Broken promises are wrong

In your June 9 editorial, you attack public worker pension plans and say, “While public employees decry the unfairness of ‘broken promises,’ many private-sector workers marvel that these traditional pension plans still exist. Most companies moved to 401(k)-style plans long ago.”

Let’s see if I can put that into ordinary English.

Something like, “Because private-sector employers failed to fully fund their pension obligations, or the pension funds were raided in corporate takeovers, private-sector employees were cheated out of what they were promised. It seems only fair that we should now cheat public-sector workers as well.”

There, that’s better.

I am not a public employee. I was self-employed for much of my career, and the only pension I have is my savings and Social Security.

That doesn’t keep me from decrying broken promises and corporate greed.

Larry Blanchard

Spokane Valley