On working for the government

Let us all be happy for Hugo Tassone, the Yonkers NY policeman who was earning $74,000 a year when he retired three years ago at the age of 44. His pension amounts to $101,333 a year. At 47, he stands to collect several lifetimes’ worth of his not-ungenerous salary in the golden years stretching ahead of him. But what can it be like to be a New York taxpayer, laboring to pay off that obligation, not only to Mr. Tassone, but also to his successor, who no doubt is even now planning for his own retirement? For every active-duty policeman and fireman, in this crazy universe, we bid fair to have two retirees earning half again as much. Piling insult upon injury, they pay no state or city income tax on their pensions.

The same New York Times story notes that at least 3,700 retirees in the state are pulling down pensions of $100,000 a year or more, with the golden palm going to a certain Edward Stolzenberg, who ran a hospital in Westchester County, and who collects $222,143 a year. (Oops! I see that the Gray Lady only credits Mr. Stolzenberg with being “one of the biggest New York State pensions.” There may be bigger ones?)

As it happens, the delightfully named Mortimer Zuckerman wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal the other day, ominously titled “The Bankrupting of America.” Read it and wonder what hope you have for your own retirement. Blue skies! – Dan Ford