Bloomberg Says Municipal Worker Benefits Biggest Threat Facing The Country

I know, I know, sounds like another one of those lame parodies I occasionally do.

But it's really not a parody - Bloomberg actually said it:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg today took aim at the city’s rising pension and health costs, calling what he dubbed the “labor-electoral complex” the most pressing threat to New York in the final major speech as mayor.

Speaking in a grand ballroom in front of members of the Economic Club of New York, Mr. Bloomberg said that exploding health and pension benefits for municipal workers threatened to undermine the city’s progress and urged his successor, Bill de Blasio, to push through reforms.

“Right now our country appears to be in the early stages of a growing fiscal crisis that, if nothing is done, will extract a terrible toll on the next generation,” said Mr. Bloomberg. “It is one of the biggest threats facing cities because it is forcing government into a fiscal straight jacket that severely limits its ability to provide an effective social safety net and to invest in the next generation.”

“The costs of today’s benefits cannot be sustained for another generation–not without inflicting real harm on our citizens, on our children and our grandchildren,” he added.

Bloomberg tried to channel Dwight Eisenhower by dubbing municipal workers the "labor-electoral complex":

 “More and more mayors and governors in both political parties are asking across the country, which is the first real sign of a crack in the ‘labor-electoral complex’ that has traditionally stymied reform,” he said, dubbing a term aides said was a reference to President Dwight Eisenhower’s farewell address, in which the ex-president warned of the “military-industrial complex.”

...

“I think it’s no secret that elected officials have a tendency to make decisions based on short-term political rewards, rather than long-term economic gains,” he said. “We cannot afford for our elected officials to put their own futures ahead of the next generation’s and to continue perpetuating a labor-electoral complex that is undermining our collective future.”

“We need them to look ahead and to address the needs of tomorrow instead of being prisoners to the labor contracts of yesteryear. Simply put, our pension and health care system must be modernized to be sustained,” he added, vowing to continue to work on the issue after he leaves office.

De Blasio responded to the speech, which was clearly aimed at him, by pointing out the reason the city has a "crisis" is because Bloomberg allowed every labor contract to expire so that they all have to be negotiated at the same time:

“Um, I can’t help but not that we are starting today’s discussion with an acknowledgment of the fact that every labor contract is open in New York City, that’s never happened before, that no previous mayor ever let that happen … So I would caution, as much as I appreciate Mayor Bloomberg’s advice, I would caution that one should be careful about giving advice from that perspective,” he told reporters at an unrelated press conference scheduled shortly after Mr. Bloomberg’s.

John Nichols of The Nation responded to Bloomberg's speech this way on the Twitter:

Michael Bloomberg finishes mayoralty by griping about "unsustainable" public-employee pensions. Good thing NYC has a new mayor. @thenation
— John Nichols (@NicholsUprising) December 18, 2013

Bloomberg yesterday said that NYC is the best place to be homeless and today dubbed the "labor-electoral complex" the biggest threat facing the country today.

Apparently Wall Street running as one big casino for the financial sector doesn't rank high on his list of problems facing the country, even though they nearly brought down the economy in 2008-09 and may still do it in the future since nothing much changed post-Great Recession.

Bloomberg's totally out of touch, an arrogant billionaire who thinks about nothing other than how to make members of his class wealthier and aggrandize his own ego while sticking it to middle and working class people.