Economic Terrorists
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http://www.businessinsider.com/seiu-union-plan-to-destroy-jpmorgan
CAUGHT ON TAPE: Former SEIU Official Reveals Secret Plan To Destroy JP Morgan, Crash The Stock Market, And Redistribute Wealth In America
Henry Blodget
Mar. 22, 2011, 9:44 AM
A former official of one of the country's most-powerful unions, SEIU, is detailing a secret plan to "destabilize" the country.
Specifically, the plan seeks to destroy JP Morgan, nuke the stock market, and weaken Wall Street's grip on power, thus creating the conditions necessary for a redistribution of wealth and a change in government.
The former SEIU official, Steven Lerner, spoke in a closed session at a Pace University forum last weekend.
The Blaze procured what appears to be a tape of Lerner's remarks. Many Americans will undoubtely sympathize with and support them. Still, the "destabilization" plan is startling in its specificity, especially coming so close on the heels of the financial crisis.
Lerner said that unions and community organizations are, for all intents and purposes, dead. The only way to achieve their goals, therefore--the redistribution of wealth and the return of "$17 trillion" stolen from the middle class by Wall Street--is to "destabilize the country."
Lerner's plan is to organize a mass, coordinated "strike" on mortgage, student loan, and local government debt payments--thus bringing the banks to the edge of insolvency and forcing them to renegotiate the terms of the loans. This destabilization and turmoil, Lerner hopes, will also crash the stock market, isolating the banking class and allowing for a transfer of power.
Lerner's plan starts by attacking JP Morgan Chase in early May, with demonstrations on Wall Street, protests at the annual shareholder meeting, and then calls for a coordinated mortgage strike.
Lerner also says explicitly that, although the attack will benefit labor unions, it cannot be seen as being organized by them. It must therefore be run by community organizations.
Lerner was ousted from SEIU last November, reportedly for spending millions of the union's dollars trying to pursue a plan like the one he details here. It is not clear what, if any, power and influence he currently wields. His main message--that Wall Street won the financial crisis, that inequality in this country is hitting record levels, and that there appears to be no other way to stop the trend--will almost certainly resonate.
A transcript of Lerner's full reported remarks is below, courtesy of The Blaze. We have heard the tape, but we have not independently verified that the voice is Lerner's. You can listen to the tape here.
Here are the key remarks:
Unions are almost dead. We cannot survive doing what we do but the simple fact of the matter is community organizations are almost dead also. And if you think about what we need to do it may give us some direction which is essentially what the folks that are in charge - the big banks and everything - what they want is stability.
There are actually extraordinary things we could do right now to start to destabilize the folks that are in power and start to rebuild a movement.
For example, 10% of homeowners are underwater right their home they are paying more for it then its worth 10% of those people are in strategic default, meaning they are refusing to pay but they are staying in their home that's totally spontaneous they figured out it takes a year to kick me out of my home because foreclosure is backed up
If you could double that number you would you could put banks at the edge of insolvency again.
Students have a trillion dollar debt
We have an entire economy that is built on debt and banks so the question would be what would happen if we organized homeowners in mass to do a mortgage strike if we get half a million people to agree it would literally cause a new finical crisis for the banks not for us we would be doing quite well we wouldn't be paying anything...
We have to think much more creatively. The key thing... What does the other side fear the most - they fear disruption. They fear uncertainty. Every article about Europe says in they rioted in Greece the markets went down
The folks that control this country care about one thing how the stock market goes what the bond market does how the bonuses goes. We have a very simple strategy:
* How do we bring down the stock market
* How do we bring down their bonuses
* How do we interfere with there ability to be rich...
So a bunch of us around the country think who would be a really good company to hate we decided that would be JP Morgan Chase and so we are going to roll out over the next couple of months what would hopefully be an exciting campaign about JP Morgan Chase that is really about challenge the power of Wall Street.
And so what we are looking at is the first week in May can we get enough people together starting now to really have an week of action in New York I don't want to give any details because I don't know if there are any police agents in the room.
The goal would be that we will roll out of New York the first week of May. We will connect three ideas
* that we are not broke there is plenty of money
* they have the money - we need to get it back
* and that they are using Bloomberg and other people in government as the vehicle to try and destroy us
And so we need to take on those folks at the same time. And that we will start here we are going to look at a week of civil disobedience - direct action all over the city. Then roll into the JP Morgan shareholder meeting which they moved out of New York because I guess they were afraid because of Columbus.
There is going to be a ten state mobilization to try and shut down that meeting and then looking at bank shareholder meetings around the country and try and create some moments like Madison except where we are on offense instead of defense
Where we have brave and heroic battles challenging the power of the giant corporations. We hope to inspire a much bigger movement about redistributing wealth and power in the country and that labor can’t do itself that community groups can’t do themselves but maybe we can work something new and different that can be brave enough and daring and nimble enough to do that kind of thing.
FULL TRANSCRIPT FROM THE BLAZE
SPEAKER: Steven Lerner. Speaker at the Left Forum 2011 "Towards a Politics of Solidarity" Pace University March 19, 2011
Speaker Bio: Stephen Lerner is the architect of the SEIU's groundbreaking Justice for Janitors campaign. He led the union's banking and finance campaign and has partnered with unions and groups in Europe, South American and elsewhere in campaigns to hold financial institutions accountable. As director of the union's private equity project, he launched a long campaign to expose the over-leveraged feeding frenzy of private equity firms during the boom years that led to the ensuing economic disaster.
TRANSCRIPT:
It feels to me after a long time of being on defense that something is starting to turn in the world and we just have to decide if we are on defense or offense
Maybe there is a different way to look at some of theses questions it’s hard for me to think about any part of organizing without thinking what just happened with this economic crisis and what it means
I don't know how to have a discussion about labor and community if we don't first say what do we need to do at this time in history what is the strategy that gives us some chance of winning because I spent my life time as a union organizer justice for janitors a lot of things
It seems we are at a moment where the world is going to get much much worse or much much better
Unions are almost dead we cannot survive doing what we do but the simple fact of the matter is community organizations are almost dead also and if you think about what we need to do it may give us some direction which is essentially what the folks that are in charge - the big banks and everything - what they want is stability
Every time there is a crisis in the world they say, well, the markets are stable.
