The Nov. 23 editorial, “Sales tax? Not yet,” did the usual hatchet job on those greedy public employees who are bankrupting our state. Specifically, they should be making a “shared sacrifice” by paying more for health care. That same day, the front page story, “Clark County jobless rate dips,” pointed out that unemployment would actually be improving were it not for the drastic hit public employees have taken in the past two years. Other than the construction sector, public employees have taken a bigger unemployment hit than any other sector of our state economy.
Recently, “The Daily Show” interviewed a woman who wrote a book on the decline of private sector pensions and benefits. She contends that private sector pensions and benefits could still be funded were it not for the enormous amount of capital that goes to the few at the top of the corporate ladder.
Before criticizing public employees, take a look at your own company’s corporate leadership. Check their privately negotiated salaries and benefits. Your benefits are going to them. Instead of castigating public employees, it would be more productive to try to get some of your own private sector benefits back. They used to be much better than public sector benefits.
Alan Rossi
Vancouver
