Are Public Workers Really the "Villains" Or Are They Being Scapegoated By Politicians

In this second clip from last night's Rachel Maddow Show,which also features Gov. Chris Christie prominently, guest host Chris Hayes, DC Editor of The Nation magazine focuses on whether or not the mindless and faceless members of public employee unions are the real culprits behind the $100 billion budget shortfall that States throughout the country are facing.

Speaking of teachers, fireman, policeman and others, guest Dorrin Warren an Assistant Professor of International Affairs at Columbia University states, ..." I think that as soon as you dehumanize and disassociate from real human beings it makes it easy to create a villain to attack...I think this is a convenient attack instead of focusing on the real villains of economic crisis, bankers, Wall Street, of actual people that made decisions that put us where we are today, its much easier to create new villains out of public sector workers, who are police officer, teachers, firefighters, who are our neighbors, our friends, our relatives."

The bottom line in all this simple, if the $8 trillion dollar housing bubble did not burst and the state of economy was not as it is today, than politicians would not be going after public workers they way that they have. As stated in the report public workers salaries on average across the nation is ~4% less than private employee salaries, it's states like NJ that have shorted public pension systems over the years that have created much of this problem themselves and are attempting to skirt the responsibilities and promises that they have made to their employees.

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