Published: 01 September 2012 – 05:46 PM
Raising California police officers’ retirement age could lead to more middle-aged, infirm cops on patrol duty, said Riverside County Sheriff Stan Sniff and law enforcement advocacy groups.
To read story by Jeff Horseman in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
Filed under: County of Riverside, In the News, Law Enforcement, Pensions, Stan Sniff, State of California
Labor these days
So Monday is another one of those national holidays that is really hard to enjoy these days, especially if one is unemployed or under-employed, unless of course you are a public employee, a banker, or employed in the insurance industry.
This concept of a holiday devoted expressly to labor has become of interest to me lately, especially since I no longer fall into one of the aforementioned categories for my income, I am a small businessperson. I also understand that over 60-75% of those in the Inland Empire workforce currently employed in full-time jobs (known as “positions” in the public sector) do work for the federal, State or local government, the schools, banking and insurance “industries”.
And then it hit me, Labor Day is really one big pay-off to the 60-75%ers and proof-positive that government and labor are in bed together, a situation that is not in the best interest of the remainder of the available workforce, especially independent small business.
It is really outdated to celebrate a holiday like Labor Day when so many legitimate American workers are out of work and have been searching for a job for a number of years in the current depressed economy. It is about time that the American public wakes-up and realizes that the government controlling labor is at the root of the jobs problem here in the good old USA. It is time for the big government/ big business slow dance to come to an abrupt end… we can’t afford to loose any more jobs!
One of our basic freedoms as citizens under the Constitution is supposed to be an equal opportunity for a job. But instead of the government protecting our right to work, employment is the new frontier for discrimination in this County, and in this Country.
These days, instead of the government protecting our right to have an equal opportunity for a job, it is thought of now as a privilege to work, and if one isn’t willing to go along with the status quo and the politically expedient way of doing things, there is nothing made available.
What ever happened to the government not just being an oversized Employment Agency? Government, at all levels, is still in complete denial that the bloated bureaucracy that has been created to spend all our tax money must be reined in, to save our economy and preserve what is left of the American way of life.
We have to take our government back. Instead of the supposed “public servants” working for us as was originally intended by our forefathers, now the public works for them, and the bureaucrats feel entitled and think they know what is best for the masses. This current system definitely resembles a pay-to-play work environment, where favoritism and graft in public contracting is commonplace, one can’t forget how that Colonies Settlement “deal went down” to the tune of a $102M gift of public funds.
San Bernardino County has earned its reputation as the “Most Corrupt County in California” by taking full advantage of this “uneven playing field” and thereby controlling the jobs made available to the public. A most glaring example of this type of unfair business practice being allowed to continue in San Bernardino County would be the recent employment contract of Chief Executive Officer Greg Devereaux. In order to bring Devereaux over to the County from the City of Ontario, an accused felon and currently indicted Colonies Settlement conspirator, former public employee Mark Kirk, negotiated a 10-year deal for Devereaux, which includes retiring from public service after year five and working as a consultant in years six through ten.
Not such a bad deal, if you can get it! One problem though, only one person in the whole Country qualifies for this “position” as far as the Board of Supervisors was concerned, and that would be Mr. Greg Devereaux, the real “Job Killer” in this County. The people demand that local government cut costs now and trim the bloated bureaucracy at the local level… then the private sector and small business can get back to work and all get on our feet again.