MSM reporters should read this article, in which a Los Angeles Times reporter admits the press failed to cover a massive 1999 pension enhancement that has devasted public services for millions of people for years to come in California. "The bill won approval on the final day of the state legislative session in the fall of 1999. But searching this week for contemporaneous coverage of the law, I found little to nothing. Reporters…gave plenty of attention to an agreement that would allow an expansion of Indian gambling operations around California. A lot of attention also went to a couple of bills that cracked down on illegal sweatshops. Another piece of legislation, providing gay students a legal shield against abuse, also made front-page news. But SB 400 got only a handful of mentions."
New York's similar pension deal passed in 2000. A massive pension increase for NYC teachers passed in 2008, casually mentioned at the end of a press conference on horse racing. The NYC teacher pension is now one of the most underfunded in the country. For years, amidst strident conflict over symbolic social issues breathlessly covered by the press, Generation Greed has sold out our collective future all but ignored (boring!), and not just on pensions. It's a disgrace.
Here is the outrage. Ordinary people, in their millions, allegedly struck a deal and entered into a binding contract to provide richer pensions, a contract that is irrevocable regardless of the consequences. They could be made to starve to death, and they are still obligated to pay. And yet they were never even told they were doing so, let alone told truthfully what the consequences would be. The politicians got political support and richer pensions for themselves. What did the people get? The work of the public employees? These deals were retroactive!