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In California, they are spending money on making a better life for beaurcrats and their ilk.

Actually, government employee's making killer tax paid wages, benefits, and pensions are not limited to California. This crap is going on in every single state, while most of the American workers are cutting back, pinching pennys, and making do with less.

You are correct--and of course it's going on at the Federal level as well.

But don't let too many people know that you care and are concerned about "the American workers" --for as fast as you can say "Joesph Stalin" there will be Freepers who will label you a marxist, communist sympathizer.

As Americans, were not suppose to be concerned with the plight of our fellow citizens; that would be the worst kind of sin. Instead, we are suppose to sing the praises of outsourceing, free-trade, and the continued decline of the manufacturing base and the middle-class. Yes, that's what a REAL American would do...

In the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, the MTC (Metropolitan Transit Commission) bus drivers, et. al., are on strike because they face the horrible prospect of {gasp} actually having to provide for their own health care after retiring, like private sector workers have always had to do. MTC management doesn't want to take that beneift away from existing workers, mind you, they just don't want any new, incoming employees to be eligible for it.

This from a government entity that never, ever comes close to breaking even, to say nothing of turning a profit. A local radio show today stated that the annual cost of paying for MTC retiree's health care costs has grown to $255 million, with no end in sight. Oh, and as the strike began, they were just putting the finishing touches on an unwanted, unneeded $800 million commuter-rail line that runs all of ten miles from downtown Mpls to the Mall of America. Said rail-line has yet to haul a single, paying passenger, and now sits idle because the underworked whiners who should be running it are on strike.

One of the bright spots of the strike is that the Mall of America has reported drastic decreases in shoplifting since the buses stopped hauling people down there.

Negotiations are almost non-existent due to the unreasonable demands of these government 'workers'. I say fire the whole lot of them immediately and start over with people who know what reality is all about. When the government gets too bloated and it's employees start earning more in total than the people paying their salaries, trouble is afoot.