It is interesting the way in which every story on the state pension problems are framed. The assumption in every single one is that the problems stem from the system and the workers and that the failure of elected officials to 1.) be honest and conservative in their estimates of the pension system’s long-term value and 2.) make the requisite payments into the system really is only a minor failing.
But the reality is that the last time the state actually paid what it owed to the system was in 1992 — under Jim Florio. Seven governors and Legislatures of both parties have been shorting the system over the last 18 years. That includes $3.1 billion this year by Chris Christie.
The massive shortfall in what we expect to have to pay and what we will have in the bank to distribute has nothing to do with the people who will get the pensions and everything to do with the people managing our state and local budgets.
Does this mean that we should not look at the pension system to determine whether the payouts going forward make sense? No. Of course we should. But we have to be honest about what created the mess before we can move forward.
The other frame is that public workers are robbing the rest of us and we should tear them down. That’s just a foolish race to the bottom. Instead, we should be fighting to rebuild our own pension and health programs so that we get what the public worker gets. But that is a debate for another post.
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- Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
- Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Hank Kalet 