Senate votes to privatize its failing restaurant
I think Dianne Feinstein is definitely the less insane of my state’s Senators. She’s actually seeing a government-run program that’s losing money hand over fist (and has been for years–this isn’t just a Democrat thing, it’s a government thing) and releasing it into the private sector:
“It’s cratering,” she said of the restaurant system. “Candidly, I don’t think the taxpayers should be subsidizing something that doesn’t need to be. There are parts of government that can be run like a business and should be run like businesses.”
Of course, ideology quickly came into play, because many of Feinstein’s fellow Dems believe that most of business should be run like a government and should be run by government. Here’s Robert Menendez, determined to keep the Senate restaurant under Senate management and throw good money (YOUR money) after bad to make a point:
“[Y]ou cannot stand on the Senate floor and condemn the privatization of workers, and then turn around and privatize the workers here in the Senate and leave them out on their own.”
Not without the bloggers noticing, nope. And here’s Sherrod Brown lamenting the blow to the unions:
“I know what happens with privatization. Workers lose jobs, and the next generation of workers make less in wages. These are some of the lowest-paid workers in our country, and I want to help them,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), a staunch labor union ally, said recently. The wages of the approximately 100 Senate food service workers average $37,000 annually.
Really? Workers make more money under socialized systems? Okay, quick, let’s nationalize health care then. I know some doctors who can barely afford their green fees these days. I’m sure they’ll prosper under socialized medicine! Just ask them.
And don’t forget the oil execs! Maxine Waters wants to rescue those poor impoverished petro-barons from their plight as well.
Flashback: Nancy Pelosi re-organized the House cafeterias to serve shade-grown tofu and free-trade arugula and hippie food. The right wing blogosphere gave her a lot of crap for it at the time, but in retrospect it looks like a shrewd bit of marketing. With the Democrats in the majority, they needed to feed their new crop of runty meat-is-murder vegan-sushi Capitol staffers that the Dems were bringing in. According to the WaPo article above, the Senate staffers are foraging over on the House side.
When the GOP gets their act together and takes over again, it’ll be all-you-can-eat prime rib, with Freedom Fries and deep-fried chili cheese logs on the side. And Blue Bell ice cream for dessert.
___________
{Post by See-Dubya. Hat tip to my mom.}
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Trackbacks
- Elephant Owners » Blog Archive » Can’t manage a restaurant
- Michelle Malkin » I’ve got a bad feeling about this.
- WunderKraut » Blog Archive » Dumb Bastards
- Democrats Vote to Privatize US SEnate Restaurant Chains! - Political Forum - US & World Political Discussion Forums
- I’ve got a bad feeling about this | 1913 Intel
- The Colossus of Rhodey
- LOUNGE DADDY » Some States to look into privatization
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Categories: Democrats, Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi
Power Line
» More From the East Anglia Archives
Pundit & Pundette
» Various and sundryStop The ACLU
» Obama To Hold Another Prime Timer To Explain Our Afghanistan Strategy To Islamic ExtremistsAmSpecBlog
» Lieberman Says He's "Stubborn" on Gov't PlanWeekly Standard
» Dowd on PalinTigerHawk
» Negative equity
Note to Sherrod: $37K per annum is over $18/hour. These people are assembling Cobb salads, for chrissakes, not Corvettes. You want more money in their pockets? Try tipping, you tight bastard.
Peace out.
Man, you gotta get out of the Soviet of California.
I agree with that, but that just means her room at the funny farm hotel is only one floor down.
I heard they gave the contract to Laura Richardson.
And Blue Bunny’s ice cream would be hard to beat.
The Homemade Chocolate is Killer.
Pistachio not bad either…..
I haven’t seen Blue Bell out here in PS.
Blue Bell Ice Cream comes from contented cows in Brenham Texas & is good stuff.
Hmmmm
A. & you can run the nations health care system because?
B. we are still paying for it… will we now pay more for it?
C. we are at war, Congress should get the same lunch as any enlisted man/woman gets.
I know there is a D. & E. coming… didn’t want to be greedy.
Do they have Crow on the menu?
What do Crapweasels eat anyway? lmao
Crapweasels have an insatiable appetite for taxes…
have them eat what they produce…pork and fat.
The same meals and the same pay would be nice. Weren’t they saying we all need to sacrifice?
Wait… all of those brown bags??? sandwiches right?
Blue Bell! Banana Split is to die for!
Eat all you can and sell all the rest.
The natural cure
So let’s break this down for a second: 1. These chow hall workers are making more than an E-6 with less than 12 years or an O-2 (which requires a 4-yr degree) with under 2 years.
2. If he’s that worried about government employees, then why not make the wages $100,000 a year? Why not an even million? How does one decide what the wages should be? Has something to do with fair-market values, right? Without a free market, then his subsidizing mentality makes no sense.