What's changed in America is the economy doing well has nothing to do with the rest of us
They figured out that they don't need us to be rich they can do very well in a global market without us so what does this have to do with community and labor organizing more.
We need to figure out in a much more through direct action more concrete way how we are really trying to disrupt and create uncertainty for capital for how corporations operate
The thing about a boom and bust economy is it is actually incredibly fragile.
There are actually extraordinary things we could do right now to start to destabilize the folks that are in power and start to rebuild a movement.
For example, 10% of homeowners are underwater right their home they are paying more for it then its worth 10% of those people are in strategic default, meaning they are refusing to pay but they are staying in their home that's totally spontaneous they figured out it takes a year to kick me out of my home because foreclosure is backed up
If you could double that number you would you could put banks at the edge of insolvency again.
Students have a trillion dollar debt
We have an entire economy that is built on debt and banks so the question would be what would happen if we organized homeowners in mass to do a mortgage strike if we get half a million people to agree it would literally cause a new finical crisis for the banks not for us we would be doing quite well we wouldn't be paying anything.
Government is being strangled by debt
The four things we could do that could really upset wall street
One is if city and state and other government entities demanded to renegotiate their debt
and you might say why would the banks ever do it - because city and counties could say we won’t do business with you in the future if you won’t renegotiate the debt now
So we could leverage the power we have of government and say two things we won’t do business with you JP Morgan Chase anymore unless you do two things: you reduce the price of our interest and second you rewrite the mortgages for everybody in the communities
We could make them do that
The second thing is there is a whole question in Europe about students’ rates in debt structure. What would happen if students said we are not going to pay. It’s a trillion dollars. Think about republicans screaming about debt a trillion dollars in student debt
There is a third thing we can think about what if public employee unions instead of just being on the defensive put on the collective bargaining table when they negotiate they say we demand as a condition of negotiation that the government renegotiate - it’s crazy that you’re paying too much interest to your buddies the bankers it’s a strike issue - we will strike unless you force the banks to renegotiate/
Then if you add on top of that if we really thought about moving the kind of disruption in Madison but moving that to Wall Street and moving that to other cities around the country
We basically said you stole seventeen trillion dollars - you've improvised us and we are going to make it impossible for you to operate
Labor can’t lead this right now so if labor can’t lead but we are a critical part of it we do have money we have millions of members who are furious
But I don't think this kind of movement can happen unless community groups and other activists take the lead.
If we really believe that we are in a transformative stage of what's happening in capitalism
Then we need to confront this in a serious way and develop really ability to put a boot in the wheel then we have to think not about labor and community alliances we have to think about how together we are building something that really has the capacity to disrupt how the system operates
We need to think about a whole new way of thinking about this not as a partnership but building something new.
We have to think much more creatively. The key thing... What does the other side fear the most - they fear disruption. They fear uncertainty. Every article about Europe says in they rioted in Greece the markets went down
The folks that control this country care about one thing how the stock market goes what the bond market does how the bonuses goes. We have a very simple strategy:
* How do we bring down the stock market
* How do we bring down their bonuses
* How do we interfere with there ability to be rich
And that means we have to politically isolate them, economically isolate them and disrupt them
It’s not all theory i’ll do a pitch.
So a bunch of us around the country think who would be a really good company to hate we decided that would be JP Morgan Chase and so we are going to roll out over the next couple of months what would hopefully be an exciting campaign about JP Morgan Chase that is really about challenge the power of Wall Street.
And so what we are looking at is the first week in May can we get enough people together starting now to really have an week of action in New York I don't want to give any details because I don't know if there are any police agents in the room.
The goal would be that we will roll out of New York the first week of May. We will connect three ideas
* that we are not broke there is plenty of money
* they have the money - we need to get it back
* and that they are using Bloomberg and other people in government as the vehicle to try and destroy us
And so we need to take on those folks at the same time
and that we will start here we are going to look at a week of civil disobedience - direct action all over the city
then roll into the JP Morgan shareholder meeting which they moved out of New York because I guess they were afraid because of Columbus.
There is going to be a ten state mobilization it try and shut down that meeting and then looking at bank shareholder meetings around the country and try and create some moments like Madison except where we are on offense instead of defense
Where we have brave and heroic battles challenging the power of the giant corporations. We hope to inspire a much bigger movement about redistributing wealth and power in the country and that labor can’t do itself that community groups can’t do themselves but maybe we can work something new and different that can be brave enough and daring and nimble enough to do that kind of thing.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/seiu-union-plan-to-destroy-jpmorgan#ixzz1HL0A7mSY
CAUGHT ON TAPE: Former SEIU Official Reveals Secret Plan To Destroy JP Morgan, Crash The Stock Market, And Redistribute Wealth In America
Henry Blodget
Mar. 22, 2011, 9:44 AM
A former official of one of the country's most-powerful unions, SEIU, is detailing a secret plan to "destabilize" the country.
Specifically, the plan seeks to destroy JP Morgan, nuke the stock market, and weaken Wall Street's grip on power, thus creating the conditions necessary for a redistribution of wealth and a change in government.
The former SEIU official, Steven Lerner, spoke in a closed session at a Pace University forum last weekend.
The Blaze procured what appears to be a tape of Lerner's remarks. Many Americans will undoubtely sympathize with and support them. Still, the "destabilization" plan is startling in its specificity, especially coming so close on the heels of the financial crisis.
Lerner said that unions and community organizations are, for all intents and purposes, dead. The only way to achieve their goals, therefore--the redistribution of wealth and the return of "$17 trillion" stolen from the middle class by Wall Street--is to "destabilize the country."
