Reforming Public Pensions for the Common Good | Capital Commentary

Reforming Public Pensions for the Common Good | Capital Commentary by Michael Gerson.  Pension reform shojld mean limiting abuses, not turning employee futures over to defined contribution plans which benefit fund managers more than employees and retirees.  The defined contribution movement has largely been a mistake and can only be justified if employers pay the administrative costs of these plans rather than plan income.  That is true for both public and private plans - and is an argument for more employee-ownership shares in these plans (up to two-thirds) and privatization of public services so that they can be employee-owned whereever possible.  Such firms, however, should democraticly managed rather than heirarchical, so that this does not simply become a dodge to reward elites at the expense of employees (since whomever makes the rules generally gets the gold).