Some Facts--Wall Street Fools Hurt Public Pensions: Duh

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from the Working Life blog:




Some Facts--Wall Street Fools Hurt Public Pensions: Duh

by Jonathan Tasini
Wednesday 02 of March, 2011


We have a real problem in the debate about pensions that is very closely connected to the financial implosion we're still trying to dig our way out of: the criminals and fools on Wall Street are hiding and avoiding prosecution, or at the very least, they are managing to keep their jobs despite their stupidity and greed. So, rather than march the Wall Street crooks/incompetents into the public square--I actually would like to do that literally and have a prime time live special anchored by Oprah for that one, asking Robert Rubin and Lloyd Blankfeid et al, "do you ever feel guilty about what you did? Do you talk to your therapist about it"?--public workers are taking the brunt of the fear racing through America. So, let's look at the facts....

To start with, let's be clear again about what pensions are: they are wages that hundreds of thousands of workers put off getting today so that they could retire later with a little income that would mean having chicken and vegetables for dinner, not dog food. And rather than take the George W. Bush approach to a crisis--please, America, go shop and spend your money--unions, and their members, said, "nope, we're not going to just go on a spending spree today. We want to be long-term, smart responsible thinkers and make Americans can live out their later years in some security."

Now, here is the truth about pensions--I'm going to use New York City and State as examples. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others--mainly in the wing-nutsophere and think thanks that are rarely labeled as shills for the "free market"--claims that that pension contribution have exploded exponentially in recent years, so now, we have to "get serious" and cut benefits dramatically.

But, it's worth understanding what the long-term trend has been and why pension contributions have increased. And this official chart tells the story. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.workinglife.org/blogs/view_post.php?content_id=15118

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