Another Example

of why government-funded, monopolized, services are a bad idea. When there is no competition, there is no way to keep prices down, so they tend to shoot up. And in this case, the price that is sky-rocketing is the price of labor.

SEPTA (SouthEast Pennsylvania Transit Authority) recently went on strike (although they kindly waited until after the World Series, despite their initial threats). The union is demanding an increase in wages and benefits, but when you consider that the average unionized SEPTA worker is already making $52,000 a year, you have to wonder why.

By the way, the median salary in the city of Philadelphia is only $36,646. So most transit workers are making significantly more money than the people riding on the buses/trains/subways with them.

Mix in the fact that we're in the middle of a recession, and that unemployment in Philadelphia recently hit 11 percent, and its pretty hard to believe that anyone can support this strike or the union that organized it.

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