Wayne Root: Obama Death Panels Equal Unions

Wayne Allyn Root is a frequent contributor to the Gambling911.com website and the 2008 Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate.  Today he goes off on President Obama, claiming among other things that "Obama is the first president owned by the unions" and that he is "Modeling the USA after Michigan and California - government employee unions go wild".  Wayne Allyn Root's views do not necessarily reflect those of Gambling911.com nor its management.

There was never going to be a heavy tax on high value "Cadillac" health insurance policies. That was just a smokescreen. That was just a "placeholder" until Obama could come up with taxes on business owners to replace it. Under Obama, it is always the "rich" who will pay. Whether it's a surcharge on income, or a huge increase in Medicare taxes, or an expansion of Medicare taxes to include profits on investment income...you can bet your bottom dollar that it is "the rich" who will pay for universal healthcare.

The problem is this category that Democrats call "the rich" is primarily small business owners -- the same small business owners that create 80% of all new jobs. Without small business participating...and motivated...there can be no increase in jobs. There can be no increase in taxes revenues. There can be no money to fund Obama's bailouts, or nonstop stimulus packages, or his gigantic expansion of government. 

Unfortunately, Obama is owned lock, stock and barrel - bought and paid for by the unions. Without union contributions and groundwork, Democrat politicians couldn't win an election. So Obama wants more unions, and more power for unions (see Card Check). That's why he used stimulus funds primarily to hire more federal government union employees; to keep state government employee union members employed; and in many cases to actually give them raises!(Over 50% of all union workers are government employees!) That's why he used bailouts to save auto union jobs- even though it is their obscene compensation, pensions and free healthcare that bankrupted the automakers in the first place.  Let's call it socialist logic- reward the very people that destroy jobs and wreck the economy.

Obama and his cohorts in Congress, Pelosi and Reid, are turning all of America into one big Michigan (the most unionized state) and California (a state controlled by state employee unions). There's one problem- these states are models of miserable failure.  Michigan has the nation´s worst economy; the highest unemployment; and the most moving vans headed out of state. As a result of union domination, Detroit is becoming a ghost town with its population cut in half. Detroit's non-union citizens are running for their lives. Detroit is the first city to ever experience auctions for private homes for $100- AND FIND NO TAKERS.  This is Obama´s vision for America - is it yours? 

But wait, union-heavy California is even worse (if that's possible). California is the best example of what happens when too many of a state's residents work for government. California has the most government employees in the nation...as well as the highest paid government employees in the nation. What a deadly combination! The results? California had the biggest budget deficit ever, the lowest bond ratings, and is rated as the worst state in America to do business. They "solved" their budget deficit with band-aids, spit, mirrors and glue... for a few weeks.  Now, it´s magically back... $20 billion and growing. California is only being kept alive by respirator and stimulus money from your pocket and mine.

The people of California pay massive taxes and don't understand how this happened. The fact is the state of California's economy is wrecked because its structure is fatally flawed due to the unions- even billions of dollars in bailouts from the federal government cannot save it.  California is like a patient with terminal illness facing Obama and Pelosi's death panels- it must be let go. California must declare bankruptcy and default on its debt. Then it must break all government employee union contracts in bankruptcy court. And start over. 

Mr. Obama, here are some solutions to slaying the government employee union monster that destroys all it touches. End the conflict of interest allowing politicians, elected by the unions to negotiate union contracts.  Limit government employee compensation (including benefits and pensions) to no more than that of the private sector. End government employee rip-offs like "step up" salary increases. No one gets these pay boosts in the private sector. Why should government employees get raises in the middle of a depression?  End the fraud of defined benefit pension plans allowing government employees to use raises and overtime in their last 3 years on the job to determine pension pay for the rest of their lives. Make retirement benefits based on the value of contributions made during employment that are actually set aside each month and protected from government theft. Make future retirees pay for their own healthcare in retirement or survive on Medicare - just like the rest of us! Most important of all is to make sure government employee raises are based only on performance and they can be fired for poor performance- just like the rest of us, the taxpayers who pay their salaries.


Oh, one more solution...and it's a BIG ONE. Effective immediately all government employees must work until age 65 just like the rest of us. No more retiring at age 45 or 50...and then collecting 40 years of a $90,000 pension. How outrageous. How ridiculous. How obscene. When I want to be paid, I work. If I don't work, I don't get paid. Why should government employees be treated differently? The days of $90,000 pensions for NOT working for the next 40 years are over. The world has changed- forever. Union contracts are poisonous to the survival of our economy.

Now those are the revolutionary ideas that Obama should be considering. In the midst of economic Armageddon all of the old rules are suspended. From this day forward, those groups who eat up the revenues of government and taxpayers (unions) should be reined in, and those groups who create the jobs and tax revenues (taxpayers) should be rewarded. Instead under Obama, Pelosi and Reid, everything is reversed. No wonder the economy is getting worse. No wonder the job picture is bleak- and getting bleaker. We have people running government who have never created a job. The only thing they know about business or jobs- is what they've read in a book. And the only books they've read are authored by Karl Marx.  

We have a President who thinks his hero Abraham Lincoln saved the unions. No, Obama, you've got it wrong. The "union" he saved was America. If Obama wants to save America, it isn't the unions he needs to save, it's the private sector. He needs to reward the small business owners and investors who risk their life savings to create jobs and build businesses.


Instead I predict that Obama will cave to the unions, reduce or eliminate the Cadillac insurance policy tax...and punish the taxpayers and job creators who own the small businesses of America. Anyone want to take my bet?

But I have a surprise for Obama: You've killed the goose that laid the golden egg. You've chosen the wrong side. Unions can't help you save the economy or your Presidency. To the contrary, they can only drag the U.S. economy down- and your Presidency with it. You've rewarded the wrong group. Your decision will end your political future. Just like the states of Michigan and California, your political career...and the careers of every Democrat that votes for universal healthcare...are now effectively over. You don't know it yet. You will soon. It turns out there are death panels afterall- they are called UNIONS.

Wayne Allyn Root was the 2008 Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate. His new book is entitled, "The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gambling & Tax Cuts." For more of Wayne's views, commentaries, or to watch his many national media appearances, please visit his web site at: ROOTforAmerica.com

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Wayne Allyn Root, Gambling911.com Special Contributor