Lerner's plan is to organize a mass, coordinated "strike" on mortgage, student loan, and local government debt payments--thus bringing the banks to the edge of insolvency and forcing them to renegotiate the terms of the loans. This destabilization and turmoil, Lerner hopes, will also crash the stock market, isolating the banking class and allowing for a transfer of power.
Lerner's plan starts by attacking JP Morgan Chase in early May, with demonstrations on Wall Street, protests at the annual shareholder meeting, and then calls for a coordinated mortgage strike.
Lerner also says explicitly that, although the attack will benefit labor unions, it cannot be seen as being organized by them. It must therefore be run by community organizations.
Lerner was ousted from SEIU last November, reportedly for spending millions of the union's dollars trying to pursue a plan like the one he details here. It is not clear what, if any, power and influence he currently wields. His main message--that Wall Street won the financial crisis, that inequality in this country is hitting record levels, and that there appears to be no other way to stop the trend--will almost certainly resonate.
A transcript of Lerner's full reported remarks is below, courtesy of The Blaze. We have heard the tape, but we have not independently verified that the voice is Lerner's. You can listen to the tape here.
Here are the key remarks:
Unions are almost dead. We cannot survive doing what we do but the simple fact of the matter is community organizations are almost dead also. And if you think about what we need to do it may give us some direction which is essentially what the folks that are in charge - the big banks and everything - what they want is stability.
There are actually extraordinary things we could do right now to start to destabilize the folks that are in power and start to rebuild a movement.
For example, 10% of homeowners are underwater right their home they are paying more for it then its worth 10% of those people are in strategic default, meaning they are refusing to pay but they are staying in their home that's totally spontaneous they figured out it takes a year to kick me out of my home because foreclosure is backed up
If you could double that number you would you could put banks at the edge of insolvency again.
Students have a trillion dollar debt
We have an entire economy that is built on debt and banks so the question would be what would happen if we organized homeowners in mass to do a mortgage strike if we get half a million people to agree it would literally cause a new finical crisis for the banks not for us we would be doing quite well we wouldn't be paying anything...
We have to think much more creatively. The key thing... What does the other side fear the most - they fear disruption. They fear uncertainty. Every article about Europe says in they rioted in Greece the markets went down
The folks that control this country care about one thing how the stock market goes what the bond market does how the bonuses goes. We have a very simple strategy:
* How do we bring down the stock market
* How do we bring down their bonuses
* How do we interfere with there ability to be rich...
So a bunch of us around the country think who would be a really good company to hate we decided that would be JP Morgan Chase and so we are going to roll out over the next couple of months what would hopefully be an exciting campaign about JP Morgan Chase that is really about challenge the power of Wall Street.
And so what we are looking at is the first week in May can we get enough people together starting now to really have an week of action in New York I don't want to give any details because I don't know if there are any police agents in the room.
The goal would be that we will roll out of New York the first week of May. We will connect three ideas
* that we are not broke there is plenty of money
* they have the money - we need to get it back
* and that they are using Bloomberg and other people in government as the vehicle to try and destroy us
And so we need to take on those folks at the same time. And that we will start here we are going to look at a week of civil disobedience - direct action all over the city. Then roll into the JP Morgan shareholder meeting which they moved out of New York because I guess they were afraid because of Columbus.
There is going to be a ten state mobilization to try and shut down that meeting and then looking at bank shareholder meetings around the country and try and create some moments like Madison except where we are on offense instead of defense
Where we have brave and heroic battles challenging the power of the giant corporations. We hope to inspire a much bigger movement about redistributing wealth and power in the country and that labor can’t do itself that community groups can’t do themselves but maybe we can work something new and different that can be brave enough and daring and nimble enough to do that kind of thing.
FULL TRANSCRIPT FROM THE BLAZE
SPEAKER: Steven Lerner. Speaker at the Left Forum 2011 "Towards a Politics of Solidarity" Pace University March 19, 2011
Speaker Bio: Stephen Lerner is the architect of the SEIU's groundbreaking Justice for Janitors campaign. He led the union's banking and finance campaign and has partnered with unions and groups in Europe, South American and elsewhere in campaigns to hold financial institutions accountable. As director of the union's private equity project, he launched a long campaign to expose the over-leveraged feeding frenzy of private equity firms during the boom years that led to the ensuing economic disaster.
TRANSCRIPT:
It feels to me after a long time of being on defense that something is starting to turn in the world and we just have to decide if we are on defense or offense
Maybe there is a different way to look at some of theses questions it’s hard for me to think about any part of organizing without thinking what just happened with this economic crisis and what it means
I don't know how to have a discussion about labor and community if we don't first say what do we need to do at this time in history what is the strategy that gives us some chance of winning because I spent my life time as a union organizer justice for janitors a lot of things
It seems we are at a moment where the world is going to get much much worse or much much better
Unions are almost dead we cannot survive doing what we do but the simple fact of the matter is community organizations are almost dead also and if you think about what we need to do it may give us some direction which is essentially what the folks that are in charge - the big banks and everything - what they want is stability
Every time there is a crisis in the world they say, well, the markets are stable.
What's changed in America is the economy doing well has nothing to do with the rest of us
They figured out that they don't need us to be rich they can do very well in a global market without us so what does this have to do with community and labor organizing more.
We need to figure out in a much more through direct action more concrete way how we are really trying to disrupt and create uncertainty for capital for how corporations operate
The thing about a boom and bust economy is it is actually incredibly fragile.
There are actually extraordinary things we could do right now to start to destabilize the folks that are in power and start to rebuild a movement.
For example, 10% of homeowners are underwater right their home they are paying more for it then its worth 10% of those people are in strategic default, meaning they are refusing to pay but they are staying in their home that's totally spontaneous they figured out it takes a year to kick me out of my home because foreclosure is backed up
If you could double that number you would you could put banks at the edge of insolvency again.
