When this hit New York in the face when the transit workers went on strike, billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg resorted to rhetorical union bashing, calling workers "thugs." Worse, he tried to invoke right-wing strike-breaking laws - laws that undermine workers' ability to fight for their rights. We were expected to believe that because the workers were trying to prevent roughly $20 million in pension/benefits cuts, they were the evil ones hurting the city.

What we were not expected to remember was that just a month before, Republican and Democratic politicians alike lined up to pose for a photo-op as they handed over massive amounts of taxpayer cash to one of the world's wealthiest investment banks, Goldman Sachs, to help the bank pay for its palatial new headquarters. Giving away roughly $1.5 billion in taxpayer-financed bonds to a company already swimming in cash, we were told, was good government because it would supposedly create jobs (and if you actually believe that's a guarantee, go read Greg LeRoy's The Great American Jobs Scam). Then, weeks later, Bloomberg had the nerve to plead poverty when it came to providing $20 million to fulfill commitments to blue collar workers who sweep floors and drive buses and subways.

Thankfully, polls showed ordinary New Yorkers backed the workers in the strike dispute (though that was certainly not well-represented in the media coverage). But the message from politicians was clear: the hostile takeover of governemnt today is so pervasive that politicians now think it is now perfectly acceptable to simultaneously hand over hard-earned taxpayer cash to wealthy interests at the same time they are trying to slash basic benefits for working-class laborers.