John Feehery: Speaking Engagements


Union Rip Off

Posted on February 18, 2011
The trade union movement started in medieval Germany as a way for artisans to band together to perfect their craft.

The craft unions now perfect ripping off the taxpayers.

Unions used to target big, mean industrialists who paid minimal wages and exploited workers.

Unions now target Democrats in primaries who don’t tow their line.

And their line is never ever give an inch when it comes to ripping off the taxpayers.

It is trite to say that the federal government is going broke. But as long as the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department can get the Chinese to buy our bonds, our brokenness is more notional than visceral.

At the state level, though, it is more than a notion that bankruptcy looms. The pension system in Illinois is due to collapse any day now. California is a complete mess every year. And the list goes on.

In Wisconsin, the new Governor has decided that he has to change the deal when it comes to the unions and the taxpayers. In Wisconsin, a progressive state, the taxpayers have finally had enough of the rip off. That is why they elected a Republican governor who had a plan.

And that plan was to change the collective bargaining agreement.

The government employee unions have no interest in sharing in the sacrifice. They have no interest in giving up any of their benefits. They have no interest in stopping the rip off of the taxpayers.

Somewhere along the way, the trade union movement went seriously astray. Instead of focusing on the perfection of their craft, unions focused exclusively on growing their numbers. And in the state, local and federal governments, they found a way to grow.

There is something fundamentally wrong with a union dedicated to taking money away from the taxpayers. In the last election, unions gave more than industry to politicians, and most of that money went into primary elections. Why primaries? Because a pro-business or a pro-taxpayer Democrat is more dangerous than a Republican.

The Democrat Party is now the party of the government unions. The Democrats are now solely focused on helping unions rip off the taxpayers.

And because the unions have no interest in sharing the sacrifice, the Democrats have no interest in fiscal responsibility.

The demonstrations in Wisconsin yesterday were far different than the demonstrations in the Middle East. In Wisconsin, they were protesting for their right to keep ripping off the government and the taxpayer. In the Middle East, they protesting because the government keeps ripping them off.