Love the MTA union...how many make > than $100K?

Few years ago it was $63 for monthly unlimited, so if its $104 - it's 65% increase.. BULLSHIT.

but government keeps telling us there is no inflation. the cost of everything is going up up up.

Better start dumping your long term fixed income holdings and swap for short term tips and gold. Although this will be the first test for tips to see if it will actually do better than other fixed income investments.

why is this in "SALES?"

AND, Why is someone in Z-10013 worried about the '12' MTA Employees, in the Union--Local 100--who make more than 100K??

UNDERSTAND that Local 100 is the Union of the those [NYC TRANSIT Employees] Work Horse souls who keep the trains and buses actually running, in good shape, and clean, in a city of 5 million daily riders--NOT, always keeping it clean! . . . last weeks expose of shirkin' cleaners on the L line, exceptin', of course!

Folks in the Local 100 Union who might actually earn more than 100K in a year would be working SO many overtime hours they would be literally, LITERALLY[!] livin' on a Bus or a Train, in a Terminal or in a yard punchin in for maybe 80 hours a week, if not more . . . . .

[Again, the exception being the standouts here n there figurin' out how to scam the system working some back alley midnite tour sleepin' away, but managing to then show up on the nightly news after getting EXPOSED!]

NYC Transit is only 1 part of the MTA. It is also predominantly non-White.

Operations Employees are significantly better compensated at Metro North and LI RR--which are also part of the MTA--where the employees are damn near ALL White!!

[and, before any of you mention it . . . .you KNOW what you can do with ya 'race card' comments . . . . . ]

Where you might find more than a few MTA Employees makin more than 100K a year in a 40 hour /week slot is at HQ, or any of MTA's ''Executive Locations.'' . . . Lots of folks hidden away in security protected buildings, on floors and locations very much out of Public view doing all sorts of . . . things!! Obviously, NOT makin a bus or train go, fixin it, or keeping it clean, or anything related!
YOU figure out the racial backgrounds involved . . . .

NYC Transit is not on the same level of the totem pole as Metro North or LIRR; AND The distinctly Black and Brown NYC Transit Employees in Public view are a MUCH easier target for the nightly newscast or print media ex-po-ZAY!

And YOU and everyone else KNOWS this!! so why does it continue--jus' cause its easier?? --SO very WEAK and typical!
Meanwhile, the MTA powers that be, continue to erode, what should be OUR very excellent Transit System!

bla bla bla, he's black so we are targeting him. he's white, so we're not. enough of this race bullshit. and as far as those white employees on the LIRR are concerned, i would get rid of a lot of them. i dont understand why we need conductors checking tickets on the trains. I lived in Sydney for a while, and their suburban trains operated much like our subways. you bought a card, you scanned it, you went through. the only difference is that you had to scan it again on your way out of the destination station. otherwise you could not exit. so you had to have purchased the right ticket, for the right amount, in order to leave the station. its easy, efficient, and very cost effective.

June 2, 2010
$239,000 Conductor Among M.T.A.’s 8,000 Six-Figure WorkersBy MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM
In an era of generous municipal salaries and union-friendly overtime rules, it may not come as a complete shock that there are thousands of Metropolitan Transportation Authority employees — 8,074, to be precise — who made $100,000 or more last year.

The usual top-level managers are included in that list, but so are dozens of lower-level employees, including conductors, police officers and engineers, many of whom pulled in six figures in overtime and retirement benefits alone.

One of those workers, a Long Island Rail Road conductor who retired in April, made $239,148, about $4,000 more than the authority’s chief financial officer, according to payroll data released on Wednesday.

In fact, more than a quarter of the Long Island Rail Road’s 7,000 employees earned more than $100,000 last year, including the conductor, Thomas J. Redmond, and two locomotive engineers — who were among the top 25 earners in the entire transportation authority.

The authority is readying service cuts to close a budget shortfall of $400 million, and its chairman, Jay H. Walder, has said he plans to reel in runaway overtime costs, which pile up to $560 million annually.

