As sure as the shrimp is the first to disappear at a buffet table, public sector unions in western nations are up in arms over the changes being imposed on their entitlements by governments pressed to address horrendous budget shortfalls.  Of course, that’s only unions in western countries since it is only in western countries that there is the notion of entitlement.

The roots of the labour movement arguably began in Europe during the Industrial Revolution as economies moved from being historically agrarian to adjust to the new era of machines and systematized processes.  Labor became more of a commodity and the early industrialists were as likely as not to exploit the new labor dynamic.  Abuses of workers were likely common and eventually, trade unions were established to protect workers from abusive policies.  A more detailed discussion can be had at,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_movement

With the passage of time however, the labour movement evolved into a distinct component of most western governments but has morphed to become more of a home for leftists than they are defenders of the individual.  It’s no coincidence that labour parties have always been closely aligned with socialist/marxist and communist movements since these philosophies all pushed the notion of the oppressed, non ruling masses.  Whether or not one agrees with the philosophy or aims of the labour movement, one common flaw is glaringly common to all iterations of leftist political thinking.

They have no grasp of math.

Every little kid in every Asian country, from a very early age is competent in basic arithmetic.  The concept of the equals sign, “=” elegantly represented by two parallel lines of exactly equal length means that the values assigned on either side of the sign are the same in value.  Logically, this means that any change to one side requires a change on the other side otherwise the equation is no longer valid.  Somehow, this very fundamental and logical concept is lost on most leftist ideologues and union reps when it comes to socialized payout benefits.  To them, balancing input and outgo is an abstract exercise similar to calculating the value of pi.   This gap in reasoning must be attributable to a deficient education.

It makes sense then, that in order to restore reasonableness to much of society’s woes, that an emphasis should be placed on math from the very early ages.  In fact, when anyone runs for or is appointed to any position of political influence, they should first be required to take a math proficiency exam to ensure that there is a grasp of the concept of the equals sign.  We’re not talking differential calculus math, we’re talking, if Suzy had 3 apples and gave Johnny 1 apple math.  Not only would this eliminate math illiterates from attaining office, it will eliminate them being able to con the large segment of the population who are also math challenged, those that would believe blantantly false utterances and promises.

Only very coddled children, very naive individuals or simply wilfully ignorant demagogues can believe that an infinite amount of anything is available from a very limited pot.  Public service unions can march all they want, but the simple math says that for them to receive an ever escalating stream of entitlements erroneously pledged  by disingenuous leaders means that someone has to pay for them, especially if they themselves don’t.  It just doesn’t add up.  At some point, they really do run out of shrimp at the buffet table.

Something’s wrong with this picture.  The next generation of the Castro Regime makes a candid admission on the shortcomings of socialism, at least as practised in the iconic Cuba.  Over the years and even recently, no less than learned statesmen such as Sean Penn and Michael Moore have trumpeted the achievements of the Castro led communist regime.  Odd then that now, the stark realities are being addressed by the next Castro.  Even more odd is that you don’t get much coverage of this news story in the popular media.  Logically, this implies that Cuba will move towards more of a market based economy where entitlements to the people by the state will shrink.  Steps are being taken to pare people from the government payrolls:

“…The dismissed workers are being encouraged to go into business for themselves, and Granma (the official newspaper) said the central bank may offer micro-credits to new entrepreneurs as the island faces its worst economic slump since the former Soviet Union ended support in the 1990s…”

Translation: “we’re out of pesos and you are on your own”.

On this side of the communist curtain, we are seeing ‘demonstrations’, often violent ones, by ‘students’ ostensibly complaining about rollbacks in entitlements that in some cases don’t even affect them.  The realization is leaking out; the burden of payouts and pensions promised to a large segment of society will come under scrutiny and will suffer cuts in the years to come in order to stave off insolvency.  Income just isn’t keeping up with outgo.   This is happening in Greece and in France.  The U.K.’s announcement that they will cut welfare pay to those refusing jobs as well as increase student tuitions have given excuse to break windows and vandalize businesses, the standard protest tactic.   More significantly, this unrest will likely happen very soon here in North America.  Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey is beginning the process of rolling back pension entitlements, teachers’ pay and expensive infrastructure projects. 

Just the other day, a story circulated that the number of federal workers earning more than $150,000 has doubled since January 2009. Apparently, it’s gone up tenfold in five years.  As many know, salaries for government workers increase regularly as if they were entitlements regardless of the underlying state of the economy….which they are!  They may want to spend some of that money to buy a Cuban newspaper to get a glimpse of the future.  When the cuts begin to fall upon those expecting infinite entitlements, the marching, the yelling and the window smashing will begin.  People may want to get into the glass business in anticipation.  Or start the flotilla to Cuba.

Updated link November 14:  http://www.canadianencyclopedia.ca/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=M1ARTM0013415

As if.  So the cameras are trained onto ‘students’ who are allegedly all steamed about the French Government’s proposal to raise the mandatory retirement age from 60, all the way to 62.  Sacre Bleu! Students are doing this….because…??  This is obviously absurd since these earnest ‘students’ are missing something reasonably important in order to protest against job conditions, namely a job. 

If all they’ve ever done is to read Tolstoy, play les video games and drink beer for 2 or 3 years, they’re hardly in a position to protest about their latter working years.  Heck, most students I know would be happy to have any job after graduation, never mind worry about  retirement issues.  This would be as valid as me  getting upset upon learning that Charlize Theron was going to stop dating men. 

More likely, some union thugs came by campus and offered free beer to any students who would show up for the chance to be protesting on TV.  Actually, from the looks of the crowd, they don’t even have to be students, being young and ethnic looking was enough.   Even if they were bona fide students captured on TV passionately tossing Molotov cocktails at the police,  it’s unlikely they were studying anything useful.  Probably law or philosophy students of which Entitlement 101 was a prerequisite.   Certainly not economics or any hard science.  As a side note, their education is also likely heavily subsidized by the state. 

If  they had some basic grounding in any kind of education which had links to reality, they would know about the concept of limited resources.  The theory goes that a female pig, or sow, has only so many nipples.  If you’re the 7th pig in a six nipple litter, well then you get less.  If you’re the 35th piglet, then your share is going to be even smaller.  The only logical things that can happen are the following:  a: get more nipples, b: have fewer piglets, or c: get more production from present nipples. 

France has finally come to face the consequences of generations of the entitlement mentality in their social system.  For the longest time, their 35 hour workweeks, lavish (by western standards) vacation allotments which can be 6 to 8 weeks per year, were the envy of liberal western politicians and union leaders.  In addition, the vast cradle to grave social net created what appeared to be the idyllic social system. So compelling was this system that naturally people from outside France all clamored to get in to get a ahare of the Gallic nipple.

Until now, when all of a sudden, there are, a: not enough nipples, b: more piglets and c: not enough production from present nipples.  But the entitlements that have been offered to society up until now are so entrenched that they are viewed as basic human rights for most in this fairy land.  To move the retirement age from 60 to 62?  Well, you may as well outlaw huffiness from French culture.

Look what’s happening in the U.K.  http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.187f08033fe68c98d16032a3c93790a9.501&show_article=1  Not quite the entitlements of France, but the same issue, that is, not enough money to fund civil service obligations. 

This is all very amusing perhaps and abstract to most people.  The fact is, this very same scenario will be repeated in north america very soon.  As federal, state and municipal budgets collapse from entitlements, the process to cull some retirement expenses will begin imminently.  We can expect ‘students’ and perhaps the odd union member to mount vocal and perhaps violent protests against the reduction of entitlements. The great nipple battle, coming here soon.