There’s been a lot of anger in this Rhode Island budget cycle from hard-pressed localities facing diminished state aid because of the recession. But what isn’t usually noted is that the word “localities” can be replaced by the phrase “public employees.”

The localities have long used state aid to give far more to their public-employee unions (who are compensated considerably more than most Rhode Islanders) than local finances would otherwise tolerate. Municipal services themselves, however, rarely improve.

The aid is to the unions more than to the towns. State funding of municipal expenses helps local politicians avoid accountability for approving rich labor contracts that let them remain on good terms with powerful organizations that get their workers out to vote in high percentages and that provide very useful campaign money.

You certainly cannot blame the unions for trying to get as much as they can in our market economy. And it’s psychologically understandable that those negotiating with them will sometimes give away the store if they think another jurisdiction — in this case, the state — will pick up much of the bill and the blame for the expense. Perhaps such behavior will fade for a while in this terrible recession.