Wednesday, August 20, 2008
The Two Americas, OR:
WHY AMERICA IS PISSED0 comments
Money. Period.
Having it; expecting it; having access to the means of having it.
Or not.
This leads us to a stark view of why Americans are angry.
And why the American people keep falling into the same trap set for them by Republicans in every election to, once again, vote against their economic interests.
John McCain limps around, speaking to smallish crowds of middle-class white folk, using all the energy he can muster at his age to lie flat-out to the assembled group (and the cameras) that the Democrats ARE GOING TO RAISE YOUR TAXES! Well, boy, those dirty Dems are at it again, hunh? No qualifiers. Just, "RAISE YOUR TAXES!" hanging there like old gym socks.
While I disagree with him about many things, Barack Obama, however, has consistently said that his financial plan wants to address the imbalance in wealth in the U.S.
(What that means: why do you have zilch, when that guy has everything he wants???)
He says he would do this by rewriting the tax codes to significantly RAISE THE TAXES (OH NO!!!!) of Americans making $250,000 or over. And significantly lower them for everyone making less than $250,000.
That's $250,000 or over.
Let's see, YOU probably make $25,000. Or $70,000. Or $100,000. Or maybe, even $175,000. Hey, you're doing pretty good, by most folk's reckoning. Here in Gotham Land, the landlords have gotten the legislature to declare that: "YOU'RE RICH!" once you've earned $175,000 for two years running, so they can then take your apartment away from you. It's called, "Luxury decontrol." OK, so legally in New York, YOU'RE "a rich guy" once you take in $175,000. Cool.
Obama: $250,000 or over. Ummmm...hmmmm...
A quarter of a million dollars. Twenty-five percent of $1,000,000.
But McCain promised me that the Dems would RAISE MY TAXES!!!!! Hero John wouldn't LIE to me, would he?
The GOP all (or a major portion of their membership and constituency, not to mention almost all of their backers) fall squarely into that "over $250,000" category, or have grand aspirations of someday being in that category, and tasting the "Good Life."
Let's look at some economic realities:
How the working stiff (i.e., YOU) usually lives (an example):
Yonkers schools cut overtime pay to $9.7M | The Journal News of White Plains, NY
Hmmm, sounds about right..., kick those dirty scheming, greedy school bastards, right? That's MY damned money they're stealing!
But how close do these jobs come to yours? The numbers come to what you're making? And how close does this story come to how YOUR job treats you?
Let's look.The Yonkers schools' overtime caps range from $15,000 for administrators and certificated personnel to $18,000 for custodians, $12,000 for nurses and $6,000 for food service workers. Overtime for administrators and certificated personnel must be approved by the schools superintendent, while overtime for other staff must be reviewed by a supervisor.
Three things jump out, here.
First, all of these OT hours must be approved by administrators. Administrators NEVER throw money around (except on themselves) because it's their books that get examined. So they approve OT only when justified (to save themselves). So, these are necessary hours.
Second, let's look at numbers. What can a school food service worker (i.e., the ladies who pushed mystery meat at you in the cafeteria. Remember?) make in Yonkers, NY? Maybe $15/hr.? Assuming a mid-August to mid-June work year, that's 10 months. 40 weeks. $16,000 a year OT means no more than $400 gross OT a week, via the time & 1/2 of $22.5/hr. That comes to 17.78 hours a week. Or 3 1/2 hrs. a day. Even after all the cutbacks that every school district in this country has endured. We're asking many excessively long days of our local government employees. Not only class time, but what about every school function that happens outside of a set school day? The supervision of detentions, extra-curricular activities, the parent "teas," the meetings, sports, the booster functions, the student social events, etc., which all happen AFTER these people should be off the clock.
Which brings us to the Third point.
Which approach is easier on your property tax pocketbook? Spending upwards to $16,000 for OT for someone in order to get the job done, or hiring another worker for $25,000 to $40,000 to get it done? I know... "Ummmmm."
But those in administrative positions bamboozle and want it both ways. Making themselves look good by cutting back costs by throwing away staff; then denying the means to get the job done adequately to the remaining staff by going to the press and appealing to the financial blood lust of folks who are just as badly off as the folks being abused in this example. That might just be... uhh, you.
Want a simple way to save money? Respect the people who are doing twice as much, with half the help. Sound familiar?
This example just happens to be in the public sector, but the principles are exactly the same in every Fortune 500 company.An analysis of last year's salary spending by the Yonkers school district revealed that its overtime bill for 2007 totaled $9.7 million, compared with a regular payroll of $242.2 million. That amounts to $1 in overtime spending for every $25 in regular pay, far lower than on the Yonkers city government side where there is $1 in overtime for every $5 in regular pay.
School officials say their overtime policy, adopted in 2006, has controlled compensation for its 4,944 employees.
"Through an aggressive Board of Education policy, which was faxed to you, as well as diligent, continual monitoring by this administration, total overtime expenditures continue to decline and overtime abuses have been eradicated," Schools Superintendent Bernard Pierorazio wrote in an e-mail response to questions about the district's salaries.
