Sure the times can be quite confusing for many.  Deficit reduction, debt payments, interest rates - sure we have a general idea of what "they" talk about, however, do we really?  I suspect that we are just guinea pigs being led astray by those that we "sort-of" elect - you know, that ballot thing every once in a while that less than half of us actually participate in.  Yet they are still able to make decisions that affect each and every one of us in a variety of ways.  Take for instance the recent, very public conversation about teachers and their pay package.  Really?  I didn't hear much about anyone's pay package until recently when the gov't deciding it was going to target teachers and doctors to "blame" for the size of  gov't spending.  Doctors are paid $350,000 in annual wages - really?  They don't mention the fact that a fair chunk of that goes to pay for overhead, and administration - which is in place to satisfy gov't requirements.  Hmmm, sounds like there might be something fishy going on here.  So back to teachers - they're overpaid, have too many benefits, too many sick days, and a fat pension (just don't let the pre-pensioners know that as 12%+ of their pay is taken off to pay for it!).  There is waste in the system for sure.  It's not hard to find, but you won't find it in the classroom.  Talk to a teacher about supplies for the classroom, or the aging textbooks, or the lack of technology in an era of tech based learning.  So where is the money leaving the system?  It's definitely in the initiatives and administrative burden the comes as a result of gov't rules, regulations, and measures for accountability.  EQAO comes to mind when we're looking at waste - lets test the kids on a yearly basis to see if they are improving.  Let's also change the tests, evaluation standards, length of the tests, rules for administering the test and see where that goes - sounds fishy as well because it is.  What about the various pseudo-educational institutions that have been put in place by the gov't.  They're great in theory, but expensive to run.  Take current research from leading researchers and package them up for teachers to apply in their classrooms - isn't that was universities are doing when they pay professors to publish their work?  Isn't that what boards are supposed to do when they pass along this info using the various school-less principals who act as superintendents and consultants - naw that can't be it!  So the net result is a public who is hostile to the many teachers, doctors, and other public servants who are now being framed as the reason for all of societies ills.  Nice try.  If anyone actually takes the time to back check some of those claims they will realize in short order that there are many more factors in play here and that doctors and teachers are simply the current scapegoats.  One has to ask who is next?  Is it that restaurant that seems to always scrape by on their taxes yet remains in business supporting several families for 25 years?  Is it that contractor who pads his receipts in order to avoid paying income taxes?  Everyone has something that they could pay more tax on, or get paid less for doing?  Well, except for the elderly or disabled but the gov't is already cutting their payouts, and tightening their eligibility requirements so that you and I wouldn't qualify for it if we needed it.  It's a race to the bottom my friends, get your credit cards ready because that's all that going to keep your standard of living afloat when everything is stripped and gone.