No One Could Have Predicted

To absolutely no one's surprise, Illinois' new hedge-fund governor came out strong against what he and many other plutocrats believe are the two worst problems facing the state:  Evil Unions and gummint employees state getting paid more than bean-field wages:

Rauner says state must curb union powers, lower salaries

By Tribune wire reports contact the reporter

Gov. Bruce Rauner said Monday that Illinois must curb government union powers and reduce spending on state employees' salaries and benefits, stepping up what labor leaders said is an attempt to "vilify" workers ahead of the Republican's first major policy speech.

In a memo to legislators, Rauner pointed to rules for federal employees as the kind of "common-sense bipartisan reform" he'd like to see in Illinois, and asked lawmakers to review them in advance of his Wednesday State of the State speech. Those rules say employees may collectively bargain over work conditions such as hours and assignments, but not over wages, benefits and pensions. They also say workers can't be forced to participate in a union and are prohibited from strikes or work slowdowns.

While he said he doesn't plan to propose salary cuts for government employees, Rauner also repeated claims that state workers are paid more than their peers in the private sector and said lawmakers must "prevent any future imbalances and unfair practices."

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Meanwhile -- and also to no one's surprise -- as one gets nearer to the top of the corporate food chain, the praise and reward system becomes radically different:

Rauner defends paying staff more than Quinn did

CHICAGO — Gov. Bruce Rauner defended paying his top staff members significantly more than his predecessor, explaining Friday that he will pay what is necessary for talent.

The Republican has blasted Illinois' spending and state worker salaries as excessive. However, a review by The Associated Press found annual salaries of nine out of 10 top employees in his administration far exceed those of comparable aides to former Gov. Pat Quinn by roughly $380,000 — or 36 percent. The increases ranged from 11 percent to 94 percent.

"The people we're bringing into our administration, most of them are taking significant cuts compared to what they were making on the outside," Rauner said ahead of the groundbreaking of a charter school in Chicago.

He said his administration pays "what it needs to for the talent that we've got."

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I expected nothing less from Illinois' new CEO.  This is how people like Governor Rauner see the world:  a battlefield divided into their peers and minions -- golden gods of executive genius who piss excellence and we're just god damn lucky  they're willing to rule over us at all -- and the union lunch-bucket slugs -- a featherbedding rabble of replaceable, outsourceable, disposable, clock-watching ciphers who will always be the scapegoat for all their sorrows

What makes this tragedy into irony is the fact that this is the very same Randite artillery which plutocrats rolled out against the working men and women of America during the Age of Reagan to destroy their hard-earned pensions and benefits and burn down any sense of a secure, middle-class retirement in this country.

What makes this irony into farce is that many of the people who backed Rauner to the hilt are the very same people who had their tomorrows looted by his Wall Street ethos.  But being Republicans, it is ideologically impossible for them to think ill of their plutocrat owners even  as they bleed them into economic exsanguination, so instead they turn their wrath the one group of people -- public sector employees -- who were not stupid enough to trade away generations of hard-won worker's rights for a future of at-will labor, cheap, Chinese junk, and supply-side magic beans.