A recall election was just completed in Wisconsin. While Democrats and Republicans have tried to read the results in some partisan way, the real issue is how much citizens should expect from their government.
In private industry, pension plan money must come from company profits. The government has no part in footing the bill. One company I worked for during my career did have a private pension plan. Workers invested their share and the company invested their share. Due to cost cutting in my opinion, the pension plan was later discontinued and the funds already invested in the plan were returned back to each vested employee.
The governor of Wisconsin was subject to a recall under similar circumstances. Earlier administrations had made entitlement promises to government employees. The differencee between private industry and the government is that the government is a not-for-profit organization, When business slows down in private industry, they can discontinue benefits such as in my case. When local governments run out of money, their only recourse has been to raise taxes. At some moment in time the supply/demand money lines converge and there are no funds left to pay the piper.
Previous government administrations across the country have made unsustainable promises to their employees. The fact is that every politician wants to keep their job as long as possible. They have kept their job by making entitlement promises they can't keep, knowing full well that they will be out of office and taking advantage of their own special political pensions plans while following administrations are left with all the headaches. Entitlements are a current problem for the federal government and for almost every state in the union.
Twenty years ago Bill Power wrote in Locksmith Ledger,"...the profession is dividing into two groups: the locksmiths who will be small shops specializing in auto and residential work; and the security professional who will do electronic access, CCTV, energy management,etc."
Working together for a common cause is not a bad thing as long as it is not carried to extremes. What Bill Power wrote about 20 years ago has come true. The scope of work for a 'locksmith' is diminishing as the public requirements change toward what a 'security professional' can offer. Our future depends on becoming a security professional, then banding together to form some kind of organized listing service where national accounts can find local 'security professionals' to handle their needs. We can at least learn something from what union organizers have done.
