Opinions are Like A-Holes...Wisconsin, Unions & Politics

Well, the controversy sparked by the Governor of Wisconsin and by Republicans Senators in that state’s legislature has been going on now for the better part of 2 weeks. Is it over yet? Not by a long shot.

But this set of issues has galvanized millions. It has caused Americans to take to the streets (especially around the Wisconsin state capital) almost like in Cairo, Egypt. I’m confused because it’s not a good guys in the white hats and bad guys in the black hats kind of issue—with the exception of the actions of Wisconsin Senate Republicans . And efforts to make it that way only confuse things more.

I’ve tried to read up on what the elements of this conflict are and it’s tough to get a handle on it. There are those who have oversimplified it to be a battle between unions and politics. Others say that it’s simply about money. I think there’s a whole lot more to it than that.

This may have become the focal point of a couple of different important things in our nation and economy. For one it’s about public money. For another it’s about the widening schism between the far right of the political spectrum and, seemingly, everybody else.

A third aspect, which to me is every bit as important as the others, is the role that public employees play within the various governmental entities they serve. And, to me anyway, the key word in that sentence is “serve”.

I personally don’t think it unreasonable for public employees to have to pay 1/8th the cost of their health insurance (with pre-tax dollars) as was proposed in Wisconsin. Neither do I think it unreasonable for those same employees to pay nearly 6% of their salary (pre-tax) into their retirement fund. Those in the private sector are used to paying that much and more for both health insurance and retirement. To suggest that this is unreasonable or a burden borders on the ludicrous.

I start to depart with the proposals made in Wisconsin when it comes to bargaining units and union membership and certification. The Governor’s proposal is just taking it too far. However, I do have a lot of problems (especially living in California where this is rampant) with the overt political activities of public employee unions.

I’m getting up there in age. I come from a time when public employees served, did not make policy (developed, recommended and implemented it but didn’t make!) yet negotiated and bargained for remuneration.

Here in California municipalities, counties and the state are all teetering on the edge of insolvency. Much of it can be put at the feet of overly generous and woefully underfunded pension programs. That’s not all of it, but it’s a great big chunk especially here in the San Diego area. Public employees often make more money than their contemporaries in the private sector and almost universally enjoy better fringe benefits. (I have health insurance but it’s pricey and I’m petrified of actually getting sick). There are governments in California actively considering bankruptcy to be able to get out from underneath pension costs.

And every election at the local or state level, voters are inundated with money spent by public employee unions—teachers, police, fire fighters—on ads, endorsements and veiled blackmail in favor or opposed to this or that candidate. Typically the effort is to seat school board members, city councilors, county supervisors, legislators and a governor who are “friendly” to education or public safety and will assure that the payroll funding is ever more generous. And I get to the point where I really resent it.

Should we return to the “old days” when public employees were precluded from “organized” political activity? There’s a part of me that says yes. Public employee unions, like all unions, have a big job of protecting the employment interests of their members in terms of salary and benefits and working conditions. And they should be free to do that job on behalf of their members. But the members have to do their jobs on behalf of the public first and foremost. I don’t know the answer to that question.

There’s a big chunk of me that thinks public employees should be restricted from influencing public policy or elections which affect their employment. There’s another chunk that thinks that these unions ought to enjoy the same freedom the PACs and “corporate individuals” enjoy. If I were to be pressed into a “forced choice” I would have to opt for enjoying the same level of expression as any other labor group. But I don’t have to like it. In fact, if a public workers union wants me to vote against “their” candidate or position, all they have to do is try to influence me with slick flyers or media advertising. I’ll go the opposite way every single time.

I fully expect yesterday’s actions of the Wisconsin Senate to end up in court if the bill is ever passed and signed by the Governor. And if it does, I have a hard time thinking that any rational court would uphold either the law or the dastardly way in which it was rammed through.

But that doesn’t change my attitude that public servants must be precisely that. Anything less and they should be fired. More particularly there’s a message out there that teachers, cops, firefighters and other public employees need to listen to. “Start being part of the solution.” Saying that this conflict is not about the money is false. It may be more about the ability to be part of a bargaining unit than the money, but it’s about making sure that the money’s there too. And any honest introspection yields that conclusion.

Things aren’t going to get better anytime soon. It’s like after a flood crests and all kinds of effort have been expended on sandbags. What’s left is a stinking mess that takes a long time to clean up.

And, like the title of this piece says: Opinions are like a-holes. Everybody has one. This is mine.

Cheap Bastid's Cinnamon Roll Debacle

It took the better part of an hour of mixing dough, mixing cinnamon and sugar, rolling dough into a “jelly roll” and baking to get the photogenic results of my cinnamon rolls.



And it only took one bite to come to the conclusion that something had gone fundamentally wrong. I’m still scratching my head over it but I think I’ve figured out what went wrong—for the next time.


If you’ve read any of my recent Cheap Bastid posts you’ll know that recently I went from baking biscuits to baking yeast risen pretzels. My most recent biscuit baking (Friday morning) was fantastic—everything worked and they were perfect. So I said to myself, “Self, there’s got to be a way to do cinnamon rolls with regular biscuit dough.”

