Faulty Logic & Self Justification

Published in the 2-19-12 Chronicle:

Faulty logic

Regarding "State's public pensions rest on solid financial foundation" (Page B9, Feb. 10), former firefighter Laura Matau claimed that the state's public pensions rest on a solid foundation. Her logic is flawed and undermined by the statistics she herself used. To name but a few:

- Matau justified maintaining defined-benefit pensions for state workers because they "provide a more secure retirement" and "the benefit does not falter when the stock market drops." Interesting that she reserves such taxpayer-subsidized security for government workers, a plan that is almost universally unavailable to the private-sector workers expected to underwrite her pension.

- Matau claims that defined-benefit pension plans "encourage long-term service" by public-sector employees, but the facts say otherwise. The average public-sector employee retires nearly a decade before private sector workers.

And what Matau does not address is the elephant in the living room: When public sector pension assets fail, the taxpayer is on the hook to keep them whole. Defenders of the public-sector status quo routinely justify their taxpayer-subsidized pay and benefits by describing themselves as "public servants" and "selfless," as does Matau. The irony is the willful cluelessness of those who make such claims, content as they are to leave private-sector employees and their IRAs not only exposed to the perils of the stock market but expected to work many extra years so as to provide government employees with their sumptuous pensions.

Reality seriously calls into question who is truly providing a public service in this whole debate. It would be nice if just once, folks such as Matau would acknowledge the "selflessness" and "devotion" of the millions of private-sector workers still in the trenches and still on the hook for her paycheck and benefits.

All with cost-of-living adjustments, of course.