{"id":1084,"date":"2015-06-11T16:48:17","date_gmt":"2015-06-11T16:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.arkansasfreedom.net\/?p=1084"},"modified":"2015-06-11T16:48:17","modified_gmt":"2015-06-11T16:48:17","slug":"the-road-to-serfdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/?p=1084","title":{"rendered":"The Road to Serfdom"},"content":{"rendered":"

WE THE PEOPLE\u2026MARCHING DOWN THE ROAD TO SERFDOM<\/strong>.\t\t\tJune 11, 2015<\/p>\n

Police & Fire pay raise.<\/p>\n

Facts state all government entities are paid far more than equivalent employment in the private sector and every government entity is represented by a union & all joined inextricably at the hip.<\/p>\n

Government salaries of comparable positions should never be higher than the private sector which subsidizes them. <\/p>\n

Ray Gosack & Richard Jones are quoted in the T.R. June 10, 2015, three, at the very least two, disingenuous statements. Jones, \u201cSince 2006 Fort Smith\u2019s pay for police & fire has lagged behind comparison cities\u201d. Jones, \u201cIn 2014 Fort Smith\u2019s pay was nearly 13% behind\u201d. Jones, everything & everybody are not equal.<\/p>\n

Gosack,\u201d Without cost of living or market adjustments (oh wow), our pay plan stays stagnant while other cities around us, we\u2019re comparing to, are moving their pay plans along\u201d. Just what is a pay plan??!!<\/p>\n

\u201cComparing\u201d is the same dishonest psychology that politicians & bureaucrats use to make We the People feel guilty for not sacrificing ourselves for more government & its employees.<\/p>\n

What Gosack & Jones are doing is trying to compare apples to oranges. Here\u2019s the Marxist mentality again\u2014every city in this case is equal, with no regard for demographics. Additionally, because city claims they need a raise is no foundation for the city to be automatically given one\u2014try that with your boss in the private sector!<\/p>\n

Demographics must be the determinate\u2014population size, sex, age, marital status, numbers of children, education levels, economic factors, and a series of others, none of which are being considered by Gosack & Jones. And local private sector salaries should specifically thrown into the mix.<\/p>\n

Who exactly is Jones comparing Fort Smith with? Here are the comparison cities Jones cited and their populations.
\n1.\tLittle Rock\u2014198,000
\n2.\tSpringfield, Mo\u2014160,000
\n3.\tTulsa, OK\u2014617,000
\n4.\tOkla. City, OK\u2014399,000
\n5.\tHot Springs, AR\u201435,000\u2014since the 1940\u2019s Hot Springs has grown by 3,000. Fort Smith\u2019s population is 89,000. Hot Springs is a tourist city and both residents and visitors are taxed to the hilt.<\/p>\n

Note the disparity in population numbers. There is no commonality whatsoever between the cities. It is absurd and slaps the taxpayers of Fort Smith trying to use this mechanism for an excuse for a pay raise.<\/p>\n

Divulge to the citizens and let us observe the following areas regarding pay and perks of city employees. List each pay grade beginning with the entry level up to the highest, citizen contribution to their healthcare and the cost of their healthcare, same for dental, pensions, pay allowances, paid time off, paid vacations & length, sick days, holidays, free days, and not to mention, government employees have 100% job security\u2014as opposed by the private sector.<\/p>\n

Gosack & Jones offer no justification whatsoever for any type of pay raise. Government employees are not an endangered species. Let them absorb the same standards that are observed by the private sector and if they are not happy there are always those willing to fill their slot.<\/p>\n

Joe McCutchen<\/p>\n

P.S. Still waiting to hear what the cash reserves are for the city of Fort Smith!<\/p>\n

arkansasfreedom.net <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WE THE PEOPLE\u2026MARCHING DOWN THE ROAD TO SERFDOM. June 11, 2015 Police & Fire pay raise. Facts state all government entities are paid far more than equivalent employment in the private sector and every government entity is represented by a union & all joined inextricably at the hip. Government salaries of comparable positions should never … Continue reading The Road to Serfdom<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,32,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-city-government-offenses","category-city-politics","category-forced-redistribution"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1084"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1085,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084\/revisions\/1085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}