Make Mine a Valium Martini

The healthy alternative to a valium martini

My dad was having a rant today about 'damn socialist policies' that are ruining America.  The 'creep' in teacher salaries in California, for one.  He read in the paper that the average K-12 teacher in the state makes $100k annually.  What?  Well, he says, that factors in benefits and future retirement.  Hmmm.  I pointed out to him that while in the employ of the university, my yearly benefits package was 40% over and above my salary.  It was a satisfactory compensation (tax free) for my meager paycheck.  It's one of the reasons I settled for a meager paycheck.  As was the retirement benefit, which includes health insurance at a very low cost to me.

It helps my father's sense of outrage to be able to put information like this in context.  He knows I live frugally and he doesn't consider me unworthy of my income and benefits.  I wish there was a little angel sitting on the shoulders of outraged people, an angel who could lovingly offer some practical information to assuage their indignation.  Oh wait.   That little angel is called critical thinking.

As I've said before, he watches too much Fox News.  As if there were any healthy amount of Fox News watching.  Sometimes I wonder if, for dad, there isn't a mental health component to this world view.  We were discussing Rick Santorum's socially conservative (primitive, I'd say) views on homosexuality and abortion.  I reminded dad that Santorum does not condone abortion, even in the case of rape and incest.  I said, "That's a pretty extreme view."  He said, "No, not extreme, just different from what you believe."  Uh, yeah.  You wanna split hairs on this one?

Back to the topic of teachers' salaries:  case in point, and one my dad should know well:  his son-in-law was a devoted and inspirational teacher who retired after 40 years of working K-12 in Washington state.  His approximate salary at retirement was 40k.  His retirement package includes no health insurance benefits whatsoever.  The man did okay for himself, though, in part because when he was young and establishing his career and growing his family, it did not take two incomes to afford to buy a home, in Washington.  Buying a home was affordable.

In the California scenario, homes have not been affordable for 20 years.  Even with a two wage earner scenario, the cost of a starter home in many areas of California is beyond reach.  In my area, the median cost of homes rose from 112k in 2001 to 354k in 2006.  Prices have come down, but lending is tighter.

So, instead of pulling your hair out over the outrageously plush salaries of school teachers, why not rail against the economic forces that put the cost of housing out of reach for the average citizen?  Well, because, silly, that argument would not support your paranoid Fox News world view.  After all, it's Obama's fault, isn't it?

I need a Valium.  Or a martini.  Or a Valium Martini, straight up.