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EmailAn expensive economic-stimulus package...a far more expensive financial-rescue plan...a Detroit auto-industry bailout...a mortgage-assistance plan...fresh economic-stimulus and financial-rescue packages down the road.
These things all are being done to save our financial system and the real economy, short-term, because there are no other immediate solutions but public solutions. They are not a part of President Obama's secret plan, as right-wing critics allege, to establish European social democracy in America. They are, however, burdening us with frightening trillions of public debt, down the road, which will constrain every public decision from this point forward and, once the downturn is over, present us with big inflationary dangers.
Nothing to do but suck it up and get it done. Yet, at the state and local level, we sometimes seem to be floating along as if nothing had happened — even as fresh cutbacks and layoffs are announced by local employers.
As Kent Kammerer pointed out in today's Crosscut, Mayor Greg Nickels and the Seattle City Council are having difficulty making sensible cuts in salaries, including those of Nickels and the council, which are highly inflated compared to those of their counterparts in other cities. High-dollar city bureaucrats should, at the least, have their pay frozen in the year ahead. Some should be asked to take outright cuts. Meanwhile, state public employee unions, as Kammerer also points out, are suing Gov. Chris Gregoire rather than agreeing to postponement of pay increases the state cannot afford.
University presidents and regents are lobbying Olympia hard for higher-education support. Washington State University President Elson Floyd has voluntarily taken a pay reduction. Yet University of Washington President Mark Emmert, one of the most grossly overpaid at any U.S. public university, has agreed only to a freeze of his own pay. Meantime, UW faculty vacancies are not being filled, faculty salaries are uncompetitive, student assistance is in jeopardy, and the administration's energy remains focused on securing big public money for a Husky Stadium rebuild.
Our state and city are in for real hard times, just as the rest of the country. Business as usual is not acceptable. At national level, we are going deeply into the red to save ourselves. If you run or work for a business of any size, you are struggling to keep viable. Time for those in the local public sector to get real.
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Comments:
Posted Wed, Feb 18, 4:31 p.m. Inappropriate
Tell us how you really feel about it, Ted. Last night I saw a story about the money the head of the US Postal Service makes - which clearly is a large enterprise in a very challenging environment. Even with his pay increase and bonuses for managing that behemoth as the business itself contracts, he still comes in as a cheaper date than Emmert.
At the same time, I think the President of the United States, the governor of Washington and a few other electeds are underpaid. Given the state of the economy, I concur, however, that a bevy of elected officials are going to have to freeze their salaries or lose their jobs at the next election.
Nothing like unions and Tammany Hall to stick in our collective craw. . .
Posted Wed, Feb 18, 5:04 p.m. Inappropriate
MukMan: Agree with you entirely on pay raises in order for the President of the U.S., governors and others who presently are underpaid. But, in the public sector as well in the private sector, a sense of entitlement about outsize compensation levels has taken hold in recent years. People will not follow the leadership of those who refuse to make even modest sacrifices themselves. Shared sacrifice and fairness are basic to the functioning of our society. When they are lacking, upheaval begins.
Posted Wed, Feb 18, 5:35 p.m. Inappropriate
The woman who was in denial about the state of the Washington economy is worthy of her pay ??? You must be joking, right ? !
You think the mayor or city council is even listening ???
Posted Wed, Feb 18, 8:52 p.m. Inappropriate
Metro Transit announces 20% cut in service that more than wipes out Transit Now. State legislature's Local Government and Governance committees busy themselves mandating one-size-fits-all -op-down densification at transit stations--reasoning choose one: save the planet, make housing affordable. The fall of the Roman Empire makes a lot more sense to me now.
Posted Thu, Feb 19, 3:44 p.m. Inappropriate
I'm a big fan of austerity measures, but it's difficult to accept Van Dyk's calls for sacrifice at face value. It's the typical call for sacrifice from the "other" guy. If your so concerned about the generational transference of wealth, lead the way Van Dyk: forgo your Social Security and Medicaid entitlements.