The Real Class Conflict Between Taxpayers and Government Workers

Ryan Sager reports the real class conflict:those who pay taxes and those who consume them:

there is a class confrontation of a kind going on — but it's not between rich and poor. It's between the working class and what might be called the government-worker class.

The gap between the two groups has been growing for a while.

The private sector has been groaning under rising health and pension costs for years. Retired coal miners have lost company-paid health insurance in bankruptcy proceedings. Companies like General Motors have had to lay off tens of thousands of workers because of crushing pension costs.

Yet the benefits for public-sector workers keep getting fatter and fatter.

The reason is fairly simple. While only 8 percent of private-sector workers are unionized these days, some 40 percent of public-sector workers are unionized. And while the rigors of the free market forced private companies to become more efficient, the government faces no such constraints.

Instead, pliant politicians simply give the unions whatever they want, driving up health and pension costs — and sticking taxpayers (the ones trudging over the Brooklyn Bridge this week) with the bill.

It's no wonder average working New Yorkers are ticked.

Transit workers can retire at 55. Not many private-sector workers can do that.

Via Instapundit