Well, self was right. There are plenty of recipes and photos online about using ordinary baking powder biscuit dough to make cinnamon rolls. The techniques are by and large the same from recipe to recipe so I said to myself, “Self, let’s give it a try Sunday morning.”




It wasn’t that hard to do. The main thing was rolling out the dough, spreading some margarine down on the rolled dough and then covering it with a layer of cinnamon and brown sugar. They looked good. I even came up with a way of making my own powdered sugar in order to do the icing on top of the rolls.




Sounds pretty good doesn’t it. They looked good too. Looked good all slathered with cinnamon sugar. Looked good rolled up. Looked good in the pan going into the oven. And looked really good coming out of the oven.

Except for one thing.



They tasted crappy.

Now I’m sure that top foo-foo foodie chefs mess up often enough. They might even mess up spectacularly. I know I rarely make anything that I would consider to be a “perfect” dish. There’s always something I could do better. But this was a “crash and burn”. Let’s put it this way, I don’t think that cinnamon rolls are supposed to be crunchy.



So, what did I do wrong? Not much. I overbaked them. My mind was telling me golden brown when it should have been telling me “hint of color”. Golden brown is the color of cinnamon rolls that are fried like donuts. And by the time these got golden brown, they also got to the consistency of burned toast. You almost had to gnaw on them. So what I did wrong was baking them too long at too high a temperature. Easy enough.

So, I’ve got to try again. And I will. Maybe. Pretty soon. I think. Then I can write the recipe.

But the pictures turned out purty!

That's the Cheap Bastid Way: Eat Good, Eat Cheap. Be Grateful!

And the Beat Goes On--California's Smoke & Mirror Budget

(Note: You might like scrolling to the bottom and clicking on the YouTube video then reading this post while you listen)

Remember “Cheers”? I’ve always been more Cliff Claven than anyone else, but I’m thinking about Woody. There were times when stuff would happen to Woody, either with a girlfriend or some other personal disaster.

Sam or Diane or Norm would ask him something like, “Aren’t you really mad about that?”

To which Woody would respond, in that flat, monotone, Midwestern way, “I’m a little ticked.”

Well, I’m more than a little ticked and it’s been bugging me all morning. You see, I have the misfortune to live in California. The State of California just announced yesterday that the Legislature and Governor’s office have agreed to a balanced budget for the fiscal year that started 3 weeks ago. And we’re all supposed to rejoice.

Except that it’s a crock. It’s a sham. It’s a subterfuge. It’s fraud.

Our grand-glorious Governor and Legislature have put together a budget which does not contain tax increases and yet manages to close a $26 billion deficit. Sure, and I’m going to wake up tomorrow with a full head of hair.

Granted, as AP reported, “the plan cuts $15 billion from government programs by slashing spending on schools, universities, health care, welfare and in-home support for the disabled and frail.

They just don’t get it. The time for “smoke and mirrors” and sleight of hand are over. But that’s exactly the kind of budget that has been created. The most egregious example of that is a proposal to “save”$1.2 billion by paying state employees on July 1, 2010 rather than on June 30, 2010 (in other words pushing their paycheck one day into the following fiscal year).

The state is also going to take $4 billion worth of payments to local governments and use it to balance the budget—repaying it with interest over 3 years.

But the good news is that legislative Republicans prevailed. There are no new taxes or tax increases. No, that will be left to the municipalities who will have to increase fees and taxes in order to balance their own precarious budgets.

Unfortunately, the Republicans are thinking like so many failed businesses who focus on cost cutting rather than on revenue increase. You’ve got to think on both sides of the ledgerbook in order to make a budget work. That’s basic and fundamental.

And without belaboring it there are ways to increase revenues. California is a major oil producing state yet has no severance tax. Put an increased tax on alcoholic beverage purchases (I smoke but don’t drink so I prefer a booze tax!).

No, what the state wants to do is accelerate the collection of 2010 personal income and corporate taxes to bring in revenue earlier. This would give the state an “interest free loan” until taxpayers claim the money on tax returns. More hocus-pocus.

Public employee unions have far too much influence in California. They forget that their jobs exist to serve the public. It’s that basic. And yet their complaints about schools and prisons are thinly veiled blackmail attempts primarily motivated by a desire to keep their jobs.

This kind of legerdemain will prevail until California fundamentally addresses its system of governance. And this state cannot wait much longer. Proposition 13 and 98 must be revisited. The State’s basic “operating structure” must be scrutinized, streamlined and made to work better. And the State must take a fundamental look at how it ought to be serving its citizens and reflect that in its organizational and fiscal structure. Until that happens, this state and especially its citizens are screwed. And maybe that’s why all morning I have had a song from the late Congressman Sonny Bono going through my head: “The Beat Goes On”. And it does. But it doesn’t get us anywhere.

This rant won’t make any kind of difference but at least I “officially” got it off my chest. I’m still more than a little ticked.