Our own Greek problem

I got back from the NRA's Annual Meetings & Exhibits late Sunday night, and on the way back, I bought a copy of The Charlotte Observer, and one of the articles I came across was about a rally held by a teachers' group in North Carolina's state capital of Raleigh.  Called Fund Teachers First, the rally was held to protest the continuing cuts in North Carolina's education budget which has already resulted in thousands of teachers losing their jobs.

As painful as it is for teachers (especially the good ones) to lose their jobs in the midst of the economic problems the individual states are facing, this idea of stopping the necessary cuts and even reinstating some of these laid off teachers could end up financially breaking the states, in my opinion.

Just like Greece is on the verge of going into an economic abyss because the people there won't let go of their universal health care (what a shock!; end of sarcasm), teachers in North Carolina and elsewhere don't want to lose their jobs, but what else can the states do?  Is there any other place where the states can do some mandatory cutting?

If cuts in the education budget is necessary, but we give in and let the teachers keep their jobs, how will the states be able to recover?  Unfortunately, the problem with having to lay off thousands of teachers and the backlash resulting from it has become our own Greek problem, and if we go the way of the Greeks on this one, I seriously doubt North Carolina, or any state for that matter, will be able to financially recover.