[Peace] [Peace-discuss] Letter in News-Gazette

[David Green]

Hi Wayne,

By and large, I think that public employees do a decent  job. The significant waste in government spending results from militarism, private contractism, a health system that costs even the efficient Medicare/Medicaid system too much, and corporate welfare/tax deductions for the rich (beyond the lack of progressivity of the entire system, federal-state-local. The worst kind of waste, environmental degradation, results from a short-sighted focus on short-term profits by corporate executives and, I guess, shareholders.

The public sector is all that our economy has to provide stability over time with decent wages, rights, and working conditions. It may not always be pretty, but the federal government is all we've got until local communities can organize their economies without worrying about corporate "job creators." The public sector needs to set a floor that the private sector will have to compete with, instead of allowing the "job creators" to engage in a race to the bottom between desperate state governments. Without the stability that government, especially the federal government--must provide, society will be torn about by speculative bubbles, or just by corporations sitting on large uninvested wads of surplus value from workers' labor that keeps demand low and unemployment high. 

Beyond university administrators and politicians themselves, I haven't seen a whole lot of waste among government employees. But I agree that we could save some money--for example, instead of funding studies to try to prove that preschool helps upward mobility, just give poor people living wage jobs, stop worrying about upward mobility, fund universal but not compulsory preschool, and let preschool children play all day long in safe and secure and well-stocked schools/playrooms without being studied or tested. Then the psychologists and social workers could focus on the children that inevitably are experiencing problems of various sorts, as evidenced by anti-social four-year-old behavior.

The government should be spending a lot more on social preventative measures of all kinds, especially public health, but I'm biased because that's what I have to think to keep my day job that pays me largely as a public employee.

DG



On Sunday, December 29, 2013 6:11 PM, E. Wayne Johnson 朱稳森 <ewj at pigsqq.org> wrote:
  
David,
>I feel that you make many good points particularly against Ann Callis
>who is nearly as evil as Hillary in my opinion, just less overt.
>
>Quite a bit of my work is innovation and research but I really am not
offended
>by your words.  But I think you would do well to point out how it is
that
>innovation and research are not enough and what you would do to 
>make things better.  Surely you dont mean that if all Americans become
>[Electric] Amish then everyone would be happier.  Some explanation
>to tie up those loose ends would be helpful to your cause.
>
>My children are in public Chinese school in Beijing now.  We loved King
School in Urbana
>and are very grateful for the wonderful people there.  But it is obvious
>that the education system in the USA is quite deficient.  George Carlin
was right.
>The owners of Amerika dont want to make young people who are capable of
critical
>thinking.  "Got a pencil.  Good.  Get  in there.  It's Physics."
>There is a huge problem with the education system in the USA.  The
>answer is not "throw money".
>
>In regard to vilification of public employees, my observation is that
public employees
>tend to be lazy, stupid, uncooperative, inert, and over-payed.  That's
my studied
>opinion from some 40 years of observation.  Some of them are also
susceptible to 
>bribes and engage in various sorts of graft and corruption.  Of course
we dont want
>jellyfish running things.  St. Paul noted that Euripides's circular
reference to Cretans was
>true.  How are you going to turn the tide, not only the tide of
opinion, but also
>the truth that public employees tend to be Cretanesque and seem to be
cretins as well?
>
>The problem with Amerika is the prevalence of toxic virulent memes.
>How will you change the way that people think?
>
>Wayne
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>On 12/29/2013 11:25 PM, David Green wrote: 
>This letter was published in the 12/29/13 edition of the
News-Gazette: 
>>
>> 
>>
>> 
>>http://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/letters-editor/2013-12-29/dems-will-have-very-clear-choice.html 
>>
>> 
>>Dems will have very clear choice 
>>Sun, 12/29/2013 - 7:00am | The
News-Gazette  
>>   
>>As one of three candidates in the March 18 Democratic primary
for the 13th District U.S. House seat, I believe voters will have an
authentic choice. 
>>
>> 
>>Democrat Ann Callis' website promotes a "tough, anti-crime
judge, who for 18 years faced down murderers and drug dealers every day
to protect our neighborhoods." 
>>
>> 
>>My website states: "The War on Drugs has for four decades been a
means of disproportionately and arbitrarily incarcerating millions of
African-American men, creating a 'New Jim Crow' in American society and
destroying urban communities and families. I support movements toward
decarceration and de-criminalization, especially in relation to
nonviolent behaviors." 
>>
>> 
>>Democrat George Gollin's website states: "We must direct our
economic policies toward investment in education and research, (and)
innovation as a primary driver of job growth. ..." 
>>
>> 
>>I reject the notion that teachers and students are the source of
our economic problems, and that research and innovation magically
promote prosperity and fairness. For four decades, government policies
have increased economic inequality and unemployment by undermining
labor unions, putting American workers in competition with foreign
workers, vilifying public employees and maintaining an overvalued
dollar.  
>>
>> 
>>Research and innovation have primarily benefited the 1 percent
and are implicated in the profit-driven corporatization of academic
life.  
>>
>> 
>>My website states: "The educational system has not failed the
job market — the job market has failed students and workers, due to
self-aggrandizing decisions by bankers, corporate leaders, and
politicians." 
>>
>> 
>>Again, voters will have a unique opportunity to make an informed
choice. 
>>
>> 
>>DAVID GREEN 
>>Champaign     
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