The military is cutting back on hot meals for our troops in Afghanistan and the White House (The People's House as Michelle Obama called it) is closed for tours, but laid off Boeing Workers through their union, worked out the sweetest, over the top deal with Uncle Sam you can imagine. How does 2.5 years of unemployment pay, 90% reimbursement for travel to job interviews, 90% reimbursement on relocation costs, plus a lump sum $1,250 payment for that relocation sound. Do you think you could get along just fine for 2.5 years without working, thanks to the American taxpayer?
Granted, this one program that is a sweet deal for Boeing workers isn't going to bankrupt the government, but the problem is there are probably tens of thousands of similar programs and many wasteful ways of government spending and subsidies that we have just been piling on one another for decades. While the International Association of Machinists union worked to get this deal with the government and Boeing, the thing union thugs don't seem to realize is that outrageous programs like this need to be paid for. That money has to come from somewhere. Just like $900 toilet seats for the Pentagon, all the vacations Barack Obama takes, the failed green jobs initiatives like Solyndra and a truckload of other government programs the money to pay for them comes from taxpayers and taxpayers are running out of it and are tired of it.
It also isn't a good idea for the government to subsidize non-productivity. The Keynesian economic model adherents like Paul Krugman can dance all around how this money going to laid-off workers will stimulate the economy because they have to buy groceries, pay bills, buy household items and the like, but the truth is this is nothing more than wealth redistribution. When you go way beyond a simple leg up of six months unemployment and extend that to 2.5 years you are encouraging people to be less productive and eventually you run out of money to pay people who are not working.
For the economy to work, you can't pay people to be unproductive for long periods by taking money from the people that are productive to pay for this. Does anyone need a better example than Detroit Michigan going bankrupt to see what unions have done to productivity and the bottom line?
Is anyone in higher government listening or are they just interested in buying votes and power for themselves while the country descends eventually into financial chaos?
Read more on the Boeing Workers benefit package from The Seattle Times below:
Thanks to a federal program lined up by their unions, local workers laid off during the current dip in employment at Boeing Commercial Airplanes will enjoy a financial cushion that’s much, much plumper than what the average unemployed state resident gets.
“Compared to what Joe Worker gets when they get laid off, our members have a pretty extensive safety net,” said Connie Kelliher, spokeswoman for the International Association of Machinists (IAM).
The U.S. Department of Labor has approved Boeing workers — union or nonunion, production workers or engineers — laid off between April 2012 and June 2015 for a package of benefits that includes drawing unemployment pay for up to 2½ years, rather than the regular six months.
The Labor Department ruling also means that if laid-off Boeing workers need to travel, say to California, for a job interview, the government will reimburse 90 percent of the costs.
If they relocate for a new job, the government will pay 90 percent of their moving expenses and provide an additional lump-sum relocation allowance of up to $1,250.
While unemployed, they’ll also get a tax credit for nearly three-quarters of their health-care premiums. And they’re eligible for a grant of up to $25,000 toward the cost of a degree.
And for those workers over 50, if they have to take a lower-paid job after leaving Boeing, the government will provide up to $10,000 over two years in supplementary pay to make up some of the difference.