Legislatures and labor unions

Dear Editor:Incest by any other name is, in California, state politics. Certainly incest is not brotherly love. You could say it's a real close relationship between two parties with something real close in common. Family ties in one case, how to make money in another. It's the "another" where our politicians and labor unions have foisted incest at its best, or worst, on the rest of us. And what binds them so tightly? They both make their living off us poor saps, the tax-paying public. Unions donate to politicians, politicians allow outlandish pensions, benefits and pay, and we all know who ponies up the money - you and me, for sure not the politicians. This never happens with businesses for obvious reasons - costs go up, prices go up, buyers go elsewhere, businesses go broke, and the unions take a hit. Sounds like Detroit, doesn't it? So here we sit with Sacramento, the progeny of this corruption at work for 34 years. That's when Gov. Jerry Brown handed labor unions the gift of organizing state workers. We are so debauched we elected a used governor who won't even mention the obvious. His mantra is we should all pay "our fair share" in higher taxes for the next five years. Meanwhile the pensions, benefits and pay keep on trucking. No way is this "our fair share." Of course these are "temporary" taxes, like we were told the first time they were imposed a couple of years back. What a politician describes as temporary is about as temporary as temporary insanity - if you're crazy you're crazy, not just today, but for a very long time. Incest has brought us two happy groups in Sacramento who are pumping the peon pump (you and me) for more bucks. I wish California were my car not my home, something I could ditch for anything else - like a Toyota or a Hyundai or even a donkey. Incest is supposed to be about Oedipus and what's her name, not legislatures and labor unions; but the real life comparisons are sad and accurate. What's going on in Sacramento is seriously very bad, not just for politicians and labor unions eventually, but all the rest of us right now. -- Scott Ramey, Downey

********** Published: February 17, 2011 - Volume 9 - Issue 44