It's always good to see labor get its just deserts at Christmas. In New York last week the transit workers threatened a strike unless Mayor Rudy Giuliani put up some money. Though tough-talking Giuliani threatened to sue the union and individual strikers for damages (city employees aren't allowed strike) he did cave in an offered an 18 percent pay increase over the next three years.

Giuliani's argument against a civic worker's right to strike, parroting Reagan and Franklin Roosevelt, is an odd one -- that they are employed by the people and don't have the right to, basically, protest against the people. Of course, they are actually employed by the government, but where in the Constitution does it say we don't have the right to protest against either the government or the people? It seems to me the Constitution suggests just the opposite, of what Giuliani believes, but maybe I'm just crazy.

Other city unions are going to be looking for the same, and its time worker sin the private sector demanded more too. Unionized labor represents only 10 percent of the country's work force and that's largely because we've got laws in this country which favor the employer over the employed (even though the employed people do all the real work -- go figure). Federal Reserve Chairman Allan Greenspan felt a bit woozy when he heard about the transit victory. Greenspan hates for wages to go up because he says it causes inflation. Funny, it doesn't matter how much money people make on profit-less Internet IPOs, but when a blue collar worker gets what's coming to him Greenspan freaks out.

Conservative economists, who are always scared on inflation, argue that raises should never outpace increases in productivity, and in industries where that's hard to measure, should just keep pace with inflation. The argument here is that a worker should never make much more than cost of living increases, which means that these economists expect workers to tread water throughout their lives. Somehow, we've lost sight of the notion that a person should be able to work and make more and more money while working, attaining greater and greater levels of comfort and prosperity.

I guess no one ever really made a buck with an honest day's work. I think that's true, actually -- the big fortunes come from investing and acquiring. Sure a gay cane make six figures working if they're a doctor in private practice (though a lot gets eaten up by insurance and regulatory costs there), but the real fortunes, those fortunes where the word "million" is used as frequently as the comma, are never created by work. They're created by the exchange of monetary ideas.

Those people, by the way, are the people who are driving and regulating our economy, who Greenspan worships. So it's no surprise that Greenspan can't find a way to muster support for the little guy. He doesn't care at all about the little guy and guess what, folks? We're mostly little guys. It's long been time to overthrow and overhaul the Federal Reserve. If this were 17th century France we would have strung Greenspan up by his lapels and cut off his head by now. Okay, I'm not suggesting we kill Greenspan. But he could use a smack or two in the face. Or maybe he should be forced to work for a week.

We have lost sight of what workers actually deserve. Has anyone stopped to consider that transit workers are worth more than an extra 3 percent per year? New York had to face the fact because when they threatened to strike people were panicked. My bosses offered to put me up in a Manhattan hotel because I literally would not have been able to get into the city from Queens, which is just a few miles away. The mayor, get this, was going to try to get by with taxicabs and ferries. Everyone in New York knew that a transit strike would have closed down the city and that means transit workers must be damned important. If they're important, how can you look at them and offer a 3 percent insult of a raise? It's a good thing that Giuliani backed down. It's a good thing that Giuliani doesn't think like Greenspan. I have to say, my respect for the mayor was bolstered by this, in the end. He talked tough against the union, but he was willing to negotiate for the good of the city.

But then, Giuliani answers to voters and he knew a city shut down would be bad. What about Greenspan? He answers to no one, but he's out there telling everyone to bring wages down, to keep money out of the hands of the people, and to maintain and increase the current gap between rich and poor. And on Christmas! Greenspan should be ashamed, but that's not really enough. The American people need to be empowered to get rid of him and the Federal reserves should be brought under the power of a democratic, rather than a plutocratic government.

Michael Maiello went on strike once, but claimed he was giving up work for lent.