Cold-Blooded Cuts in Kansas
Pop quiz: what do Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel have in common?
Answer: they’re all accomplished and innovative union busters.
But even among such competition, Chris Christie stands. Not only did he decide to just skip the payments New Jersey is supposed to pay into the fund, he steered the money saved (read “taken”) to movers and shakers connected to his Wall St. wifey! That’s a neat trick.
Now everyone’s following suit. If Christie can bust out the unions (read police associations) in New Jersey, why shouldn’t Brownback be able to do the same in Kansas?
Brownback’s at the plate and looking for a double. He plans to cut classroom funding for Kansas schools by $127 million and also push pension fund payments way, way off into the future, so your retirement money can be used more productively.
You know, for more corporate tax cuts and other important things like financial services executives repairing their car elevators in one of their summer homes.