Lately it has been getting increasingly harder and harder to find articles related to general decline. While I still see it happening almost everywhere I travel the layoffs, infrastructure failings and business closing have become old news it seems and rarely make the headlines these days.
As Meredith Whitney predicted but ended up being a few years early on, the issues are all municipal finances these days and while I find those articles informative and telling as they chronicle our decline just as readily as a story about a bridge falling apart, most people find them boring or tend to get angry when it hits a bit close to home financially.
The exact location of the which city, county or state that is having issues doesn't matter the real information can usually be found in the comments sections. One of my favorites I see over and over again is....
"Now X-Government/department is losing qualified employees to the private sector."
Really? The smallest labor participation rate for the US within modern history and masses of publicly paid for degrees going to waste, not to mention the fact that these strained governments can't afford to hire new people anyway because they need to cut away the fat and that's the best defense they can come up with?
Within Missouri MoDot which recently had their Hail Mary move to tax everybody shot down in flames is now spending Millions on electronic signs telling drivers along the interstates to buckle up or signal before changing lanes. Yet they are still complaining about money? Without fail the "Losing qualified employees" argument pops up as well.
Funny thing is when I chat with an employee of said department they often have no education specific to the position they fill and many times simply started out as a bridge painter and worked their way up. Yet it is too costly to give the new generation the same kind of OJT chance?
One position opening for any government slot around here brings in lines of people hoping to land the job but yet these defenders of Pensions who constantly scream "RAISE" can only claim brain drain as a defense.
Sorry not buying that one any longer.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!
MoDOT's always been a money sink, so nothing new there. The screams about losing people? A new wrinkle in the state legislature's never-ending drive to fleece the people.
ReplyDeleteHere in MN everyone taxes are going up, city, & county are for sure. plus add in more for the schools. Why you may ask well a Liberal state government for one, stupid citizens for another.
ReplyDeleteOur state is about to re-elect a senator who has voted with obama 97% of the time. It is a sign that we have gone too far to turn any of this mess around now. The worst thing is that I have no real desire to vote for the other candidate since we are no longer allowed republican primaries, they don't trust the people and are afraid that a conservative will get on the ballot.
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