It's time to abolish public pensions

I would have laughed at Ken Swanson's (President, Illinois Education Association) remarks if I hadn't been so busy crying. According to Mr. Swanson, "There is nothing extravagant about TRS pensions. The average TRS annuitant retires after 29 years of teaching with an average annual benefit of $41,532." Guess what. After 35 years in the private sector, my social Security benefit - starting at age 62 - will be $17,000.

I have to use proceeds from my 401(k) to fill the gap his average retiree gets. And unlike Mr. Swanson's teachers' pensions, my 401(k) benefits aren't guaranteed.

Mr. Swanson knows this. The teachers know this. We all know this. The issues are not that the pension fund is underfunded and we're looking for scapegoats.

The issues are the inequity between the private and public sector retirement systems, the fact the taxpayer has to pay for this inequity, the rules that allow a salary to get inflated in order to inflate the retirement benefit, the lack of recourse for the taxpayer, and the lack of fiscal responsibility by the school boards.

Now is the time to abolish the public pension system all together and move to individual retirement funding for public sector employees.

John Gillies

Schaumburg