California Dreamin'
So, can you afford an 18% salary cut? I sure as hell can't.
I'm not a math wizard but I'm pretty sure that if I was making $8.00 an hour and then my pay was going to be reduced to $6.55 an hour, I'd be very upset and would have a very hard time making ends meet. Especially when a gallon of gas costs almost half of that hourly rate now.
This morning, however, there's an article in SF Gate about the Governator's plan to help solve the state budget crisis by doing that very thing: by cutting the hourly wages of state workers. (I am going to take a leap of faith in assuming that even the C-student journalism standards of SF Gate got the reporting on this story correct.)
According to his website, Arnold Schwarzenegger is known as "The People's Governor." I've known that the man's held this office for some years now, but like most "breaking" news, world events, and things lumped into the category of I'll-Never-Understand-This and I-Can't-Do-Anything-About-It-Anyway, I just haven't troubled myself much to have an opinion on the matter of his governorship. I'm of the mindset generally that there's really one political party, the object of which is to maintain the status quo for those in power. So I'll just go about my business and live my life and keep reading George Orwell from time to time to sharpen my skepticism. Unless things change in November.
(It's also very hard for me to visualize this person as our governor because I know what he looks like naked. I will admit to seeing all three Terminator films, but those movies did not inspire me to vote for the guy.)
I don't know about you, but this proposed policy just sounds horribly unfair and that it will hurt the people who need that $1.45 an hour extra the most. I just wrote this post about democracy and got all hopeful again, and then I read things like this and figure nothing will really change.
What do you think? Is California more deluded than other places? How did we get to all of this?
5 comments:
I don´t think they are anymore deluded than say...Argentina por ejemplo!
Oh, Miss Tango, you have the plastic surgery Barbies and we have the steroid abusers...it must just be a particular breed that makes politicians (and certain actors)?
what will they think of next? cutting someones pay? how is that ever a good idea? way to demoralize the already unsatisfied state workers. it isn't enough that california has several thousand unsatisfied VA and government workers; and then the uncountable homeless population. but sure, misery loves company. grr, this is irritating.
I know, sarah. It's so incredible that this is the best solution (not including laying off seasonal workers and interns, which I did not even mention).
I am sure the highly paid people who work for the state, who could afford to have their pay docked, will be just fine.
Sorry to irritate you!
Write him a letter! Law can be changed if enough people write in and complain. Unfortunately, they usually don't thinking they don't have the power to effect change but they do.
He's solving the crisis by slashing workers' wages? Bad policy. I don't understand it either.
Post a Comment