So, we see value beginning to emerge. We take the weakest spot we can find—school systems—and kick it. Doesn't that sound just like your department at your job, whatever it is you do? Sure it does.
In this case, it's also foolish, since we'll now complain that our kids aren't being served well. Maybe, that's because we dumbed down and/or fired good teachers to save a few bucks in property taxes, while the mayor and others raked in "the big bucks." At least our kids get to learn all about "Catch-22."Pierorazio is the district's highest-paid employee at $261,954 in total compensation. On the city side, Mayor Phil Amicone was the 179th highest-paid employee, with Yonkers police Sgt. Kevin Scully's gross earnings of $253,861 making him the top municipal wage-earner.
Now, these guys at the top just made your blood boil, didn't they, right? Dirty bastards.
Well, these guys would get theirs! They'd be whacked with an Obama tax hike. Barely over $250,000, but over nonetheless.There are 753 school employees, or 15% of the staff, who are paid more than $100,000. On the municipal side, 1,016 city workers are paid more than $100,000.
These guys make a lot more than we do, but don't we aspire to make what they're making? Don't you seeing YOURSELF getting up to a hundred grand a year? Wouldn't that be sweet? That's pretty rich, hunh? But a rich we can reach for.
Those guys GET A TAX CUT!
Hmmmmm...uhhhh, cool. You mean, I could make THAT much and still get A TAX CUT?
That seems to be the plan.
Then, how come we always fall for the GOPers who claim that DEMS ARE GONNA RAISE OUR TAXES?
Simple. The men and women you watch on TV news would HAVE THEIR OWN TAXES RAISED! Most of the anchors you see on TV pull in anywhere from a half million to many millions of dollars a year. It's a safe bet that every talking head, pundit and expert you see on TV who's scaring you into hating Dems about taxes are going to get whacked pretty hard themselves by any Obama tax code reshuffling.
But, John McCain said he would give them A TAX CUT! See, you don't have to be on FOX to be unhinged and unbalanced.
So, the question for YOU to consider is:
Who would you rather have carrying the freight for paying for the day-to-day functioning of this country?
A) YOU?
OR,
B) Chris Matthews, Sean Hannity, David Brooks and Keith Olbermann?
OK, one other way to look at this wage inequality:
(again, from the good folks at The Journal News in White Plains, NY)
The minimum major league baseball salary is currently $390,000 a year.
Let that sink in.
The minimum major league baseball salary is currently $390,000 a year.
Remember that dirty bastard Bernard Pierorazio of Yonkers, who was pulling in $261,954 in total compensation, or Yonkers police Sgt. Kevin Scully, whose gross earnings of $253,861 included a lot of fluffing from OT?
Obscene amounts, right?
How about Eugenio Velez? Never heard of him? Well, he's a kid infielder with the San Francisco Giants, who's hit a career .223 with no HRs and 14 RBIs. He's making minimum wage: $390,000 a year.
How about J. R. Towles? Never heard of him, either? Well, if you have, you've probably booed him: he's a catcher with the Houston Astros, who's hit a whopping career .194 with 5 HRs and 28 RBIs. Even HE'S making $390,000 a year, and, I assume, you're not.
Or First Baseman Doug Mientkiewicz who has steadfastly refused to hit a lick for any of six teams over 11 seasons, and pulls in an ... oh so comfortable $750,000 a year.
We needn't even mention Alex Rodriquez, the immortal A-Rod of the struggling New York Yankees. Whether he runs hot or cold, Rodriquez still goes home with $28,000,000, JUST FOR THIS YEAR. Yes, taxpayers, you're booing a guy who takes home a cool 28 MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR. I'm certain he gives a crap about your opinion of him. And he has, ohhhhh, another nine or ten years to go on his contract. Poor guy.
EVERY player that YOU root for, or boo, while watching a ball game is making more than YOU'LL probably ever see in your lifetime.
But Baseball is the All-American Game, one that any of us can play, right?
It's in all the papers.
Well, it's all in how the corporate media spins all of these stories.
So, let's see...
School workers, and YOU, probably, in your job, are just greedy and should be thankful for anyway small crumb tossed your way.
Politicians, media celebrities, pundits and sports stars are all just simple folks who bring us such pleasure and entertainment, keep us safe, and healthy and keep this sparkling economy humming along smoothly so they can share all of their extra profits with you and all of the rest of us.
That about the size of it?
Look. The next time you want to boo A-Rod or Sean Hannity or any member of the Bush administraion, don't bother. Save your lung power.
JUST RAISE THEIR TAXES AND LISTEN TO THE RICH GUYS SCREAM! And just smile.
(NOTE: this post was inadvertently posted live on August 20, instead of being posted as a draft. This is the corrected post. We apologize for the error. —Gotham Notes)
posted by Gotham 2:59 PM
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