Dr. Steven Frates on Public Employee Pensions & Municipal Budgets

From the article by Stephen Moore, senior economics writer for the Wall Street Journal editorial page, in the Weekly Standard:

“Pensions are the second biggest line item in most municipal budgets today behind law enforcement,” says Steven Frates, a professor at Claremont McKenna College and an expert on California’s pensions system. He adds that “the annuity value for many public employee pensions in this state is $1.5 million.”
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As California taxpayers wake up to the enormous future tax increases they and their children face to pay for expansive promises to city, county, and state workers, they’re wondering, says Frates, “how did they get these sweet deals?”