DaButt
Thursday 5th August 2010 5:22pm
14,722 posts
Quote: chipolata @ August 5 2010, 5:50 PM BST
I always thought the government was made up of people.
The government is comprised of a small percentage of "the people" and they seem to have forgotten who their masters are and any economics courses they may have taken in college don't appear to have sunk in. If you and I ran our personal finances/businesses the way they run the government we'd all find ourselves fighting for a spot in line at the soup kitchen.
A recent example of citizens saying "enough." Note that this took place in a staunchly Democrat city of poor, non-Caucasians in a staunchly Democrat state.
Hundreds of residents of one of the poorest municipalities in Los Angeles County shouted in protest last night as tensions rose over a report that the city's manager earns an annual salary of almost $800,000.
An overflow crowd packed a City Council meeting in Bell, a mostly Hispanic city of 38,000 about 10 miles (16 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, to call for the resignation of Mayor Oscar Hernandez and other city officials. Residents left standing outside the chamber banged on the doors and shouted "fuera," or "get out" in Spanish.
It was the first council meeting since the Los Angeles Times reported July 15 that Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo earns $787,637 -- with annual 12 percent raises -- and that Bell pays its police chief $457,000, more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck makes in a city of 3.8 million people. Bell council members earn almost $100,000 for part-time work.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-20/california-official-s-800-000-salary-in-city-of-38-000-triggers-protests.html
Another story about the hole California has dug for itself:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-la-city-pensions-20100804,0,5060130.story