My column in the December 2 Commonweal, "Peeling the Onion," described the way budget cutbacks were affecting education, from primary school to college. A case in point was Wisconsin, where an unusually high number of teachers retired rather than take the cuts that Republican Governor Walker and the Republican legislature imposed on public employees.The Times (December 6) offers another take on the budget cutting in Wisconsin and elsewhere: the retirement of a wide swath of public employees due to budget cuts, uncertainty, and buy-outs. States and cities are losing the most experienced people in the public sector.The Republican plot to downsize government proceeds apace.

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