We all know that times are tough. The unemployment rate remains disturbingly high. But that is not an excuse for employers to take advantage of workers who need the job to pay the rent. History is full of economic cycles--some worse than the current downturn--and as sure as the graph line is to turn back up, unhappy employees will leave as soon as they can.

Management surveys consistently show that one of the top challenges to senior managers--and often THE top challenge--is recruiting and retaining talent. This was the excuse given by Wall Street firms for distributing huge bonuses in 2009, after accepting government bail-out money to stay afloat--retaining their talented workers. (Of course, many of them are the ones who got those companies into trouble in the first place--but why be picky?) That line of thinking rarely filters through to employees who do not generate revenue. It ignores the contribution of managers and creatives, line workers and many field workers, much less teachers and civil servants. Hence, the stand-off in Wisconsin.

Why is there so much antipathy toward teachers? Is it jealousy because they work 10 months out of the year? Or because they go home at 3pm? Or is it because their salaries come directly out of the pockets of taxpayers, rather than indirectly through the rise in gasoline prices or changes in fees for things like checked baggage on airlines? Are we being manipulated by demogogues who want to destroy modern industrial and societal institutions, taking us back to the 1930s? (What a good idea!)

I think it comes down to something very simple. If private sector companies can retain talented workers through financial incentives and benefits, why shouldn't school districts and municipalities? Who do you want teaching your children: highly educated people who really want to be there (yet still maintain a decent standard of living) or inexperienced, inarticulate people who can't get any other job? And what will happen to your real estate values when your school districts decline? The old saw, "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach" went out when the unions came in. Do you really want to return to those days?

And what about other municipal workers? Michael Bloomberg is threatening to cut maintenance staff for buses and subways--since he says he won't cut service, and won't raise fares, what's left? How much revenue will the Transit Authority lose if people are afraid to get on poorly maintained buses or trains? What will that do to traffic and air quality, much less to people who do not own cars and have no other way to get to work?

Milton Friedman said, "You may not get everything you pay for, but you pay for everything you get." We need to think about what we are getting for our money--both in the private and the public sectors. Should we be cutting waste? Of course! But I guarantee you that the people who are ripping us off will continue to do so, at the expense of those who serve us, educate us, and help us navigate governmental systems. Moreover, we have allowed some folks to set one group against another, rather than trying to get people to work together for the greater good. This is not only bad for society. It's bad for business.