Friends, their images are all over the airwaves: impossibly good-looking old people, grinning like idiots, stewing in the euphoria that the Ford Motor Company, or Macy's, or Colt 45, inevitably conveys. Personally, I prefer my oldsters crabby and iconoclastic, but that's a matter of individual taste. The important thing is that every American dreams of retirement, and they imagine themselves as financially independent when they get there. Gov. Cuomo and the Democrats in New York's state legislature have a plan to chip away at those dreams, bit by bit. They want to subordinate the management of New Yorkers' retirement assets to the whims of their extreme ideology, generally, and eco-radicalism, in particular. They want, in short, to prevent the state's Common Retirement Fund from investing in "fossil fuels," which they consider to be icky. This is the thin edge of the wedge, believe me. Before long, they'll have banned fossil fuels, tripled the cost of energy, and impoverished hundreds of thousands of retirees. And do you really think they'll stop at divesting from fossil fuels? How many other vibrant American companies are already on liberals' naughty lists? Too many to name.
Check out my latest article, and see if you agree:
https://townhall.com/columnists/nicholaswaddy/2019/03/23/keeping-the-lights-onand-keeping-your-retirement-safe-n2543562
Dr.Waddy: As a NY State government pensioner and VERY grateful to the state taxpayer, I say with all sincerity, I would suggest that the state employee unions, which have had much influence on this Governor, will not countenance a threat to their power. That would of course be realized should retirement benefits be reduced.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting conflict this promises. In my experience, NY public employee unions have been blithe to express support,for example, for impassioned efforts to preserve Hawaiian volcanoes ( though it is hard to imagine humans having any say in this, especially at a remove of, say, 5000 miles(?). But when the objective reality of the PRICE of starry environmental idealism is visited upon them in their own state, well, they may fluff, yes?
Jack, that's a very interesting reaction. Of course, you're right that the unions ought to have a very compelling interest in the financial security of their retirees. And yet I'm not aware of the unions taking a position on this issue, or of their having any authority over the Common Retirement Fund. Perhaps they long ago delegated power over investment decisions to the Comptroller? You're right, though, that they might blanch at political interference with the pension system on principle -- assuming they had any principles besides "the Democrats are always right"...
ReplyDeleteMy experience at a NYS public employee union convention just before Hillary ran for the Senate from "her" NY ,at which I got in her face, that my NYS Union was completely compromised for the left, convinces me that Dem domination is ever present. But: we know the left is blithe to devour its own should it think it necessary. Andrew Cuomo would do so without hesitation and would then bleat "why look at these selfish state workers and these parasitic pensioners" were it necessary to fund his leftist assault on our proven energy sources, motivated by his ignorant disdain for free enterprise and its proven benefits.
ReplyDeleteTrue, Jack. It's a delicious irony that, precisely because NY is so very blue, the various left-wing interest groups, including unions, may be relatively powerless, because no Democrat needs them to win... The untimely death of the NYS GOP may not work out as the Left had intended. Think of it this way: why was the Soviet "workers' paradise" so cruel to its workers? Answer: because it could be.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy: My union, for which I labored as a Steward, for local concerns, affected industrial labor union postures,like bravely raising fists and talking "oppression" , while actually enjoying outstanding benefits. Yes, the union is to be thanked for much of that but enough already; we have it infinitely better than '30's steelworkers and autoworkers, thanx also to the NY taxpayer and NY State Civil Service Law. Very obvious Marxists, devoted to using the union's power to advance political causes inimical to the everyday interests of the majority of members, were rife at union functions, spreading unwarranted discontent. For me, these events were like Dante's descent into Dis.
ReplyDeleteNY politics promise endless fascination as our state progresses in displaying unfettered leftist dictatorial sway to a nation viscerally opposed and aroused.
I remember even fanatic Brit leftists bidding then USSR President Podgorny stay away from "perfidious Albion"; Soviet oppression of workers was "that" well known "then".
Jack, thank heavens the workers of the world never did unite behind the poisonous drivel of Karl Marx! They're not uniting behind the Democratic Party either.
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