WSJ: Americans Have ‘Pension Envy’

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Do private workers envy their fellow Americans, especially public workers, because they have amassed rich pensions? As reported last year during the election, there’s a growing divide between people who have a pension and those who don’t — a divide that may turn out to be more significant than differences in income.

As reported in the Wall Street Journal, a 43-year-old firefighter retiring after 25 years will get $58,000 annually. A private worker must have $1.5 million to replicate that income — which doesn’t even include the post-retirement health benefits many public workers enjoy. With many public pension plans severely underfunded, the issue will be brought home if taxes have to be raised to pay the pensioners — putting private workers who don’t have enough to retire even further in the hole. Sounds like a reckoning.