Right-Wing Pension-Cutters Get Humiliated By Their Own Survey Data - Salon

[WillyT]

Right-wing pension-cutters get humiliated by their own survey data
Conservative ploy to slash public employee benefits runs into trouble when its own poll shows an unexpected reality
DAVID SIROTA - Salon
TUESDAY, NOV 19, 2013 08:06 AM PST

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Late last month, the Pew Center on the States began ratcheting up its now-infamous campaign to slash public employee retirement benefits. As damaging stories about its partnership with former Enron trader John Arnold swirled through the media, the organization convened a two-day conference for politicians, lobbyists and activists at the swanky Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, D.C.

With pension-slashing politicians like San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed (D) rallying the troops, the event’s goal seemed obvious: to reinvigorate the Plot Against Pensions and gear up for yet another push for big retirement benefit cuts in the upcoming state legislative sessions. Yet, there was one big embarrassing problem: When the organization released its new poll at the conference in support of its pension-cutting agenda, the survey data showed that the American public is powerfully rejecting the right’s anti-public-worker crusade.

Salon has obtained a copy of the results of the Pew-commissioned poll, which was jointly conducted by the Democratic-aligned Mellman Group and the GOP-aligned Public Opinion Strategies. You can review the full results of the survey here (.pdf file): http://media.salon.com/2013/11/Pew-PollingMemo.pdf

The key findings include:

Though the anti-pension coalition has spent millions of dollars on ads and public campaigns to portray public employees as greedy parasites, the pollsters found that “voters have generally favorable views of public employees” and that those favorable views are found among voters of both political parties. Poll respondents gave teachers, police officers and state public employees net favorability ratings of 88, 86 and 60 percent, respectively.

Anti-pension activists have cited places like Detroit and California as proof that retirement benefits are too generous and unsustainable, even though average public employees in those locales make an annual $19,000 and $26,000 in retirement benefit, respectively. Pew’s poll shows that Americans are seeing through the anti-pension propaganda and appreciating the reality of those numbers. In all, 55 percent of poll respondents believe public pension benefits are currently about the right amount, or too small.

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More: http://www.salon.com/2013/11/19/right_wing_pension_cutters_get_humiliated_by_their_own_survey_data/

[WCGreen]

1. I always believed that public pensions were so generous was to offset the comparatively

lower earnings as compared to non-public wages.

Plus, they are not, for the most part, subjected to FICA pay so the costs to the government is less than those earning in the private sector.

[klook]

5. Exactly -- that's the trade-off workers in the public sector have made.

And now these assholes want to pull the rug out from under them after they've put in decades as firefighters, school-teachers, law enforcement officers, etc. Just about everybody either knows or is related to somebody who depends on these pensions, so the "Fuck you I've got mine; in fact, I'm gonna take yours too" crowd is pissing off a lot of Americans.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

2. THANK YOU for this post. Great ammunition to use on some of the local operatives in Il.

[WillyT]

3. You Are Quite Welcome !!!

[Gidney N Cloyd]

6. This Taibi/Rolling Stone article it linked to is making my head spin.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/looting-the-pension-funds-20130926

Really uncovers the Right Wing push to rob us and our pensions blind.

[WillyT]

7. Class Warfare At Its Greediest...

[senseandsensibility]

4. It does my heart good to see that teachers get the highest favorablilty

rating after all the demonization. Thanks for this post, but is any of this actually slowing them down?

[Tigress DEM]

8. What is wrong with these DEMs?

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed (D) --- Must be a DINO - Dem In Name Only

Because those are text book Rethug plays he's running.

And Will Pitt wrote about a DEM in his article that is out there smashing homeless people's stuff. HATES homeless people.


Our old Repuke who we booted out of office Norm Coleman ran as a DEM in New York and her in MN until BushII got elected then he decided to come out as it were.

[Change has come]

9. Did you see the marriage equality debate from Hawaii?

The anti equality Democrats were absolutely hateful! It was astonishing to see so much hate.

[Tigress DEM]

11. So are they running as DEMs because they can get away with it?

Like Norm Coleman in NY --- was a DEM and here in MN

Then Bush II comes along and he reveals his true colors and never looked back.

[ReRe]

10. Things are catching up, finally, with the "Me-Me-Me" guys....

... this is one of the most despicable things they thought up. Wait. Not despicable. EVIL.

[Scuba]

12. How Wall Street — not pensioners — wrecked Detroit

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024065074


Thanks WillyT.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

13. Morning Kick!

[Wilms]

14. ^

[Laelth]

15. The American people are far more sane than most politicians believe. k&r n/t

-Laelth

[WillyT]

16. Kick !!!

[xchrom]

17. du rec.