"Best Interest Of My Family"

When it comes to the man himself, here's not much I can add to the Joseph N. DiVincenzo debacle that hasn't already been said. He is a hypocrite of the highest order and all unions should mobilize immediately to remove him from office and ensure he never gets elected to dog catcher ever again.

But the fact is he is correct in the abstract. He earned the money (well, in theory). And he didn't contribute to part of the pension; he contributed to ALL of it. Pensions are deferred compensation and the people who earn them are not getting handouts; they are getting paid for the work they do. Pensions are also a great deal for the taxpayer, as they use the power of markets to help offset the costs of wages.

Now, DiVincenzo is a political animal and there is a good case to be made that it is far too easy for him to abuse the system. That isn't true, though, as it relates to cops and firefighters and teachers and other public workers. We have earned that money, and it's both morally wrong and economically stupid the try to change the deal on us.

The very wealthiest folks have the money we need to pay public workers what we said we would pay them; tax the top 1% and pay these middle-class workers. It's in the best interests of their families, and all middle-class families.

It's really that simple.