By Les Dunaway

The States may save the nation! Or rather, the tough, courageous  governors these States have elected may save the nation. Chris Christi, Scott Walker and John Kasich are stepping up to deal with the can that’s been kicked down the road for far too long. Public employee unions have extorted dues from their involuntary members and used those dollars to purchase for-sale legislators. Legislators who expected to be long gone before the bill came due. I just hope that some of the Wisconsin senators hiding out are perpetrators rather than victims of their predecessors.Ted Abrams writing on Freedom Works says it better than I can in “Wisconsin and Government Unions“. Ted’s focus is more on the political power aspects of this issue than on the economic aspects that I focus on here. The political part of the issue is very important.  However, we’ve come to a chapter in our nation’s story where we must focus on the economic part of the issue. For those who can remember I offer Eastern Airlines as an example of what happens when unions gain too much power. For those who can’t remember, there’s Google 😉

In the first edition of “Just The Numbers, Mam” I discussed the possibility of America’s credit rating being downgraded and the probable results of that. Well, last week, Chicago pulled a bond issue because their credit rating had declined to where they couldn’t afford to borrow needed money. Of course, if their spending was under control they wouldn’t need to borrow the money.

What can we do?

It’s simple and fairly easy. First, attend the city council/county council/state legislature and ask a simple question: “Are all public employee benefits fully funded in the current budget?”. If the answer is Yes! and that answer is verifiable, then commend the public officials and go home feeling good about the city/county/state you are part of. If the answer is No, you need to ask the second question “Why not?” and then, you need to share what you’ve learned with as many of your neighbors as you can.  In some cases, a public gathering involving tar, feathers and a rail may be in order. It really is that simple!  The 32 states [click] who are, essentially, bankrupt got that way because their citizens were to busy watching American Idol to pay attention while corrupt politicians were selling their state to the highest bidder. If you are reading this, you probably not one of the somnolent multitudes, but I hope you will ask yourself, honestly, “Could I have awakened just one?”.