Occupy Wall Street - Good Deal. Now How About Occupy Government?

The Wall Street protestors deliver a well-developed disdain for corporate wealth and the undeniable and growing gap between rich and poor. But what they fail miserably at is identifying the incredibly wealthy, and growing, government employee ranks. Witness this well-done story in the Detroit News this week regarding public pensions in the state of Michigan. While 49 people receiving taxpayer-funded pensions of over six figures seems paltry in a day when a corporate board members pulls down the same for doing nothing, remember that these pensioners are also doing nothing. This money is provided to them just for a couple decades of showing up, with no investment on their part.
And let’s talk about greed. John Engler is paid $122,136 a year in pension income from the state, over twice the state’s 2009 family median income of $45,254. But Engler is also paid an annual package worth $1.3 million as president of the National Association of Manufacturers (see page 13).
This is a man who  signed 32 tax cuts into law during his reign as governor of Michigan from 1991 to 2002. We had to raise them again, of course. Those pensions…