This morning I was looking out the windows from my perch on the 14th floor and I noticed a large number of people out walking in the rain on the path next to the lake. When I say a large number, what I mean is a couple of thousand. The walk had all the earmarks of a walk for a cause. People walk to raise money for cancer research, for zoos, for children's hospitals, for AIDS research, etc., etc., etc. In my experience there are two kinds of causes a causes and b causes. All of the above mentioned subjects of fund-raising are a causes.
I went walking in the rain today as well. However, I went walking for a b cause, b cause my wife's prescription had run out and she needed her thyroid medication. I often run in races, 5K races, 8K races, 10K races, 10 mile races, Half-Marathons, and Marathons. Now I'm certainly not in danger of winning any of these races, although in shorter races I sometimes place 2nd or 3rd in my age group. Frankly, most people who run in these races do so not because of any chance at winning the race and the money, but for their a causes and b causes. Most people run these races for a cause, the research foundations, the hospitals, the zoos. I, however run them for a b cause, b cause I tend to get fat. Running the races give me the kick in the seat of the pants to train for them so as not to embarrass myself. The training means I run several days per week and b cause I do that my weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels stay down within an acceptable level. I like this b cause I plan to live to a ripe old age and not have all sorts of debilitating conditions.
I do not fault those who spend their time and energy in the pursuit of a cause. I find that admirable. It's just that I, like many other people, spend so much of my time and energy taking care of my b cause, I really don't have the energy or the desire to spend more time and energy in taking care of a cause. What I am talking about is the b cause many of us share. B cause we weren't born rich we work diligently trying to assure ourselves of a comfortable retirement. In my own case, I have managed reasonably well, but I would really like to retire someplace warm (Miami Beach) in comfort. B cause I grew up poor and not so comfortable, I have done the nose to the grindstone thing in order to secure that future. I share this b cause with a great many other people of various races, ethnicities, religions, non-religions, professions, and persuasions.
This is where lies the rub. A great many of us have dedicated our adult lives to educating other people's children in public schools. The pay is low. The stress is high. The day does not end when you go home for the day. A large sector of the public is convinced that teachers are lazy, overpaid, and not worth their tax dollars. You often end up working in bad neighborhoods where at least one student per year is seriously injured due to gang confrontations and illegal activities. The payoff is that, as a teacher, you get a couple of months off in the summer, a little time off at Christmas, and a Spring Break to boot. You pay into a pension fund that is, by law, also paid into by your school district and your state. In the end, if you have been wise in your monetary decisions, you can retire with a reasonable pension and live 30-40 years pretty comfortably and without having to work. B cause you play by the rules, you get rewarded....., unless the state legislature plays fast and loose with the pension money.
Mind you, this scenario has been playing out in states all over the nation, but being a Chicago resident and a Chicago Public Schools employee, we shall use the state government in Springfield as our shining example of how not to treat loyal employees. It seems that b cause the legislators down in Springfield are unwilling to make the hard decisions necessary to properly fund a state, they have been borrowing liberally from money that was supposed to go to fund teachers' pensions. B cause they are afraid of alienating those on the right who don't want higher taxes or those on the left who don't want programs cut, they have taken millions upon millions of dollars annually from that which is earmarked for pensions, just to pay the regular bills. "Nobody will notice, right?" Wrong.
B cause of the recent downturn in the overall economy, there are more people unemployed. There are more people who have lost their homes. There are more people who are in financial distress, and as a result, tax revenues have dropped drastically. The downstate Illinois Teachers' Pension Fund is in serious poo. The Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund is in distress, but not going out of business yet, b cause the Chicago Teachers' Union has stood firm when really serious efforts to cut the Chicago Teachers' Pension funding even further. Nevertheless, this has created a situation where a great many teachers all over the State of Illinois may end up living in poverty for the duration of their retirement b cause of a lack of spine by legislators who are afraid of losing votes by doing something that is unpopular yet rational.
Let's recap for a moment. B cause teachers played by an agreed upon set of rules, they expected to retire comfortably. B cause legislators wanted to get elected again and again and use their legislative positions to enrich themselves, they made very bad choices that may lead to the demise of teachers' pension funds. B cause these legislators made those decisions, the teachers who played by the rules will suffer in poverty. For the record, when you pay into the Teachers' Pension Fund in Illinois, you do not pay into Social Security, so if your pension fund tanks, you won't even have Social Security to count on, and we all know how small those payments are.
So what should teachers do? They should damned well start finding some new legislators who will have the stones necessary to do the right thing. They should damned well throw out the present batch of ne'er do wells who have been enriching themselves at public expense all these years. Otherwise, we face a public shame in this state and many others. The people who educated your children, the people who gave of themselves for so little remuneration will be literally condemned to an old age of poverty b cause we have a state and a nation that does not care for their own b cause they're too busy caring about a cause to worry about caring about their neighbors and public servants who are in distress.
No comments:
Post a Comment