The Battle of 2010: TEA PARTIERS VERSUS THE AXIS OF TAXES; THE TAX-PAYERS VERSUS THE TAX-GETTERS

THE TAX-GETTERS HAVE BEEN TOO WELL FOR YEARS; SF IS JUST OE EXAMPLE:

Mayor Gavin Newsom may be San Francisco's leader, but he's only 29th on the list of highest-paid city employees, more than a third of whose earnings topped $100,000 last year.

Newsom, whose salary is $250,903, is one of 9,487 workers who grossed more than $100,000 last year, including overtime.

Top earner Charles Keohane, a former deputy police chief who earned $516,118, retired last year, cashing out stored-up vacation, sick days and comp time.

The highest salary among the city's nearly 27,000 workers is $332,489, earned by Nathaniel Ford, head of the agency that runs the city's light rail and bus systems.

Steve Falk, city Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, says state employment data show city workers average 20 percent more pay than the private sector. The city's Department of Human Resources found that San Francisco pays similar salaries as other locales in the region for some jobs and slightly more for others.

Deputy City Controller Monique Zmuda said city worker salaries averaged $93,000 before benefits. Almost 100 city employees made $200,000 or more in 2009. Six topped $300,000, including overtime and cash-outs.

Salaries accounted for $2.5 billion of the city's $6.6 billion budget for the fiscal year ending in June 2009. That does not include the costs of benefits.

GOVERNOR CHRISTIE IS A CHAMPION OF THE TAX-PAYERS WHO IS WILLING TO TAKE ON THE TAX-GETTERS:

George Will writes about how Gov. Christie is Bringing Thunder-ous change to New Jersey

He inherited a $2.2 billion deficit, and next year’s projected deficit of $10.7 billion is, relative to the state’s $29.3 billion budget, the nation’s worst. Democrats, with the verbal tic — "Tax the rich!" — that passes for progressive thinking, demanded that he reinstate the "millionaire’s tax," which hit "millionaires" earning $400,000 until it expired Dec. 31. Instead, Christie noted that between 2004 and 2008 there was a net outflow of $70 billion in wealth as "the rich," including small businesses, fled. And he said previous administrations had "raised taxes 115 times in the last eight years alone."

So he closed the $2.2 billion gap by accepting 375 of 378 suggested spending freezes and cuts. In two weeks. By executive actions. In eight weeks he cut $13 billion — $232 million a day, $9 million an hour. Now comes the hard part.

Government employees’ health benefits are, he says, "41 percent more expensive" than those of the average Fortune 500 company. Without changes in current law, "spending will have increased 322 percent in 20 years — over 16 percent a year." There is, he says, a connection between the state’s being No. 1 in total tax burden and being No. 1 in the proportion of college students who, after graduating, leave the state.

A MAJOR PART OF THE GREAT REBELLION SHAPING UP IN THE USA IS A TAX REVOLT - HENCE THE RELEVANCE OF THE TEA PARTY APPELLATION.

A MAJORITY OF AMERICANS WANT CHEAPER SMALLER GOVERNMENT, NOT BIGGER GOVERNMENT. WE WANT CHEAPER HEALTH INSURANCE, NOT MORE GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE REGULATIONS.

WHY ARE WE GETTING MORE GOVERNMENT WHEN WE WANT SMALLER GOVERNMENT?

IT'S SIMPLE: IT'S BECAUSE OF THE MACHINE, THE AXIS OF TAXES, THE "CONGRESSIONAL-GOVERNMENT UNION COMPLEX".

• IKE FAMOUSLY WARNED US OF THE "MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX"" IN HIS FAREWELL SPEECH. THE ORIGINAL TEX REFERRED TO THE "MILITARY/INDUSTRIAL/CONGRESSIONAL" COMPLEX.

• IKE WAS REFERRING TO THE COMPLEX BETWEEN CONGRESS AND THE INDUSTRIAL MILITARY COMPANIES WHICH WOULD LEAD TO UNNECESSARY AND COSTLY WEAPONS SYSTEMS BEING BOUGHT WHICH WOULD WASTE MONEY AND NOT MAKE US SAFER OR STRONGER.

• HE WAS RIGHT. THE LATE JACK MURTHA PROVED IT'S STILL A BIG PROBLEM.

THERE'S A BIGGER PROBLEM TODAY: THE "CONGRESSIONAL-GOVERNMENT UNION COMPLEX".

THIS IS THE COMPLEX BETWEEN CONGRESSMEN AND THE GOVERNMENT UNIONS LIKE THE SEIU AND AFSCME AND THE NEA.

IT'S THE AXIS OF TAXES.

HERE'S HOW IT WORKS:

THE UNIONS GIVE MONEY TO POLITICIANS AND CONGRESSMEN IN RETURN THEY GET RAISES AND BIGGER EMPLOYEE/UNION ROLLS WITH BIGGER GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS.

CONGRESSMEN DON'T GIVE A CRAP BECAUSE THEY PAYBACK THE UNIONS WITH TAXPAYER MONEY.

OUR MONEY. NOT THEIRS.

WE CAN END THIS ONCE AND FOR ALL BY OUTLAWING ALL UNIONS FOR ALL FEDERAL, STATE, COUNTY, MUNICIPAL AND SCHOOL DISTRICT WORKERS.

I'D LIKE TO SEE THIS AS PART OF THE NEXT CONTRACT WITH AMERICA.

IN THE MEANTIME: VOTE GOP THIS NOVEMBER.