Answer a few questions, due tonight, easy I supply other student answers
STUNDETS ANSWER
(a) Public Sector unions such as the California Public Employee's Retirement System, or CalPERS, corroborates Olson's argument against unions political influential power. The influential preassure that constituents or interest groups apply over political officials, manipulate and increase the benefits that can be obtained from such preassure. in California, malfunction investment practices were influenced by outside parties and a union leader that failed to increase effieciency, but rather allowed risky investments that led to over expenditure that in the long run would become a taxpayer liability.
(b) (b) CalPERS's members elected representatives to the fund's board of directors who in turn ignore preventive advised over risky investments. It has contributed millions of dollars ti political influential firms in order to practice "social responsible" investments that have accrued millions of dollars in losses and debt. During 1968 the public sector union power incremented, and so did the benefits of CalPERS employees. The increments in retire benefits as well as bad investments, overpassed the social cost that the city was able to pay, creating an ongoing debt.
(c) (c) The crime rates and student achievement scores do not represent an improvement in public safety and student achievement that can justify the high salaries. The social cost overpasses the social benefit.
(d) (d) Olson's analysis explains the process that leads to the economic unbalance, The influential power of unions is slow but effective, and Olson would not be surprised with the outcome. He was able to foresee an effect that is taking place now in different sectors of the economy.
STUNDETS ANSWER
A. Public sector unions have become more powerful in California because special interest groups tend to accumulate over time in stable societies and they eventually reduce the economic efficiency of the economy in which they operate. These groups often rally to obtain large benefits for themselves while imposing costs on the society. They focus on redistribution and are more likely to successfully form than groups that focus and advocate economic growth to a society as a whole.
B. In 1988, The CTA led a statewide push to pass Proposition 98 by running controversial ads. The use of students in these ads brought about success in that they were able to acquire $450 million a year in new funding. The CCPOA endorsed governor Gray Davis in 1998 when he first ran for governor and when he won he awarded the CCPOA 34 percent pay hike over five years. Olson would refer to this as distribution coalition and when this accumulates it can cause economic decline.
C. The crime rates decreased and the students achievement scores increased. This does not however justify the nation's highest salaries and benefits because these increases has left the state in a massive deficit.
D. Olson will not be surprised that Schwarzeneger was unable to defeat union power in California.
STUNDETS ANSWER
A) Public sector unions have become so powerful in California because of the wealth and power of governance in the state. The unions have monopoly power which makes competition low, which gives more benefits to the union itself and high taxes for others. When public sector unions become powerful they can also dominate political systems.
B) California public workers won bargaining rights and quickly learned how to elect their own bosses that is, sympathetic politicians who would grant them outsize pay and benefits in exchange for their support. California’s aerospace industry, fueled by the Cold War, was booming and resulted in an expanding job market and rising incomes pushed the state’s population higher, from 16 million in 1960 to 23 million in 1980 and nearly 30 million by 1990.
C) Violent crime was low as property crime was high. Students’ education increased from 1990 to 2009, with more high school degrees, bachelor’s and advanced degrees.
D) I don’t think Olson would be surprised with Arnold Schwarzeneger not being unable to defeat the union power in California, giving how powerful the public sector unions were.
STUNDETS ANSWER
A. In California public sector Unions have become more and more powerful over the years. These special interest groups accumulate over the years which as a result lead to the reduction of economic efficiency especially in stable societies. These groups don’t benefit the public good, they attempt to rally in order to obtain larger benefits for themselves while increasing costs on local tax payers and the society around them. The major focus of these groups is redistribution and they are without a doubt more likely to form even more groups that focus on advocating to reap in even more benefits.
B. In 1988 the CTA used a controversial method in attempt to pass a proposition that would later on benefit a potential candidate who would run for Governor. It all started from a state wide push in which students were used as advertisements. The goal was to pass Proposition 98, the result was not only the proposition being passed but the acquiring of $450 million dollars in funding. When Governor Gray Davis ran for Governor in 1998, the CCPOA endorsed him and allowed him to use some of that money to fund his campaign. When Governor Davis won the election, he awarded the CCPOA a thirty four percent pay raise over the course of five years. This distribution which Olson calls “distribution coalition” is very hazardous to an economy and the more and more it accumulates the more it can cause an economic decline.
C. Well as we look at the statistics we evidently see that the crime rates went down and that student’s grades and achievement scores went up. This however does not support the claim that with the increase in salaries so do benefits to the state and its citizen’s. The state instead has been left with a mass deficit which make take for years to fix.
D. I don’t think Olson would be surprised with the fact that Arnold Schwarzenegger failed in his attempt to defeat Union Powers in California. The Public Union Sector is so powerful, as we saw here even a Governor in a state like California failed which sends a message to other states to not even try.