Students have a trillion dollar debt
We have an entire economy that is built on debt and banks so the question would be what would happen if we organized homeowners in mass to do a mortgage strike if we get half a million people to agree it would literally cause a new finical crisis for the banks not for us we would be doing quite well we wouldn't be paying anything.
Government is being strangled by debt
The four things we could do that could really upset wall street
One is if city and state and other government entities demanded to renegotiate their debt
and you might say why would the banks ever do it - because city and counties could say we won’t do business with you in the future if you won’t renegotiate the debt now
So we could leverage the power we have of government and say two things we won’t do business with you JP Morgan Chase anymore unless you do two things: you reduce the price of our interest and second you rewrite the mortgages for everybody in the communities
We could make them do that
The second thing is there is a whole question in Europe about students’ rates in debt structure. What would happen if students said we are not going to pay. It’s a trillion dollars. Think about republicans screaming about debt a trillion dollars in student debt
There is a third thing we can think about what if public employee unions instead of just being on the defensive put on the collective bargaining table when they negotiate they say we demand as a condition of negotiation that the government renegotiate - it’s crazy that you’re paying too much interest to your buddies the bankers it’s a strike issue - we will strike unless you force the banks to renegotiate/
Then if you add on top of that if we really thought about moving the kind of disruption in Madison but moving that to Wall Street and moving that to other cities around the country
We basically said you stole seventeen trillion dollars - you've improvised us and we are going to make it impossible for you to operate
Labor can’t lead this right now so if labor can’t lead but we are a critical part of it we do have money we have millions of members who are furious
But I don't think this kind of movement can happen unless community groups and other activists take the lead.
If we really believe that we are in a transformative stage of what's happening in capitalism
Then we need to confront this in a serious way and develop really ability to put a boot in the wheel then we have to think not about labor and community alliances we have to think about how together we are building something that really has the capacity to disrupt how the system operates
We need to think about a whole new way of thinking about this not as a partnership but building something new.
We have to think much more creatively. The key thing... What does the other side fear the most - they fear disruption. They fear uncertainty. Every article about Europe says in they rioted in Greece the markets went down
The folks that control this country care about one thing how the stock market goes what the bond market does how the bonuses goes. We have a very simple strategy:
* How do we bring down the stock market
* How do we bring down their bonuses
* How do we interfere with there ability to be rich
And that means we have to politically isolate them, economically isolate them and disrupt them
It’s not all theory i’ll do a pitch.
So a bunch of us around the country think who would be a really good company to hate we decided that would be JP Morgan Chase and so we are going to roll out over the next couple of months what would hopefully be an exciting campaign about JP Morgan Chase that is really about challenge the power of Wall Street.
And so what we are looking at is the first week in May can we get enough people together starting now to really have an week of action in New York I don't want to give any details because I don't know if there are any police agents in the room.
The goal would be that we will roll out of New York the first week of May. We will connect three ideas
* that we are not broke there is plenty of money
* they have the money - we need to get it back
* and that they are using Bloomberg and other people in government as the vehicle to try and destroy us
And so we need to take on those folks at the same time
and that we will start here we are going to look at a week of civil disobedience - direct action all over the city
then roll into the JP Morgan shareholder meeting which they moved out of New York because I guess they were afraid because of Columbus.
There is going to be a ten state mobilization it try and shut down that meeting and then looking at bank shareholder meetings around the country and try and create some moments like Madison except where we are on offense instead of defense
Where we have brave and heroic battles challenging the power of the giant corporations. We hope to inspire a much bigger movement about redistributing wealth and power in the country and that labor can’t do itself that community groups can’t do themselves but maybe we can work something new and different that can be brave enough and daring and nimble enough to do that kind of thing.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/seiu-union-plan-to-destroy-jpmorgan#ixzz1HL0A7mSY
The War Cry of the Janitors?
The servants dictating terms to the masters?
Our poor are as well off as the rich in India and too lazy
to start some kind of revolution especially in real estate where others will step up to buy distressed properties as a bargain.
Through democrats the poor got the rich banks to lend them money with no equity and income but then the banks saw another opportunity repackaged the poor people's mortgages as AAA+ Securities by saying a few magic words.
The government gave this it's blessing because after goading the banks with threats to give the poor mortgages they couldn't exactly say that these new securities were worthless.
That these securities collapsed is not surprising as that showed what the poor are really worth after a market adjustment.
You don't give money to people who can't repay it but somehow in a typical contradiction that is the human being, we did, fully thinking that this would work and make everybody richer....
Oh I'm quaking in my boots....
The servants dictating terms to the masters?
Our poor are as well off as the rich in India and too lazy
to start some kind of revolution especially in real estate where others will step up to buy distressed properties as a bargain.
Through democrats the poor got the rich banks to lend them money with no equity and income but then the banks saw another opportunity repackaged the poor people's mortgages as AAA+ Securities by saying a few magic words.
The government gave this it's blessing because after goading the banks with threats to give the poor mortgages they couldn't exactly say that these new securities were worthless.
That these securities collapsed is not surprising as that showed what the poor are really worth after a market adjustment.
You don't give money to people who can't repay it but somehow in a typical contradiction that is the human being, we did, fully thinking that this would work and make everybody richer....
Oh I'm quaking in my boots....
cammerfe
Dedicated LVC Member
Frankenstein
04, you've done an exceptional job of analysis. But the result of all you had to say was a flash mind picture of 'the rabble' at the end of 'Frankenstein' carrying pitchforks, etc. 'The Great Un-washed' have a lot of power simply because there're so many of them. They can't simply be dismissed so cavalierly.
KS
04, you've done an exceptional job of analysis. But the result of all you had to say was a flash mind picture of 'the rabble' at the end of 'Frankenstein' carrying pitchforks, etc. 'The Great Un-washed' have a lot of power simply because there're so many of them. They can't simply be dismissed so cavalierly.
KS
You know I was going to mention the villagers in Young Frankenstein LOL!
