SteveB/Colorado

Public Pensions: Rotting from Within

Interesting thoughts, but not reflective in total of the real world. I spent 25 years working in state government social services programs. My salary was comparable to private sector insurance positions. My benefits generally were less favorable than those afforded in the corporate sector.

I'll agree that government retirement programs perhaps are more lavish than the private sector programs that remain, or 401(k)s. In recent years, federal employees haven't had access, as I understand it, to the old returement system and have had to pay at least into medicare.

To answer "bigmoney" about health care, reasonable health care is available to those under 65. I get mine through AARP, since I'm over 50.

Somebody wrote: "we are headed down the path of socialism, crony capitalism, and protectionism....." In my view, Bush/Cheney was all about crony capitalism (energy leasing practices via V-P Cheney's secret energy task force in 2001, no-bid contracts in Iraq for Halliburton, etc.). Laws like the Patriot Act were all about socialism. The US steel industry is now advocating for use only of steel made in this country. Price of sugar has been kept artificially high for decades in the interests of US sugar producers. There's two examples of protectionism. Looks like we're already there on all three counts.