WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Time To Occupy State Pensions? “The biggest scam going in American financial life may be the collusive effort by Wall Street, the political class, and public sector unions to use union retirement money to prop up Wall Street speculation. . . . Pension funds should not be aggressively invested. Retirement funds should be conservatively managed — and that means enough has to be paid into those funds so that with moderate investment results, retirees can be sure that their promised benefits will in fact be paid. The key to this change is stronger regulation of government pension funds, to force them to observe the same requirements that apply to private sector pension funds as well. Amazingly, the same union leaders and lefty experts who call for tough regulations elsewhere in the economy want to keep government workers chained to the roulette wheel in the Wall Street casino: they are bitterly opposed to seriously prudential regulation of government pension funds.”

UPDATE: Reader Mike Nelson writes: “Funny, I remember Democrat demagogues saying Bush’s plan to allow private investment of Social Security funds was evil and would bankrupt seniors. Guess they didn’t actually believe that at the time.”