The ECONOMIST on Public Sector Unions

Stated quite succinctly…

This should guide the future for the city of Coral Gables–it is time to really change the benefits, the unions should cooperate, and, if not, at their own risk and that of the politician(s) and managers who keep coddling them.

The immediate battle will be over benefits, not pay… America’s states have as much as $5 trillion in unfunded pension liabilities. Historic liabilities have to be honoured (and properly accounted for, rather than hidden off the government’s balance-sheet). But there is no excuse for continuing them. Sixty-five should be a minimum age for retirement for people who spend their lives in classrooms and offices; and new civil servants should be switched to defined-contribution pensions.

via The public sector unions: The battle ahead | The Economist.