Schoolteachers were once regarded in the US as embodiments of selfless civic virtue. Now, a corporate-financed ‘school reform’ movement, which has disturbing traction within the Obama administration, blames teachers’ unions for destroying the schools. Moreover, educators and other public employees who demand a middle-class standard of living are accused of bankrupting the states. As O’Reilly asserted, ‘it comes down to one very simple equation: the United States can no longer afford’ their pensions.

Such messages are repeated endlessly in the media. Rarely do people hear that prominent states without collective bargaining for teachers – such as Alabama and North Carolina – have among the lowest-performing schools in the country. In contrast, many states that offer the best public education, including Wisconsin, have strong unions. Nor do they hear that Texas, which has already undermined organized labour, has in no way escaped distress; it faces a two-year budget gap as large as $25 billion.

Public fiscal problems were not caused by union greed. They were brought on by a crisis of Wall Street recklessness and deregulation, and by a prolonged drive by conservatives to ‘starve the beast’ of government. This drive has only accelerated of late: falsely claiming to reduce deficits, the long-term budget now championed by Washington Republicans actually matches trillions of dollars in social-service reductions with trillions in tax cuts for the wealthy.