Government pensions, built into law and mostly protected from stock market vagaries, are the envy of the private sector.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
We can't be paying pensions to the next generation of federal workers when hardly anyone in the private sector gets them.
Most private sector workers can only dream of getting the generous lifetime pension and health benefits typical of government service.
Most private-sector folks don't get a pension.
It's clear to me when you do private equity well, you're making companies more efficient and helping them grow and become more profitable. That success means our investors - such as public pension funds - benefit, which contributes to the economic wealth of society.
Careful economic research has shown public-sector workers receive a level of compensation, pension benefits, and retiree health coverage in excess of what comparable workers in the private sector enjoy. In some instances, the total premium can be 30 percent or higher.
There are very powerful and wealthy special interests who want to privatize or dismember virtually every function that government now performs, whether it is Social Security, Medicare, public education or the Postal Service.
Public employee unions, in their defense, say politicians have unfairly made them into simplistic bogeymen, responsible for problems that have myriad causes. Not all government workers receive generous pensions, they note.
A generous basic state pension is the least a civilized society should offer those who have worked hard and saved through their whole lives.
My own belief is that the way we grow the economy, create jobs, create wealth is in the private sector. The government doesn't do that.
People don't place their trust in government or company pension plans; they have to be self-reliant.