60 Minutes did a segment on Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey who went on and on about how unfunded pension liabilities were killing the economy and something had to be done to cut benefits. New Jersey has its problems, just like virtually every state but Christie neglected to mention how many of the problems with the pension funds arose in the first place.
As a politician, no one should expect Christie to tell the truth but the disgrace was that CBS didn't bother interviewing anyone who might disagree with Christie's opinion nor did they ask him any tough questions. The whole segment could have been scripted by his campaign staff.
Consider these points. Public employee pension funds in New Jersey are underfunded for two basic reasons. Firstly the state has failed to fund the pension plans in 13 of the past 17 years, using the money to pay for tax cuts instead. Secondly, the average pension fund in the U.S. has lost 29% of their value since pension managers that the so called AAA rates investments they peddled them were actually piles of shit, something they were well aware of when they peddled said piles of shit.
Did 60 miinutes even mention either of those points? Not a chance.
Media Matters has the story
The AFSCME (public employees union) hits back at 60 Minutes.
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