There are so many things wrong about the story in today’s New York Times on New York state’s retiree health care costs that I don’t know where to begin. Here are the first three paragraphs:

The cities, counties and authorities of New York have promised more than $200 billion worth of health benefits to their retirees while setting aside almost nothing, putting the public work force on a collision course with the taxpayers who are expected to foot the bill.

The total cost appears in a report to be issued on Wednesday by the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a research organization that studies fiscal policy.

It does not suggest that New York must somehow come up with $200 billion right away.

   First, the Empire Center is never identified in the story as a project of the The Manhattan Institute, whose sole mission seems to be to attack unions, reduce taxes on the wealthy and, as it even says on the Empire Center’s website, "foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility"–we know what the code words are there, right?

   Second, nowhere in the article does the reporter contemplate the following: what would happen if we actually had a real reform of health care costs and introduced a single-payer, Medicare for all system? Well, presto, those costs would be trivial to the state.

   Third, nowhere in the article does the reporter say, gee, if we actually returned to a fairer tax system–which would ask that the richest in society who actually benefit from all the services provided all those years by public sector workers pay a bit more–we would have plenty of money.

   All that said (and I honestly have to go back to work here tho I could spend hours on this piece of garbage)–with the obvious caveat that the traditional media is always going to swallow the most shallow explanation available, I think the public sector unions, particularly the teachers union, has done a horrendous job of public education about pensions and what the alternatives are. We have waited too long and the public tide is rising against people who have decent pensions. This is not going to be pretty.