This is one prime example of ‘Two Americas’. Government and the rest. Forever refusing to acknowledge what truly works so that they may prosper in some fashion or another. ‘Privatization’ is what makes the market work…..even for the lowly types in Congress.
Most likely they could not hire illegals to wotk at the Senate restaurant, hence the problem.
The problem would be solved if they set up temporary work program: hire illegals to work the restaurant
and
shift the current legal employees to a soon to be established department to handle Universal Health coverage.
Win win for everyone:
Illegals get jobs American won’t do for cheap,
The nation gets Publically administered health coverage, and
Senators feel good about not wasting tax Dollars.
Senators don’t care about wasting tax dollars ‘vatodio’. They just move the savings to another department. Nothing ever reduces, just shifts.
These idiots can’t be trusted to run anything.
Like I’ve stated before—housing prices are going down—how about if some of you conservative – patriots from other states move HERE to good ol’ CA?!!!!:-)
#2 Instead of us moving out –you all could come to GREAT weather-beaches-mountains-we even have snow – in some places!!! Come on over to CA and we’ll get a great state back!!
Personally – I think ALL of government should be run like business.
The the little creamery in Brenham. What a delight!
Blue Bell is the best. My favorite flavor is Chocolate Almond Marshmallow
Why don’t we nationalize Sen. Feinstein’s holdings? That would save the Defense Department about $20M a year. That is how much we overpay to keep this parasite alive.
ajmontana,
The Dems won’t eat real pork because it might offend thier Islamist allies.
Plus, I wouldn’t share my pork with any worthless Commie. mmmmmmmmmmm Fat Back and collard greens with pepper vinegar and biscuits..
Well, between impeachment and cafeterias, I see congress is hard at work, with our tax money. Privatization? I bet you stumbled a bit over that word. I thought that word was a “pc” no-no. Oh, except when it directly affects you, Feinstein….
lol. can they get anymore ironic?
ROFLMAO
If one wants it run efficiently, privatize it. If not, let government manage it. That goes for cafeterias and anything else.
A private sector company could walk in there, still pay a competetive wage to what workers are making now and still show a realizee cost savings and a profit.
Been there. Done that.
We have to hit this every single time they bring up Socialized Medicine.
They can’t run their own lunch line, but they want to run the entire health care system.
Given carte blanche with taxpayer dollars they couldn’t figure out how to hand out free food to freeloading Senators.
Same thing goes for Maxine Waters’s wet dream to take over the American oil companies a la Hugo Chavez.
What f-ing country are we living in??? Now Democrats feel absolutely free to say what’s on their minds and the American public doesn’t bat an eyelash? A congressman can threaten a government takeover of an entire industry without condemnation? In this current political environment, does this threat really ring hollow? We are closer to Marxism than most realize.
Thugs, Tyrants, Dictators, Marxists — How can we expect congress to fight these around the world when they exhibit the same traits?
We can’t. We need to throw the bums out.
That is because they will be more efficient and competitive since they will not enjoy government monopoly status.
Then he would not have anybody to bash come election time.
sam i am (#30),
What did you expect from MARXINE Waters. She is running true to form
All your Senate lunches are belong to us.
No way. We finally got rid of Cynthia McKinney, and housing prices will have to drop about another 60% before they are competitive. Although having Cynthia around just might cause that to happen.
Props to you,Michelle for recognizing the superior quality of Blue Bell Ice Cream….here in Texas it’s almost like the Alamo or the Dallas Cowboys…a state treasure….I grew up on Sealtest Ice Cream and have tried countless others,but ‘the little creamery in Brenham’ won my heart years ago and I’ve never looked back…my favorite is peach and lately I’ve been pigging on it since it’s seasonal…high butter fat content,no ice crystals, choice fruit segments….it’s a glutton’s dream..no other brand comes close…and it doesn’t suffer from the political stigma of some like Ben & Jerry’s….just good eating…as a matter of fact,I think I’m going to have a dish right now…before lunch
JSR,
I honestly never thought I could say anything nice about Cynthia McKinney but I think you nailed it: Her very presence would lower housing prices and she is really funny to watch (as long as her antics don’t effect you personally). Maybe if we could get her elected in California, it would start to be affordable again.
I believe Boortz called her the “nicest little communist in congress”. I would scratch “nicest” and insert “craziest”.
Has anyone here ever worked on the Hill? The Longworth (House) cafeteria is amazing. Their tacos are to die for.
People have been taking the trolley from the Senate side to the House side long before Rep. Pelosi added sushi to the menus.
I wonder if the food there gives you gas. Feinstein certainly does. Thank heavens I got out of California a few years ago.
Huzzah!