It’s no wonder Gloria Allred wants Californians to think the letter Meg Whitman’s husband says what the Democrat wants it to have said — and not what it actually says. She wants to distract us from the real problems facing the (once-)Golden State will have to face, problems that her candidate for governor, Jerry Brown, as I pointed out on Tuesday, helped create when, in 1978, he signed the Dill Act, giving powers to public employee unions that even the father of the modern Democratic Party opposed.
And due, in large part, to that power, public employee pension, in the words of the Foundation for Educational Choice are “Drowning State/Local Taxpayers” in California:
California’s public retirement systems are more than three times underfunded than state officials projected, a total of $326.6 billion when combining the state’s teachers’ and public employee programs, according to a new study released today by the Foundation for Educational Choice. . . .
“These numbers are mind-boggling,” said Robert Enlow, President and CEO of the Foundation for Educational Choice. “It’s a pipe dream to think that California can provide a quality education, keep prisoners behind bars, pave roads and meet other obligations when such enormous bills are coming due.”
The state of California reports a $75.5 billion pension shortfall — $40.5 billion to the California State Teachers’ Retirement System or CalSTRS and $35 billion to the California Public Employee Retirement System or Cal PERS.
But the Foundation’s study found that if more accurate, private-sector accounting measures were used to determine outstanding pension obligations, the total pension shortfall would be an astounding $326.6 billion with an additional $51.8 billion in unfunded employee health benefits.
The state of California faces real fiscal problems which can’t be swept under the rug about a news media eager to demonize a Republican and powerful state public employee unions eager to keep the Democrats in power.
While reporters are obsessed with how much money Meg Whitman has been spending on her campaign, they seem entirely disinterested in the amount public employee unions have been spending on behalf of Brown — and other Democrats. And their spending is far more consequential, given that such special interest spending indicates influence.
We can’t contain this problem of public pensions unless we have a governor willing to stand up to the public employee unions. Unfortunately, Brown, is too closely tied to those organizations which helped create the problem to offer a real solution.
No wonder those unions — and their allies — are so eager to demonize Whitman. She is aware of the problem and has put forward proposals, like this one, to address the crisis.
UPDATE: Steven Malanga has more details on how public employee unions are corrupting our politics and bankrupting our state.
My gut tells me to get ready, GayPatriot. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I remember in 2008, when Palin boosted McCain in the polls for a few days, and then all Hell broke loose: It was a perfect storm of October surprises with Tasergate, Couric on the loose, Tina Fey, wardrobe bills, rape kits, banned books, and a tidal wave of ridiculous accusations, most of which turned out not to be true.
But they were effective. The Whitman maid thing is one of a number of levers the Dems could pull.’
And remember 2006… I blogged about this:
When in dire straits, the Dems play gays, race, anti-Semitism, and the evil rich. Sadly, it usually works. But just read this link, where I went back over the October 2006 gay surprises — and all the buildup in the NY Times about the crisis of “closeted” men ruining the lives of women and families in “mixed-orientation marriages” conveniently before Marc Foley and Ted Haggard got outed three weeks before the midterm vote.
Shamelessly, it’s the same people playing up the gay crisis 4 years later, in another October surprise — and get this, these are folks who outed gays as part of the Dem agenda in 2006, now claiming to fight for the privacy of gays as part of the Dem agenda in 2010. It’s incomprehensible that these people sleep at night.
But just because they can sleep at night doesn’t mean we can sleep! Don’t get caught off-guard; there are a million more scandals and outrages that will probably pop up between now and Nov. 2. This is showtime.
They’re already playing the race card on Sharron Angle. I’m sure they’ve got more nastiness up their sleeves, but it may not work this time. People are wising up — and may see it as a cynical ploy.
Has anyone done a calculation of how much taxes would have to be increased to cover state pension liabilities? It should be a pretty straightforward calculation. Since Obama is borrowing about 40 cents of every dollar he spends, we can figure an 80% across-the-board tax increase would (assuming a static model) close the gap. I’ve always wondered why deficits are never expressed in terms of how large a tax increase would be needed to close them.
