I have 15 minutes before I have to run out the door to take the kids to see the Gnome movie, but I wanted to quickly jot down a post about the union protests in Wisconsin. 

OK. Here are my wise words. I've never studied Wisconsin and don't know enough about its culture and politics to say anything smart. Ha! Tricked you. 

For whatever reason, Wisconsin was never one of the states in any study that I worked on when I did state politics and education. It would be really stupid to weigh in right now on the topic. As I read more, I'll have more to say. 

I also think it's wise to not make any grand pronouncements on unions. Sometimes unions do a good job in forcing big businesses to give their workers fair salaries. Sometimes they are in bed with local politicians and they give union workers benefits and salaries that far outstrip the local population. I want to read more about the unions in WI to find out if they are the good kind or the bad kind.  

Here in New Jersey, the unions have preyed upon ignorant, incompetent local politicians and garnered shocking benefits. Working-class families pay $10,000 to $14,000 in taxes for miniscule homes, so that the local cop can make $150,000 and retire with full benefits at age 55. The average salary for teachers in my town is $90,000; the gym teacher gets about $135,000. Superintendents who manage three small schools make more than the superintendent for Baltimore. State pensions threaten to bankrupt the state. Most non-union workers don't receive pensions and have to kick in something for their health insurance. I get a lot of griping e-mails from neighbors about the benefits that our town dishes out to the teachers and the police. And they put Christie in the statehouse. 

On the other hand, there's much historical evidence that unions did a good job at reducing income inequality in this country. As their power has decreased, wealth inequality has gone up.

A friend just shot me an e-mail for a senior editorial job at iVillage, which is owned by NBC. The job was located in NYC, a very expensive city. They were looking for someone with at least five years of experience. The job description went on and on and it was clearly one of those work-til-you-drop type of jobs. All that for a yearly salary of $20,000. Gags. Where's the unions to stop that kind of nonsense? 

I'm finally following Wisconsin and will keep posting links. At some point, I'll stop being so wishy-washy.