Pensions reform... and then what?

When listening to the current fervor over government reforms, it is someone akin to watching a nature program where a fish is grazing along the bottom of the ocean and out of nowhere a shark comes and eats the fish. We have become the sharks who are calling for public employee pension reform. We're all ticked off about the fish who are happily grazing along and eating. These happy grazers, public employees, are going to be comfortable. Damn those fish! They have too comfy a lifestyle. Let's make those fish work harder and longer! The truth is that the public has become the sharks.

The truth is that with uncertainty in the economy, what we are all experiencing is a bit of envy. Why should public employees have such a nice place to feast? We don't the rest of us have such a nice place to retire. There is the problem. The United States has bought into a free-market mentality that has screwed up the jobs market so badly that we're ruined the economy here. It is impossible to have a nice garden inside a glass bubble when the rest of the economy has been ravaged. That is what people dislike.

However, what then? So, if we cut out employee unions we essentially expose the public employees to the distress in the economy that everyone is feeling. Does this fix the problem? Has the economy gotten better?
Is everyone in a better garden now? The answer is no. Like anyone, we all hate paying taxes, but the reason the tax base has been destroyed is because middle class jobs are being destroyed.

Our legislators signed legislation sat by idly while corportate raiders pillaged pensions funds, signed treaties and agreements to ship manufacturing jobs overseas, allowed horrendous fiscal policies during the real estate boom, and all of this has benefitted the financial markets and the wealthy. The wealthy get more money as corporations build their products overseas. It is argued that what is good for business is good for America. That should be revised to "rich" Americans.

The rich do pay taxes, but don't reinvest the money in local economies the way middle class people will. While the wealthy may pay a capital gains tax on dividends or profits, the middle class pay a large number of taxes that benefit local economies. Without decent wages from manufacturing jobs, governments receive less tax revenue. That's the way it is.

If we don't revive the manufacturing element in American society, unless we are rich, we will all be fighting for scraps. So we can go after the public employee unions, but then what? Where are the jobs for our kids supposed to come from? The destruction of our economy has taken many years. We need to look at the root causes if we are going to fix the problem.