The New Working Class

In the matter of health care I would like to propose the following modified definitions:

1. Working Class - any individual earning greater than $200K/year or family/couple filing jointly earning greater than $250K/year. These annual incomes are not to be indexed for inflation, ensuring growth in the ranks of the working class, thereby securing revenue flows to the Elites and Uber-Elites. Working class is synonomous with the following: net tax payer,private sector employee, minority.

2. Elites - any individual currently employed by one of the following; United States federal government,one of the 50 so called sovereign states, excluding New Jersey. The elites' health insurance and pensions are paid by members of the working class. Elites is synonomous with: net tax receiver,growing majority, public sector employee

3. Uber Elites - any individual currently employed by the SEIU, General Motors, or the state of New Jersey teachers union.


Having defined the terms for this purposes of this blog I move on to basic math, again, It is curious; when members of the working class object to a new tax of 3.8% on "unearned income, e.g. revenues such as the sale of stock, rental incomes, real estate transactions, the elites, who authorized this new tax, are put off and annoyed by the outcry. The outcries are destabilizing to the elite's franchise; government. Yet when the foolishly brave Chris Christie suggests that the Uber Elites in New Jersey, the teachers union, pay 1.5% for their own health care a mass email is circulated to 17,000 Uber Elites praying for the Christie's death. This is not deemed an aggressive destablilizing act. The head of the New Jersey Teacher's Union, Barbara Keshishian, was incredulous when Christie inquires if the author, Joe Coppolla has been fired. "For what", she inquired.

I am impressed by the brazeness, if not the stupidity of Joe Coppolla, who defended his email as "a joke, not meant to be public", (I wish 17,000 people read my blog) but that is neither here nor there. As a member of the working class
I stand accused of being a greedy, cold slave to the free market if I protest the 3.8% tax to pay for other people's health care. What is the appropriate accusation for the teachers union of New Jersey as they stubbornly resist shouldering their own financial burdens, namely, paying for a tiny portion of their own, untaxed, health care benefits? Stubborn might be accurate, or maybe childish. What I think works best is entitled. The teachers union of New Jersey is entitled to benefits paid for by others,the working class, even as the revenues streams run dry. New Jersey has had 115 tax increases in 8 years and the state's revenues continue to go down. What is going up? Well the budget for the states public schools has increased 11% over the past year though enrollments have increased by only 6%. That is some crazy math. Further, this very modest shift to the employee of 1.5% for their own health care, coupled with a freeze in pay, could save the working class in New Jersey 850 million dollars. It could also prevent the necessity of cuts related specifically to the classroom. New Jersey pays an incredible $22K/student/year in the city of Newark and a 1/4 of enrolled students graduate. Where oh where does the money go? A civil servant in New Jersey, having contributed $120,000 towards his defined retirement plan can retire at age 49 and, if he lives to the age of 85, can extract a total of 3.2 million dollars in benefits from the working class. Marx would be tickled.