There is a revolt brewing in America, the goal of which is to finally expose the abuses and the negative impacts that public-sector unions impose on taxpayers. For instance, yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty took on government unions:
The rise of government unions has been like a silent coup, an inside job engineered by self-interested politicians and fueled by campaign contributions.
Public employee unions contribute mightily to the campaigns of liberal politicians ($91 million in the midterm elections alone) who vote to increase government pay and workers. As more government employees join the unions and pay dues, the union bosses pour ever more money and energy into liberal campaigns. The result is that certain states are now approaching default. Decades of overpromising and fiscal malpractice by state and local officials have created unfunded public employee benefit liabilities of more than $3 trillion.
The good news is that it will be easier now that the scholars and policy wonks who have been working on public-sector unions and public employees’ issues have joined forces and are concentrating their brainpower and writings in one place. That place is Public Sector Inc., a product of the Manhattan Institute:
Public employee unions and other groups dependent on taxpayer funding have long pushed for higher spending to benefit their members, clients, employees and other stakeholders. Together, they represent a monolithic force — Public Sector Inc. — dedicated to the preservation of the budgetary status quo in recession-ravaged state capitals and city halls throughout the country. This website is designed to illuminate the public sector problem and offer solutions for governmental reform in the broad public interest.
Its contributors include the Mercatus Center’s Eileen Norcross, AEI’s Andrew Biggs, journalist Steven Greenhut, and many more. They write feature pieces, they blog, they give you data, and they fight the good fight on issues like the public employees’ pension time bomb, their salaries, and their fiscal impact. Check it out here.