Democrats in Michigan will always do what they want when they think no one is watching. That usually means spending recklessly, causing long-term harm, and not caring who is left with the cost years after they leave.
Fortunately, some groups are watching what the Democrats will try, and in this case it is Michigan CapCon. They’re a watchdog group here in the Great Lakes State, and all Michigan residents should be glad they’re in office – especially in this case, teachers, who, if the bill passes the state House and Senate, are about to get the “screw you” treatment.
A proposal to reallocate $630 million intended to pay off teachers’ pension debt to other priorities is on the House agenda for June 20. It is Bill 5803sponsored by Rep. Matt Koleszar, D-Plymouth.
A successful petition to bring the bill to the House would lead to a vote on redistributing the money earmarked to pay off $29.9 billion in debt to teachers and others included in the Michigan Public Schools Employee Retirement System. The bill would still need to be approved by the Senate and signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
The amendment proposed in the bill would reduce contributions to pension funds and boost costs to taxpayers by an additional $1.4 billion, the Reason Foundation.
To be fair, politicians of both parties are always cheerful to spend other people’s money while claiming that, as elected officials who pay taxes, the money they’re wasting is to assist all the taxpayers they represent. I think anyone over the age of 30 has figured out that the universal politician’s claim usually does more harm than good.
That they have the nerve to grab over $600 million that was supposed to go to the teachers’ pension fund, which is already $30 billion (yes, with a B) in the red, is incredibly immoral and idiotic. The fact that the Democrats, who claim to represent the working class and always include teachers and teachers’ unions in that group, are raiding this pension fund that is supposed to protect their pensions shows exactly where their priorities lie.
Not with the teachers.
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this happen to politicians backed by union money. Of course, the UAW has mocked the very workers it represents, as I reported here months ago.
READ MORE: The UAW should strike the Biden administration over efforts to cut auto jobs
As I wrote back then:
When I read this article Here and when I looked at some numbers on how many jobs would be lost by switching to electric vehicles, I was amazed that the union leadership would even give the Democrats a dime.
President Joe Biden praised General Motors CEO Mary Barra at a 2022 event, saying, “We owe you a lot” for pushing the auto industry toward all-electric production over the next decade. The president’s kind words for Barra and their decision to join forces to support the transition to electric vehicles could prove undoing for both parties in the wake of a historic United Auto Workers strike.
The 150,000-member union has called Barra an example of the corporate greed of the “Big Three” automakers, which include Ford and Stellantis. The UAW, which launched a strike at four auto plants last week, took a shot at Barra because of her industry-leading annual salary of $29 million. UAW President Shawn Fain explained “war” on the Big Three last month, citing the $200 million Barra has raked in over the past decade. The union is demanding a huge pay and benefit boost for its members, as well as assurances that jobs will be protected during the transition to electric vehicle production.
This dramatic change is likely to come at a high cost in terms of jobs in the auto industry, and the transition to electric vehicles is at the heart of autoworkers’ complaints. According to an estimateThe transition to electric vehicle production will cost 117,000 jobs in the automotive industry.
These high estimates are not coming from some right-wing think tank that just wants to destroy the planet. The UAW people themselves are raising the alarm, and the members and the media seem to be keeping peaceful about it.
“The jobs of the workers who make engines and transmissions today will disappear as we move to electric vehicles,” said Jennifer Kelly, UAW research director, earlier this year. And Ford CEO Jim Farley said last year he expected electric vehicles to require 40 percent fewer workers than conventional cars.
Therefore, supporting the switch to electric cars, which would result in FEWER auto jobs for UAW members, and reallocating funds that were earmarked for teacher pensions, is seen as a good move by Labor.
If you have friends like that, you don’t need enemies.
