I don't think I have come out in favor of the protests in any post in this thread, nor have I shown an "entrenched" position. I said that I really have no control over what I get paid or the power to truly negotiate that on a personal level. I have also said that when you get hired there are certain promises made in both public and private employment. Those promises being benefits such as healthcare, disability insurance, retirement plans, etc. When I am told that my contributions will be matched, I assume they will be. When I am told that I am going to receive a certain benefit, I assume that the promise will be met. This has been true in my work for both the private and public sector. My father was a captain in the Army and he to had certain benefits that were promised to him. Things like the G.I. Bill, vet benefits, etc. My friends who are police officers, postal carriers, and firefighters are in the same boat. We all face the reality that those promises will not be met at the federal and state level. We all serve our state and country with pride, but at the end of the day we face the impact of a struggling economy. There are a lot of reasons for this, the private sector's greed in terms of real estate is one of the primary causes of our current plight. Banks, mortgage companies, and the government(elected officials funded by PRIVATE corporations) made sure to fix the system in their favor hence destroying the economy. You can attempt to pass the blame to teachers as much as you like, but the reality is that there is a shared responsibility when it comes to the totality of the problem.
This is where my main issue is with people like you who like to point and scream like a child and say "they did it mommy, they ruined everything!" The truth is that the majority of flaws in the government are there as a result of greed from the private sector. If you honestly believe that the public unions have nearly as much powers as big oil, banks, and real-estate you are fucking nuts. Look at any major piece of legislation and you will see the finger prints of the private sector lawyers all over them. It's not like the teachers unions has any say in GWB's No Child-Left Behind Act, it was written primarily by the testing companies and textbook companies. There were actual parts of the bill that rewarded those companies by putting their tests, books, and programs in place in the even that a school/district did not meet their pre-determined benchmarks. As a result you have had billions being poured into these PRIVATE company coffers into programs that suck and have shown no real meaningful gains for students. These are private companies that are mooching off the system, not me. Another example of this is the military, my father had the honor of serving his nation, and even found himself in the PRIVATE sector working for a defense contractor. If you are looking for someone to target, I suggest you start there. The shit that goes down in that private/public sector orgy would make a Roman ruler blush. The fact remains that we are in an age of corporatist power backed by both parties, and well protected by the last four presidents. Obama is no better than Bush or Clinton, in fact he is better by evidence of the record profits recently reported. Cry all you want about my PERS, but it is a drop in the bucket compared to the other shit the PRIVATE sector has written into law to mooch off the schools, states, and federal budgets.
