Preventing Raids on Public Pensions

After 29 years of civil service employment, will pension loss be part of the price my family pays for what may become the greatest world depression in history?

According to columnist James Flanigan, “Corporate Pensions Are Less Raid Proof than Governments” (Dec. 18), Governors Pete Wilson and Mario Cuomo have joined other states in open raids on public employee pension funds in order to bandage rising state deficits.

As Flanigan points out, public pension funds are not protected by federal legislation from raids by politicians as private pension funds are protected from raids by corporations.

The prescription for preventing raids on private and public pension funds is obvious. The votes and political action of 55 million pensioners, their families and the families of millions more about to be retired can secure federal legislation that makes certain all pension funds are managed solely for the benefit of pension participants.

Three-fifths of the states suffer serious budget deficits. What happens to pensions when more businesses and state and local governments with pension funds go broke? What happens to private and public pension funds when the businesses and real estate in which both are invested belly up?

Is my politically incorrect pessimism unwarranted? A strong case can be made that today’s economic and social conditions at home and abroad pose a greater threat to U.S. national security, including our pension funds, than they did in 1928.

Look at the examples of Japan and Germany after World War II. Both demonstrated what industry-government cooperation can achieve when--instead of war and the arms race--rebuilding a devastated society is a nation’s No. 1 priority.

Our challenge is to transform and rebuild the corrupt and self-destructive system of our 50-year-old corporate warfare state in a world that is more economically and socially interdependent and competitive than ever. That challenge demands no less than the level of commitment of national resources and public support that we made to wage two World Wars and a Cold War.

NICHOLAS V. SEIDITA

Northridge