Wait, What? Michigan Dems Poised to Give Teachers More Than 600 Million

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Michigan Democrats are always going to do the Democrat thing when they think nobody is watching. What that usually means is that they will recklessly spend money in ways that will do damage long-term and not care who will be left holding the bag years after they’re gone.

Thankfully, some groups are watching what the Democrats will try to do, and in this instance, it is Michigan Cap Con. They are a watchdog group here in the Great Lakes State and all Michigaians should be happy they are on the job – particularly the teachers in this instance, who are about to get the “Screw you!” treatment if this passes the state House and Senate.

A proposal to reallocate $630 million meant to pay down teacher pension debt to other priorities is on the June 20 House agenda. It is House Bill 5803, sponsored by Rep. Matt Koleszar, D-Plymouth.

A successful petition to move the bill to the House floor would lead to a vote to reallocate the money that had been scheduled to help pay down $29.9 billion in debt to teachers and others in the Michigan Public Schools Employee Retirement System. The bill would still need the Senate’s approval and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s signature.

The change envisioned by the bill would reduce pension fund contributions and increase costs for taxpayers by another $1.4 billion, according to the Reason Foundation.

In all fairness, politicians from both parties always love to spend other people’s money while saying that as an elected official who pays taxes, they intend the money grab to help all of the taxpayers that they represent. I would think anybody who is over 30 has found out that the universal politicians’ claim usually does more damage than good.

That they have the nerve to try to grab over $600 million meant to go into the teachers’ pension fund, which is already $30 billion (yes, with a B) in the hole, is incredibly immoral and idiotic. That Democrats, who claim to represent blue-collar working individuals and always include teachers and the teachers’ unions in that group, are going to raid that pension fund that is meant to secure their retirement shows exactly where their priorities are.

Not with the teachers.

This is not the first time I have come across this with politicians backed by union money, Of course, the UAW has mocked the very workers they represent, as I covered right here months ago.

As I wrote at the time:

When I read this piece here and looked at some of the numbers of how many jobs would be lost to the transition to electric vehicles I was amazed that the union leadership even gives a dime to the Democrats.

President Joe Biden praised General Motors chief executive Mary Barra at a 2022 event, saying “we owe you big” for pushing the auto industry towards all-electric production over the next decade. The president’s kind words for Barra, and their decision to team up to back a transition to electric vehicles, could come back to haunt both parties amid a historic United Auto Workers strike.

The 150,000-member union has singled out Barra as an example of corporate greed at the “Big Three” automakers, a group that also includes Ford and Stellantis. UAW, which launched a strike at four auto plants last week, took a shot at Barra over her industry-leading $29 million annual salary. UAW president Shawn Fain declared “war” on the Big Three last month, citing the $200 million Barra has raked in over the past decade. The union wants a hefty increase to salaries and benefits for its members, along with assurances that jobs will be protected during the transition to EV production.

That dramatic shift will likely come at a steep cost in terms of auto industry jobs, and the transition to electric vehicles is at the center of the auto workers’ complaints. According to one estimate, the transition to EV production will come at the cost of 117,000 auto jobs.

These large estimates are not from some right-wing think tank that just wants to destroy the planet. The UAW’s own people are sounding the alarm and the members and the media seem to be in benevolent silence about it.

“The workers who are making engines and transmissions today, their jobs will be eliminated when we make a transition to electric vehicles,” UAW research director Jennifer Kelly said earlier this year. And Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford, said last year he expects electric vehicles will require 40 percent less labor to produce than traditional automobiles.

So supporting transitions to electric cars which will result in FEWER auto jobs for UAW members and moving money earmarked for pensions for teachers is considered good moves for the party of the workers.

With friends like that, who needs enemies?