The fact is we the taxpayers pay the police to maintain the peace and keep the poor from rioting and attacking us and we bribe the poor with some money in the form of social assistance for that same purpose.( a version of take the silver or the lead, a little money or a bullet)
It's a matter of how much money is enough to accomplish this.
To me it's telling that Walker exempted the police(and firefighters) in Wisconsin.
They are the ones who enforce the law.
90% of people are working and unless that 10% unemployment figure at least doubles or more I don't see some kind of revolution happening anytime soon.
State workers' unused paid time means big payouts
Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle March 20, 2011
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/19/MNB31IBR5S.DTL#ixzz1HLu4g0vq
Furloughs add to woes
Top 100 on list
Many in medical field
_______________________________________________________________
Are unionized government workers going to attack themselves and eat their own?
(that would be fun to watch)
They have their own set of featherbedding scamming and skimming the taxpayer rules and tricks that would go out the window.
Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle March 20, 2011
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/19/MNB31IBR5S.DTL#ixzz1HLu4g0vq
One public employee received a $594,976 lump-sum payment from the state when he retired last year; another got $553,253.
The two - a surgeon and a dentist who provided care to prison inmates - topped the list of some 300 state employees who left or retired from their state jobs in 2010 and collected six-figure payments for unused vacation and other paid time off accumulated during their careers, according to records obtained from the state controller's office.
The records reflect a widespread failure by the state to control the amount of paid time off that employees amass. State policy caps the number of vacation hours an employee is allowed to bank at 640 hours - or 16 weeks - and sometimes higher for public safety workers. But many agencies do not enforce the limits.
Controller's data shows that in 2010, California paid $293 million in lump-sum payments to 20,048 state workers who retired or left. But while some checks were as low as 41 cents, others were for hundreds of thousands of dollars - reflecting months upon months, or in some cases years, of banked leave.
In 2010, the top 100 people to collect six-figure payments accounted for nearly $20 million alone. Among them were a highway patrol sergeant in Los Angeles County who collected $208,772, a parole agent in Santa Clara County who got $268,990, and a prison psychiatrist in Solano County who received $262,535.
Critics say the numbers should be a wake-up call for state leaders who need to do a better job managing employee work hours.
"It is shocking but not surprising," said David Kline, a vice president at the California Taxpayers Association. "We've seen so many examples of bad management decisions that cost state taxpayers millions of dollars. ... In the private sector, business owners set standards as far as how much vacation time an employee can accrue and they stick to those standards."
The two - a surgeon and a dentist who provided care to prison inmates - topped the list of some 300 state employees who left or retired from their state jobs in 2010 and collected six-figure payments for unused vacation and other paid time off accumulated during their careers, according to records obtained from the state controller's office.
The records reflect a widespread failure by the state to control the amount of paid time off that employees amass. State policy caps the number of vacation hours an employee is allowed to bank at 640 hours - or 16 weeks - and sometimes higher for public safety workers. But many agencies do not enforce the limits.
Controller's data shows that in 2010, California paid $293 million in lump-sum payments to 20,048 state workers who retired or left. But while some checks were as low as 41 cents, others were for hundreds of thousands of dollars - reflecting months upon months, or in some cases years, of banked leave.
In 2010, the top 100 people to collect six-figure payments accounted for nearly $20 million alone. Among them were a highway patrol sergeant in Los Angeles County who collected $208,772, a parole agent in Santa Clara County who got $268,990, and a prison psychiatrist in Solano County who received $262,535.
Critics say the numbers should be a wake-up call for state leaders who need to do a better job managing employee work hours.
"It is shocking but not surprising," said David Kline, a vice president at the California Taxpayers Association. "We've seen so many examples of bad management decisions that cost state taxpayers millions of dollars. ... In the private sector, business owners set standards as far as how much vacation time an employee can accrue and they stick to those standards."
Furloughs add to woes
Elizabeth Ashford, a spokesman for Gov. Jerry Brown, said the Democratic administration is concerned.
"The last administration likely exacerbated this situation with its furlough program. Once the furlough program winds down, we hope that employees will be able to use their vacation time and prevent additional growth in leave balances," she said.
Jason Sisney, director of state finance at the Legislative Analyst Office, said the banked time has grown in recent years. According to the state auditor's office, workers had $1.9 billion worth of paid leave banked in 2006-07. Today, it's a $3.5 billion liability.
State managers face "difficult decisions in managing leave time," because service levels could fall and overtime could rise if workers were to use all their paid time off, Sisney said.
However, he added, "when workers retire and cash out, departments generally have to manage these cash-out costs within their existing ... sometimes very stretched budgets."
Many of the workers who received the largest payouts are employed in 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week operations, such as the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Highway Patrol and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Employees on the list said they often worked through vacations when emergencies or staffing shortages forced them to cancel scheduled time off. And they noted that because the money comes in one lump sum, it is heavily taxed.
"The way the system is set up, particularly for those in top-level management ... is that over the course of time, a lot of vacation builds up," said Robert Meyers, who was a doctor in the state prison system for 22 years and retired as chief medical officer of the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo. His payout, before taxes, was $412,666 - equivalent to what he would typically earn in about a year-and-a-half.
Meyers said he asked corrections department superiors if he could burn the time off by taking some long vacations toward the end of his career, but was turned down because there was no one to fill his shoes. "For me to take that much time was not doable," he said. "There's no backup position if you're running a program."
"The last administration likely exacerbated this situation with its furlough program. Once the furlough program winds down, we hope that employees will be able to use their vacation time and prevent additional growth in leave balances," she said.
Jason Sisney, director of state finance at the Legislative Analyst Office, said the banked time has grown in recent years. According to the state auditor's office, workers had $1.9 billion worth of paid leave banked in 2006-07. Today, it's a $3.5 billion liability.
State managers face "difficult decisions in managing leave time," because service levels could fall and overtime could rise if workers were to use all their paid time off, Sisney said.
However, he added, "when workers retire and cash out, departments generally have to manage these cash-out costs within their existing ... sometimes very stretched budgets."
