Pri-dk, you are highlighting one of the painful truths that distinguish public sector pensions from the rest of us. Not only do public sector pensions vastly exceed those of private sector workers (if the latter get them at all), but they last for many more years.
If you goggle Life Expectancy Tables, you will discover that a retiree at age 50 will live an average of 28.5 more years; a 67-year old, 15 more years. So the CA public safety worker retiring at 50 will not only get far bigger monthly checks, he will get them for about twice as many years. This is what so angers the private sector taxpayers supporting the government workers.
Of course, many government workers don’t get their retirement benefits till they are 55, or even later. But the system in general is far more generous to them.
And isn’t it kind of silly to have Highway Patrolmen and prison guards retire at the robust age of 50? Many, perhaps most, go on to other jobs for a decade or two, pulling down two incomes, sometimes even double-dipping by earning another government pension.
This generosity did not exist a couple of decades ago, before public sector unions became politically powerful and muscled their way to such affluence. You can’t blame them–they are doing what they can for their members–that’s what unions do. We can blame the weak-kneed politicians for caving and for thinking short term instead of long-term. And we can blame ourselves, the voters, for allowing it to happen. We are paying the price now and will continue to do so until some kind of roll-back is implemented.
