Look at big picture in teacher pensions

Statements in the May 30 Fence Post letter by Al Palash cannot be left unanswered. How can anyone be statistically reliable when "below average" pension amounts are merely discarded when they do not fall into the writer's thinking pattern?

The average Teacher Retirement System pension is $43,000. Obviously, many are well below that figure. Where is the objectivity of a person who only uses anecdotal information pertaining to a few high pension recipients? Does the writer mention that the current cap of 6 percent on salary increases eligible for pension consideration effectively mitigates continuation of the relatively very few extremely high pensions of the past?

Does Mr. Palash acknowledge the fact that a great many pension recipients are at a poverty level income, even before health insurance premiums are deducted from their pensions? Did Mr. Palash read the recent Daily Herald series on pension issues? If he did, does he remember that the Herald attributed the principal cause for the current pension crisis to be the serious underfunding of the Teacher Retirement System by the state of Illinois over the last several decades? The Daily Herald looked at the whole picture concerning the current pension mess. Why can't Mr. Palash?

Joe Purpura

Wheaton