Anthony Weiner and public workers: A tale of two pensions

By car, it is about 173 miles between the Capitol in Washington DC, and the New Jersey state capitol. But when it comes to pensions, the distance, as you will see, is considerably further.

Start with New Jersey, where state workers rose in protest yesterday over proposed changes to their pensions, changes made at the direction of Governor Chris Christie that have made it through one house of the state legislature:

New Jersey legislation requiring a half-million public workers to shoulder a larger portion of their pension and health benefits costs and restricting collective bargaining over health care picked up steam this week, despite howls of protest from organized labor and backroom infighting that splintered the state's Democratic Party.

A Senate budget panel advanced the employee benefits bill Thursday as 3,500 union workers protested outside the Statehouse, setting up a potential showdown next week on the Senate floor.

Meanwhile, less than two hundred miles down the road, you might have heard that the U.S. House of Representatives will no longer enjoy the services of one Anthony Weiner. Whether Weiner's resignation was a good idea or not, whether it was justified or not, does little to rebut one simple fact. Weiner is leaving the Congress with a pretty decent parachute in place for his future. As New Jersey workers look at increases in their pension contributions of as much as 1.5% of salary over the current levels, Weiner's situation is, shall we say, different:

[Members of Congress] contribute less than 1% of pay, and contributions bear no relation to the benefits. Weiner, 46, has been a Congressman for 12 years and has a recent salary of $174,000 (standard for both the House and Senate). After leaving office he has a couple of choices. He can begin taking discounted pension payments of about $25,000 a year starting at age 56 or wait until age 62 and collect about $35,000 a year.

For the average retirement investor, that's a benefit comparable to $1.2 million in the bank. With the 10-year Treasury yield at 2.9%, that's how much it would take to produce a guaranteed income of $35,000 a year.

This is not intended to begrudge Weiner a decent source of retirement income. What it is intended to do, however, is point out that all people should have a decent source of retirement income, and they shouldn't have to take to the streets to get it. Which is something that, hopefully, resonates with the members of the New Jersey state Senate.

Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/vfPEGCYsDcw/-Anthony-Weiner-and-public-workers:-A-tale-of-two-pensions

breaking political news political magazines daily sport newspaper msnbc politics