Democrat Gov. Jerry Brown is gasping in Sacramento as he and his Democrat legislature observe the emerging national revolt against state and local government unions. Brown was elected and the Democrats retained legislative control because of the union vote. But California’s budget problem caused by union-pensions far exceeds any other state.
Nationwide, state and local government unions have a 45 percent total-compensation advantage over their private-sector counterpart—and are suffering from $3 trillion in unfunded liabilities. Consequently, both Democratic and Republican governors across the country are taking on government unions. But in California, with its much larger problem, what will Gov. Jerry Brown do? Will he untie his political hands and address the problem? Or choke the economy by ignoring the pension issue?
This article appears in Mar 17-24, 2011.