Fast forward the story to 2011. Today virtually every state in the union is facing mind boggling unfunded pension liabilities as well as private sector unemployment rates that rival the Great Depression. Until now the public sector unions have been left unscathed by the economic realities. However, there is finally a revolution taking place in America. On one side are the public sector unions demanding a Soviet Union style economic model. On the other side are private sector workers and their employers. The difference is the private sector seems silent.
The reason is simple. Both private sector employers and their workers have no time to descend on state capitols and step up the wage and benefit extortion pressure. Unlike bureaucrats the private sector has customers to please and services to provide. Most curious is the fact that when Wisconsin public sector union workers abandoned their supposedly critical day-to-day responsibilities very few of the people they allegedly serve seemed to notice. 
What does the future hold? The status quo in the Middle East is over. What about the status quo in America? The status quo here will bankrupt the federal government and most of the states in the nation. Important choices will be made all over the globe in the weeks and months ahead. In the U.S. where the customer was once king, the move towards a Soviet-style centrally planned economic system is already well under way. In the Muslim world radicals and moderates will compete. Both will try to convince the masses to choose their vision. Theocratic dictatorships or a move towards market-based systems will be the choices. Hmmmm, maybe there is a link in these two revolutions after all. People in the Muslim world are seeking relief from the vagaries of highly visible practicers of radical Islam and dictators. Americans are seeking relief from the vagaries of highly visible extortionists disguised as public sector union bosses.
