Progressive Government Is Obsolete

[Politically_Incorrect12]

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703560404576189011057064084.html

By STEPHEN GOLDSMITH
Across the country, the interests of organized labor, elected officials and taxpayers are colliding over wages, work rules and the astronomical costs of retiree pensions and health care. As important as these specific issues are to resolve, there is another, more fundamental problem causing so many Americans to lose faith in their government: It is not government unions per se but progressive government itself—long celebrated in Wisconsin, New York and elsewhere—that no longer produces progressive results.

In the early 20th century, the progressives championed a rule-based approach to public-sector management that was a big step forward from the cronyism and corruption of Tammany Hall. Today, however, the very rules that once enhanced accountability, transparency and efficiency now stifle the creativity of public-sector workers and reduce the ability of public investments to create opportunities for citizens—outcomes precisely the opposite of those intended by Progressive Era reformers.

New York City has more than 300,000 employees who work under more than 100 collective-bargaining agreements, along with layers of bureaucratic state civil-service laws. State law mandates that over 1,500 job titles must be filled through competitive written exams, specifically ignoring an employee's actual performance or qualifications. We are even required to administer a civil-service test for the head of our Police Department's counterterrorism unit! (We found a way around it.)

Seniority rules require that layoffs are based on date of hire, not merit. These rules also prevent any significant rewards for outstanding performance and make dismissing bad apples in the Big Apple all but impossible. Even asking employees for their ideas can be against the rules.

There is more to the article. Thoughts?

[henryclay]

"......... Progressive Government Is Obsolete.........."

With a hundred years track record that has brought the country to the brink of financilal ruin what else needs to be said?

[deziloooooo]

Mar 18, 2011 16:58:07 GMT -5 Politically_Incorrect12 said:

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703560404576189011057064084.html

By STEPHEN GOLDSMITH
Across the country, the interests of organized labor, elected officials and taxpayers are colliding over wages, work rules and the astronomical costs of retiree pensions and health care. As important as these specific issues are to resolve, there is another, more fundamental problem causing so many Americans to lose faith in their government: It is not government unions per se but progressive government itself—long celebrated in Wisconsin, New York and elsewhere—that no longer produces progressive results.

In the early 20th century, the progressives championed a rule-based approach to public-sector management that was a big step forward from the cronyism and corruption of Tammany Hall. Today, however, the very rules that once enhanced accountability, transparency and efficiency now stifle the creativity of public-sector workers and reduce the ability of public investments to create opportunities for citizens—outcomes precisely the opposite of those intended by Progressive Era reformers.

New York City has more than 300,000 employees who work under more than 100 collective-bargaining agreements, along with layers of bureaucratic state civil-service laws. State law mandates that over 1,500 job titles must be filled through competitive written exams, specifically ignoring an employee's actual performance or qualifications. We are even required to administer a civil-service test for the head of our Police Department's counterterrorism unit! (We found a way around it.)

Seniority rules require that layoffs are based on date of hire, not merit. These rules also prevent any significant rewards for outstanding performance and make dismissing bad apples in the Big Apple all but impossible. Even asking employees for their ideas can be against the rules.

There is more to the article. Thoughts?

New York is a example where the years of collective bargaining, Tammany Hall by so many professional politicians and the size of the place and the inability of the citizens to allow their elected officials to bargain on their behalf correctly by willing to suffer short term discomfort while they do their bargaining has become a mess.

To go completely the other way is not the answer but like our federal system , what makes you think labor and management would bargain fairly.

There is a large pie here and it seems everyone wants to have a piece of it.

[privateinvestor]

Progressive Government Is Obsolete


Probably not "obsolete" but progressive government policies were a complete failure in CA for the past ten years for one simple reason our state government spent more than the revenues it received each and every year. Leaving us with a financial mess to deal with.

And unless we are able to have bipartisan agreement on our Federal Budget than an old saying may be true " So goes California, so goes the Nation"..

[straydog]

Alot of New Yorkers put Andrew Cuomo into the governors seat. It seems that they like the way things are done there. I feel bad for those who voted against him but now have to live with it.

[Shirina]

It's not obsolete, it just needs an overhaul.

[safeharbor37]

The problem with collective bargaining in the public sector is that the employees have no limits on what they can demand and the employer [the government] has no limit on what it can promise since it isn't the government representative's money and their successors will have to deal out the hole their predecessors dug for them.
The public, specifically the tax payers, is the entity with the most to lose and they are the last to be consulted. Currently there are labor unions demanding retention of benefits the public can't afford and those politicians who are trying to protect the publics interests are subject to any kind of attack that organized labor can muster.
Another problem is that America doesn't have a population with homogeneous interests. Labor has its priorities, Blacks have theirs, Hispanics have theirs, Jews of course, etc. Many, particularly smaller, countries have populations with more unity of purpose. This is particularly evident in Japan as it undergoes its trials and tribulations ~ uncomplaining and stoic, mostly. In the US, not only every group, but it seems that every individual has his/its own priorities and none of those are in the interest of others or the public at large.
Some progressive initiatives seem to have been helpful for a while at least, but maybe have simply gone too far. I wouldn't like to see a labor market without labor unions, or at least the possibility of unionizing. Some government initiatives have had beneficial effects most of us wouldn't want to do without [particularly some of us who've lived when some weren't in effect ~ and therefore can tell the difference].
I think it would be helpful if the public says to those who wish to benefit at everyone else's expense; "Back off or we'll cut your benefits even more and see how you like that!" It's our country and it's time we took it back!

[Shirina]

It's our country and it's time we took it back!

Take it back from whom? The middle class? Because that is essentially what's happening.

[safeharbor37]

Take it back from whom?

From those who'd use extortion to continue sucking the taxpayers dry. Union workers aren't and never have been the core of the middle class and, in general, unions don't even serve union workers well. That has been the liberal propaganda, that if they just make a certain amount of money, they'll be middle class. Middle class is more a way of thinking, a way of life, than it is a income range. That's why lottery winners don't usually end up rich ~ or happy. A fool and his money is soon parted and those who think that a certain income is middle class are fools ~ that's why they whine so much ~ they don't understand that it is not society, business or government's fault ~ it is theirs. The first rule of middle class life is to take responsibility and stop blaming others.

[hello fromWarsaw]

Voodoo economics has been enriching the rich and squashing the nonrich for 30 years. You are sorely misled, Mr. Doubletalk.
Way to blame the victims and be a tool of the greedy...

[safeharbor37]

Those who consider being a citizen of the US as victim-hood probably think that it's "Voodoo Economics" that's to blame rather than their own stupidity and incompetence. I notice that they spend every penny they can put their hands on and wonder why they don't get ahead. Unfortunately, they ain't no [there isn't any] cure for stupid.

[hello fromWarsaw]

The victims of pub policy, - you don't like the big picture much?

[hello fromWarsaw]

I'm not talking about me- I'm talking about the biggest rich/poor difference EVER and the lowest minimum wage EVER, etc etc etc