Start talking about some of the excesses of California's public pension system and defenders will quickly plead poverty, pointing to the fact that an average pension payout under CalPERS (the California Public Employees' Retirement System) is under $30,000 a year. That's true, but the average doesn't adequately capture how excessive the extremes are -- particularly amongst those collecting over $100,000 a year from the public till. From the Orange County Register:
...An update this week shows that there are now 12,199 retirees in the $100K club (a 34 percent increase over 2010 -- and a 99 percent increase over 2009).
Even these dramatic numbers, however, don't give adequate insight into the precipitous rise of six-figure payouts in the Golden State. As the Register piece goes on to note, the number of retirees collecting over $100,000 from the state has increased by more than 10,000 just since 2005 -- a jump of 563 percent in that time.
It's hard to conceive of any public servant -- let alone more than 12,000 -- whose service to the state was so valuable that it deserves more than a million dollars a decade in legacy costs. Perhaps, however, the Golden State will someday be able to justify such a windfall for the individual who finally fixes the public pension system.
It's hard to conceive of any public servant -- let alone more than 12,000 -- whose service to the state was so valuable that it deserves more than a million dollars a decade in legacy costs. Perhaps, however, the Golden State will someday be able to justify such a windfall for the individual who finally fixes the public pension system.
Join the conversation