How about those teachers unions

Check out this report from the New York Daily News:

UFT spends millions on dinners, parties, parking, coffee as thousands of teachers face layoffs
As nearly 5,000 city teachers face the ax, their union shells out millions of dollars on feasting, boozing and partying, the Daily News has learned.

Free-spending United Federation of Teachers brass last year spent nearly $1.4 million for the UFT's 50th anniversary gala at the Hilton - complete with a movie, a book and a paperweight.

Records show they:

• Ponied up $514,000 to 16 separate caterers.
• Dropped $278,417 on the annual Teachers Union Day ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria.
• Bought $6,100 in gift baskets from a lower East Side candy store - and plowed $179,000 into training retreats at a Connecticut resort boasting golf, scuba diving and aqua aerobics.

In one amazing feat of spending, they shelled out $114,870 for annual "coffee supplies" at their five offices across the city - paying the Coffee Distributing Corp. on Long Island $324,000 over three years, records show.

And while most New Yorkers spend hours trying to find a parking space, the UFT rents 25 slots in Brooklyn's Renaissance Plaza Garage for members at an average annual cost of $75,000 over three years.

"I'm not going to apologize for spending money to service our members," said UFT President Michael Mulgrew.

If this was a private corporation, that would be wildly excessive but not damning. What makes this so egregious is that the money comes from us the taxpayers. The teachers are paid directly from our tax dollars and the teachers then turn around and have the union dues deducted automatically from their paychecks. This is our own money in play here. The good news is that stories like this are finally being reported...