Transit deal shows government waste

Let me see if I've got this straight. The state of Illinois, Cook County, the City of Chicago and the CTA are all in fiscal trouble.

To solve the problem, King Rod Blagojevich wants to decrease income by giving the service away to a segment of the population that is less needy than others, although more politically important. Buying votes maybe?

I get it, addition by subtraction. It must be the new math.

And who's going to pay for this? The suburbs, of course. How many times do the suburbs have to bail out the CTA?

How about trying something really controversial like subtraction by subtraction -- i.e., underused routes, bloated administration and political cronies?

This is just the beginning. The aforementioned government bodies do not know how to live within their or our means. More taxes are forthcoming. One of the largest debts is the $40 billion owed in future pension obligations to government employees.

I think it very unfair that public servants get a better pension benefit than the taxpaying public they serve.

It must be nice to have a pension fund guaranteed by the Constitution. Instead of a defined benefit pension plan collectable after 30 years of service, public employees should have a 401K or Keogh plan just like in the real world. And forget that 30 years of service stuff; you retire at 65 or later like the rest of us, your benefactors.

When studying the Revolutionary War in history class, we learned the meaning of the phrase, "taxation without representation." I think we have entered a new phase in our history. It's called "overtaxation with representation." They're pretty much the same. We're still working for a king.

John Schadl

Arlington Heights