London Paralyzed Full Stop
The government has taken a bite out of pensions. Workers are angry and have gone on a massive strike, paralyzing the nation. Cameron continues to hack at the working class and poor to get government expense in line. That is the same strategy as American Republicans.
Blame the trouble on the needy and take away from those who can protest the least. Whoops. That backfired. It will backfire in America too.
Can it happen in America?
In the words of Sarah Palin, “You betcha.”
[q url=“http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/06/30/52596318.html]
“UK paralyzed by public sector strike
On June 30th, some 750,000 teachers and civil servants are holding a one-day coordinated strike in Great Britain.
An estimated one eighth of all public sector workers have taken to the streets of British cities, accompanied by quite a number of border service staff members. The walkout paralyzed or severely hampered the work of many government agencies, universities, schools, courts, unemployment offices, social service and driving license test centers, as well as the country’s sea and air hubs.
The main reason that encouraged hundreds of thousands of Britons to join the strike was their discontent with the government’s plans to reform the current model of providing public service pensions and raise the retirement age for civil servants from 60 to 66. David Cameron’s coalition government is also going to increase superannuation contributions by an average 3.2 percent and change the entire pension calculation system. Thus, pensions will be based on average earnings over the course of a whole career, rather than pre-retirement pay.”
The quote needs to be shorter (50 words is actually the ideal), and the attribution points to this page... just give me a shout if you want a hand with the blockquotes, or see this page for some quick tips.
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Truemors
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (19)
at 14:45 on June 30th, 2011
Very good article Jim, you framed the situation perfectly. Can you see a workable solution whereby the government saves money and the workers don't loose out?
at 15:14 on June 30th, 2011
I think that "independent" actuaries needed to audit the benefits and present an acceptable case for making adjustments. Second, if adjustments are needed, government can't expect people to make cold turkey changes without advance notice. That requires phasing in by affected age groups.
When government obligations have exceeded peoples' ability to afford them, an honest case must be made about government priorities. Clearly, governments that are strapped at home cannot afford wars around the world and foreign policy must become exceedingly more conservative. In addition, immigration controls must ensure that immigrants are not adding to society's burden.
at 16:55 on June 30th, 2011
I think the wrench had better disappear pretty quick or you wont have a single new story from YankeeJim.
at 17:47 on June 30th, 2011
'NowPublic Staff flagged this story as Needs Improvement'.. Wtf..lol
"I get no respect"..
at 17:32 on June 30th, 2011
CENSORSHIP IS AT WORK!
at 02:29 on July 1st, 2011
I am heading back to Amplify and MIXX.
at 04:14 on July 1st, 2011
Hey Jim, we need you here, it just wont be the same without you. Stay and continue your good work!!!.
at 07:17 on July 1st, 2011
I especially enjoy your contributions. I think you have classed up the joint and increased readership. I don't appreciate cheap shots by the administrative staff. It takes an effort to crank stuff out and I expect them to help and not hinder the process. If they see a mistake in html or whatever, fix it.
I actually like editorial suggestions regarding story length, etc. But I had administrative messing around.
at 13:30 on July 2nd, 2011
Thank you Jim, I'm pleased you decided to stay.
at 08:10 on July 3rd, 2011
A couple of days in and it is still wrenched. They are messing with me. So, it is time to work someplace else.
at 07:19 on July 1st, 2011
I tried to fix this and the wrench is still on the story. Do you mind asking them to remove it?
at 06:48 on July 1st, 2011
Unionized civil servants gathering en-mass to say FU taxpayer. You owe me and I'm not making any concession to your difficulty in these dire times to ease your tax burden. Just like Obama raising the salary and benefits of our civil service while we fight a government debt that is bankrupting us. Because we all know unionized civil servants represent the poor and disenfranchised. LOL.
at 07:18 on July 1st, 2011
Obama froze wages, remember.
Reducing the size of government will increase unemployment.
at 09:07 on July 1st, 2011
He reduced the percentages. That's not freezing. A freeze means there is no upward movement on salary period. Not only has Obama expanded the size of government by ~ 33% when he walked in the door. He gave them raises and increased their benefit packages. Just recently another 2% was budgeted. His big boon to the Military [as justification] for this budget 2011was a whopping 1.4%. And we both know how much they earn compared to the civilian civil servant. What he froze was the salary to the senior White House staff. Reducing the size of government after expanding it in the first place is the kind of unemployment that we can survive and does not equate to the 40+ million unemployed non-civil servants. Them poor bast^rds that must be taxed to carry the weight of an ever expanding government service sector in a time of a government debt crisis.
at 08:03 on July 1st, 2011
Release the spanner so we can enjoy YankeeJim's contribution
at 10:47 on July 1st, 2011
An uncensored world is a dangerous world.
at 11:36 on July 1st, 2011
I found what they were talking about. Somehow, the reference [q url=“http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/06/30/52596318.html] was converted to an internal reference. I think that I fixed it.
at 18:36 on July 8th, 2011
Sabotage
at 20:58 on July 8th, 2011
Please, lets not bring Scrivener here..