I am ok with Public unions, per se. However, their pensions and benefits MUST have a plan for full funding Day 1, and not be ascribed to a nebulous future. The scandal here is the amount of unfunded, pay as you go, pension liabilities in America's local and state governments. In my view, the correct solution is to transfer all current pensions for local and state employees to 401k type plans: 1. Because it matches what the average taxpayer has, 2. The public employee is exposed to the same risk/reward as taxpayers, leveling the playing field. In essence, I see NO reason why public employees should be treated differently from private sector employees. None. (I have worked in both sectors, and still do.) I am EXTREMELY doubtful that this type of change will have any change. whatsoever, in the quality of applicants, or accepted employees. Prove me wrong, with data.

great piece jeff BUT REMEMBER, no matter what happens anyplace else, this is still suffolk county ma. U Sof A where anything goes except change which is the LAST thing the voters who work for the city, the state, the authorities and the public unions are looking for. actually jeff, the unions only want whats theirs and to hades with everyone else but the change is coming. SHELLY COHEN and her editorial crew at the HERALD hit it out of the park the other morn when they started of their editorial with these words to the publc sector unions."BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID." after the stunning outcome in wisconsin and other events happnin in places like san jose california. ma

Jeff makes a cute argument but one that belies his underlying desire to end all union membership. As a supporter of "predatory capitalism" as opposed to "free enterprise" Jeff would suppress the ability of unions to hold any bargaining positions. As with all repressive mentalities and nations such as China, unionism is viewed as an anathema as it represents the ability of the working man to have some control over his life. It also represents a political power to offset the power of the corporations and we can't have that. While unions have created the greatest middle class in the world here in the USA, thirty years of government repression have stripped them of any semblance of power. The end result is a declining middle class, wage stagnation and record corporate profits. I would expect this trend to continue at not only its current pace but to accelerate as corporations increase their stranglehold on the US government. The defeat of the public unions merely signaled that the worker in the US now is not only a second class citizen but considers himself a second class citizen. It is a signal, at least to me, that corporate America has somehow convinced the average American that his only hope for survival is the crumbs that big business decides to leave on the floor. Of course the average American while being a pretty nice person is about as politically sophisticated as any middle easterner. Welcome to third world America and it doesn't matter who wins the election, you already sold your soul to the company store.

Mr. Jacoby again lives in a partial universe and insists on taking things out of context. Just were the results of the recent plebiscite in Wisconsin? Gov Walker was not recalled because wall to wall ads made sure there was no sharp focus on his dismal policies and more on the fact he had been duly elected by Wisconsin voters. That even seems reasonable. No one should be thrown out of office early if there has been no extraordinary malfeasance. Regular elections serve that purpose. But what else happened? The Democrats took over the Wisconsin Senate and this will put the brakes on any further extreme measures. The Wisconsin public seemed to take the view that they were not sure of the proper direction for their state and wanted to let the legislation that passed to play out without doing any more drastic measures for the present. The economy also took a role in this by making a false contrast between public and private employees. This made the Green Monster part of voter's decisions. They seem question why public employees should be paid decently when they are not. Instead of supporting the mechanism to accomplish this, namely unions, they chose to put their fellow workers into the same boat as they are. Last of all exit polling showed strong support for President Obama whose policies are national indicating that a more global solution to their economic woes remains with the Democratic Party. So there we have it a mixed bag engendered by an uncertain public in Wisconsin. We'll just have to wait until November after Gov Walker's vision gets more time. If Wisconsin voters don't like it the tide will turn.

Once again the incendiary rhetoric of the right erupts from Jerkoby's mouth. "Rioting," "hell-bent," "Hitler," "rage," etc.. As pointed out below, the Democrats won the state senate. The truth is that Walker arbitrarily broke an existing agreement with public workers. If you want to change something, do it through the negotiation process which was available to him.

Jeff, you nailed it today. Your detractors here cannot refute what you said, so they resort to ad hominem attacks, that do not even go near your basic thesis. Yes, collective bargaining in the public sector is a recipe for disaster. The states that provide these lavish benefits for state workers are all careening toward the same place that Greece and other Euro zone countries are in. The money is not there to pay for all the promises made, but when efforts are made to reduce the spending, the angry mobs riot in the streets. Wisconsin was not all that dissimilar to Athens, when this all began. NEW PARAGRAPH: The good news, is that more governors will now feel empowered to rein in the obscene benefits. Even one Democrat is doing this-Andrew Cuomo in New York. It is good news for the country.

Unions would support legalized brothels if union guys got the construction jobs and the girls promised to vote Democrat. Scott Walker rules.

