Welcome to Athens, New Jersey: State Public Sector Unions Claim That Having to Pay 1.5% for their Health Care is 'Unconstitutional'

If Europe's economic meltdown hasn't convinced you that massive public sector unions lead to fiscal catastrophe, may I present Exhibit B? In New Jersey, the public employee unions are outraged that having to pay 1.5% of their salaries towards their health care benefits is 'unconstitutional'. On a salary of $80,000, that comes to $46 (pre-tax) per two-week pay period. And they refuse to pay it.

Governor Christie has vowed to press ahead with additional pension and health benefits changes for public workers despite two lawsuits challenging reforms he recently signed into law... Despite blowback from the unions, the new Republican governor promised to push for other reforms. They include a proposed 2.5 percent cap on local spending and property tax increases modeled on a Massachusetts law.

...Christie was swept into office on a wave of voter discontent over soaring property taxes, which average $7,300 per homeowner per year, the highest in the country.

...Christie has promised to stabilize — then reduce — New Jerseyans' tax burden. But to do it, he says he needs labor concessions and cost-cutting reforms that his Democratic predecessor, Jon Corzine, was unable to achieve... New Jersey's pension system is underfunded by about $46 billion and could one day be insolvent unless fixes are made.

The state's largest teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association, filed a lawsuit Wednesday to halt the reforms Christie signed last month. The state's police and firefighters unions filed a similar suit last week.

The unions claim the law requiring them to contribute 1.5 percent of their salaries towards health care benefits "interferes" with collective bargaining and is unconstitutional. NJEA's suit charges that the mandatory contribution amounts to an illegal salary reduction.

America's public sector unions and the Democrat Party -- but I repeat myself -- are propelling the country into an economic abyss.

Has any "journalist" asked President Obama why Greece is melting down?

Could one of our legacy media "reporters" look into the reason the bankrupt European Utopias, with their socialized medicine, their open immigration policies, and outrageous public sector unions, are the exact models for this President and this Congress?

Might Katie Couric or Brian Williams devote a 180-second background segment to the ties between Europe's strain of Socialism and its current economic condition?

I know, I know. I'm a dreamer. Real journalism has been delegated to true reporters like Malkin, Breitbart, Tapscott, Reynolds, Riehl, Hoft, York, Hanson, Morrissey, and the like.