

$822,000 Worker Shows California Leads U.S. Pay Giveaway - kalininalex
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-11/-822-000-worker-shows-california-leads-u-s-pay-giveaway.html

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cciesquare
Oh I completely agree that California is terrible with money management.

But the entire article is a thinly veil shot at unions and collective-
bargaining-agreements.

Over simplified, the article is saying unions are causing all this mad
spending and it's easy to see that they are at the root cause.

It praises all Republican, while blaming every Democrat.

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CurtHagenlocher
<quote>Davis escalated salaries and benefits for 164,000 state workers,
including a 34 percent raise for prison guards, the first of a series of steps
in which he and successors saddled California with a legacy of
dysfunction</quote>

There's no question that it often feels that "leadership" is lacking from our
political leaders. But much of the blame for this situation must be laid at
the feet of the voters, who consistently wanted harsher and harsher penalties
for criminals without regard to the cost. The prison guards would be much less
politically powerful if there were fewer of them, and there would be less need
for prison guards if not for idiocies like "three strikes" and mandatory
minimum sentencing for nonviolent drug crimes.

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muzz
Agreed, but that doesn't make for good linkbait.

One can ask where were the voters in the two terms since-- why didn't they
hold the next governor responsible for undoing the "damage"-- but that
wouldn't drive readership.

