The Truth About Public Worker Pensions: Hardly The Lap of Luxury

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/14046

Submitted by Doug Cunningham on August 18, 2010 - 2:43pm
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By Doug Cunningham

Despite attempts by right-wing media to whip up hysteria against public employees for their allegedly too generous pensions, here’s the truth about public employee pensions. Economist Dean Baker says the average public employee pension is just $22,000 a year. Many public workers don’t get social security, so their pensions are what they rely on most. Baker says fifteen million people are not out of work because public employees have pensions that are too generous. Baker says Wall Street greed and incredible economic mis-management are to blame for that. He says the idea that we have a whole class of public employees enjoying plush retirements is nonsense. Baker says adjusting for education and experience levels public employees actually are paid slightly less on average than private sector workers. Baker says efforts to attack public worker pensions is just sleazy scapegoating intended to divert attention from the real villains in our economy – Wall Street and inept economic public makers who drive our economy to ruin and seem intent on keeping it there.

[WVRICK13]

1. However

the majority of people in my home town have Social Security payments of around $10,000 a year. The facts are clear, Working Americans get screwed during their working lives and during their retirement years.

[mediaman007]

2. But they have their church to tell them to be happy

with what they get. Some country we live in.

[WVRICK13]

4. What A Country

Sure am glad the Republicans are saving us from Socialistic governments like the ones in Scandinavia. The church will tell the members how evil those governments and their policies are and the church members will agree on the way to the food pantry. What a country is right.

[Mugweed]

3. $24,000

That would have been my pension had I actually been able to stay in my government position...for the 30 years of service it takes to earn a pension of 50% of your salary. I made it 8 years. I received a cost of living increase of 1% twice during that period. I was apparently rich beyond my wildest dreams and didn't know it.

When I left the state, my next job in the private sector paid $23,000 more per year as a staff engineer than the salary I was making for being a section manager in charge of 5 engineers. Since then I have taken several pay and hours cuts just to keep the business alive. Thanks Republicans!