NITAKK wrote: "Look, I know government entities are strapped right now and nobody has the balls to say we need to raise taxes, but these aren't the people that we need to go after." So, your solutions NITAKK is to raise taxes! On who?

Why can't teachers pay their fair share for health care benefits and retirement? I'm in the private sector and pay approximately 30% on my health care costs with my employer picking up the balance. Teachers currently pay zero in Wisconsin for their health care benefits and Governor Walker wants them to pay 12.5%. Teachers pay zero for retirement benefits and Governor Walker wants them to contribute 5.8% of their salaries. What a hardship that would be!

Currently, teachers in Wisconsin with enough years of service, can retire at 55 years old with a pension equal to the average of their three highest paid years. They also receive free health benefits. Show me where in the private sector people have such lucrative benefits!

The bigger issue is collective bargaining and that's why the unions have showed up in droves and have had protestors bused in from out of state. The unions don't want to lose their hold, and susequent dollars received, and are spending millions and millions on this battle.

Teachers have difficult jobs, no doubt about it, but it's time they pay their own way. And calling in sick to go to the state capitol to protest sends out a terrible message to parents and students. Many of these parents then had to find alternative arrangements or take time off from their own jobs to take care of their children. Complete school districts were shut down last week due to "sick" teachers!

As I said earlier, it's getting more difficult to feed all these people from the taxpayers trough and I believe the last election demonstrated how fed up people are!