Fed government employees already went from a system of guaranteed retirement funds to the FERS system about 30 or so years ago. FERS Is based on a three tiered plan which includes SS, a 401k and a smaller pension.
OK so you collect from the taxpayers via the Feds. Big whoop
FERS was created so Fed workers must support Soc Sec. It has one good feature, the matching 401K component. But unlike the old CSRS where the Fed worker can retire at 55 with 30 years of service, the Soc Sec minimum retirement age is what the FERS worker most likely use to determine when they want to retire. Before freepers complain, FERS and CSRS are available for all to see. No one complained when the economy was booming and private salaries and benefits were better then gov ones. In fact people who join the fed gov were ridiculed as noncompetitive losers by the ones who worked in corporate world. Now many of them unemployed are banging the fed gov door for a job.