Glenn took some time on radio this morning to define his stance on unions and union members, and to outline why all Americans need to have a real conversation about the issues at hand (as opposed to say, running off to another state instead of holding a debate).
“I'm going to set the record straight here before we go on. Stu, have you ever, working with me for ten years, have you ever heard me say that the police are paid too much or we should not pay our police more?” Glenn asked on radio this morning. Many pro-union supporters have been using firefighters, teachers, and police as the face of the Wisconsin pro-union protests.
“It's been a lot longer than ten years and, yes, I've never heard you say anything near that. I've never heard you say anything but the police and firefighters should make more money,” Stu answered.
“Nothing like that. In fact, I have railed against how much the cops make here coming in to New York City. There's no way you can live on $35,000,” Glenn said.
“That's why the cops you see out on the streets, I mean, you look at them and you're like, okay, there's no way you can live ‑‑ you can't even live here. You can't even live here,” Glenn said.
“I am no different than the average American. The average American wants to take care of their teachers, their cops, their firemen and their soldiers. That's who they want to take care of. They protect us and they teach our kids. We want to protect them, take care of them. Not a problem with that. Never, never have I had a problem with that.”
“But it must be realistic. And we haven't had to have this conversation, I think ever.”
“Every taxpayer is going to go broke or going to lose their 401(k) or whatever you have. If the United States and state after state goes bankrupt, you'll lose everything. The reason why the American dream is diminishing is, that is if you work hard, you'll be able to get ahead and you'll be able to, you know, go your own way. Not that you're going to have a house or a car or stuff. It's just that you have a chance to make it.”
“Let me ask you: How much are you paying for food? How much are they paying for gas? How much are you paying for gas? In London they are paying $9 a gallon now for gasoline. Your gas went up 17 cents in one week. That is because of revolutions, instability in the planet, and also we're devaluing our dollar. We have to make changes. We have to make cuts. You know this in your own house, you have to do it. The lie that politicians and unions have been telling everyone is that this will go on.”
“Unions are necessary but so is common sense. And because we're all alike, we all think, well, I want to make sure that our teachers and our soldiers and our firemen are all well paid. I want to make sure that they get something. And our politicians said, I'm going to do that for the firemen, I'm going to give them a raise, and we can do that.”
“And they've come up with this system between the two of them, between the union bosses and the politicians that make no sense at all. Remember we told you, we showed how it has to happen. One firefighter in California retires and it takes 40 new firefighters getting paid by the city to pay his pension. Well, that doesn't work. You don't need that many firefighters. There's not enough union dues in the country to be able to pay that kind of system. It wasn't ever intended to last. So it has to stop.”