Public pensions should be privatized

Dan Montgomery, president of the IFT, states that public workers pensions should not be cut because they pay into these pensions regularly. I don’t know what percentage of their salaries are put in, but whatever the amount, pension compensation should be based on the employees contribution, as it is in private industry. Public pensions should be privatized.

It has become clear that we cannot trust the politicians to oversee public pensions. They spend the money and kick the can down the road. This ponzi scheme perpetrated on tax payers by government must be curtailed. Politicians have made it patently clear that we cannot trust them with our money. Is this the teachers fault? Perhaps not. Is it the taxpayers fault? Absolutely not, but the taxpayer is being stuck with the problem.

So who is to blame? I suggest it is the politicians and the public unions who support them. If public unions were not permitted to support politicians, with whom they will soon be bargaining for salaries and benefits, perhaps a more honest government would evolve. The union itself should be responsible for the pensions. A teachers contribution, and matching funds from the public, would be invested by the union, as is done in industry.

We will have to bite the bullet to cover the present problem, but not until the goal posts have been set to a position that is sustainable.

Robert Finkel

Glen Ellyn