Don't throw out baby with bath water

I think Robert Finkel (Fence Post, Aug. 7) is either very young or a poor historian. Pensions of the old-fashioned kind were paid by employer contributions. This was a benefit of that hateful collective bargaining by those Communist unions. Of course, every one in America had an employer-paid defined retirement plan. It seemed to work well until a certain forgetful president wanted everyone in a 401(k) plan run by his pals on Wall Street.

The American citizenry was sold a bill of goods. Slowly the 401(k) plan was the no choice employee retirement program. Remember how they started off with the employers kicking in a percentage to the fund? Of course that is gone now and the value of the funds have all lost a minimum of 40 percent.

I understand Mr. Finkel's anger over the flim-flam that has been foisted on the public with inflating salaries of favored employees at the end of their careers. Remember public pensions are usually awarded based on an average of the last four years salary. This is hateful. This is where the public would have reacted had they known what was going on. Doesn't The Daily Herald occasionally check the salaries of public servants? Thanks a lot, guys.

Mr. Finkel seems to want to throw the baby out with the bath water. I assume he wants all pensions to go, not just public plans. Good Luck on Wall Street, everybody. Don't forget Social Security.

Tim Baldwin

Glendale Heights