STUNDETS ANSWER
“Proposition 13 California, strikes were far from the unions’ most fearsome weapons. Aware that Proposition 13 had shifted political action to the state capital, three major blocs—teachers’ unions, public-safety unions, and the Service Employees International Union, which now represents 350,000 assorted government workers—began amassing colossal power in Sacramento. Over the last 30 years, they have become elite political givers and the states most powerful lobbying factions, replacing traditional interest groups and changing the balance of power. Today, they vie for the title of mightiest political force in California.” According to the article here it clearly states that Public sector unions have become powerful in California. In other words the public sector unions were running the show, they had full control over a lot of aspects internal work related affairs as well as governmental election. One benefit of the public sector unions overpowering and evening beating the government is just spectacular, but this can be chaotic. Ill give you a current event example, in Florida the Hamptons the government has become so corrupt that they are ticketing their citizens for no reason (the traffic police), one guy is walking around like Rambo the news reporter said, because of so much corruption it is being said that the Hamptons can be evacuated and shut down for good unless they get their act together, in this case if we had a public sector union and people had power over the government it would have been easier to control the chaos of corruption. (Here Olson’s theory of the collective action is playing a key role).
“Taxpayers paid a steep price: home health-care costs became the fastest-growing part of the Los Angeles County budget after the SEIU bargained for higher wages and benefits for these new recruits. The SEIU also organized home health-care workers in several other counties, reaching a whopping statewide total of 130,000 new members.” According to the article this is one example where SEIU bargained for higher wages and benefits and eventually gained what they were fighting for. Here is another example according to the article:
“Police and firefighter salaries, pensions and overtime accounted for 74 percent of Vallejo’s $80 million general budget, significantly higher than the state average of 60 percent,” reported a 2009 Cato Institute study. The study highlighted a shocking level of enrichment: pay and benefit packages of more than $300,000 a year for police captains and average firefighter compensation packages of $171,000 a year.”
Olson would explain this behavior as an economic decline because this might lead to corruption in the long run. Give fair and equal share to everyone, the workers and the taxpayers, do not take someone’s bread and give to another individual. This can cause the norms of society to break and distort, could have been utopian society.
Crime rates scaled down the chart and student were being educated in a more profound manner leading to higher scores and more graduates from universities as years were passing by. The nations highest salaries and benefits can not be justified by the fact that the crime rate went down and student are achieving higher in school and college, the salaries and benefits are justified by other means.
I believe that Olson would not have been surprised that Arnold Schwarzeneger was not able to defeat the union power of California. The entire campaign was supported by the (CTA) California Teacher association. Thus you have to bow down in front of the superior one in this case the unions. The unions are a very strong unit even till this day; they were built from blood, sweat, and tears of hard workers, and no Arnold Schwarzenger or President. Bush can break it down not anytime soon.
STUNDETS ANSWER
A)Public sector unions have become very powerful in California for very important reason which can be based on Olson’s theory. The domination of public sector union in the state over the political campaigns gives them an absolute power which in return creates benefits for their own selves. Basically, if the political figure running for the office will not back up the unions, they have a tremendous power to affect his campaign. These powerful organizations and distributional coalitions on top of affecting the efficiency and growth, also affect important institutions, since the resources that are devoted to political campaigns would slow down the production and growth as a whole.
B)One of the vivid and best examples of how the public sector union can influence the election is an example of a powerful relationship between the CCPOA (California Correctional Peace Officers Association) and former governor Gray Davis who ran for governor in 1998. The CCPOA volunteered $1.5 million in campaign and another $1 million in independent ads supporting him. After 4 years when he was running for reelection he gave 34% pay hike to the CCPOA. Even one union official described it as “the best labor contract in the history of California.” 8 weeks later, the union had donated $1 million to Davis’s reelection campaign. Second example would be the power of CTA to shape public opinion as well as influence political campaigns. They pressured Governor Pete Wilson to cut down the classroom sizes in kindergarten through third grade. 2 years later he offered funds to reduce the class sizes. These two examples demonstrate the power of public sector unions. Olson explains this behavior saying that the accumulation of distributional coalitions increases the complexity of the regulation, the role of government, and the complexity of understandings, and changes the direction of social evolution.
C)According to the census the educational attainment changed slightly but not drastically. Article also states that “the move produced no discernible improvements in student performance”. This can be also said about the crime rate which did not see much progress. This can be observed through the bureau of census by comparing 2008 and 2009 with total crime rate 503.8 and 473.4 respectively. Therefore, the nation’s highest salaries and benefits were not justified by outcomes.
D)It would not surprise Olson that powerful governor as A. Schwarzeneger could not defeat union power, because of the fact that they have formed a strong coalition which eventually put a state at its highest $21 billion deficit by 2009. It was too late when Californians recognized the scale and severeness of their fiscal problems.
STUNDETS ANSWER
Read Steve Malanga's 2010 City Journal article about California at http://www.city-journal.org/2010/20_2_california-unions.html . Notice that Republican Ronald Reagan was governor when California state employees were first granted the right to organize in 1968. Given the facts as Malanga states them, construct an explanation based on Olson's theory that would explain why public sector unions have become powerful in California.
a. Once given collective bargaining rights, the unions were able to build small but powerful groups that had the ability to influence public policy decisions in their favor. These policy decisions, in turn, increased the size of the union by adding more members, making the union even more powerful, and giving them greater ability to influence policy in their favor. The larger organization has more ability to manage the minutiae of public policy than most ordinary citizens, allowing the union to have the kind of disproportionate influence while no one else pays attention.
