PERS works as designed, gives Rogers $150K a year retirement
In today's Review-Journal, Knight Allen uses David Roger's retirement announcement to write an absolutely devastating critique of Nevada's Public Employees Retirement System (PERS).
Mr. Roger is 50 years old. He has worked in government for 25 years and, following the PERS rules, he is eligible for a $150,000-a-year pension for the rest of his life. ...Yep. What he said.
In 25 years, has Mr. Roger really contributed so much more to society's well-being than the private-sector working people who are now being forced to work into their late 60s and even 70s, only to wind up with a fraction of Mr. Roger's golden-parachute pension?
Let's be clear. Mr. Roger has not "gamed" the system. He's played it straight all the way. It's the system that has gamed the people of Nevada. PERS, as it exists now, is a cancer on the body politic, and if left untreated it will destroy us. [Emphasis added]
If you want to know how bad it is, check out NPRI's recent study on PERS, which finds that PERS's true unfunded liability is over $40 billion and PERS is only funded at about 34 percent!
The long-term solution is moving all public employees to a defined-contribution pension system.
If you're interested in this topic, I invite you to join NPRI for a luncheon next Tuesday, November 15, on the problems with PERS. Andrew Biggs, who wrote NPRI's PERS study, will be speaking about Nevada's shortfall and what we can do about it.
More information on the luncheon is available here and you can register online here.
$150,000 a year in guaranteed retirement benefits for a 50 year-old isn't sustainable.
Reform has to happen and the sooner, the better for all involved.
