Last night all three major networks led off their broadcast with the truly shocking story that the city of Scranton, PA (birthplace of Vice President Joe Biden, "the Dan Quayle of the Left") was so strapped for money that it was paying its police officers MINIMUM WAGE.
Of course the story went on to explain that EVERY city employee from the Mayor on down was making minimum wage, and nobody was happy about it. There were a few interviews with various city employees, such as some guy who operates a bulldozer at the dump.
But the emphasis was on the police department making lousy money all of a sudden. There were however no interviews with individual policemen, but a couple of firemen were interviewed as to how they felt. And, every affected city employee interviewed was white. These facts set off my BS detector.
I do not doubt that the City of Scranton is damn near bankrupt. It's run by Democrats, after all. And I have absolutely no doubt that it is true that the cops there have had their pay reduced to minimum wage, and are not happy about it, and I don't blame ESPECIALLY the cops for being upset. But this smells to high heaven of being an extension of a popular Democrat political ploy used to quash demands to cut or not to raise taxes.
The ploy goes like this: "We could cut/not raise your taxes, sure. But then we'd have to fire X number of cops/teachers/firemen and not pick up the garbage, and we can't have that, now, can we?" This admonition is delivered usually almost as if the politician is patiently explaining to a tot why it is that he cannot have ice cream and cake every day for all three meals.
Here's why I think this Scranton thing is political: Cops and firemen are ESSENTIAL CITY SERVICES. The story didn't dig deeper and see if the City was still shelling out for relative frippery such as public swimming pools and such. But the police protect and keep order. Paying an entire police force minimum wages is an invitation to disaster.
Cops have house payments to make and mouths to feed just like anyone else. But they also have tremendous authority and power entrusted to them. They are the best and most honest people any city can manage to muster, with the highest moral standards. But they are as human as anybody else; and a cop in financial trouble always draws some scrutiny from his department since financial straits are a temptation to corruption.
No doubt the Scranton cops are hoping this storm will pass (and no doubt their professional association is raising all hell), but there are criminals out there who would like nothing better than to find some cop who would be willing to at least turn a blind eye for a few extra dollars. And that's the least of the potential consequenses of Scranton's bone-headed decision.
It would be better for Scranton to temporarily lay off a few coppers and let them collect unemployment from the State for however long and/or seek temporary employment as private security (Which, having active police commissions and full arrest powers they would be valued prospects) than to present the entire force with the choice of resigning OR reporting to work for a burger-flipper's wage. Somebody WANTS unhappy, disgruntled cops, and the motivation is political.
It is significant that no cops were interviewed, but firemen were. The cop after all is the guy who yanks you over and gives you a summons for going too fast. The fireman is the guy who pulls your kid out of your burning house. Formula: Use the cops to stimulate fear of consequenses and shock value, but interview firemen for a more sympathetic "personal" experience.
Now why Scranton, Pennsylvania for this story? And why is Scranton doing this? After all, there are cities in California from L.A. to Cucamonga who are in the same basket or worse. Well, consider that as I said Scranton is the birthplace of V.P. "Lunch-Bucket Joe" Biden. Part of Biden's job is to run interference for "president" Obama.
Remember when Obama said that the "private sector is doing fine" but the recession is still slogging along because jobs "in the public sector" have been cut?
Well, the last statement in the story was that the recession that caused the necessity of reducing police salaries to minimum wage is due to inadequate public sector employment (thus showing how right "president" Obama is and what the dangerous consequenses of not heeding him could be).
Just one damn minute.
How stupid do Obama and his shills in the media think we are? This is the distilled essence of this "vital public sector" baloney: Public employees spend money that stimulates the economy and creates the demand for goods and services that leads to the employment of the auto worker and the greengrocer and the waiter and the cab driver.
Of course the auto worker and the waiter, et al are the ones who pay the taxes that pay the public sector employees. Strictly economically speaking; if there were fewer public sector employees, then taxes could be cut and the living standards for the common private sector citizen could be enhanced.
This view, held by Obama and his henchmen (or more accurately this fiction peddled by them), that the "public sector" drives the economy flies in the face of the fact that a successful economy is in fact driven by the creation of new wealth; which ONLY the private sector can achieve. TOO MUCH "public sector" winds up sapping the energy of the wealth-creation mechanism. Anyone who thinks with his brain instead of his emotions would know this.
So, Obama's media corps and Joe Biden's hometown combine to create this horrible and dangerous bone-headed way of dealing with Scranton's financial troubles, and then present the whole screwy mess to the nation and solemnly state that the public sector would not have to be so woefully dangerously underpaid if only the public sector were paid more. (and if I had ham I could have ham and eggs this morning, if I had some eggs.)
Well, I applaud you police officers in Scranton for going out every day and facing the things a cop faces every day, even though you are being royally screwed in order to prop up a ridiculous political/economic arguement. But I think your Chief should form a government corruption task force and ferret out the motivations of your city officials for putting not only you but the entire City of Scranton in danger with what can only be the deliberate manipulation of your financial circumstances in order to exploit them nationally in what I believe I have pointed out here is a lame attempt to influence the voters in this upcoming election.
It's absolutely disgusting.
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