The Truth About Public Worker Pensions: Hardly The Lap of Luxury [View All]

[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.