Should the federal government and state governments make changes to their pension plans that would make the plans less generous? The USA Today editioral page has a debate concerning problems with state pension plans. USA Today's take was that there are major problems with state pension plans and changes need to be made.
The opposing view comes from Gerald W. McEntee, the president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). McEntee claims that the problems in the pension plans can be fixed. He also claims that making changes to the current pension plan would cause even more problems for the pension plans.
In my opinion the retirement age should be raised to either 60 or 65 in states were it is not already at that age. I am not sure how much state governments are supposed to put into pension plans, but states could move to putting only matching funds into pension plans. In addition, I do not see the 401(k) plan as a bad idea.
Even though the debate is only about state pension plans I mentioned federal pension plans in the post in that the federal government also has a generous pension plan. That is why I asked if both the federal government and state governments should make changes to their pension plans.
I will admit states should have done a better job of putting funds aside for pension plans. However, I think states can change their pension programs. So, what do others think?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2010-05-03-editorial03_ST_N.htm http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2010-05-03-editorial03_ST2_N.htm