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7/27/2010
Where were/are the citizen watchdogs?
Where were simple folks like you and like me? Too busy working to keep food on the table, too busy raising families? Yes and yes. You read the news via FoxPol earlier this month – and most likely via many other news sources as well. Heritage comments...
Managing the city of Bell, California, is apparently twice as challenging as being President of the United States. The Los Angeles Times reported on July 15, that Bell’s soon-to-be-former Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo earns $787,637 a year. [Appleton’s mayor earns, as stipulated in the Municipal Code, $88,000; some department directors’ salaries are in the $100,000 - $120,000 range.]
Bell is not exactly a wealthy metropolis. It is a small, predominantly Hispanic city of 38,000 southeast of Los Angeles. It has a per-capita income of only half the national average—making it the poorest city in Los Angeles County.
…. Equally shocking, Bell’s part-time city council members make nearly $100,000 a year. Typically, a city the size of Bell would compensate its council members $400 a month.
…. They may succeed in removing the Mayor and city council that approved paying him so much. However, Rizzo will still get the last laugh. As a retiree, he will soon start collecting $652,252 a year in pension benefits and will immediately become the highest paid retiree in the California Public Retirement System. When he turns 62, his pension will jump to $976,771 a year. When he turns 64, his pension benefits will rise to over $1 million annually. He is part of the reason that California has $500 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. Remember that the next time politicians insist that they have no other choice but to raise your taxes.
I’ve been way too busy to find the extra few hours it takes to update the local salary schedules on FoxPol (City of Appleton, Appleton School District, Town of Grand Chute, City of Menasha, City of Neenah). That’s not to say Fox Valley mayors and administrators earn million dollar salaries! Just FYI, I haven’t updated those salary schedules since 2007 – eek! – I commit to getting that done in the next 45 days – eek! again. And then, in most cases, that’s just the salaries. Current insurance and retirement benefit costs must be researched as well. If anyone can help, let me know!
(Here's a new piece by Reason TV - a 9 minute interview of Steven Greenhut, Editor in Chief of CalWatchdog.com and author of a new book, Plunder, How Public Employee Unions are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling Our Lives and Bankrupting the Nation.)
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
Jo, you are right, we should be careful what our public employees are doing and how they are compensated.
We should also pay attention to what is happening in the private sector.
• 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.
• 61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
• 66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.
• 36 percent of Americans say that they don't contribute anything to retirement savings.
• A staggering 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retirement.
• 24 percent of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.
• Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008.
• Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
• For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United States than all individual Americans put together.
• In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.
• As of 2007, the bottom 80 percent of American households held about 7% of the liquid financial assets.
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/the-u.s.-middle-class-is-being-wiped-out-here%27s-the-stats-to-prove-it-520657.html?tickers=%5EDJI,%5EGSPC,SPY,MCD,WMT,XRT,DIA
This all make the excess you describe look small.
Dean Weichmann (Tue Jul 27 07:49:29 2010)
Unfortunately we've allowed them to divide and conquer. The wealthy and corporate media have gotten the liberals and conservatives fighting while in the background the walk away with the loot. I recently wrote about that on my blog.
Jack Lohman (Tue Jul 27 08:23:30 2010)
That's funny - just yesterday I was taking a look at your numbers for 2007 for the City of Neenah. I don't get why some of these director positions are paid so much. In each department the directors make almost twice as much as every other position. How on earth does one bring this up at City Hall?
Andrew Ellis (Tue Jul 27 09:10:24 2010)
Let's not be diverted from Jo's primary thesis. Dean, if your data is correct (and I'll accept that it is for this discussion), it only emphasizes the significance of the need to remain vigilent as to Public Sector TOTAL compensation. For decades, the old argument was Public Sector salaries were far less than comparables in the Private Sector and therefore they deserved satability in employment (No lay-offs) and much "Richer" benefit Plans. Now Public Sector Professionals and Managers have surpassed the Private Sector in Salaries, while they enjoy Benefit Plans that also far exceed the Private Sector.
Thus, we have a system where the
"Folks" are supporting those in the Public Sector with TOTAL Compensation in excess than they, the Taxpayer, receive. Who is watching out for the "Folks"?? Something is basically wrong with this picture! Jo, don't give up, "On shining a light" on this important principle! GLS
GL Schilling (Tue Jul 27 09:24:03 2010)
Dean:
Great facts that I did not know. Did you ever consider starting your own blog? The information was very valuable and timely.
Mike
Mike Thomas (Tue Jul 27 09:26:11 2010)
Jack, you are dead on !
Dean, Have to be careful with some of those statistics! When they refer to 1 percent owning 83 % of stock, that one percent includes Pension Funds.