But the authority, which employs about 70,000 workers over all, cannot significantly reduce its labor costs without concessions from its unions, which say their workers deserve their compensation for difficult and sometimes dangerous jobs.

The payroll data, compiled from records obtained by the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a research group run by the Manhattan Institute, reflect total compensation. An exact breakdown was not available for most employees, but transit officials said that overtime and retirement payouts appeared to account for most of the high salaries.

Two car repairmen at the L.I.R.R. and 12 police officers assigned to the authority’s bridges and tunnels, some of whom earned more than double their base salaries, were among the 50 employees at the authority who collected $200,000 or more, the data show.

Mr. Redmond, the retired conductor, was the eighth-highest paid employee in the entire authority, ranking 16 spots higher than his railroad’s executive vice president. He earned $67,772 in base salary and $67,000 in overtime, and collected nearly $100,000 in unused sick days and vacation time upon retirement, railroad officials said.

The second-highest paid employee at the agency’s bridge and tunnel division, after its president, was Walter Stock, a lieutenant who earned $226,383, more than twice his base pay of $90,000, according to the data.

At No. 17 was Dominick J. Masiello, an L.I.R.R. locomotive engineer, who earned about $75,000 in base salary and overtime payments of $52,000.

He also received $94,600 in “penalty payments,” which railroad officials said stemmed from a contractual rule that requires engineers who work in a storage yard to be paid extra if they are assigned to move a locomotive to a nearby maintenance facility or if they are asked to operate a train outside of the yard.

Compensation varied widely within the authority’s various divisions. About 24 percent of Metro-North Railroad workers earned more than $100,000, along with 18 percent of bridge and tunnel workers, the data show. At the authority’s biggest sub-agency, New York City Transit, only 6 percent of workers earned six figures.

The authority did not contest the figures, but officials said they were planning stricter management oversight and more aggressive vetting of overtime requests. About 3,000 workers will lose their jobs through layoffs, buyouts, or attrition this year.

For midcareer employees, the authority “is pretty much establishing a six-figure norm,” said Edmund J. McMahon, the director of the Empire Center, which tracks pension costs.

The union that represents most Long Island Rail Road workers did not return a call for comment.

Helena E. Williams, the president of the L.I.R.R., was the authority’s highest-paid employee last year, earning $286,872. (Ms. Williams briefly served as chief executive of the transportation authority last year.)

Mr. Walder, who began in October, now earns $350,000 a year as chairman, as well as a $3,500 monthly housing allowance.

Over all, the authority workers’ average pay rose about 2.4 percent last year. Management salaries were frozen.

Around 60 percent of the authority’s current budget — about $7 billion — is used to pay labor costs including payroll, pensions, and overtime.

Robert Gebeloff contributed reporting.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: June 7, 2010

An article on Thursday about high earnings among some employees of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority misstated in one place, the surname of a Long Island Rail Road conductor who made more than $200,000 last year. He is Thomas J. Redmond, not Raymond.

Do you people comprehend?

You do realize that you, 10013, actually confirm much of what I printed with your article?
And, The Manhattan Institute?? Oh yeah!!--Objective as Carl Palladino at A T Party!

You quote statistics involving a few employees here and there to mislead public to believe that this is the average of sorts for an Agency with THOUSANDS of employees!
I dont care whose stats you use, really, because I know and understand better . . . .

I challenge you to find a NYC Transit Employee in Local 100 who made more than, 150 . . . no, 125 . . . NO--115K!!
And find more than 365 of these employees, who would represent ONE %of the [roughly] 36,500 Local 100 Union Members!

Do you also understand that Final CAREER adjustments are exactly that, and not representative of typical annual earnings.

And do you, Sydney person, understand that by your 'race bullshit' statement you have also confirmed what I wrote?
Things are in Black and White here, same as in Sydney, where its actually WORSE!! . . . . .

ALSO: WHY DOES ANY OF THIS STICK IN YOUR CRAW??
You probably quietly make out way much better without any sort of incorrect Public Scrutiny/perception!

