I am a union man, born and bred and I'll die a union man.

[bobabode]

Why has this happened? It's democracy at its worst. Public-sector unions, powerful forces in states and localities, ask for regular pay increases. Governors and mayors can dole out only so much in salary hikes because of requirements for balanced budgets or other constraints. So instead, they hand out generous increases to pension benefits, since those costs will hit the budget many years later, when current officials are themselves comfortably in retirement.

Here in the bolded I see a fallacious argument. These people have seen a stagnant pool in regards to pay increases since the meltdown and in what appears to me a enormous amount of shouldering the extra burden by taking paycuts and a heavier workload forced on them by layoffs decided by the politicians. Is Zakarias really contending that retirees aren't taking it in the shorts, too? Maybe I'm wrong but here in my town they're hot and heavy racing to the bottom. Costa Mesa (Costa Misery is what our neighbors call us)
BTW an independent audit conducted on our city finances found the city fathers basis for laying off half of the citys workforce to be nothing but bullshyte but as usual facts and figures are to be ignored. They are continuing on their merry way and it appears they aren't slowing down and taking a look at it. They are soliciting bids to replace all regular city services and spending a lot revenue hiring all sorts of consultants and yes men.
I see a handwringer in Zakarias if he's actually a liberal but he's reading like a news flack. All in all it read like an op ed piece pandering to the fact that a hit article sells more advertising then something mundane and scholarly.