States, counties, cities, and school districts are having budget problems.

It�s not so surprising, since the economic recovery in America is being accomplished without any meaningful job creation.

No jobs, no paychecks. No paychecks, no taxes. No taxes, and you get budget problems.

Americans can�t seem to hold on to their jobs or their homes. Young people, unless they create their own, still are not finding jobs in their field of education or experience.

There�s always borrowing, and that�s what seems to be happening at an increasing level by the federal government and even smaller governmental entities, none of which can go out of business very easily. Small private companies - and even some big ones - have been doing just that, of late.

Before they fold, however, they try to cut what historically is called the biggest expense that they have - labor. They may do it by cutting wages, after cutting benefits, or they may just cut the number of workers.

A recent column in the Christian Science Monitor suggested that, to get to a balanced budget, governments should cut workers� pay and benefits. That would do the trick, according to David R. Francis, described as an economic journalist at the CSM.

He pointed out that public workers have much better pensions, that the average state and local government worker was paid $36.66 an hour in �total compensation in 2009, and that private sector workers are laid off or discharged at nearly three times the rate of public workers.

The question was: Do government workers have it too good?

A little history is in order. There was a time when any government work was looked down upon by those in the private sector. Perhaps, workers for private companies didn�t deride government workers in public, but it was close.

Government wages were low (but the jobs were quite secure), the benefits were just adequate, and the pensions were small, but not too bad. Comparing the private sector and government work in the years between the end of World War II and the turn of the century was like comparing the tortoise and the hare, the latter being the private sector.

In those years, business was booming. Every American wanted a car, so the auto industry was in a full run. Every family wanted a home of its own, so the housing industry was in full swing. All parents seemed to want a college education for their children (since they got one under the GI Bill), so state university systems across the country were in a state of full growth. Home appliance manufacturers were trying to keep up with the needs of all of the families who just bought new homes.

Things were going well and the ever-higher standard of wages and benefits were being set by unionized workers, for all workers, whether they paid union dues or not.

In the meanwhile, the low-paid government workers put in their daily routines, collecting their comparatively low wages and pedestrian benefits - but it was steady work, at every level of government, from the town clerk, to the city clerical workers, to the school maintenance staff, to the highway departments, to the bureaucracies of the federal government. Generally, across the country, they did not have unions fighting for them, so they accepted what they had and counted themselves fortunate.

The movement of the means of production to other countries started in the post-war period, but not many noticed. Things were still good, but, by 1980, it was clear that the U.S. was headed for trouble, as manufacturing and heavy industry was moved to other, low-wage countries at an accelerated pace. It spelled trouble for wage earners who had long considered themselves to be solidly in the middle class.

By then, some states had given public workers the right to form unions and bargain collectively with their employers over wages, benefits, and pensions. Before that, they had been satisfied with their organizations (that were not, in fact, unions) that provided a clambake in the summer, a Christmas party (they still had them), and a �sunshine fund,� that sent flowers to sick members or condolences on a death in the family. That�s about all they could expect for dollar-a-month dues.

Even though there are some states that do not allow unionization of public workers to this day, many did and the effect was that the disparity between public and private employment began to disappear, to the extent that, now, public employment is widely considered to be plum employment and, therefore, is attacked from the right and even the center on a daily basis.

Conservative or right wing think tanks are not quite sure what to say about the �whopping� total compensation of $36 an hour for public workers, when some CEOs make the equivalent of $4,000 an hour or more in �total compensation.� Obviously, they are reluctant to call attention to the gross disparity between the rich and the rest of us.

It appears that the first thing that comes to the minds of pundits and politicians when it comes to budget and financial problems is to solve the problems on the backs of the workers. Either cut their pay, cut their benefits, or lay them off. None of these are solutions.

One of the tricks of corporations over the past few decades accomplishes two of their goals at once and the same has been proposed as a solution to government shortfalls and failing budgets: pay newly-hired workers less in wages, provide fewer or lesser benefits, and cut their pension and give them a 401-K or some other scheme that has been so productive for those who lost huge percentages of their retirement income when the economy tanked.

In this way, government at all levels saves money in their budgets and they create two classes of workers, sure to cause dissension and division among workers at some time in the future. Even where there is a union, there will be less unity and solidarity among the workers, all to the benefit of the employer, public or private.

Then, there is ever-present question: Who is going to do the work?

As life gets more complicated - what with climate change, a health care crisis, financial problems, massive unemployment, migration on a gigantic scale caused by a �globalized economy, pollution of the air, water, and the food we eat - we look to some level of government to deal with the problems and tell us candidly what is happening to us and how to deal with all of these things, and more.

Who is going to do the work?

A more equitable tax structure surely would help struggling governments. For example, in the April 5, 2010, issue of Forbes, Christopher Helman noted that some of the world�s largest and most profitable corporations enjoy a lower tax rate than individual workers, if they pay taxes at all.

He wrote: �The most egregious example is General Electric. Last year the conglomerate generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam. In fact, it recorded a tax benefit of $1.1 billion.�

The other half of the elephant in the room is the sprawling American empire and the lion�s share of the national budget that it consumes each year. The U.S. cannot continue to support some 750 bases around the world, a bloated defense and Pentagon budget, and the conduct of two or three wars, along with several more unacknowledged ones.

The question remains for governments: Who will do the work?

If the people are unemployed and unhealthy, what are the military forces protecting? And, for corporations and their managers, over what do they preside, if not organizations that exist for the benefit of America and her people? The answer is: They exist to enrich a handful of shareholders and themselves and the source of that enrichment can be from any country. There is no loyalty to America or the people.

It�s time to reset priorities. It�s time for real debate, not the pathetic name-calling that passes for debate in Congress and the state legislatures. We�re running out of time on many of the vital issues of our day. Even if we were to start an intelligent debate now, on social, environmental, and political issues, we don�t have a lot of time to turn this behemoth around.

BlackCommentator.com Columnist, John Funiciello, is a labor organizer and former union organizer. His union work started when he became a local president of The Newspaper Guild in the early 1970s. He was a reporter for 14 years for newspapers in New York State. In addition to labor work, he is organizing family farmers as they struggle to stay on the land under enormous pressure from factory food producers and land developers. Click here to contact Mr. Funiciello.