I think we all agree that the system is not fair play. I blame the Securites and Exchange Commission (SEC)
They have not protected the small guy.
What the scoundrels have discovered is if they pay off the Politicians, they get a wide open field. We have to handle this with a sledge Hammer.
Any politician involved should do hard time...like 20 years to life, instead of the hand slap censure they "endure" now.
Just read about the SEC regulator who blew the whistle on Berny Madoff many years ago.
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1877181,00.html
Think about this my friends, how can our representatives become multi-millionaires and only work for us ?
You want to curl your hair? http://www.crewsmostcorrupt.org/node/3209
The problem is these watchdogs have to report to the very politicians that are involved in the corruption. That is doom !
Rich Carlstedt (Tue Jul 27 09:38:18 2010)
Dean, Have to be careful with some of those statistics! When they refer to 1 percent owning 83 % of stock, that one percent includes Pension Funds.
Rich - you said what I was thinking. I don't have the time right now to look up all the 'facts' Dean provided, but investment instruments are in widespread use in all of our retirement systems, mutual fund holdings, etc. I suspect a few of the horrible examples provided might be a little less horrible once we de-talking-pointed them.
Duke (Tue Jul 27 13:50:48 2010)
I wasn't all too fond of the initial tone of that yahoo news item (the one that lists all the statistics).
"So why are we witnessing such fundamental changes? Well, the globalism and "free trade" that our politicians and business leaders insisted would be so good for us have had some rather nasty side effects. It turns out that they didn't tell us that the "global economy" would mean that middle class American workers would eventually have to directly compete for jobs with people on the other side of the world where there is no minimum wage and very few regulations. The big global corporations have greatly benefited by exploiting third world labor pools over the last several decades, but middle class American workers have increasingly found things to be very tough."
OK, but they're going to blame the free market? Come on. How about regulation passed by legislators recieving large sums of money from the huge corporations who are intent upon preventing entrepenuers from becoming competitors by inundating the marketplace with so much red tape it's hopeless to run a business without unwittingly violating something somewhere. Who owns yahoo, anyway?
Andrew Ellis (Tue Jul 27 15:09:18 2010)
And now it will get worse. The Senate couldn't get past the Republicans to at least force disclosure of corporate (and union) direct ads funding. Either in this election or the next we will see a total obfuscation of issues as the money comes pouring in. A compliant Supreme Court, against all history and logic has stood on narrow (specious) grounds insisting the same old line that Corporations are People too. Unfortunately the corporations have the big upper hand as they have more money and a more direct command /control of their funds. Disclosure would have at least given people the opportunity to know something of the truth. No more. No sunshine. Sad, very sad. Our political system is doomed. We The People are doomed.
dave allen (Tue Jul 27 15:25:51 2010)
Guys, this is exactly why we need to get the cash bribes out of our political system; so these things don't happen. Do you think it is just the left wing that is being eaten alive by the sharks?
Jack Lohman (Tue Jul 27 19:19:01 2010)
"The Senate couldn't get past the Republicans to at least force disclosure of corporate (and union) direct ads funding."
Couldn't get past the REPUBLICANS? Those with an R couldn't stop it themselves ... there were D's voting against cloture as well Dave. Please don't take that kind of cheap shot.
Jeff Riedl (Tue Jul 27 23:09:46 2010)
"Well, the globalism and "free trade" that our politicians and business leaders insisted would be so good for us have had some rather nasty side effects. It turns out that they didn't tell us that the "global economy" would mean that middle class American workers would eventually have to directly compete for jobs with people on the other side of the world where there is no minimum wage and very few regulations. "
And guys, this is unfortunately very true. There is a hell of a difference between a free market and an "unfettered free-for-all-market" with anything-goes rules.
When a corporation offloads a $100 million bad debt or loss, to a buddy CEO with the promise of buying it back in 90 days, and then having the CEOs and board's salaries set while the company is "newly profitable," that's called fraud against the shareholders (many of whom are retirement plans). I think they call that a "repo101" transaction and it is currently legal.
Should that be condoned under the conservative's values?
How long are conservatives going to continue letting them rip you off?
Jack Lohman (Wed Jul 28 09:38:58 2010)
Should that be condoned under the conservative's values?
How long are conservatives going to continue letting them rip you off?
Jack,
I agree that the scenario you have painted is ugly, dishonest, and not the way business should be done. Investing, however, is a game of chance - there are times when the investment will pay off and you will be rewarded for loaning a company (broker, fund) money and there are times when the investment won't - either because the business went bust or because someone between you and your money was deceptive.
