Scranton, PA is broke...

[thereisnospoon]

... All city workers had their wages lowered to minimum wage.
This city can no longer absorb union wages. The courts have ruled the City cannot go into bankruptcy yet. So the only alternative is to slash pay.
This sucks for everyone.
This is what happens when government can no longer go to the citizens for money above and beyond current levels.
City workers wages slashed in Scranton, Pennsylvania - Yahoo! News

 

[Liability]

I hear Scranton, PA and I think of two things.

The hill outside of town with 30,000 pounds o' bananas.



And?

The endless underground fire.

 

[Amelia]

Scary for Scranton.

 

[thereisnospoon]

Scary for Scranton.

Yes it is...
The issue here is what buried the City in the first place.
The wage range for all city workers is $19 to $36 per hour. That does not include their pensions and medical benefits.
To arrive at the real cost for each worker, not including pensioners, you can add 50% to the hourly wage. So the top wage is actually over $50 per hour.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Isn't "Slow Joe" Biden from there?

 

[syrenn]

Scary for Scranton.

Yes it is...
The issue here is what buried the City in the first place.
The wage range for all city workers is $19 to $36 per hour. That does not include their pensions and medical benefits.
To arrive at the real cost for each worker, not including pensioners, you can add 50% to the hourly wage. So the top wage is actually over $50 per hour.

The unions are going to break every city and state in the very same way......

 

[Toro]

Michael Scott to the rescue!

 

[Old Rocks]

Ah yes, the fix for all of America's ills. Lower all the wages to minimum, make sure that nobody making above a million dollars has to pay any tax at all. After all, they are much too busy creating jobs to be bothered with paying taxes.

And replace the field of stars in our flag with a swastika.

 

[jillian]

scranton is noteworthy as the place Binghamton students used to go to buy grain alcohol.

keep outsourcing jobs... i'm sure it will stay that way.

 

[Douger]

... All city workers had their wages lowered to minimum wage.
This city can no longer absorb union wages. The courts have ruled the city cannot go into bankruptcy yet. So the only alternative is to slash pay.
This sucks for everyone.
This is what happens when government can no longer go to the citizens for money above and beyond current levels.
city workers wages slashed in scranton, pennsylvania - yahoo! News

gba!

 

[thereisnospoon]

Ah yes, the fix for all of America's ills. Lower all the wages to minimum, make sure that nobody making above a million dollars has to pay any tax at all. After all, they are much too busy creating jobs to be bothered with paying taxes.

And replace the field of stars in our flag with a swastika.

This is not a solution. It is an act of desperation. The system is over loaded. There is no more money to pay these out of control wages and benefits.
Your post is useless.
The issue here is clear. For decades union bosses have had virtual carte blanche on wages and benefits. No one has ever bothered to step in and ask how these things were to be paid for. The unions wanted raises and increases in benefits. The politicians said ok and the unions made sure the "cooperative" politicians were reelected.
The gravy train has run out of gas. OVER.
The workers are just going to have to get used to market rate wages and benefits which are prevalent in the private sector.

 

[thereisnospoon]

scranton is noteworthy as the place Binghamton students used to go to buy grain alcohol.

keep outsourcing jobs... i'm sure it will stay that way.

What the hell does "out sourcing" have to do with anything?
If you are referring to business leaving Scranton, blame the high cost of union labor and blame poor management decisions.

 

[Rozman]

But to fix the economy the Libs want more money to be put in the hands of the consumers.
And by that I think they mean union workers who they feel are being picked on.

 

[old navy]

Michael Scott to the rescue!

Things went downhill quick when Michael left. That Robert California was just wrong for Dunder-Mifflin.

 

[thereisnospoon]

But to fix the economy the Libs want more money to be put in the hands of the consumers.
And by that I think they mean union workers who they feel are being picked on.

Yes. We're "picking on" those poor abused government workers.
Please. In the big union states like NJ NY CA IL and others, unionized public workers have enriched themselves with far above market wages and gold plated benefits all coming at taxpayer expense.

 

[MHunterB]

Isn't "Slow Joe" Biden from there?

No, Biden is from Delaware.

 

[MHunterB]

"The move by Doherty, a Democrat, slashed wages of about 390 public workers who had been earning between $19 to $36 an hour, according to a lawsuit. The mayor's wages as well as members of the City Council were also cut to minimum wage."

At least he seems to be trying to play fair, and tighten his own belt too!

 

[thereisnospoon]

Isn't "Slow Joe" Biden from there?

No, Biden is from Delaware.

According to the bio on Wiki, Biden was Born in Scranton, PA. He spent the first 10 years of his life there. Then his family moved to Delaware.

 

[uscitizen]

We must lower our standard of living so we can compete with the Chinese, Indians, etc of the world.

I have been saying this as an outcome of world trade and globalization since the 80's.

 

[jillian]

scranton is noteworthy as the place Binghamton students used to go to buy grain alcohol.

keep outsourcing jobs... i'm sure it will stay that way.

What the hell does "out sourcing" have to do with anything?
If you are referring to business leaving Scranton, blame the high cost of union labor and blame poor management decisions.

if you don't understand, i'm afraid it can't be explained to you.

unions aren't the problem. thinking U.S. workers should have to live on substandard wages and compete for jobs with mexico is...