(b) Give two examples of California public secvtor unions that have influenced elections in the interest of expanding demand for their services and raising their members' wages. How would Olson explain this behavior?
a. Two examples would be the Teachers’ Union and the Prison Guard Unions. They were able to force legislators to run on campaigns that “coincidentally” involved platforms that would increase the number of teachers or guards, increasing their membership, increasing their influence, and then allowing them to negotiate for unfairly large contracts with the threat of opposition in an upcoming election. Olson points out that a trademark of many such unions is that their policy goals almost always happen to have a side-effect of increasing their membership (item #1 on the PSC-CUNY agenda is always the increased hiring of full-time faculty).
(c) What has happened to crime rates and student achievement scores in California since the massive pay increases to public safety personnel (police) and teachers that Malanga describe? See: http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0308.pdf and http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0233.pdf . Are the nation's highest salaries and benefits justified by outcomes?
a. In the data from the reports above, crime went down slightly, and education attainment went up slightly. However, these changes were not out of line with national trends over the same time periods. This seems not to justify the dramatic pay increases that California unions secured during those times.
(d) Would Olson be surprised that even Arnold Schwarzeneger, the Terminator,* was unable to defeat union power in California?
a. No, I do not think Olson would be surprised. Olson predicts that such unions would become such a strong political force that they could not be stopped—not just that they were difficult to interfere with
STUNDETS ANSWER
A. That time California’s economy was prospering: aerospace industry, agribusiness, tourism… According to Olson, this stable and prospering society had accumulate more organizations for collective actions. Appearance of powerful unions in California is a great example. The unions possessing inelastic type of service “had an incentive to redistribute income to their members…” (p74). We also see on California example that unions as a special interest group had disproportionate power for collective action: the taxpayers and municipal governess did not have such a powerful influence in society. For example, the strikes in private sector would not be as painful as in public ones.
B. The CTA influenced on the governor Peter Wilson by giving a big amount of money to cut class sizes. Also, the CTA used the strikes for increasing their wage. The second example is CCPOA who went after “politicians who didn’t support higher salaries and benefits for its members”. These two organizations due to its opportunity to influence on the governors could redistribute more income to their members. Also, the leaders of “special interest groups” possessed the information and money to get disproportionate power.
C. The nation's highest salaries and benefits did change crime rates and student achievement scores. Although the increased student score and decreased crime rates were not changed drastically, I think that the nation's highest salaries and benefits are justified by outcomes.
D. I don’t think that Olson would be surprised that Arnold Schwarzenegger was unable to defeat union power in California. Since the special interest group could be so powerful and build its own beneficial society system (according to Oslon), it is hard for just one person to destroy it.
STUNDETS ANSWER
(a) Outline the authors' argument against allowing public sector employees the right to strike?
Wellington and Winter both believe that government cannot be controlled by another power. When a union is allowed to strike they are being handed over a lot of control. In a community the elected government official would no longer have a say in the matter and the unions will have total control of it. The unions may only have their interests in mind and fund their own needs instead of allowing the normal political process to deliver outcomes. Striking can ultimately decelerate the economy and hurt the whole country one industry at a time.
(b) Now that 45 years have passed, do you agree or disagree with their predictions?
I agree with Wellington and Winter’s predictions. Union workers have enough leverage to put a halt to an entire industry and that can have a major effect on the local and federal government and our economy.
(a) Read Steve Malanga's 2010 City Journal article about California at http://www.city-journal.org/2010/20_2_california-unions.html . Notice that Republican Ronald Reagan was governor when California state employees were first granted the right to organize in 1968. Given the facts as Malanga states them, construct an explanation based on Olson's theory that would explain why public sector unions have become powerful in California.
The unions were able to form influential and authoritative groups that could affect public policy decisions.
(b) Give two examples of California public sector unions that have influenced elections in the interest of expanding demand for their services and raising their members' wages. How would Olson explain this behavior?
Public-sector unions have taken a position on 42 percent of the 178 ballot initiatives over the last 30 years. Voters ratified nearly half the measures they supported, and 75 percent of the measures that the unions opposed were defeated. In other words, unions are fairly effective playing "offense," working to win their goals at the ballot box. But they are extraordinarily effective playing "defense," using initiative campaigns to block proposals that threaten their interests.
(c) What has happened to crime rates and student achievement scores in California since the massive pay increases to public safety personnel (police) and teachers that Malanga describe? See: http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0308.pdf and http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0233.pdf . Are the nation's highest salaries and benefits justified by outcomes?
Students’ education increased from 1990 to 2009, with more high school degrees, bachelor’s and advanced degrees. Violent crime was low while property crime was high. I don’t believe that the increased rate of student’s education can be attributed to high salaries and benefits. I think a lot of it has to do with awareness of the importance of education that is being more realized by young students every day.
(d) Would Olson be surprised that even Arnold Schwarzeneger, the Terminator,* was unable to defeat union power in California?
No I do not think that Olson would be surprised. He would expect it with the public sector unions being given so much leverage.