As the nation grows, becoming more diverse and complex, our politics devolve because harried, predisposed average citizens just can't keep up with all the changes and nuances. So some of them rely on simplistic shorthand – tweeted half-truths and coffee talk, mainstream media apathy or wing-nut radio screeds. Case in point: Wisconsin's public employee pension system.
This week the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) announced that, thanks to a resurgence in the stock market and its careful crafted investment portfolio, the pension fund for most public employees state and local is now earning enough so that current retirees in the system will get their first increase in monthly benefits in years.
When this was reported in Madison's Wisconsin State Journal, the online version of the news story immediately garnered a raft of just-plain uninformed or even ignorant responses. Below the fold are examples of those ill-considered reactions and why the critiques are totally misguided: