Class War: The Public Sector Pensions vs. The Taxpayers

Newsday reports:

Joe Licari has never had a regular pension plan, the kind that guaranteed you a monthly check for the rest of your life, and probably never will. He wasn't around at Grumman Corp. long enough to qualify and many other employers are closing their pension plans.

So at his computer software job, all he gets is the do-it-yourself kind of retirement plan, a 401(k) account that's far from guaranteed. Licari's account lost a quarter of its value five years ago in the bear market, and the 47-year-old St. James resident saw his goal of retirement slipping further into the future.

Even as his savings eroded, Licari watched his property taxes rise nearly $1,000 a year. What's more, part of those tax increases went to pay for the retirement of government workers after the funds covering their old-style pension plans also suffered losses on Wall Street.

"I lost money in the stock market, but nobody is stepping in to pay back my funds," said Licari. "It doesn't seem right to me."

Oceanside resident Barbara Epstein is on the receiving end of a public pension. She retired in 2001 after 34 years as an elementary school teacher in New York City and says her pension is something she deserves, fair and square. Like most public employees, she accepted a lower salary than she could have made in the private sector in return for promises of a secure retirement -- a deal experts say is still true today. Today, her monthly check is never in doubt because it's backed by the state and its taxpayers.

"All the years I worked as a public servant, we didn't earn much money," said Epstein, 59. "Now the big earners are jealous. I hear it from everyone."

Barbara Epstein has made more money than most private school teachers,so we have to watch the facts here.Jealousy is the foundation of class war.But,it will not be like Karl Marx envisioned.It will be the public sector versus the taxpayers.This will be a huge issue in the coming years.