That’s maybe one of the reasons Democrats gets away with saying “We’re just going to raise taxes on the moderately affluent and up.” when everybody knows a tax hike on 2% of the population won’t come close to matching their spending binge.
Oh, but wait, I fergot, according to Democrats, it’s a “myth” that the country is $13 Trillion in debt and can’t afford to spend trillions more on union bailouts and windmills-to-nowhere.
And who was it that allowed the public employees to unionize? Jerry Brown! That alone should make him inelligible to run.
More than anything, that decision has bankrupted
the state. . . that and management with no cajones.
And Dingbat Senator Patty Murray thinks the function of Government is to enable parents to buy their children “everything they want.”
Brown is the candidate that will solve the problems by “new and innovative thinking” and “creative change” and “skilled management.” He will also work in harmony with the universe.
Whitman is the candidate that will take the bull by the tail and face the situation. (H/T: W.C. Fields.)
Either the voters who favor pixie dust will turn out in enough numbers to let Jerry do it or concerned citizens of the Golden State will turn out to take the medicine.
The fact is, the reality of the times motivates a different set of people more than mudslinging and taffy pulls motivates the bread and circus crowd.
Polls, debates, talking heads and chatter are not really what the person waiting and anxious to vote is affected by. They are seeing Brown as the same old professional politician looking for his last or next to last hurrah. And they could care less about feeding Jerry’s insatiable ego.
Whether the silent majority is large enough to overcome Democrat cheating at the polls is the real question.
How many pensions will Jerry Brown receive since he has been in office, out of office, BACK in office….
Battle 10 Poll Tracker: Republicans pick up nine senate seats:
California: Boxer (D) +4
+Colorado: Buck (R) +5
Connecticut: Blumenthal (D) +7
Delaware: Coons (D) +17
+Florida: Rubio (R) +7
+Illinois: Kirk (R) +1
Kentucky: Paul (R) +11
Missouri: Blunt (R) +8
+Nevada: Angle (R) +3
New Hampshire: Ayotte (R) +15
+North Dakota: Hoeven (R) +43
Ohio: Portman (R) +19
+Pennsylvania: Toomey (R) +7
+Washington: Rossi (R) +1
+West Virginia: Raese (R) +6
+Wisconsin: Johnson (R) +7
The MSM carries Jerry Brown’s water. What else is new?
Make that 10 seats. Forgot Arkansas.
I expect after the election, a left-wing talking point will emerge that states that elected Republicans (Arkansas, West Virginia, North Dakota, Florida, Alaska, Nevada, Kentucky, Missouri) are white trailer trash states, but more sophisticated voters in New York and California elected Democrats.
With public employee pensions threatening to bankrupt Golden State, why aren’t media interested in public employee unions backing of Jerry Brown?
You really have to ask?
Because the liberal dominated media are sympathetic to the “plight of the workers” thus, the unions are comrades in the fight against injustice! For many in the media, the unions are not part of the problem, they are ultimately part of the solution!!! …never mind that in many areas of CA more than 20% of workers have no job, but there you go.
“While reporters are obsessed with how much money Meg Whitman has been spending on her campaign, they seem entirely disinterested in the amount public employee unions have been spending on behalf of Brown — and other Democrats.”
Grammar nitpick: if they were disinterested they would have no trouble reporting on it (since they wouldn’t have a dog in the fight). But since they do have a dog in the fight (what with being socialist weasels and all), they are uninterested in reporting it.
Don’t forget Indiana is flipping a D to an R.
Great comments here- and so true. Thanks GP!
Majority that we are, we have an upward battle against the main stream media, and the dirty tactics of demorats- that the old media won’t take to task!
Where’s the substance? Where’s the dialogue? Let’s talk ISSUES, not laundry!
We’re working hard here in PA to get a Republican Senator and Governor elected! Now that would be miraculous!