The fundamental issue is that public transportation is exactly that - a public service - the fares shouldn't increase by multiples of inflation just because the union wants its wages and ridiculous benefits to increase above inflation every year, even during the worst recession since the great depression (which is what they did). For a train conductor to make more than $75K / year is kind of a joke - I mean I don't want bumbling idiots driving the train but come on - for one to make $200K is just offensive - it's on par with those California town officials making $800K - it just doesn't pass the smell test. For 8,000 MTA employees (11%) to make more than $100K is silly - that's $800 million per year - just fire all of them and that'll solve the MTA's budget woes - but the union won't allow it.

ok, great, another union bashing thread. In full disclosure, my father is a retired conductor and a member of TWU 100. 100k a year salaries? Bullshit. The highest he ever made was $72k, and that was with a MASSIVE amount of overtime... enough overtime to kill a person. In fact, my father told me that it was a good thing he was a conductor and not a motorman, otherwise he would have dozed off while driving a train and killed a track worker. And he ony made that $72k in his last year.. not every year.

If you want to bash public employees, you should look at some of the LIRR/ Metro North salaries. That's where the real money is. THey are the highest paid employees in the MTA, while the subway workers are the LOWEST paid.

"At the authority’s biggest sub-agency, New York City Transit, only 6 percent of workers earned six figures."

And those at NYC Transit who made 6 figures are all in management. It is physically impossible for a rank and file worker to make 6 digits. They would literally have to work 24 hours a day 6 days a week to do so.

Apparently your reading comprehension is below avg or your political views blind you to words - I was talking about the MTA, not some smaller union within the MTA.

But your thread title has the word "MTA Union" right in it.

>But your thread title has the word "MTA Union" right in it.

LOL Make it "MTA UnionS"

MTA Union$

THAT actually is a MAJOR part of the situation!

MTA is a conglomerate of Agencies and multiple UNIONs with all sorts of mixes and differences of scale.
A Union of 36500 Members in a 60000[??] Member Agency may be smaller than the whole, but its definitely a relevant part--or should I remind you of what it was like when this small Union 3 years ago decided to not operate Buses and Subways!

Here in NYC, the general public tends to think subway and bus work = MTA; which IS, but only, PARTIALLY, correct!

And the major differences in Earnings and Employees between NYC Transit and Metro North and LIRR, get all lumped in together in the confusion!

Solve way more MTA problems by correcting the SUB CONTRACTING of Millions of $$ ofContracts that quietly get parceled out EVERY week to Outside Contractors.

All of those people you see around NYC in fluorescent vests are not MTA Employees--and the ones that say Contractor on the back of the vests, tend to earn as much as 3 times as much as your average rank and file Bus or Subway Employee!

Whether you might be willing to admit or not, 96 times out/100 they will be White!

Much of this work parceled out to Outside Contractors could be done within the [MTA] house; but that involves way too much cash, and its just easier to BASH those very visible Black and Brown Bus and Subway workers!

so this thread is about unions then. You just could not resist the urge to bash unions.

ME?

sorry Prez! wrong--very, very wrong!
Trying to explain the real deal, and very much on the side of Bus and Subway workers in NYC!!

no, I was referring to nyc10013. sorry abot that.

Watch this entire video and then come back to talk about unions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkuTm-ON904

I've seen that video dozens of times on FOX. I see a bully governor taking advantage of a union full of mostly women. Christie would not dare do the same thing to a male dominated union, like thosre reprenting police officers.

and the relevance of this to the MTA Unions is?

there is no relevance. nyc10013 just used it as an excuse to post a union bashing video. Next he will post that union video with Hitler and the subtitles.

Godwin's law strikes again!

Godwin's law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies or Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies)[1][2] is a humorous observation made by Mike Godwin in 1989 which has become an Internet adage. It states: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1."[3][2] In other words, Godwin put forth the sarcastic observation that, given enough time, all discussions—regardless of topic or scope—inevitably end up being about Hitler and the Nazis.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/05/AR2010100506640.html

PHILADELPHIA - Faced with deep budget deficits and overextended pension plans, state and local leaders are increasingly looking to trim the lucrative retirement benefits that have long been associated with government employment.

