‘Third rail’ no more?

Government employee pensions and benefits used to be considered one of the "third rails" of American politics -- not to be touched.

The public employee unions are well-represented in the state capitals -- to say the least. And everyone from firemen to teachers to DMV clerks could say, with some justification, that job security and an attractive pension were among the promises used to attract them to the job.

That was all well and good when things were booming. But it now has become apparent that government had no "exit strategy" from this ever-climbing escalator of costs.

The official unemployment rate in Detroit may be 28 percent, but The New York Times reports there's "evidence that less than 37 percent of the city's residents" are actually working. The population has crashed, and the city of Detroit now has twice as many retirees as active workers. An arbitrator ruled last month that the city could reduce the pensions being earned by its police sergeants and lieutenants.

Prichard, Ala., a small city outside of Mobile, ran out of money to send out pension checks in 2009 and simply stopped mailing them out.

In Omaha, Neb., the Times reports, the police union recently agreed to reduce the benefits given to current officers "after the city agreed to put more money into the teetering pension fund."

The Los Angeles Times reported last week "California voters want government employees to give up some retirement benefits to help ease the state's financial problems," and not just for future hires, but for current employees, as well.

"Seventy percent" of respondents to a Times/USC Dornsife poll "said they supported a cap on pensions for current and future public employees. Nearly as many, 68 percent, approved of raising the amount of money government workers should be required to contribute to their retirement." A majority also favored raising the retirement age.

Nevada legislators who have profited politically for years by handing government employees everything they wanted now wring their hands in disbelief. But as these trends spread across the country, those in Carson City had better start taking this matter seriously, or they might find the voters are ready to do the job for them -- one way or another.