Atrios' Strange Reaction to Pensions and Blackmail

Atrios is one of the most popular Democratic Party bloggers in America today.Here's a rather odd observation from Atrios:

I think the weird reaction people have to early pensions is not so much about the money, but more a reaction of oh my god you mean someone maybe sorta gets to stop working before they turn 65 that's unAmerican (even though, of course, at half pay that's unlikely to genuinely be a good option for most.

We have strange attitudes towards work in the country. There's almost a social stigma to retiring "early." There's nothing wrong or bizarre or even costly about a pension system which lets people cash out before 65. If it's well-managed and done right any pension scale is simply based on expected return on dollars contributed over the life of the worker. The "cost" isn't the pension paid, but the annual contributions made by employer and employee.

The reaction on the streets of New York from the transit strike,is how can these people afford to retire at 55 years old? The workers in the private sector that pay for these "special" workers don't get that deal.Do any workers who work at an S&P 500 company get to retire on 50% of their pay at age 55? I don't think so.Nobody objects to someone retiring early.Many object to government workers who make less than $100,000 being able to retire early.I'll bet Duncan Black can't name many workers in the private sector making under $100,000 who retire at 55(without some powerful union behind them)? But,then who in the private sector can blackmail someone into giving them a pay raise? Do you know many people in the private sector that can avoid Social Security taxes because they've greased the right politicians?