Public employees are facing a backlash that has intensified with the nation's economic woes, union leaders say, because of their good job security, generous health-care and pension benefits, and right to retire long before most private-sector workers.

In California, where an estimated 80 cents out of every government dollar goes to employee pay and benefits, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has proposed a two-tier system of pensions that offers new state workers reduced benefits with tighter retirement formulas. He also wants state workers to kick in higher pension contributions to help deal with California's staggering deficit.

GREAT! And this from their naturalized weightliftin' communist leader . . . .

"Godwin's law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies or Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies)[1][2] is a humorous observation made by Mike Godwin in 1989 which has become an Internet adage. It states: "As an online discussion grows longer..."

They had online discussions in 1989? Really? What forums existed back then?

Usenet, I think, and lots of dial-up predecessors to AOL.

To be clear, yes they had online discussions in 1989, but way back in those days you couldn't upload images to a post, or use the Instant Message or click-through email feature to directly contact a participant. Very primitive.

"but way back in those days you couldn't upload images to a post, or use the Instant Message or click-through email feature to directly contact a participant. Very primitive."

I think you just described Street Easy!

>They had online discussions in 1989? Really? What forums existed back then?

bbs

>Here in NYC, the general public tends to think subway and bus work = MTA; which IS, but only, PARTIALLY, correct!

Partially?! WTH? How that's logically even possible.

If NY is part of USA then if I follow your logic that NY is partially american, but mostly canadian?

>All of those people you see around NYC in fluorescent vests are not MTA Employee..
Which people? Around NYC, or inside of the subway?! I tend to see a lot of people in fluorescent vests that have nothing to do with subway. And most folks inside of the subway with vests are employees, you would see a contractor where is work performed.

I'm for raising the fare to $150. $100/month for unlimited transportation is ridiculously cheap. Then take the new money and actually make the subway worth riding. They are disgusting. We claim to be a first rate city but come on - our subways are proof that we are not. One need look no further than the subways around the world and around the country to realize that ours is a laughing stock.
If you can't afford $150/month for unlimited transportation then walk or ride your bike or move or go back to school or get a roommate or get another roommate or have your kids pitch in or have your church pitch in or work more or spend less. There is no argument that $150 is too much. NONE.

For min wage workers $100 is a lot.

AN' there you have it with ALL THAT JAZZ!!!

but, Darkbird . . . . dont be birdbrained . . . .

NYC is NOT part of the US!!--lol!
[can you deal with the figurative alliteration rather than the literal interpretation?]

NYC Transit=Buses and Subways; NYCTA is but ONE SUB-AGENCY OF THE MTA!

Many of the folks visible in the subways, wearing fluorescent vests, are CONTRACTORS--OUTSIDE CONTRACTORS, doing work, contracted OUT by MTA! Lots of TA Employees wear vests, but so do these contractors!
The General Public thinks they are one and the same, and they are NOT!

This is often work that can be performed In-House, but these Contracts involve million$, and hence, may be done 'out-house, [NPI--at all!!] ya know: palms greased, cash under table et al, to tha' MAX!

These same contractors often earn wages up to 3X your average NYC-TA [subAgency of MTA] Employee.

Your Local bored-to-sleep Railroad Clerk, blase Conductor, shirking Cleaner, snoozin Car Inspector, or rude Bus Operator do exist, but THEY, or even their Earnings and Pension, by and large, are not even close to being fully responsible for runaway costs in multi-millions of $$!!

They do, however, make EXCELLENT, VISIBLE scapegoats, and, thereby, Targets of a generally non-discerning public!

They have Families and Friends that also have to live here and deal with increased Transit costs!

Its 350K/year, whats-his-name, who doesnt operate a bus or train or fix one, who along with his [truly] very well compensated, cronies who get the perks, free ez passes, et al! Do you see them straphangin on monday mornings next to you on the downtown 6??

