"Obscenely Generous"

That's how the Star-Ledger describes modest pensions and insurance that lets you take your kid to the doctor without running up your credit cards:

Here’s where we stand: The governor and Sweeney have already agreed to a tough reform that would save huge sums of money by trimming benefits and requiring public employees to contribute more.

The new terms would apply not just to state workers, but to the much larger army of teachers, cops and firefighters whose obscenely generous benefits are a key driver of property taxes. [emphasis mine]

Let's leave aside the fact that public workers already have mandatory contributions to their pensions. Let's leave aside the mandatory amount taken out of teachers' paychecks for health care. Let's not consider that, in reality, every public worker pays for 100% of their benefits. Let's not remind ourselves that the average NJ pension is less than $27,000 a year. We'll even leave aside the idea that deferred compensation SAVES taxpayers money.

No, let's instead consider this (p.14):

The United States is far from the Singapore minister’s standard. According to the

National Association of Colleges and Employers, teachers earn a national average

starting salary of $30,377. That compares with $43,635 for computer programmers,

$44,668 for accountants and $45,570 for registered nurses. None of these occupations

are among the leading professions, which provide starting salaries that are even higher.

Not only do teachers make markedly less than other occupations requiring the same level

of education, but census data shows that teachers have been falling farther and farther

behind the average compensation for occupations requiring a college degree for 60 years. 

The average earnings for workers with college degrees are now 50 percent higher than

average teachers’ salaries, which is a very long way indeed from the Singapore minister’s

standard.

Anyone here want to agree with the S-L about how "obscene" teacher health care is?