Wednesday, March 28, 2012

THE GOVERNMENT IS GOING WILD!


H/T Lisa

Union Contributions and to whom they were given.

Breakdown of Union Membership (BLS).

Average State and Local Government Salaries (BLS).

Average Federal Employee Benefits Package (About dot Com US Government Info)

TRANSCRIPT (MOSTLY):

“This video highlights not only the massive influence unions have in politics, but how the taxpayers are funding that influence,” said Blaise Ingoglia, founder of Government Gone Wild. “Unions used to play an important role in protecting American workers—but today, more than half of all union members in this country are government employees, not manufacturing workers.”

Government Gone Wild analyzed data from the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), among others. “State of the Unions” reports the following:
• Over the last 22 years unions have given more money to candidates and political parties than Wall Street investment banks, the oil and gas industry, the defense industry, pharmaceutical manufacturers, airlines, auto manufacturers, and the savings and loan industry combined.
• 92% of these contributions have gone to the Democrat Party.
• Average state and local government salaries in the US are now 29% higher and the average federal government salary is 50% higher than the private sector.
• Four out of five government employees have lifetime pensions and can retire as early as 55 on the taxpayers’ dime. Private sector employees must rely on a failing Social Security system and can’t retire until age 65.
• The benefits package alone for a federal employee averages more than $42,000 a year, almost four times as much as the average private sector worker. Federal employees can choose from numerous health care plans; get up to 49 paid days off a year, enjoy child care subsidies, and receive up to $60,000 of student loan forgiveness.
• In 2008, American taxpayers paid in excess of $170 million to pay federal employees not to work, but to pursue union activities.

“American taxpayers are subsidizing a colossal special interest group: public sector unions,” said Ingoglia. “It’s time to give conservative union members the option to stop funding their ideological opposition and stop lining the campaign coffers of politicians who are bankrupting this nation.”

“We are asking voters to contact their Congressman and Senators and ask them to propose legislation requiring all union contracts to disclose important information regarding their union dues,” continued Ingoglia. “Union contracts should disclose that members are entitled to a refund on the portion of their union dues that are used directly for political purposes. Union contracts should also disclose the percentage and dollar amount of their campaign contributions to each political party to ensure greater transparency.” To take action, visit http://governmentgonewild.org/biglabor.

8 comments:

sue hanes said...

Joe - Good video - although I didn't catch the guy's name who presented the following facts - to us:

~the government is going wild

~unions are not what they used to be

~1/2 of union membership consists of government employees

~their salaries are 25% higher

~4/5 of the government empolyees recieve way more perks

~$60,000 in student loans are being forgiven to these government employees

~This video was in memory of
Andrew Breitbart

Thanks - Joe.

Joe said...

I have added a transcript for those of you who only have dial-up and no sound card (ALTC).

Mark B. said...

Oboma hopes that he can lie to the American people and they will vote him back in.
It's amazing to think at how low have we sunk as a nation ever since Barack Obama has become the President?"

It's even more amazing to think about how low did we sunk to elect Obama in the first place?

Craig said...

Over the last 22 years unions have given more money to candidates and political parties than Wall Street investment banks, the oil and gas industry, the defense industry, pharmaceutical manufacturers, airlines, auto manufacturers, and the savings and loan industry combined.

What a load of bulldroppings (notice, I don't use the vile language of that foul mouthed Rick Santorum). Joe, I went to your link and it's true that AFSCME, with 1.4M members, and SEIU, with 1.5M, contributed more than Goldman Sachs. Using the same link, their analysis shows that the Labor sector(all unions)are 10th in contributions in the current election cycle.

Finance/Insurance/Real Estate sector, alone, gave $2,842,345,461 in total contributions from 1990-2012.

Labor gave $793,835,898 in the same period.

92% of these contributions have gone to the Democrat Party.

You mean Unions aren't giving money to the party that's trying to eliminate collective bargaining? It's like saying Dems want to outlaw meat and the Cattleman's Assoc. is giving 92% to Repubs. Shocker.

Average state and local government salaries in the US are now 29% higher and the average federal government salary is 50% higher than the private sector.

Another bucket full of Santorum. Again from the link you provided. If you look beyond the news release to the PDF of the full study, it says this,

Compensation cost levels in state and local govt. should not be directly compared with levels in private industry. Differences between these sectors stem from factors such as variation in work activities and occupational structures.

In other words, it lumps people in manufacturing and sales (think fast food or a clerk at the mall) and compares them with professional and administrative (think college degree) occupations that account for 2/3 of the state and local govt. workforce. If you compare apples to apples, an MBA in the private with an MBA in public, the MBA in the private gets 26% more in compensation. The only govt. work that pays more than private sector are "unskilled" jobs like janitors and clerks. Report here,

The federal government reported Friday that on average its employees are underpaid by 26.3 percent when compared with similar non-federal jobs

Blaise Ingoglia is a liar. Is honesty one of your guiding Principles, Joe?

Lone Ranger said...

"The federal government reported Friday that on average its employees are underpaid by 26.3 percent when compared with similar non-federal jobs."

The federal government reported? I'm guessing that Craig wasn't nearly as supportive of federal government propaganda when Bush was president. Al Capone reported that he was just a used furniture dealer, who didn't pay his taxes.

I live right in the middle of these poorly paid federal employees. Believe me, the playground of DC employees, Georgetown, is not in a recession. Since Obama got into office, the population of the DC metro area has exploded. They are tearing down malls to build luxury apartment complexes. Federal employees are NOT living paycheck to paycheck.

Joe said...

Craig: "It's like saying Dems want to outlaw meat and the Cattleman's Assoc. is giving 92% to Repubs. Shocker."

It's like saying Republicans want children to starve.

Barbara Streisand.

Anonymous said...

The media is very selective about who and what they want to trash. Obama was involved with the racist pastor Jeremiah Wright for yeas and years before it was brought to light. But the Wright issue became a “hands off free zone.” They could have hung out a sign: “No bad news about Obama wanted here.”

The media trash Republicans whenever they have the opportunity. The Media and Democrats viciously attacked and all but destroyed Sarah Palin and her family. But Obama, the cool one, the detached one, the oracular Obama just strolled to the presidency, no questions asked..

Anonymous said...

Aye, laddie...wake me up when Bill Maher croaks