With a headline like “Public Workers Draining State, Local Pension Funds,” I guess you know what to expect from Karen Tumulty‘s article in the Washington Post today (3/8/11). It appears the story’s headline was changed somewhere along the way, but unfortunately the headline wasn’t the only problem.
Her lead paragraph introduces an obviously unrepresentative case–a guy who somehow had four government jobs in one California town, and thus is enjoying a $500,000 pension. Tumulty writes:
Deals like the one he got rankle Californians at a time when the state’s public employee pension plans are “dangerously underfunded, the result of overly generous benefit promises, wishful thinking and an unwillingness to plan prudently.”
Down in the seventh paragraph, readers learn:
Fat pensions like Malkenhorst’s are not typical, of course. AFSCME, which is the largest public-employee union, says that its average member earns less than $45,000 a year and receives an annual pension of roughly $19,000.
Oh, OF COURSE the lead example is not at all typical. That’s Journalism 101!
Don’t let those union numbers fool you–Tumulty gets word from a group to undermine the union’s case:
But many retirees from state and local government jobs do much better than that. When the advocacy group California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility requested state retirement system records in 2009, it discovered that nearly 15,000 of the state’s retired government employees were receiving pensions of more than $100,000 a year, with Malkenhorst topping the list.
Of course, there’s a tremendous difference between the “average” pension and what “many retirees” are getting.
Tumulty then tries to claim that there’s a broader sense of public outrage over pensions:
Fueling the backlash is the fact that the retirement system for government workers, especially on the state and local level, has become by many measures a significantly better deal than that available to most people who work for the private sector.
Again, there’s been little evidence of this supposed “backlash.”
Tumulty is absolutely right about one thing, though:
What makes headlines, however, are the stories of workers who exploit the loopholes.
Speak of the devil.
More precisely, the mangled mathematics of “mainstream” media misdirection:
Who ‘Contributes’ to Public Workers’ Pensions?
by David Cay Johnston
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/09-9
Johnston’s case is plain and it is true … which is why it won’t appear in corporate media. Face it folks, the descendants of the royalists are in charge, in both wings of the ruling rethugnocrapic party, and their goal is to reduce this country to a feudalistic state where we commoners do exactly the bidding of our “betters”. They have succeeded brilliantly over the last 40 years, as we accept the false choices offered us on ballots, and as we continue to identify with their views more than we do with our own self-interest.
Just another paid lair for the plutocracy.
Say, HReading, that’s a great line–the “rethugnocrapic” party. Perfect. But not all of us misunderstand which side of the bread our butter is on. Rest assured, though, by this Sunday, the trolls will be out to tell you how wrong you are.
Why is it SO hard for these “reporters”, “analysts”, or “journalists” to actually research their subject? I must be silly to expect them to know something about the subject they write on.
A pension plan is funded by the wages of the emloyee.
Plain and simple. They are getting back the money set aside from their wages over the years they worked, plus a little interest.
Why would any journalist be writing sensationalist propaganda that intends to inflame the public?
They must be on SOMEONE’S payrole!
Does the infamous Koch family finance these Kristalnachts?
HReading. Thanks. I get so worn out with repeating. You said it for me. // Jean Clelland-Morin
The corporate news media keep making it sound like Wisconsin’s unusually generous pension plan is typical. Most public sector workers contribute to their pensions, along with a contribution from the entity they work for (state, city, etc.). According to AFSCME, in the eleven years ending in 2007, taxpayers paid something like 14% of pension payments. The rest came from workers’ contributions and interest.
We should all write to the Washington Post and/or Tumulty to clue them in.
You know what, Donr? A lot of these “reporters” ain’t all that informed, or smart. They don’t want to rock the boat, and know that if they show any interest in the truth of the matter (the smarter ones, anyway), they’ll be given the gate. The beauty of the whole thing (at least from the Koch boys’ view) is that they don’t have to give one fuckin’ nickel to the dissemblers and fearful drones in the Press–the Fear and the stock ignorance always present does the job for them. Simply put, the smarter Press members (that is, those who want to keep their jobs) internalize the ethos of the Boss. They unconciously talk about things just the way they should–completely from the Boss’ point of view. Simple, and safe.