Thank you, Wayne, for educating the Plain Dealer re. public servants and their retirements!

Public pensions: Private sector is subsidized
By Other Voices (Plain Dealer) January 10, 2010

I believe your pension article was slanted against the public-employee sector. If Ohio taxpayers are financially supporting the state of Ohio's pension funds, then employees covered by Ohio's state pension funds are financially supporting private pension funds when we purchase groceries, a newspaper, buy a car from General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, etc., or any other product that is sold or manufactured in Ohio. Ohio public-pension retirees also pay taxes to the state of Ohio.

When I worked in private industry before becoming a police officer, I paid into Social Security. The funds were withheld by my employer and sent to Social Security. It was not an option. There is a government pension offset that penalizes those of us collecting from state pension funds. The funds I contributed and am not allowed to collect are residing in the Social Security system. I have subsidized Social Security for the many taxpayers in Ohio.

Most Ohioans are allowed to collect their private pension funds and full Social Security benefits. Ohio is one of eight states in the United States that penalizes its state employees in this manner.

Wayne H. Livingston
Madison
http://blog.cleveland.com/letters/2010/01/public_pensions_private_sector.html
From John Curry