Brother can you spare a 400 million dollar bill?

When I arrived in London in the spring of '04 there was a transit strike going on so I had to cab it from Heathrow to my flat for 75 pounds! That's like $140! And it's just commonplace in Europe cause the Unions get their way there too much. And it's one of the reasons why our economy rocks and theirs, not so much.

Yes, I'm a liberal, yes Unions are a good idea, without them there would be slave labor in America, even today. We'd never have the 8 hour work day, the minimum wage, or anything close to a living wage (which minimum wage is still about 3 times less than), and decent working conditions. (Of course I gave all of those rights up to become a copywriter, but that's a separate issue.) It's a shame we need unions, but human greed and selfishness at the top created their necessity. However...

$400 Million, that is what this transit strike is costing NYC every day in lost revenue. That right there, in this one day, is all the money that could have been spent on MTA employees and their demands, but no, they had to break the Taylor Law and strike. That law is there for a reason, so that no ESSENTIAL services are ever denied to the people who need them. This union, the cops, and firemen, cannot strike under the law. People WILL die today because of the traffic and ambulances not getting to where they need to go fast enough. And as long as the MTA and the state government isn't walking away from the talks, I put the blame squarely on the union who is striking.

The transit workers are asking for their retirement age to stay at 55 and not rise to 62. This at a time when America is getting older, Medicare is shooting through the roof, and budget deficits, not surplusses like what we have now, are projected in the future. The unions are looking at the flush of this year created by the housing bubble and temporary low interest rates and using it to justify more money, not to mention that 62 IS the new 55. Give it up transit workers, I am not on your side. And now that you've denied me, and a lot of people more in need of it than me, our city, it will be a while before you are forgiven.