Pension crater much deeper
April 09, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Unions
Column: Steven Greehut, The Orange County
Register (Updated April 11, 2010) Looks like
California taxpayers are on the hook to make up public employee
retirement system shortfalls to the tune of a half-trillion bucks.
Union leaders and the politicians they basically own have lashed
out at pension reformers, but the data continue to make it clear
that decades of union dominance and pension-hiking deals are taking
their toll on government budgets and on the fiscal health of the
nation. Could anyone really think it wouldn't cost anything to
create a class of government workers who can retire in their 50s
with 80 percent, 90 percent – or even more than 100 percent – of
their generous salaries?