Thursday, September 23, 2004

When is a strike not a strike?

Teachers in Kentucky are staying home Monday to protest against increases in health insurance costs. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that my kid's teachers in Kenton County are joining in and we were notified today that the kids would be staying home on Monday. Not a big deal for us since my wife is a stay-at-home mom but those kids with working parents will need to find an alternative that will cost them. Almost every employer in the country is raising the empoyees share of health insurance. We don't all walk out.

If teachers think they are getting a raw deal, let them find other jobs. I get that they love their jobs (at least some of them) but this is the reality of the situation. With skyrocketing health costs due to excessive litigation, everyone is forced to pay more to subsidize the trial lawyers (just ask John Edwards). In order to eat up part of the teachers increased costs, that means the money has to come from somewhere. Either something else gets cut or taxes get raised. IT HAS TO COME FROM SOMEWHERE. You can't just arbitrarily take the money out of a magic basket of gold. Socialized medicine is clearly not the answer, so we need to look hard at alternative ways to decrease the costs of health care. In the meantime, the teachers have decided to place the burden on working Americans to make their petty point.

You say you are in this profession for the kids. Really?

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