Hard economic times have taken hold in the United States. The one area where a weak economy and unemployment will show up is national, state and local governments. Now the cold reality is here as lower sales tax, property tax and higher demand for public safety net expenditures combine to force drastic actions to curb spending. An article titled “Budget cuts are deja vu for Dallas ISD teachers” by Monica Diaz and published on the WFAA website February 19, 2011 details plans in Dallas, TX to cut up to 3,100 teachers because of budget shortfalls.

Dallas, Texas is a long way from Madison, Wisconsin, but the issues are the same and this is happening all across the country. Why is there such uproar in Wisconsin? Everyone understands when there is not enough money to go around because math can be explained. An article titled “Wisconsin Protests Continue Saturday, Huge Rally Expected” by the Associated Press and posted in The Huffington Post February 19, 2011 go into some details of the issues in Wisconsin where Governor Scott Walker says his actions are due to budget issues. Others say that Walker’s actions are meant to break public employees unions.