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Health & Fitness

Selectman Campbell's real offense: He asked questions other avoid.

Selectman Campbell has been exonerated.   The real issue here is not a conversation that never happened. The problem is that Selectman Campbell and others have pointed out that the current payroll, pension and insurance programs that the Selectmen and the Unions have negotiated are unsustainable. This problem is not new. In 1970 for instance Penn Central RR filed for bankruptcy. A downturn in the economy and a myriad of other issues combined with employee costs including retirement costs to bring down the company. In more recent years, Greece, Portugal, France, Illinois, Detroit, California and many other governments are now facing unsustainable financial predicaments partially based on unsustainable employee costs. Detroit is just one of twenty cities trying to stave off bankruptcy. Some municipalities in effect have a payroll three or more times the active employees and growing. The longer we fail to solve this as many private enterprises have done, the worse the problem is going to become. The private sector saw this coming and reacted. A couple of decades ago businesses matched 401Ks and had various forms of health savings benefits.  Businesses know their costs so they can adjust for them.  I don't know what the answer is. But you don't have to read into this incident very deeply to find that this is the crux of the matter. Stephen's personality traits helped bring this to a head just as the economic slowdown triggered Penn Central's demise. No one really knows how long we can continue on this path in Salem before the whole thing collapses as it has elsewhere.  When you are handed a lemon, make lemonade. Maybe we can learn from this.

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