Monday, March 7, 2011

Pensions

As public-sector benefits draw headlines, private-sector 401(k) plans have tanked in the crash

Maine Pension sign - Robert F Bukaty AP - banner.jpg
credit: AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty


"One big reason public employees are under siege in Wisconsin and other states is because they now enjoy more secure retirement benefits than most private-sector workers." 


"The question is whether the right way to close that gap is by reducing security for government employees or increasing it for everyone else."

"In 1985, about four in five workers at medium- and large-sized private firms received a defined-benefit pension, according to federal statistics. Today, less than one-third are covered under such plans. Instead, most workers at large and medium private companies who receive pension benefits at all obtain them in the form of defined contributions. In small companies, defined-benefit plans are virtually extinct--and only about one-third of those workers receive even a defined-contribution retirement benefit."



Read the article in the Atlantic Monthly.


http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/03/the-pension-problem/72084/


http://www.theatlantic.com/



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