Bailing Out Union Pension Funds While The Unions Spend Their Money On Political Campaigns

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The Hill posted an article yesterday stating, "Labor groups will be invited to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to talk about an alarming shortfall in state employee pension plans that some believe could lead to a new government bailout."  Just what we need--another bailout.  The article also pointed out that nearly half of all union members work in the public sector.

Well, I decided to take a look at how unions spend some of their money.

According to Heritage.org:

"The union movement spends much of this money on politics. In election year 2008, AFSCME spent $63 million on political campaigning and lobbying. That was 32 percent of its overall budget and well more than the $39 million it spent representing its members.[4] In 2009, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) spent $29 million on representational activities and $47 million on political campaigning and lobbying.[5] The amount spent on politics represented 25 percent of the AFL-CIO's budget.[6] The AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) just announced their intention to spend $100 million on electing sympathetic candidates in this year's midterm elections.[7]"

Footnotes in the above paragraph:

4.  U.S. Department of Labor, "Office of Labor-Management Standards," AFSCME National Headquarters LM-2 Report, 2008, File No. 000-289. Database at http://www.unionreports.gov(August 26, 2010).

5.  U.S. Department of Labor, "Office of Labor-Management Standards," AFL-CIO National Headquarters LM-2 Report, 2009, File No. 000-106. Database at http://www.unionreports.gov(August 26, 2010).

6.  Ibid. The AFL-CIO national headquarters spent $189.5 million in 2009.

7.  Sam Stein, "Major Unions Pooling Resources for $100 Million 2010 Effort," The Huffington Post, August 25, 2010, at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/25/major-unions-pooling-reso_n_693940.html (August 26, 2010).

Just for the record, AFSCME is the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.  Don't you think that the $63 million they spent on campaigning in 2008 might have helped their pension fund?  Why should the American taxpayer have to bailout a pension fund for a union that spent its money on pollitics (to elect people who would support the American taxpayer bailing out their pension fund)? 

It's time for a change.  It's time for a mental readjustment.  We need to get back to the point where people were actually responsible for their actions and had to face the consequences.  We cannot continually bail out people who have spent their money for something other than their financial responsibilites.  We need to make sure pensions in the public sector are in line with pensions in the private sector.  Working for the government should not put you on the gravy train for life.  We have to begin acting like grown-ups (horrors!).

It is no surprise that the majority of the union money spent on politics goes to the Democrats.  The union leadership has taken out massive bank loans (see rightwinggranny.com article of September 3) to try to prevent a Republican takeover of the House of Representatives this November.  Why?  How many Republicans have voted for bailouts?

If you are interested in fiscal sanity, you need to vote Republican in November.  Any vote for a Democrat is a vote for Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.  As long as they are the Congressional leaders, the runaway spending will continue.  If our country is to survive in a form that we recognize, the Democrats need to be voted out of office this year.  Even at that, they may do considerable damage during a lame duck session (Cap and Trade, increased taxes, and card check have been discussed as possibilities), but if Republicans take the House, they can undo some of the damage to our economy.

For one idea showing how to restore fiscal sanity to the government, visit the website for Paul Ryan's Roadmap.  There are a number of good ideas to balance the budget out there.  This is one of them.  Please study the issues and vote carefully!

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This page contains a single entry by Granny G published on September 6, 2010 7:42 AM.

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