It's hard for me to get bent out of shape about salaries for public employees. Most of them do shit work, at shit pay, for many years -- and if a few of them accrue enough overtime and holiday pay to make very good money in their last few years of employment, and therefore secure a good pension, then I'm not about to argue it should be taken away from them. Lord knows that if you broke down the budget of NYC (~ $85 billion annually) what these guys are making probably barely puts a dent in it.<p>In general, I hate this crabs-in-a-bucket mentality to how we fund (or don't) public services and the social safety net. Every teacher, police officer, paramedic, and sanitation worker -- the people who keep society functional and healthy -- <i>should</i> be getting this kind of money! And if you look at it jealously because your private-sector job (perhaps as a NY Post hack?) would never get you nearly that much, then maybe you, too, should unionize and agitate for better pay. I mean, you should probably do that anyway, regardless of what teachers and cops get paid, but that's for another thread.<p>If it costs the government more money to pay these salaries, with increased taxes to go along with that, then I'm fine with that. These services are available to anyone and everyone, for everyone's benefit. This (from my experience, especially but not only American) need to moan and complain about every dollar of tax paid, or (if you're rich enough) pay accountants and lawyers enormous sums so you don't have to pay any taxes at all -- is, frankly, unethical and contributes to the ongoing breakdown of American civil society that I have been watching for my entire life.