Once upon a time, in the Wild West, lawmen made very big money. In 1874 in Wichita, Wyatt Earp made anywhere from $75 – $100 a month. When he was the chief deputy in Dodge City he made $200 a month. Now the historically ignorant libertarians among you might say this wasn’t much. If you know a little history you might realize that in 1878, Wyatt Earp was making – per month:
In 2009, the relative worth of $200.00 from 1877 is:
$4,230.00 using the Consumer Price Index
$3,950.00 using the GDP deflator
$30,100.00 using the unskilled wage
$47,500.00 using the Production Worker Compensation
$51,100.00 using the nominal GDP per capita
$331,000.00 using the relative share of GDP
That same year, in Dodge City, the Presbyterian minister made $37 a month. The local teacher made $25 a month.
In 2009, the relative worth of $37.00 from 1877 is:
$782.00 using the Consumer Price Index
$732.00 using the GDP deflator
$5,570.00 using the unskilled wage
$8,800.00 using the Production Worker Compensation
$9,450.00 using the nominal GDP per capita
$61,300.00 using the relative share of GDP
In 2009, the relative worth of $25.00 from 1877 is:
$528.00 using the Consumer Price Index
$494.00 using the GDP deflator
$3,760.00 using the unskilled wage
$5,940.00 using the Production Worker Compensation
$6,390.00 using the nominal GDP per capita
$41,400.00 using the relative share of GDP
Cops in the Wild West were paid rock star money. They were the rock stars. Contrast this with the ANNUAL wage a factory worker made in 1900 – $400 a year:
In 2009, the relative worth of $400.00 from 1900 is:
$10,500.00 using the Consumer Price Index
$9,010.00 using the GDP deflator
$26,800.00 using the value of consumer bundle
$49,000.00 using the unskilled wage
$76,400.00 using the Production Worker Compensation
$68,000.00 using the nominal GDP per capita
$275,000.00 using the relative share of GDP
If you need help/ determining which result is most appropriate for you, see Choosing the Best Indicator to Measure Relative Worth.
What about a few union wages?
This is another in The Pink Flamingo’s ongoing series about Libertarians and they damage they are doing to our country, especially the GOP.
The Pink Flamingo, like just about everyone else is annoyed and disgusted by the behavior displayed by the left and the teacher’s unions in Wisconsin. Tuesday night I finally had time to visit with a conservative friend who is also a teacher. This person is one of the highest paid teachers in NM, always on the list of the top teachers in the state. She is a dedicated teacher, caring, and adored by her students.
She thinks teachers should have the right to collective bargain. She told me that you will always find a group of very strong union supporters who do not nothing but harass the administrations and school boards, constantly pushing for a better deal for themselves.
She would love to have a conservative alternative to liberal teacher’s unions. There is one reason there isn’t. Real teachers, who are conservative and love their jobs work too hard and are too exhausted to agitate, unlike the liberals and the libertarians who are out there for themselves.
You hear the far right and libertarians discuss how teachers only work 9 months a year and just 8 hours a day. Do you think we are that stupid, to fall for those ignorant libertarian lies?
Do you know a teacher?
Do you know how hard they work?
I have a very dear friend who is one. So is my next door neighbor. Both of them are up at 5AM. They are at school by 7AM. They stay there until at least 4PM. They do errands, and go home, then work until near midnight planning for the next day’s work.
When the school season is over, they don’t leave with the kids. There are endless reports, meetings, and changing of classrooms. They must report nearly 3 weeks earlier than the kids. There are summer meetings, in sessions, and continuing education classes that THEY PAY FOR themselves.
Then there is this money thing – and the stupidity of those who think teachers are paid far too much.
They must now pay for their own supplies, we’re talking pencils, paper, the basics. If they want anything in their class room that is not basic, then they pay for it out of pocket and are not reimbursed. There is no expense account. A good teacher spends a heck of a lot of money on her classroom and her kids.
Here in Ruidoso, the lunches are so pathetic and so poor in quality and quantity that the kids in the lower grades cannot make a full day on the little they are fed. Thank Michelle Obama for that one. For those who are complaining about obesity and school meals, try eating one. I know teachers who, out of their own pocket, pay for snacks for their kids on a daily basis, spending a good $100 bucks a week to feed their students because they are so improperly fed. The parents also kick in and supply food, but this is simply insane.
It is very hard and exhausting work. The good teachers I know constantly complain about tenure being given to those who aren’t good teachers. It is a very sore subject.
Now, the reason The Pink Flamingo thinks all this pandering to libertarians and tea party freaks over teacher’s salaries and their benefits is a total crock is because the salaries of teachers is not the real problem.
The very real problem is the outrageous growth being experienced in the administrative ranks, where their salaries are bloated. THEY are sucking up taxpayer money and simply doing nothing but being important.
You want to cut costs – cut the administrators.
Want to cut costs, check out the bucks being spent by well-heeled counties on LOBBY efforts to get more money.
What are state officials making?
There is NOTHING wrong with 40 kids in a classroom. Growing up, The Pink Flamingo, and everyone I knew had at least 38-44 kids in a class-room. I went to an elementary school that was (and still is) one of the top 100 elementary schools in the country. It wasn’t about tests, electronics, or diet (the food was so bad no one could eat it). It was about an excellent principle who had excellent teachers working with him.
Until those pontificating pandering self-righteous idiots of the far right realize the problem is not teachers, but the administrators and the state and federal education officials, then they are only hurting the kids.
But heck, The Pink Flaming is beginning to think the whole libertarian idea is to cut the minimum wage, cut wages in general, isolate American and flush our standard of living down the toilet. Until a few months ago, NO ONE ever damned cops and firefighters for their benefits.
When did they become fair game?
One would suspect that the libertarian fools who are now calling the shots don’t have the courage to go out and protect the community, let alone the nation. They are cowards. They are isolationists. There is something abjectly pathetic in the fact that the average libertarian tea party person is a follower. The average leading libertarian deep pocket is a big business billionaire who is more interested in promoting their bottom line than in doing what is right.
If you start doing your research, you will discover that the leading funders of the losertarian movement are deep pocket billionaires and big businesses who want to do away with the minimum wage, benefits for workers, and just about every rule and regulation out there.
There is NOTHING wrong with wanting to make money and have a profit. There is NOTHING wrong with wanting to use one’s finances to help one’s political affiliation. The Pink Flamingo, if so wealthy, might be tempted to do the same thing.
Right now the far right, libertarian right, and far left are controlled by a few billionaires. YES, they have the RIGHT to do it. But, I have a right NOT TO APPROVE of it. It makes their voice more important than mine. Sure, I still have my vote, but the way I see it, they have diluted it, terribly.
Getting back to the purpose of my rant – The way I look at it, there is something shabby, tawdry and absolutely lacking in class to hire cops and firefighters with certain things like insurance and retirement packages as part of their salary, to renege on it. For libertarians who want to offer these services to those who pay for them by subscription only, might The Pink Flamingo inquire as to the name of the planet from which they illegally immigrated to earth?