Many of the workers who received the largest payouts are employed in 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week operations, such as the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Highway Patrol and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Employees on the list said they often worked through vacations when emergencies or staffing shortages forced them to cancel scheduled time off. And they noted that because the money comes in one lump sum, it is heavily taxed.
"The way the system is set up, particularly for those in top-level management ... is that over the course of time, a lot of vacation builds up," said Robert Meyers, who was a doctor in the state prison system for 22 years and retired as chief medical officer of the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo. His payout, before taxes, was $412,666 - equivalent to what he would typically earn in about a year-and-a-half.
Meyers said he asked corrections department superiors if he could burn the time off by taking some long vacations toward the end of his career, but was turned down because there was no one to fill his shoes. "For me to take that much time was not doable," he said. "There's no backup position if you're running a program."
Top 100 on list
Many of the top payouts went to managers, and nearly half of the top 100 worked in prisons, mostly as medical staff. Highway patrol officers, firefighters and mental health officials made up the bulk of the rest of the list.
"Every year we have employees on this list, because we are a 24-hour a dayemergency department," said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for Cal Fire. "We don't always allow them to use holiday, personal leave or comp time credits they build up. And in 30 or 40 years of a career you can easily build up a lot of time. We do encourage them to use it, we try to schedule them to use the time, but many employees are not able to do it when it comes down to it."
CHP and prison officials echoed Berlant's statement, noting that their employees cannot simply walk away from prisons or emergency situations. Hiring freezes, furloughs and unfilled positions have exacerbated the buildup of paid time off at state prisons, said prison spokeswoman Terry Thornton. The state is short between 2,000 and 3,000 correctional guards.
"We do encourage our supervisors and managers to work with staff to make sure they take time off," she said. "But with the hiring freeze still in place, it's made it more difficult to take time off, and other leave has built up as well."
CHP spokeswoman Fran Clader said that agency's top official, Commissioner J. A. Farrow, in January directed his division commanders to work with their employees to reduce excessive leave amounts by the end of the year. She also said that despite the CHP's large payouts in 2010 - $2.47 million to 15 people - the agency stayed within its budget and even returned some funding to one state account in recent years.
"Every year we have employees on this list, because we are a 24-hour a dayemergency department," said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for Cal Fire. "We don't always allow them to use holiday, personal leave or comp time credits they build up. And in 30 or 40 years of a career you can easily build up a lot of time. We do encourage them to use it, we try to schedule them to use the time, but many employees are not able to do it when it comes down to it."
CHP and prison officials echoed Berlant's statement, noting that their employees cannot simply walk away from prisons or emergency situations. Hiring freezes, furloughs and unfilled positions have exacerbated the buildup of paid time off at state prisons, said prison spokeswoman Terry Thornton. The state is short between 2,000 and 3,000 correctional guards.
"We do encourage our supervisors and managers to work with staff to make sure they take time off," she said. "But with the hiring freeze still in place, it's made it more difficult to take time off, and other leave has built up as well."
CHP spokeswoman Fran Clader said that agency's top official, Commissioner J. A. Farrow, in January directed his division commanders to work with their employees to reduce excessive leave amounts by the end of the year. She also said that despite the CHP's large payouts in 2010 - $2.47 million to 15 people - the agency stayed within its budget and even returned some funding to one state account in recent years.
Many in medical field
Many of the employees on the top 100 list, like Meyers, were medical professionals who worked under the direction of a federal receiver. That position was created in 2006 to oversee health care in prisons after a three-judge panel ruled that the state's inadequate medical care led to the unnecessary deaths of about 50 inmates a year. The first receiver gave large raises to most workers under his control, arguing that the state could not attract qualified individuals.
Meyers, for example, saw his salary increase from around $160,000 a year to about $260,000 - a jump that gave his final payout a bump, because it is calculated at a workers' final salary.
Nancy Kincaid, a spokeswoman for the current receiver, J. Clark Kelso, stressed that it was his predecessor, Robert Sillen,who made the salary hikes and said that the receiver's office instructs staff members to give their direct supervisor a plan to burn excessive time once they reach the state's 640-hour cap.
"However, with that said, the issues with most departments - we had the same issue when I was with the Department of Mental Health - is that (the state) requires staff to use furlough and (other) time first," she said in a written response. "Many people have banked furlough time ... so now it is just difficult to get leave time down."
Staff shortagesMeyers, for example, saw his salary increase from around $160,000 a year to about $260,000 - a jump that gave his final payout a bump, because it is calculated at a workers' final salary.
Nancy Kincaid, a spokeswoman for the current receiver, J. Clark Kelso, stressed that it was his predecessor, Robert Sillen,who made the salary hikes and said that the receiver's office instructs staff members to give their direct supervisor a plan to burn excessive time once they reach the state's 640-hour cap.
"However, with that said, the issues with most departments - we had the same issue when I was with the Department of Mental Health - is that (the state) requires staff to use furlough and (other) time first," she said in a written response. "Many people have banked furlough time ... so now it is just difficult to get leave time down."
Kincaid also said that a number of the prison medical professionals on the top 100 list have been with the state for 18 years or more "so some of those who have high balances were probably ones who didn't get to take vacation or leave because they were working many hours back when (the department) had many, many vacancies, under lower salaries when they could not recruit or retain clinical staff."
Jay Wickizer, a Cal Fire administrator whose lump sum was $294,440 before taxes, said he worked 37 years for the department to "put my life into trying to do something that would matter." He said it was difficult to take vacations in that agency, even as a manager, because emergencies - from fires to budget fights - arise.
"It's not just me - a lot of people care more about that than about the dollar - they want to get the job done," he said. "I tried to give more than I was paid for."
Managers responsibleJay Wickizer, a Cal Fire administrator whose lump sum was $294,440 before taxes, said he worked 37 years for the department to "put my life into trying to do something that would matter." He said it was difficult to take vacations in that agency, even as a manager, because emergencies - from fires to budget fights - arise.
