The problem I have with the system is the “public safety” workers, as this article singles out. I found the benefits of the average employee to be pretty much in line with private employer pension plans.
The sick thing is, that despite exposé after exposé, they refuse to do anything about it. Instead, Arnie&Co mislead the public into believing that the only solution is to throw the entire system out and hand it over to their Madoff-like cronies who would like nothing more than to skim a healthy portion off the top.
I want state employees to get a fair and competitive salary with reasonable and competitive benefits. I just want the state to have a stripped down mission with vastly fewer employees. Both are possible if we could ever find ‘leaders’ that were truly interested in serving the public.