Recently I have heard a significant amount of discussion about how educators make too much money and benefits. While I am not a big supporter of the Unions that have worked out these deals I would argue that the members of the teachers union are some of the most highly educated union workers in the US. Many of them would get equal pay in the private sector. I also find it odd that these same people believe that a CEO who is in charge of cleaning products deserves $28 million a year.
Regardless, the point I wanted to make involves the benefits. Right now teachers have a pension fund which has a large cost. There is a push to change this to a 401K system which I think is a fine idea as long as you are willing to spend the $150 million per state that it would take to make this switch. I would also point out that this will not have the saving you might think since you have already set the bar on pay and benefits and typically those numbers won't change much.
More importantly I wanted to talk about the health care costs. The rise in health care costs is not the fault of the teachers. Last year we had the opportunity to take significant steps towards reducing the cost of health care for Americans which would have included union members like teachers. When faced with this opportunity a huge percentage of people who would like to cut public spending opposed any changes.
The irony is that if these people were better educated they would be able to see how all of these issues were connected and they would have understood the benefits to lowering health care costs. This blind distrust of government spending will have an increasingly negative impact on Americans. As the old saying goes "you get what you pay for." Smaller government means a smaller voice for you.
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