My rule of thumb is pretty simple and has paid off VERY well through our difficult economic times. I never invest in anything I don't completely understand, and rarely do I invest in in someone / some thing that I can't see with my own eyes and shake the hand of the party who will be the steward of my dollars.
It seems like you have wanted all the reward of more risky investments without being prepared to take the hit when things went south.
Honestly. Think about it ... isn't that the core of your frustration with a repo101?
Look, I know my investment policies seem antiquated (just like my belief that we're better off in business for ourselves than working for someone else) ... but if others were just as cautious, then those doin' the evil deeds would have to work a lot harder to find their victims and 'we the people' wouldn't need so much protection.
Jeff Riedl (Wed Jul 28 12:20:14 2010)
Jeff, you are very lucky to even have money to invest. The majority of people don't. They've put all their money in raising a family, buying a house, and funding their retirement account. Stand up and wave that you were smarter than they, but their sin is living day-to-day. Maybe not as smart as we are, because they "trusted" people to be as honest.
And then along comes some CEO who doesn't think his $10 million per year is enough and decides to do a repo101 and screw all his shareholders so the board has justification to increase his pay and benefits. Yea, that bothers me. It is fraudulent and the SEC has turned the other way.
I have spent 25 years building a company and having my personal wealth and home on the line. I'm not naive, though I've lost about $100K to investments in four, very shady CEOs. And even more in 401(k) funds to the same shady CEOs that got us all.
But none of that is reason to allow the corruption that these guys are getting away with, and that some conservatives espouse.
Jack Lohman (Wed Jul 28 16:20:27 2010)
And Jeff, Dave is 100% correct. The R's alone stopped the DISCLOSE act from passing. The D's all voted for it but even amongst them could only muster 57 votes.
A unified Democratic caucus generated 57 "yes" votes -- three shy of the 60 votes needed to break a Republican filibuster and allow the legislation, known as the DISCLOSE Act, to advance to an up-or-down vote. For procedural reasons, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) switched his vote from a "yes" to a "no" in order to bring the bill up again at a later date. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who caucuses with the Democrats, missed the vote due to a funeral in his home state, and no Republicans broke rank to join their Democratic colleagues.
Jack Lohman (Wed Jul 28 18:17:11 2010)
Ok you guys. Enough GOP bashing. Michelle Malkin's piece today exposes them all as hypocrites when it comes to DISCLOSE. Good piece.
Jo (Wed Jul 28 18:35:35 2010)
Jo, I would hope that you could see through what the R's are doing. Malkin and McConnell are talking heads that -- when a bill that harms them isn't perfect -- would rather kill it than build on it. The bottom line is: What's wrong with sunshine???
Jack Lohman (Wed Jul 28 19:04:37 2010)
Jo, The "non profit" exemption the article refers to is nothing more than exemption for organizations like the US chamber of Commerce, the NRA, AARP and yes, unions. These were put in the bill to attempt to get bipartisan support. But of course the article is nothing more than union bashing half truths. The article also implies that it's a bad thing that companies with government contracts can't mention candidates. And this is bad? Corporations are not people and neither are unions.And neither is the Chamber of Commerce. The Supreme Court's ruling, rather than being common sense and "conservative" was a radical expression of theory that virtually no one in this county would agree with other than like minded lawyers. Mitch McConnell spoke the truth when he said he opposed the law because the law would make it harder to remove Democrats from office. Yes, unbridled corporate money without any disclosure will allow new people get elected, people who have no masters but the corporations (or unions for that matter) that paid for them to get there. The Republican rhetoric up to this point has always been money=free speech but everything should be disclosed. Now that the misguided radical Supreme Court has given them a victory that they don't have to compromise. Now they want it all and are willing to give up on disclosure. If you really believe the bill is flawed because it is too pro-union then why haven't the Republicans come up with a bill that forces disclosure for everyone, no exemptions? Have they?
dave allen (Thu Jul 29 08:21:52 2010)
Dave, the GOP's mantra of "disclosure" was trashed after the corporations won personhood. But also remember that the first thing the R's want to show in November is that the D's can't govern. Because the R's are standing in the way may yet backfire on them.
Jack Lohman (Thu Jul 29 09:04:58 2010)
Jack, I hope you're right about people finding the truth wherever that leads. Unfortunately, many people are passive about information. Either they accept what comes over the tube or radio or they only followup on what reinforces their predetermined beliefs. The theory of cognitive dissonance explains why this happens. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance
Given how much fear there is today I find it hard to believe that people will seek the truth. I fear they will retreat into comfortable (though misguided)patterns of thought and action.
dave allen (Thu Jul 29 10:23:02 2010)
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