The Constitution guarantees the right of free speech and freedom of association. So in that limited way Jeff, Federal law protects those wanting to form a union, public or private. Federal law also bars states from retaliating against state workers forming a union. It does not require states to bargain with public sector unions. That's where Massachusetts comes in. In Massachusetts we have a wonderful law called Massachusetts General Law Chapter 150E and it holds many guarantees for the worker bees in the public sector. If you are thinking that the most important thing in the world is to withhold health insurance and a decent living wage from your friends and neighbors then you had better get going on electing republicans to the governors seat and the test of the Massachusetts legislature. Even the democrats in the Massachusetts House are willing to be rational about putting curbs on excessive spending as evidenced by last year's changes to public employee health care benefits. But of you are talking about getting rid of public sector unions altogether then I'm afraid you're going to have to change the law. Look around you. Public sector workers are your family members. They chase the bad guys, they teach your kids in school, they put out fires, they make sure kids are not abused when no one else cares. I don't think Scott Walker's "divide and conquer"

Hit post by accident. Whatever, Jacoby-right-wing-propaganda-corporations-you know the rest..

Legalized prostitution is an excellent idea supported by folks on both sides of the political spectrum and found in most forward-thinking countries including Germany. Scotty Walker is a tool.

Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. In education most teachers did not unionize for high wages (clearly) but for better educational conditions. Prior to unions, the BPS class size for high school students was 45. Today it is 31. If you read the BPS/BTU CBA you will see more it focuses on students than teachers. We want our students to succeed and we actively fight for them. recently and most noticeably it was the teachers who lead the charge against the city's inept transportation plan which had one out of every third student arriving late. Let's also look at the "leadership" of the BPS. Not one member of the school committee has taught a day in a K-12 class. Not one day. Too many principals have little to no classroom experience either. Teachers know what works and what doesn't. It is any wonder we have banded to gather since the "leadership" ignores us? Just as all business men aren't greedy crooks hell bent on cheating people out of their money, neither are public employees.

Public sector workers also have better wages and benefits. They are not underpaid, they are probably the only segment right now whose raises are outpacing their health insurance increases. Don't buy into the crap they write in the union propaganda papers...no one is going to withhold insurance or a fair wage. Maybe just that unlimited gas card or 5 figure salary increases for getting a degree.

I could be mistaken but HHK's "greatest" adjective applies to the USA's middle class, not to the USA itself. It is an inescapable fact that unions lead to the rise of the US middle class and that the attacks on unions have lead to the decline of the middle class. As for AU, NZ, CN, and GR; all those nations have stronger unions and a more socialist outlook that what Mr. Jacoby is advocating.

Surely you must be more intelligent and mature than this post implies.

As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for, lest you get it. I would urge y'all to read BT3's post, then read it again.

Chrissie78-talk about myths. Who gets an "unlimited gas card" whatever that means? Name the positions in the state government who get unlimited gas cards. The state does pay a stipend for those who travel on state business. But the state doesn't pay for gas for anyone if you're talking about personal use. Name one person save possibly the governor. Name one and prove that that person is offered unlimited gas for personal use as some kind of perk. If you're talking about someone commiting fraud then that's another stroy. Name one.

If we lose public sector unions the studies will be done as to the quality of applicants in the future. But if the pay and wages are reduced to minimum wage with no benefits (which is where Mr. Taxpayer would have it go) then common sense would dictate that the pool will suffer. And public services will suffer. Another thing to think about is the idea of college. Unless you are in the math and science track - why bother with college if the jobs you qualify for upon graduation pay the same and have the same benefits as working for Wal-mart or Dunkin's?

"San Jose's pension payments jumped from $73 million in 2001 to $245 million this year, equal to 27 percent of its general fund budget. Four new libraries and a police station have never opened because the city cannot afford to operate them." The city's bond rating got downgraded because of the unions. San Jose is the 10th largest city and super liberal. It's a wake up call that 70% of the voters, voted against the unions. The unions want the same benefits that are bankrupting Greece, at the expense of the taxpayers.

The PIGS are part of the EU, so it does represent Europe. Last Summer in France, people died rioting over the idea of raising the retirement age to 62. England is in the middle of major reforms. The country is hurting because of pensions and free healthcare costs. On June 21st, MD's are walking off the job, because of pension reform. I could go on about every country in the EU. Are these countries similar to AL & LA? Most of the elections that took place this past Tuesaday were heavily democratic. On a positive note for you, France has become an entitlment society and last month elected a socialist president. Will Smith was recently asked by a French reporter how he would feel being Taxed at Frances new tax rate of 75%, his response was "God Bless America".

Mr. Kitchner you will note I was speaking of the greatest middle class in the past tense. No we no longer represent that and have indeed been surpassed by the countries that you list. If you have followed me at all you no I consider this nation to be in a precipitous decline a decline led by corporate America and its political cronies. I will state that perhaps my sense of "past tense" was not clearly enunciated.

You are splitting hairs. Certainly, some Euro zone countries are fairing better than others. But it is consistent with so many of those countries to emphasize reliance on government, over productivity. It is common for many of the countries to heap lavish benefits on government workers as do many states in our country. The moral is the same: When a leader tries to correct the impending fiscal disaster, as with Walker, the mobs form, and the rioting and destruction begin.