What has to happen before government officials reduce the loot they’re lobbing to special interests at the expense of the wallets and future of everybody else?
Armageddon?
The city council of Kansas City, Missouri, won’t permit even an inquiry into how the burg might save bucks.
At Show-Me Daily, David Stokes notes that a council committee has tabled (killed) a proposal “that called for SIMPLY STUDYING the idea of contracting out the management of certain city assets,” an idea proposed by Mayor Mark Funkhouser. But city unions predictably went to DEFCON 1. The resolution would have authorized the city manager to request information from firms interested in handling things like parking garages and sewer plants.
The mayor says he thought that they might have creative ideas about how to handle things more efficiently. C‑r-a-a-a-zy, eh? Well, this mild, er, radical notion is off the table, at least for now.
Stokes hopes the council reconsiders while they are in a position of relative strength. If they wait until really pushed to act by “economic realities . . they won’t be [able] to get the best agreement for taxpayers.”
But aren’t the economic realities already here, for Kansas City and every other town in post-2007 America?
Single-issue voters are always going to shout louder than the general public about reforms that affect their short-term interests. Political “leaders” should do the right thing, not follow the path of least political resistance.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
1 reply on “Profiles in Non-Courage”
Perhaps bankruptcy, with employee pensions in jeopardy would be the Armageddon needed to actually cut spending. It’d be good if all public employees had to live with defined contribution pensions, instead of defined benefit that private companies have eliminated. Or even better, let the employees save for their own retirement. Then there would be no future obligations for retirees.