Greedy Teachers?

In an era when criminal bankers go free how did we decide that teachers should be punished? Jon Stewart nailed the point in a recent show.

I was also stunned by commentary I've seen maligning teachers as fat cats draining tax dollars, going further than mere budget issues and veering into what comes across as a vendetta against these public workers.

A favorite theme for teacher-haters is that they don't have to work during the summer. OK fine, if you think it's such a cake walk trying to educate our kids against all odds you go apply for such a cushy job.

My mother taught school for more than two decades. She didn't get rich from it. I never caught her cashing in a bonus for ripping off investors based on a few phone calls in an afternoon.

For all the reasons our economy and government budgets have gone askew are we really so deluded as to think teachers are at fault?

What a hoot to hear pundits who defended federally-subsidized Wall Street bonus contracts as sacrosanct now blithely calling for the abolishment of collective bargaining contracts for teachers.

Oh sure, teachers are nothing but feeders at the public trough with their endless access to printer paper, pencils -- and those plush school lounges where they trade tips for investing their vast pension funds.

Not a single - as in not one - Wall Street executive has faced jail despite the systematic fraud that nearly collapsed the world economy and cost the government a fortune in bailouts. Indeed, many actually profited millions from that catastrophe.

But somehow teachers earning a national average of $43,000 have become the villains?

Craig blogs daily for CQ ROLL CALL