Warner Todd Huston
Shame: Nine GOP reps supporting union bailout
By Warner Todd Huston
For decades unions have mishandled their pension funds. These funds have been embezzled into the pockets of union chiefs, they have been wasted on needless expenses, and have been spent away on left-wing political causes not to mention simple mismanagement and bad investing. It has gotten so bad that few union pension funds for the rank and file members are adequately funded and retirement money for millions of union member's is now at risk — naturally the separate pension funds for union bosses are almost universally in the black.
So, what's the solution? What will befall the retirement funds of these poor rank and file union schlubs? As far as Illinois Representatives Aaron Schock and Peter Roskam and seven other Republicans are concerned you and I should bailout out these union thugs that have filled their pockets with their member's retirement funds by giving them our tax dollars in a bailout plan supported by the Obama administration.
Apparently union crooks and neer-do-wells are too big to fail and Reps. Schock and Roskam think that our taxes should go to reward the criminal behavior and neglect by union bosses.
Is that what we elected you for, Mr. Schock and Mr. Roskam and you seven other Republicans? I sure hope not.
The other seven Republicans that are supporting this Obama union payoff are Representatives Patrick Tiberi (OH), Steven LaTourette (OH), Ginny Brown-Waite (FL), Jo Ann Emerson (MO), John Linder (GA), Thaddeus McCotter (MI), and Tim Murphy (PA).
Americans for Limited Government sent out a letter to the nine recalcitrant GOPers urging them to dump their support of this bill.
On the ALG website President Bill Wilson said, "We are asking that each Representative remove his or her cosponsorship of this blatant handout to unions, which are now asking the American people to bail them out of their own mismanagement of pensions. Compensating poor investment strategies, like those pursued by the multi-employer pension plans, only incentives further underfunding of these plans."
This bailout bill is a bad, bad idea. Yes, yes it's regrettable that all these poor union members have had the wool pulled over their eyes and have been fooled into thinking that their union bosses care about them. Yes it's not nice that many may never see the retirement funds that they thought they worked so hard for. But unions will never be reformed — or better yet eliminated — if the federal government shores up their criminal behavior and papers over their monumental mistakes.
Unions are not too big too fail and the sooner they fail and are swept under the rug the better. These nine Republicans are not doing the right thing by supporting this bailout. I hope they all pull their support and I join ALG in their call for them to do so.
© Warner Todd Huston
May 28, 2010
For decades unions have mishandled their pension funds. These funds have been embezzled into the pockets of union chiefs, they have been wasted on needless expenses, and have been spent away on left-wing political causes not to mention simple mismanagement and bad investing. It has gotten so bad that few union pension funds for the rank and file members are adequately funded and retirement money for millions of union member's is now at risk — naturally the separate pension funds for union bosses are almost universally in the black.
So, what's the solution? What will befall the retirement funds of these poor rank and file union schlubs? As far as Illinois Representatives Aaron Schock and Peter Roskam and seven other Republicans are concerned you and I should bailout out these union thugs that have filled their pockets with their member's retirement funds by giving them our tax dollars in a bailout plan supported by the Obama administration.
Apparently union crooks and neer-do-wells are too big to fail and Reps. Schock and Roskam think that our taxes should go to reward the criminal behavior and neglect by union bosses.
Is that what we elected you for, Mr. Schock and Mr. Roskam and you seven other Republicans? I sure hope not.
The other seven Republicans that are supporting this Obama union payoff are Representatives Patrick Tiberi (OH), Steven LaTourette (OH), Ginny Brown-Waite (FL), Jo Ann Emerson (MO), John Linder (GA), Thaddeus McCotter (MI), and Tim Murphy (PA).
Americans for Limited Government sent out a letter to the nine recalcitrant GOPers urging them to dump their support of this bill.
On the ALG website President Bill Wilson said, "We are asking that each Representative remove his or her cosponsorship of this blatant handout to unions, which are now asking the American people to bail them out of their own mismanagement of pensions. Compensating poor investment strategies, like those pursued by the multi-employer pension plans, only incentives further underfunding of these plans."
This bailout bill is a bad, bad idea. Yes, yes it's regrettable that all these poor union members have had the wool pulled over their eyes and have been fooled into thinking that their union bosses care about them. Yes it's not nice that many may never see the retirement funds that they thought they worked so hard for. But unions will never be reformed — or better yet eliminated — if the federal government shores up their criminal behavior and papers over their monumental mistakes.
Unions are not too big too fail and the sooner they fail and are swept under the rug the better. These nine Republicans are not doing the right thing by supporting this bailout. I hope they all pull their support and I join ALG in their call for them to do so.
© Warner Todd Huston
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