"When the public discovers they can vote themselves money from the public treasury, the [American] experiment will be over"-Tocqueville 1838

> Why be reasonable when you can get benefits for yourself and have someone else down the road pay for them?

The only reason someone down the road has to pay for them is because the state/municipality reneged on its half of the bargain to actually fund the pension at the time, counting on future earnings to skate by. The teachers unions accepted lower pay raises or frozen wages in exchange for a good pension. Don't blame them for the malfeasance of the counterparty.

They were both malfeasant. Accepting a bad deal because you thought taxpayers would just foot the bill doesn't absolve you of blame.

They didn't accept a bad deal. They deferred current compensation in a scheme that's been known to work properly for a century when the managing side of it doesn't underfund its obligations. This is not, in any way, a "both sides are to blame" issue.