Teachers and firefighters

Veronique de Rugy:

President Obama’s recent plea for another $50 billion (here is the letter to congressional leaders) to save the jobs of teachers and firefighters in the states is a great example of the "Washington Monument Syndrome." This refers to the bureaucratic practice of threatening to close down the most popular and vital programs in response to prospective budget cuts; it gets its name from the U.S. Department of the Interior, which always threatens it will have to close the Washington Monument if its budget is cut.

How can you compare teachers and firefighters? The latter do a real job. The former are basically baby-sitters whose job is simply to smack the kids when they stop learning from books.