Public employees just don't get it

This letter is my answer to poor Colleen M. Kelly and all those downtrodden federal employees looking for another taxpayer handout, otherwise known as paid parental leave.

What I'd like her to do is explain how this largess can be justified in the face of United Airlines layoffs involving 2,500 employees.

Add that to all the other cuts in the private sector, who will not only not have paid parental leave, but will be lucky if they can find other jobs before losing their homes, etc. in today's economic situation.

It never ceases to amaze me how these public sector employees not only get raises in wages and benefits, but actually feel they have it coming to them because of this, that or the other reason, while all around them, people in the private sector are losing their jobs, which naturally includes losing benefits, and not suffer even a pang of conscience.

What planet do they live on?

Even as the private sector employment market collapses all around them, they continue to put their hands out for more and more gravy.

Do they have no shame?

Many people are out there decrying it as socialism, liberalism, et. al., every time a politician says they want to give hospitalization to the private sector without ever realizing we already have socialized medicine.

It's called a "public" employee. And they never have to worry about a raise in their age of retirement, do they? Or running out of money? Just raise taxes.

The next time those union leaders in the public sector want to match the private sector when it comes to the gravy train, let's compare apples to apples, not apples and pomegranates.

The new aristocracy of America - that's the public sector employee.

Rosemary Colbert

Schaumburg