"...were the slave master’s interests the same as the slave’s?"
Dear friends,
While perusing my Facebook “News feed” page last night, I saw a piece by Paul Krugman, regarding the current situation in Wisconsin, that made some worthy points, although I beg to differ on a couple of his assumptions.
They are:
1) Krugman is wrong when he says, “public-sector workers in Wisconsin and elsewhere are paid somewhat less than private-sector workers with comparable qualifications…”…In fact, for example, secretaries with little education often make more money than many PhDs when they’re either state workers or in academia...I'm not trying to nit pick here, but there are some serious issues of fairness that need to be addressed regardig compensation, whether employer or employee....of course, Republicans aren't interested in fairness.
2) Krugman, who sold out and supported the Federal Bailout hoodwink of the American public in 2008, has the audacity to now say, “On paper, we’re a one-person-one-vote nation; in reality, we’re more than a bit of an oligarchy, in which a handful of wealthy people dominate.”…Huh?...then why did he support a “Bailout” that only helped the “oligarchy” (as he calls it).
Finally, Krugman’s vague notion of “power” being the issue hides the more obvious fact that the worker has no rights without a union, because the employer cannot possibly, simultaneously, serve as an advocate for both sides of any employer- and employee-related issue. After all, the employer and the employee have totally different interests. If not, then why are there ever layoffs, suspensions, furloughs, or dismissals?. Think about it. Were a slave master’s interests the same as the slave’s?. Of course not.
At any rate, Krugman’s piece is on the link below.
Cheers!
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/opinion/21krugman.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212
2 comments:
1) As to your disagreements with Krugman about the public/private sector pay disparity, you are mistaken. There are plenty of citations out there, mostly from Right wing groups, making the faulty claim that public compensation exceeds private. One tactic used is to include benefits and pensions in their calculations. They also ignore the piggish overcompensation received by many private sector schemers. Instead, we should promote better benefits for all regular workers and less overcompensation of CEOs and certain other fat cat private earners.
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY STUDY OF THE PRVT/PUB COMPENSATION ISSUE:
"private employees make 11 percent more in wages and 5 PERCENT MORE IN TOTAL COMPENSATION than public workers"
"Using the latest federal data, Keefe said the average total compensation for workers in the private sector with bachelor’s degrees is $89,041 compared with $56,641 for public workers. For workers with professional degrees — lawyers, say, or doctors — the gap is more dramatic: $175,141 in the private sector, $79,330 in the public."
"Leave it to Rutgers, New Jersey’s state university, to hold a conference that raises questions about popular contentions — for example, that public employees make much more than private, that they are the highest paid anywhere, or that their numbers are multiplying out of control. Not necessarily so, say some experts on labor and management relations who presented their findings in New Brunswick the other day. Jeffrey Keefe, an associate professor at the university’s School of Management and Labor Relations, said public employees do not make more than comparable private employees. According to Keefe, comparing private and public employees with the same educational level, experience and work schedule shows private employees make 11 percent more in wages and 5 percent more in total compensation than public workers. Public workers are more educated than private — 57 percent have college degrees and higher, compared with 44 percent. Because workers in all sectors are paid according to education and skill levels, lumping them all together — the least skilled with the most — is misleading.
http://www.hpae.org/newsroom/articles/20100517_publicsalaries
WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE SHOWING FEDERAL SALARIES FALLING FURTHER BEHIND PRIVATE SECTOR:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/02/AR2010110206424.html
2) I find no fault with Krugman describing this as an oligarchy, because that is what it is. There is no conflict in his making that representation while at the same time having supported the bailout. You and many others may disagree with the bailouts and the results, but we’ll never know what would have happened without it. The bailout was text book Keynesian economics. Krugman at the time said it was not big enough.
I do agree, if I am correctly inferring from your comments that more should have been done to offer direct stimulus to Main St. It is a mystery to me who Krugman sold out, or how he sold them out.
Finally, it is possible for employers AND employees to advocate for both sides of some issues. Their positions don’t have to be mutually exclusive, especially in extraordinary situations like we currently face. We don’t need winners and losers. We need mutual accommodations so we all survive……
Leon…First of all, declaring me to be “mistaken”, based upon something as precarious as a “study” that’s more like a poll (neither of which could hold up to the standards of scientific methodology) doesn’t even require a response from me, much less a retraction…Additionally, what have you ever read from me that smacks of anything “Right wing”?...Finally, if you re-read what I said, I simply offered a need for dialogue on an issue that won’t go away because you politely call me a name (mistaken?)…Perhaps, it all boils down to the reality that you, apparently, haven’t personally experienced the disparities that I mentioned…moreover, if you are unwilling to admit to the laziness of public employees, then you must either be or have been one…no one is contesting the bums at the top (and, sometimes, not-so-top), regarding their overcompensation for little or no work, Bro’…or, for that matter, spreading the wealth among all workers…to that extent, you’re preaching to the choir….Dig?
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