A reader who, if not exactly disgruntled, is far from being gruntled:
Mr. Derbyshire:
I read your Corner post on local government pensions. Unbelievable. i work for the Navy, am on the old retirement system that was replaced by a less generous system 25 years ago, and there is no way I can come close to those numbers. At best, I can retire with 80 percent of my pay … after 42 years of service. And the base pay scale isn’t that impressive.
These local and state pensions are absurd. If Obama wants to appoint czars, let him appoint one to control local and state government pay.
[Me] Come, come, Sir, let’s be fair. How can submarine duty compare in national importance to keeping a suburban school district supplied with erasers?