Check these quiet multi million $$ Contracts, as well as the multi levels of [6 figure paycheck Management] who do . . . . whatever it is they do . . . .

PALLADINO is gonna FLIP!

@LENOXav

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alliteration
Can you make sense? Not reading of the rest of your idiocy.

MTA to public

You don't like it...walk

Nazi Bastards!

Birdbrain, I wuz thenking you would of also sed that Paladino has won "L" cause I jus' no ya' read the hole res of tha Ih-di-uh-see!

I don't need Miriam, or webZ!--SAT's were a few years back!

. . . . besides, you know EXACTLY what I mean!

. . . . and I actually luv ya! . . . . Ya' make it so much ez-ah to chockle at life!

The decision today to raise fares is a genuine slap in the face to all of us.
The world class Transportation system that we could have and definitely deserve, is still NOT!
And the costlier ride still wont produce IT!

darkbird - so you're saying we should make our subways only as nice as minimum wage workers can afford? I gave plenty of options for them to get/save money - I'll add one more - perhaps Manhattan employers will have to raise wages if the fare were to jump $50/month. If it's a real struggle for min wage employees then they will quit their jobs and take something closer to home that they can get to on foot. Employers will ultimately be forced to raise their wages. As an employer I get that - if my employees were really that tight on cash I'd be forced to raise their wage or my business struggles.

@ Jazzman Yes, we need to care about the min wage workers. It would mean one more less present for the children for these people (or pick any other "luxury" item). Employers don't give a damn about min wage, there are plenty of such folks on the street. They also compete with illegal workers, so yes this is an extra regressive tax for such folks.

@LENOXav I dont even bother translate the gibberish.

but . . . . somehow . . . . birdie . . . . ya' happen to KNOW its gibberish- . . . -of sorts, I'll even admit!

darkbird - if you want to eliminate regressive taxes then get rid of the lottery but don't make me ride third world subways because some guy isn't qualified to get a $30k/year job in a mailroom.

I can not believe that this happened
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/06/02/2011-06-02_bronx_woman_killed_in_platform_fall.html
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/06/02/family-mourns-loss-of-bronx-woman-struck-and-killed-by-subway-train/

Perhaps one less overpaid MTA exec. getting overpaid, now that she's engaged to Sir Paul.

Clearly the system is corrupt, covering both unions and management

--------------------------
A $1 billion disability scam pioneered by a one-time MTA board member helped hundreds of retired LIRR workers enjoy their golden years with an illegal gold mine.

The massive ripoff steered more than 1,000 Long Island Rail Road workers to corrupt doctors who created bogus medical histories, letting the railroad robbers double-dip on their pensions, a federal complaint charged.

Orthopedists Peter Ajemian and Peter Lesniewski were arrested Thursday for running "disability mills" that provided a monthly payoff to the healthy - and greedy - workers. The feds also busted Ajemian's office manager, Maria Rusin, who collapsed in Manhattan Federal Court at her bail hearing. In all 11 were charged.

Their co-defendants, all arrested Thursday, include a former MTA board member/union president, a one-time official with the Railroad Retirement Board and a half-dozen ex-LIRR employees.

"This was a game where every retiree was a winner," said Janice Fedarcyk, head of the FBI's New York office, after the arrests capped a three-year probe.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/feds-arrest-11-people-connected-multimillion-dollar-lirr-pension-scam-article-1.968254#ixzz1cFuEFYtK

NYC is like a third world country when it comes to corruption, I agree.

the whole MTA is corrupt, $12 to cross GW bridge? up from $8?? 50% hike over night, and the cost of the construction of the bridge is already PAID for over and over.

are you kidding me?
someone should fire the MTA board and presidents.

Bridge tolls do not relate to corruption in and of themselves. Its in society's best interest to discourage single driving commuters and to encourage mass transit. The issue is that the MTA, Metro-North, Port Authority and LIRR could have EASILY by now - with their EXISTING funds, had a second NJ-Manhattan tunnell, extended the Brooklyn LIRR line to downtown Manhattan, connected Penn with Grand Central, had the 2nd Avenue Subway finished AND have extended the 7 to NJ, plus have built several more light rail lines in Bergan and Huson county were all these agencies not so corrupt.

