Mayor Bing's efforts to revitalize...Detroit

[WhiskeyGirl]

Yet Mr. Bing is a realist, something Detroit hasn't had at the helm for a long time. "We've been paralyzed by a culture in the city of Detroit, and maybe the state of Michigan, of entitlement," by which he means ever-rising union wages. "Our people, I don't believe, truly understand how dire the situation is. There are ugly decisions that need to be made and I'm surely not going to be popular for making them. But I didn't take this job based on popularity."

One group that surely isn't a fan is the public employee unions. He grumbles that there are 17 unions with over 50 separate bargaining units. "I can give you a data sheet that will show you we've got several of those bargaining units with less than 100 people, and each one of them has a president that's paid by the city to negotiate against the city," he says. "Coming from the private sector, I find that insane."

Mr. Bing's gladiator-like brawls with the union bosses have drawn national attention. Earlier this year, he forced nonunionized city workers to take a 10% pay cut and unpaid furloughs. Now he's demanding the same pay concession from the unions. At one point the union got so fed up with Mr. Bing's refusal to buckle to their demands that they asked the courts to toss him in jail for violating their contracts. That didn't happen, but the unions did win a court challenge when the mayor refused to collect union dues out of city paychecks.

American needs a realist in Washington.

"Today in the city of Detroit," he tells me, "our union employee benefits cost 68% of what their base wage is. I don't think that happens in any other place in the country." To give a sense of how excessive those pay packages are, he adds: "When you look at one of the most dominant labor unions in the world, the UAW, they're nowhere close to what we give our city workers."

"The problem for the most part," he argues, "is poor union leadership. I think the rank-and-file aren't being told the truth. And I'm not going to B.S. anybody. I'm going to tell them the truth. They can't continue to ride this gravy train forever."

He poses this question to the city workforce: "Are you better off having a job and making 90% of what you're at today or having no job at all? To me, you don't have to be a brain surgeon to say I'll take that 90%."

This is s really good article. 

more here - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703558004574581650636077732.html

[WhiskeyGirl]

"Detroit corruption probes continue"

Soon after former Detroit City Council president and general pension
 board trustee Monica Conyers pleaded guilty in a bribery case involving a $1.2 billion contract to haul the city's sludge, questions are focused on Adrian Anderson of North Point Advisors, who screened investments for pensions that lost millions of dollars, the newspaper said.

Corruption charges also surround Sam Riddle, Conyers' former chief of staff, who is scheduled to go on trial later this month on charges he and Conyers demanded kickbacks from two companies that were soliciting investments from the general retirement board, the newspaper said.

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2010/01/04/Detroit-corruption-probes-continue/UPI-49871262625988/

Sounds like Obama's healthcare/insurance reform and all the golden nuggets in the bill...