California once again leads the nation with a $26 billion budget deficit plus an unfunded pension obligation of $500 billion. Its current financial structure is clearly unsustainable. It has an operational structure that in ungovernable with often duplicative agencies, some collecting less in tax revenue than the agencies spend on collection. Wikipedia lists 500 existing public agencies for the State of California. California can no longer afford such a luxury. It must deconstruct these bloated inefficient government agencies, and rid itself of their chairman, staff, offices, cars, pensions and the overhead that such excess represents. A $26 billion dollar deficit is not something that can be corrected with a wage freeze or job furloughs. Bold leadership can lead California to deconstruct its 500 agencies down to 100 functional organizations. California is a classic example of what must change in the coming Great Deconstruction.
One Orange County city has already taken bold steps to correct its $10 million deficit. It may be a model for other cities and states across the country. Internally, it has decided it will not replace any city worker that dies, retires, moves or quits. The city will simply out source the employment to an outside service company and eliminate healthcare requirements and unsustainable pensions. Building inspectors will be out sourced as will city plan checkers, librarians and meter maids. Only essential services like top executives and cops will remain on the city payroll. The city staff will eventually decrease from 220 to approximately 35 personnel. This is the essence of deconstruction.
It’s going to get very ugly for the parasites. Let’s just hope they don’t end up killing the host.
[Update a few minutes later]
Business and unions meet to discuss upcoming pension disaster.
It’s going to get very ugly for the parasites. Let’s just hope they don’t end up killing the host.
If they do kill California, then it becomes important to make sure they can’t jump to a new host.
“Only essential services like top executives and cops will remain on the city payroll.”
Better keep an eye on the pay of those “top executives,” some of whom will undoubtedly be nonessential.
Also, what are they going to do about fire protection? Kinda hard to oursource that in city, particularly one without a tradition among the citizens of staffing a volunteer fire department. Better keep the firefighters on the city non-union payroll, too.
A $26 billion dollar deficit is not something that can be corrected with a wage freeze or job furloughs.
No, but given the size of the California congressional delegation, don’t be surprised when (not if) they come expecting additional handouts from the rest of us so they can continue living beyond their means. We’ll be told how many (public union employee) jobs were saved for the money. Politicians in general (and liberals in particular) have even less financial discipline than a spoiled 13 year old girl given free use of her daddy’s platinum credit card.
Maybe the unions should be spending money keeping their retirement funds afloat instead of spending hundreds of millions on political campaigns.
In today’s political environment, that doesn’t make economic sense. For the unions’ investment of a few hundred million dollars in campaign contributions and support to get Democrats elected, they’re received many billion dollars in kickbacks. They’re getting a return on investment ranging from 10:1 to over 1000:1. They’re trying to get the federal government (read: the US taxpayers) to bail out their pension funds. They’d never get that kind of return by ordinary investments. Buying politicians is very profitable so long as they stay bought.