meeting:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED the Cranston City Council respectfully requests the Rhode Island General Assembly to reject any and all binding arbitration legislation currently being considered for teacher contracts.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City is hereby instructed to submit a copy of this resolution to the City of Cranston’s State Senators and State Representatives in the Rhode Island General Assembly seeking their consideration and support of.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE BELOW

I’ve created an online petition as I plan to attend next Monday’s Council meeting. It would be interesting to get a lot of signatures for this and hopefully present it to the Council. Please sign if you agree with what I’m talking about here and also live in Cranston.

What happens when you don’t have enough money to pay your bills? You stuff gets repoed, your credit gets shot to H-E-double hockey sticks, and things you enjoyed before mostly like get cut. Facing a governor who was (finally) willing to say, “We can’t afford everyone, we either are going to have to ‘cut’ certain employees or you take this deal”, the Council 94 finally blinked and faced reality.

On Wednesday, the presidents of the 23 local unions within Council 94, American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees, rejected Carcieri’s proposal, urging the governor to return to the bargaining table.

But Carcieri refused, saying he had no alternative but to begin wide-scale layoffs. And on Thursday, the leaders of the state’s second-largest union — the Rhode Island Alliance of Social Service Employees [Local 580] — agreed to allow their members to vote on the proposal, putting pressure on Council 94 to reconsider in the face of hundreds of potential layoffs.

On Rhode Island’s best known liberal blog, RI Future, you can probably see the ever ‘interesting’, Pat Crowley, going bananas as Council 94 recognizes that it’s better to have a job than no job at all in a very poor economic climate.

Now the issue goes to the union members whom I hope will chose this plan over not having a job. It’s unfortunate the economy is this way, but it is what it is. The only thing you can do when you don’t have enough money to pay is cut out some of your spending. The union now has the choice of taking some paper cuts or facing the machete called wide-ranging layoffs.

I know what I would choose.

The feds have given money to 12 organizations around the country in order to help legal residents attain their citizenship. Yes, you read that correctly. The program is designed to help current legal residents become citizens. One of those groups is Progreso Latino here in Rhode Island.

This is money well spent in my opinion. Giving into programs aimed toward those immigrants who have attained a legal status here and are looking to empower themselves further is great.

Some of you on the left might be thinking that the previous statement implies that there are many here just bogging down the system and living off the rest of us. You might be thinking of a cousin, aunt, uncle, brother, et. al. in said situation and becoming angry at the perception of my tone. Rest assured ladies and gents that I am not a person who believes every illegal immigrant is an unsavory character trying to beat the system.

On the contrary, I am glad to see our government rewarding those taking the steps to do things the right way versus seeking to sing “Kumbaya” to everyone without a legal status. I think it spits in the face of those who’ve worked diligently to attain their status in this country. I’m glad to see these dollars coming to Rhode Island wish Progreso Latino well in their efforts.