LAS VEGAS — Is it just me or have we so hopelessly instilled a culture of self-entitlement in today's workers (and voters) that asking them to take responsibility for anything earns nothing less than outright scorn?
And, no I'm not just talking about the Generation Y brats who think hard work and paying your dues are just outdated generational conceits that clearly don't apply to them. I'm also talking about older workers who know better and politicians too scared to make some of the tough decisions we're all facing — whether we know it or not.
You can see all of this playing out as New Jersey Gov. Christie faces the wrath of protesting state workers. And why? Because he wants them to ante up a bit more to pay for their own benefits. You know, the things the rest of us in the private sector have been doing for years now in the form of climbing health insurance premiums and dwindling employer retirement matches.
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Love or hate the guy, he really is just asking them to do their part for the greater fiscal good of the state. And, honestly, their arrogant refusal, which sounds more like a toddler's temper tantrum with each passing day,will not only delay the inevitable, but probably just make things worse. Y don't wanna chip in a few more bucks for your pension plan, fine. How about we just take away the pensions altogether. Oh, and the jobs that go with them.
Sorry for oversimplifying what's probably a much more complicated political quagmire, but as someone who's closest encounter with a real pension is in a history book, I don't have a lot of sympathy for coddled state workers who treat private sector employees like second-class citizens. And who keep snapping at the taxpayers hands that feed them.
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