On pensions, political hypocrisy worse
than football
By Bob Plain – Rhode Island’s Future. See more at: http://www.rifuture.org/on-pensions-political-hypocrisy-worse-than-football.html#sthash.FSbbxPq8.dpuf
“It is time to stop
using pensions as a political football,” said the person who has used pensions
as a political football more and more successfully than perhaps any other human
being this century.
While many loath Gina
Raimondo’s vociferous Wall Street-over-Main Street approach to finance and
politics, there’s also her sheer hypocrisy to dislike too.
After riding the
pension political football to millions of dollars in donations, reams of
positive publicity and praise from some of the most pro-Wall Street people,
political organizations and news outlets in the nation, she all of a sudden
thinks we should change the topic.
Who can blame her? Even fellow Wall Street Democrats such as Frank Caprio, who works for an investment firm and considered running as a Republican, are critiquing her hedge fund heavy approach to pension investment.
On the other hand,
changing the truth isn't the same as changing the subject. Raimondo also told
the Providence Journal:
“If the General
Assembly had not passed the reform legislation, it is likely that some cities
and towns would have gone bankrupt and that down the road pensions would have
to be severely cut.”
I don’t believe state
pension cuts saved any cities (and certainly no towns!) from filing for
bankruptcy. Gene Emery?
Bob Plain is the editor/publisher of Rhode Island's
Future. Previously, he's worked as a reporter for several different news
organizations both in Rhode Island and across the country.