Port Authority is being forced to fund the new Freedom Tower, a building experts predict is not needed and won't be fully occupied for years after construction ends. Something to think about when paying to cross the G.W.

The Freedom Tower (or whatever its schmaltzy name is now) is costing us $2K per ft² to build, rather than the $1K for the other less iconic buildings down there.

I go with the theory that the 9/11 terrorists knew we'd beggar ourselves in response.

If we had effective senators, instead of what's her name, and ultra-partisan Schumer, the Feds would have paid for the WTC.

"the cost of the construction of the bridge"

It's a tax, and taxes are levied on transactions. How else would you fund its operations?

Not that I'm defending them - I think the PA is as inefficient as the MTA, and I still don't understand why they're two different agencies instead of one.

Well, one reason is that the PA is a bi-state agency with two masters.
MTA is a NYS agency, just as NJ Transit is a NJ agency.

The cost of contructing the bridge is irrelevant. The maintenance of the bridge is relevant, and huge.

"MTA is a NYS agency"

Wrong. The MTA involves NY and CT.

There are plenty of interstate transport agencies - Washington DC one of the better ones. Unless we annex NJ, the fact is we share a harbor, and today, most of the Port of New York is in New Jersey. We're stuck with it.

It's not even the maintenance of the bridges and tunnels: the PA has to raise funds somehow, and how better than to tax its users? I've already complained about the MTA "commuter tax," payable by me who works in my house, and costing me more than I actually spend on the MTA in a year.

Let the Bridge and Tunnel Set - and bus riders - pay their own way. The subway is already self-sustaining. Why not the rest?

The main difference between the MTA and the Port Authority is that the MTA receives subsidies from Albany. The Port Authority does not. It is entirely self sufficient and does not receieve any subsidies from NY or NJ.

"If we had effective senators, instead of what's her name, and ultra-partisan Schumer, the Feds would have paid for the WTC."

The Feds are essentially paying for the new WTC. The second largest tenant in the WTC will be the federal government. In fact, take away all of the government agencies renting space in the new WTC, and you would have yourself a large nearly empty building.

"the whole MTA is corrupt, $12 to cross GW bridge? up from $8?? 50% hike over night, and the cost of the construction of the bridge is already PAID for over and over."

The toll is really $9.50. It's $12 by cash. They now charge a premium to pay with cash since they want more people to use E-Zpass.

>"If we had effective senators, instead of what's her name, and ultra-partisan Schumer, the Feds would have paid for the WTC."
The Feds are essentially paying for the new WTC. The second largest tenant in the WTC will be the federal government. In fact, take away all of the government agencies renting space in the new WTC, and you would have yourself a large nearly empty building.

Then I guess what's her name and the guy who won't let you forget his name are doing a great job.

>MTA is a NYS agency"
Wrong. The MTA involves NY and CT.

Why do you make things up? The MTA is a New York State agency, and the head of the MTA is appointed by the Governor of the State of new York.

It happens to go into Connecticut through one of its lines. Not so different from how New Jersey Transit runs the Port Jervis branch for NY.

By the way, if you were correct about the MTA being NY and CT, you've still proven why you are incorrect in assuming the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey could be the same agency is the MTA.

Boo hoo
A few guys in transit biz figured how to game the system and ripped the rest of us for a few pennies.
F'in bastards!
A boat load of finance people right here in town ripped EVERYONE on off for.......I don't even know how much money but, the amount we had to fork over to save the day my grandchildren will still be paying off.
F'in morons....all of us.
How about a little priority setting.
We rap the transit workers on the wrist and we burn the financial community at the stake.
No?
Ok, we stick to the original plan.
We let the financial community keep their I'll gotten gains, give the a shit load of free money as ask them to do the right thing...which they don't.
We burn the transit workers.
That' the ticket.