"It's not just me - a lot of people care more about that than about the dollar - they want to get the job done," he said. "I tried to give more than I was paid for."
Kline, of the taxpayers group, said the responsibility for cutting down the large payouts lies with managers.
"There are ways, even in public safety departments, that you can manage personnel better so they can have both vacation time and someone holding the hose and putting out the fire," he said. "You don't want to see somebody stop in the middle of an emergency surgery because it's time for their two weeks off. But by the same token, most surgeons in the private sector can schedule procedures in advance, and have a regular family life while still doing the job. The state has employment standards, and it needs to uphold those standards."
Top 100 list: More than 20,000 state employees retired last year and received lump-sum payments for unused vacation and other time off. To see the list of the top 100 retirees from 2010 who collected the biggest lump-sum payments, go to http://sfg.ly/eDYoSV.
How state workers accrue paid leave
State employees generally receive 11 holidays per year and one personal day. They also earn between seven and 16 hours of vacation time per month. Workers can also earn comp time by working overtime. In addition, many state employees participate in a personal leave program, which gives them one day off a month in exchange for a 5 percent pay cut.
Managers generally get a single bank of time off, meaning there's no difference between vacation and sick time.
There are caps on how much time employees can bank, but those limits are not consistently enforced.
All unused paid time off is cashed out when state workers retire or leave state service, and it's paid out at the worker's final pay rate.
Source: Department of Personnel Administration
"There are ways, even in public safety departments, that you can manage personnel better so they can have both vacation time and someone holding the hose and putting out the fire," he said. "You don't want to see somebody stop in the middle of an emergency surgery because it's time for their two weeks off. But by the same token, most surgeons in the private sector can schedule procedures in advance, and have a regular family life while still doing the job. The state has employment standards, and it needs to uphold those standards."
Top 100 list: More than 20,000 state employees retired last year and received lump-sum payments for unused vacation and other time off. To see the list of the top 100 retirees from 2010 who collected the biggest lump-sum payments, go to http://sfg.ly/eDYoSV.
How state workers accrue paid leave
State employees generally receive 11 holidays per year and one personal day. They also earn between seven and 16 hours of vacation time per month. Workers can also earn comp time by working overtime. In addition, many state employees participate in a personal leave program, which gives them one day off a month in exchange for a 5 percent pay cut.
Managers generally get a single bank of time off, meaning there's no difference between vacation and sick time.
There are caps on how much time employees can bank, but those limits are not consistently enforced.
All unused paid time off is cashed out when state workers retire or leave state service, and it's paid out at the worker's final pay rate.
Source: Department of Personnel Administration
_______________________________________________________________
Are unionized government workers going to attack themselves and eat their own?
(that would be fun to watch
)They have their own set of featherbedding scamming and skimming the taxpayer rules and tricks that would go out the window.
Just because they say they are going to do something doesn't mean that they can follow through.
We have to analyze a threat before rating it.
It's like empty Islamic jihadist threats of taking over America and the world, a weak people inspired therapeutic fantasy with no basis in reality.
If they can't even unionize more workers how are they going to topple our current system of the strong and the swift having the bigger spoils of competition.
The they here is represented by former SEIU official, Steven Lerner.
You started this post, the article is pretty self explanitory.
They(who talk of the exploited workers and other darlings of the radical left) would have to accomplish somehow denying payment to banks and governments to cause a crisis but exactly how is pretty vague.
If we all stopped paying taxes we could bring the government to it's knees but how would that be able to happen.
I understand the video and article. Just like Egypt and Wisconsin, this is another example of you having an immediate response but not understanding the real issue here.
I asked you who "they" are and what there intention is not because I don't know but because you apparently don't.
The point of the story isn't "SAVE JP MORGAN, QUICKLY!"
It's about the organization and intentions.
I asked you who "they" are and what there intention is not because I don't know but because you apparently don't.
The point of the story isn't "SAVE JP MORGAN, QUICKLY!"
It's about the organization and intentions.
I was more right about Egypt than you or shag at least in the immediate now.
You were exclaiming war before you changed the header in the Egypt thread.
You have a way of getting carried away and making premature conclusions
I don't recall what it is I didn't understand about Wisconsin.
So Obi Wan enlighten me who "they" are and what the "real" issue is here.
Sounds like a union donkey's fantasy to me.
Rising Wealth Inequality: Should We Care?
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebat.../living-beyond-your-means-when-youre-not-rich
Why do Americans seem unperturbed about the growing gap between the rich and the poor?
Living Beyond Your Means
Updated March 22, 2011, 12:18 PM
Michael I. Norton is an associate professor at the Harvard Business School. He is currently co-writing a book on money and happiness.
In a recent survey of Americans, my colleague Dan Ariely and I found that Americans drastically underestimated the level of wealth inequality in the United States. While recent data indicates that the richest 20 percent of Americans own 84 percent of all wealth, people estimated that this group owned just 59 percent – believing that total wealth in this country is far more evenly divided among poorer Americans.
What’s more, when we asked them how they thought wealth should be distributed, they told us they wanted an even more equitable distribution, with the richest 20 percent owning just 32 percent of the wealth. This was true of Democrats and Republicans, rich and poor – all groups we surveyed approved of some inequality, but their ideal was far more equal than the current level.
Why then, given the consensus on this more equal America, are Americans not clamoring for redistribution?
First, the expansion of consumer credit in the United States has allowed middle class and poor Americans to live beyond their means, masking their lack of wealth by increasing their debt. We might think that people who have "zero net worth” have nothing. But in fact, having zero net worth increasingly means owning a lot (cars, televisions, even houses) – but also owing a lot. As a result people with zero net worth, and even negative net worth, can still feel that they are living the American dream, doing “better” than their parents did while keeping up with the Joneses.
