Federal, State, Or Local - It Doesn't Matter, Because We're Getting Screwed At Every Level

There's been quite a bit posted about the mess in Wisconsin (and now spreading to other Midwestern states). I don't have much to add, other than I'm on the side of the angels (read: Scott Walker et al.). But I would like to offer some anecdotal evidence regarding the productivity of public sector employees.

I went for my semi-regular morning walk today. I usually follow a path through a park near my apartment down here in South Texas. Over the past few months the city has been upgrading the park - extending the path, landscaping it, adding irrigation systems to keep the new plants alive, and so forth. To give credit where credit is due, the city has done a nice job on the path. It's now a three-mile loop with a fresh asphalt track. (I'd prefer a softer surface, such as crushed granite or mulch, but there are elderly people and bikers who use it, so asphalt might be the best all-around surface.)

Anyway, today as I huffed and puffed my way around the loop, there were three clusters of city 'workers' out and about. The first cluster consisted of three men standing around a bike rack that they were evidently installing. I say 'evidently' because two of them were sitting on it, while the third stood off to the side talking on his cell phone.

A few hundred yards down the trail five city employees were taking turns looking down a hole. No one was doing anything, other than peering into the hole. I have no idea what was so fascinating about that particular hole, but it was keeping a quintet of public sector employees occupied for as long as I could see them.

Finally, as I rounded the turn and headed for home I came across the last group. Six of them were surrounding a truck with a load of topsoil. Five of them were leaning on their shovels while a single solitary individual was spreading the dirt over newly planted bushes and trees.

(Reminds me of the old story about a truckload of city employees who went out to fill potholes. When they got to the job site they realized that they had forgotten their shovels. One of them called the dispatcher, who said he'd send some shovels right out. "In the meantime," he told them, "just lean on each other until the shovels get there.")

Bottom line - I saw 14 public sector 'workers' today. Out of the 14, only 1 - ONE!!! - was actually working. The other 13 basically stood around with their thumbs up their butts. Tell me one private sector firm that could stay in business with only one out of fourteen employees being productive.

That's one reason why public sector unions are so opposed to privatization. They would actually have to be productive, or else kiss their feather-bedded jobs goodbye.