Retired Detroit firefighter: "My pension is what I was promised"

[brewens]

29. I've been kind of taunting a right-wing friend with this kind of story. He's

looking at taking an early retirement from his state job. He's with Job Service. His thinking is that he wants out so his benefits will be locked in. He's convinced that any changes in the future won't be in his favor.

Despite his profession he's a complete bagger type. He's voted Republican his entire life. If he gets out, I can assure you he will be all for cutting other people back as long as he's got his.

I'm telling him he has no guarantees and what's going on in Detroit is a good example. All our state legislators have to do is start telling people that most of us don't get a pension, how can we afford to pay taxes to provide others with a pension? That's an argument that would have worked just fine on my buddy were he in a private sector job with no pension. It would make perfect sense.

When telling him that, I was also speculating on why the right isn't going after the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation? That would seem like a natural target, or does it? The existence of the PBGC is what allows people like Romney to loot companies and steal their pension funds. It wouldn't be so easy to get away with that if that kind of raiding left workers with nothing. It's still a wonder Republicans don't go after that. They could use the argument that taxpayers can't afford it when they don't get a pension themselves.