I would like to point out that there is no “pension problem.” What is purported to be bloated pensions and the inability to fund them is actually a direct result of 40 years of corporate and wealthy class tax-slashing. After World War II, many corporate CEOs and directors felt a responsibility to their employees and to society, and there was a social contract to provide a good wage, stable employment, health care insurance, a livable pension, and funding for schools and libraries in return for loyalty to the company and gaining the benefits of a healthy and vibrant society. That contract has largely been abandoned to greed since beginning in the late 1960s, and we have felt the squeeze, getting ever tighter, ever since.
Now tax breaks funnel hugely disproportionate amounts of capital to the top of the wealthy class, at the expense of funding for wages and pensions for our citizens and for our social institutions. Our economic system and social institutions used to be world class, but it takes adequate funding to make that happen, and it won’t happen again as long as we allow the wealthy class to not pay their fair share of taxes on the corporations and stocks that they own.
This article appears in Feb 1-8, 2018.