It seems that in California’s current/annual budget debacle, it’s one public employee union against another. “Guns or butter” we are asked, each side having valid points. What we really need is a healthy private sector that can provide a robust tax return to an inclusive and functioning government and at the same time provide the kind of viable jobs that allow even the most marginalized folks to not resent the society they live in. When you have a mile-long line of former professors, bankers, butchers, and candlestick makers applying for a job as a dogcatcher for their local municipality, something is wrong.
This article appears in Apr 30 – May 7, 2009.