The LIRR people who ran the disability scheme should get hired by Goldman Sachs.

How about we hold everyone accountable. I know it's radical, but it's worth a shot.

>A few guys in transit biz figured how to game the system and ripped the rest of us for a few pennies.
F'in bastards!
A boat load of finance people right here in town ripped EVERYONE on off for.......I don't even know how much money but, the amount we had to fork over to save the day my grandchildren will still be paying off.

If you think that the finance industry has cheated people, then thinking about who they cheated - the answer would be the middle class.

But if you think about public workers and who they are cheating - sure, taxes and fees are higher on the middle class and upper class. But those who are most hurt are the poor. The money that's supposed to be going to make transit cheap for all, to make sure all kids are sufficiently educated and sufficiently fed, to make sure that all neighborhoods are safe - that money is being skimmed and the poor are the ones who suffer.

>If you think that the finance industry has cheated people, then thinking about who they cheated - the answer would be the middle class.

And I should just say, the middle class were beneficiaries of the bubble. Houses they couldn't afford if there was no bubble, cheap goods from China they couldn't afford if we didn't promote low interest rates and subsidize imports ...

... jobs that paid them more than they are otherwise worth in a competitive economy, cars run on cheap gas (people complain that the oil companies are making too much money, but gas is cheap so why worry about the profits of the oil companies), educations beyond K-12 subsidized others many for degrees that are beyond the needs of those who obtain them.

Middle class did quite well. Now we are "reverting to the mean".

Is Copper Money?: http://streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/25126-is-copper-money

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/26/nyregion/15-lirr-employees-arrested-in-copper-wire-theft.html
L.I.R.R. Employees Accused of Netting $250,000 From Copper Wire Stolen at Work

By MATT FLEGENHEIMER
Published: January 25, 2013

MINEOLA, N.Y. %u2014 Investigators say the scheme spanned three years, uncoiling months before a blizzard whipped the region%u2019s transit systems and continuing until two weeks ago, with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority still reeling from Hurricane Sandy.

The 17 arrests were the culmination of an investigation, called Operation Heavy Metal, led by the Metropolitan Transit Authority's inspector general, Barry L. Kluger, who received a tip about the theft last year.

Over that time, officials said Friday, 17 men, including 15 employees of the Long Island Rail Road, played a role in what has become a common and lucrative crime: stealing copper, a metal whose value has risen significantly. In this case, the men were accused of taking wire from a rail yard, while on duty; using agency trucks to transport the material to personal vehicles; and selling the wire, for cash, to a local scrap metal company %u2014 a routine that netted the group more than $250,000.

%u201CThese employees stole from everyone who uses the M.T.A.,%u201D

Wait, so over the course of 3 YEARS, 17 guys (or more) stole $250K?? Soooo... there's an investigation (which probably cost twice as much at least) to catch some low-level employees, who make $65K a year (except for 2, who make 80K) -- for stealing junk??? Garbage?? So now, at the end of the day, a guy who didn't even make 5 grand a YEAR from this horrible crime (!!), this garbage theft, needs a multi-thousand-dollar investigation devoted to him??
And how much did Joseph Lhota make in 2012 alone?? Over $332K??
People, the subway isn't $2.25 a ride because the underpaid are stealing junk. It's that way because of wastefulness like this.
Interesting how the NY Times didn't mention how much the 3-year investigation cost.

Sonya, you think we shouldn't prosecute quarter million dollar thefts from the government? What about fare jumping - should that be ignored because the MTA chief makes $332k?

Why did it take three years to investigate?

What are you trying to say csn?

wrong wrong wrong, everyone.

PA & MTA are not agencies at all. They're "authorities", as their names indicate ... that's quasi-autonomous public benefit corporations to you.

The PA is bi. I think MTA is regular, but has an "arrangement" with the Nutmeg State.

Thanks alan. I personally prefer the TBTA.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/port_authority_retirees_judge_free_BleiIMl2fuM5T93JaVVLTM

Judge rules retirees get free tolls and parking for life.