Second, poorer Americans’ belief in social mobility – despite strong evidence of its rarity – causes negative reactions to policies that would seem to benefit them, like raising taxes on those who earn and own a lot more. Why would the poor oppose taxes on the wealthy? Because many believe that they, or at least their children, will eventually be wealthy, voting for taxes on the rich may feel like voting for taxes on themselves. As a result, even the word “redistribution” has negative connotations.
My colleagues and I are now exploring whether educating Americans about the current level of wealth inequality (by showing them charts and pictures) might increase their support for policies that reduce this inequality. In addition, we are assessing whether different forms of redistribution – for example, raising the minimum wage, or longer term interventions like reducing disparities in education – are less likely to evoke heated opposition, and perhaps increase advocacy for greater wealth equality
_______________________________________________________________
The Force of the being rich fantasy is strong with the weak minded.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebat.../living-beyond-your-means-when-youre-not-rich
Why do Americans seem unperturbed about the growing gap between the rich and the poor?
Living Beyond Your Means
Updated March 22, 2011, 12:18 PM
Michael I. Norton is an associate professor at the Harvard Business School. He is currently co-writing a book on money and happiness.
In a recent survey of Americans, my colleague Dan Ariely and I found that Americans drastically underestimated the level of wealth inequality in the United States. While recent data indicates that the richest 20 percent of Americans own 84 percent of all wealth, people estimated that this group owned just 59 percent – believing that total wealth in this country is far more evenly divided among poorer Americans.
What’s more, when we asked them how they thought wealth should be distributed, they told us they wanted an even more equitable distribution, with the richest 20 percent owning just 32 percent of the wealth. This was true of Democrats and Republicans, rich and poor – all groups we surveyed approved of some inequality, but their ideal was far more equal than the current level.
Why then, given the consensus on this more equal America, are Americans not clamoring for redistribution?
First, the expansion of consumer credit in the United States has allowed middle class and poor Americans to live beyond their means, masking their lack of wealth by increasing their debt. We might think that people who have "zero net worth” have nothing. But in fact, having zero net worth increasingly means owning a lot (cars, televisions, even houses) – but also owing a lot. As a result people with zero net worth, and even negative net worth, can still feel that they are living the American dream, doing “better” than their parents did while keeping up with the Joneses.
Second, poorer Americans’ belief in social mobility – despite strong evidence of its rarity – causes negative reactions to policies that would seem to benefit them, like raising taxes on those who earn and own a lot more. Why would the poor oppose taxes on the wealthy? Because many believe that they, or at least their children, will eventually be wealthy, voting for taxes on the rich may feel like voting for taxes on themselves. As a result, even the word “redistribution” has negative connotations.
My colleagues and I are now exploring whether educating Americans about the current level of wealth inequality (by showing them charts and pictures) might increase their support for policies that reduce this inequality. In addition, we are assessing whether different forms of redistribution – for example, raising the minimum wage, or longer term interventions like reducing disparities in education – are less likely to evoke heated opposition, and perhaps increase advocacy for greater wealth equality
_______________________________________________________________
The Force of the being rich fantasy is strong with the weak minded.
'04, is that last highlighted line actually logically backed up by the numbers in the survey in question or is it simply speculation on the part of the author?
It is very easy to mislead about empirical findings in that manner...
It is very easy to mislead about empirical findings in that manner...
Depending on how those figures are calculated, unemployment IS effectively doubled from that. Last I checked, U6 was between 17% and 20%, IIRC.
Not at all. Your assessment at the time was incorrect and as the days pass, everything that Shag and I projected has been coming true.
To the spread of violence throughout the region (Saudi, Yemen, Bahrain, Libyia, ect), the ascendance of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the alliance of the international political left and the Islamasists.
I'd rather you figured it out on your own.
Your making statements and observations that are completely reasonable, but too narrowly focused and your projecting your world view and motivations upon other people with a different set of goals and values.
I'll ask you again, what is Lerner's goal.
And why do you think that this is isolated or disorganized.
EDIT: Additional link:
http://www.haaretz.com/print-editio...rganizations-1.350713?localLinksEnabled=false
It can be VERY dangerous to assume sameness when there is little to know reason for sameness to exist. That assumption often leads one to overlook the more subtle and sophisticated differences and far reaching implications involved...
What happens when generations are convinced that such mobility is no longer possible? That the system, however defined, is stacked against them and that such possibilities will never happen?
Lerner keeps saying "if" we could do this or that we could destabilize the banks and cause a crisis.
He keeps talking about developing ideas without having any realistic ones.
His goal is to try and bring about these things but he has no way of organizing people underwater into a cohesive group.
Also these people would have to make their moves pretty close together in time to have any real influence.
If the states are bankrupt non profit entities with huge obligations why would the banks be inclined to lend them money in the future instead of capitalizing new business startups.
It's the governments that have the weaker position not the banks.
Govermnents should not be able to borrow money from commercial banks to fund their handouts to workers in the first place. What kind of "investment" is that?
Students eventually get work and the government can garnish their wages if they refuse to pay loans they willingly took on to get said work.
This is mostly an "if" fantasy.
At first glance, I would agree.
But is it logically backed up or empirically backed up? If not, it is simply idle speculation. It needs to be tied to a logically coherent theory of social causation that conforms with the empirical evidence. Otherwise, it is a quick projection of one's own beliefs and not a deduction reached through critical analysis.
That is unknown and uncertain as to when when
may happen and what the mood will be.This model you fear relies on big actions happening quickly to be effective but we're not the Muslim 3rd world collapsing on it's own mediocrity.
Well Ok shag
I like seeing you show and flex your intellectual muscles
and put things through your Ruby Goldburg machine to make your icecubes(just kidding LOL!)but I'm not going to research this past the link.
There is such a thing as the talent of guessing correctly based on the clues.
And then there is the concept of many competing apparently obvious truths not nessesarily having to have been deduced through critical analysis.
It's a plausible sentiment that wouldn't probably show up on a survey.
It seems ironic that American Jews vote overwhelmingly democrat
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp...=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=87a89c5b1abc39eb