Good Monday morning. Here’s a look at opinion content published over the weekend:
Saturday, Oct. 8
Occupy Wall Street and ‘99 percenters’: Commentary
Christopher Ketcham, uthor of “The Rein of the One Percenters: Income Equality and the Death of Culture in New York City” in the current issue of Orion magazine, offers a commentary on the Occupy Wall Street movement. Ketcham compares the demonstrations to the Populist movement of the Gilded Age.
Cyberbullying: Commentary
State Sen. David Carlucci, a Rockland Democrat, comments on cyberbullying in a Community View. Carlucci advances legislation he says “will stiffen penalties for online bullying and stalking, giving law enforcement the ability to charge individuals with a misdemeanor for ‘cyberbullying’ and in extreme cases, expand second-degree manslaughter to include ‘bullycide’ when the perpetrator intentionally or recklessly causes the victim to commit suicide.”
Sunday, Oct. 9
Pensions: Editorial
We comment on Sunday’s watchdog report on the Lower Hudson Valley’s 45 new admittees to one of the state’s more exclusive clubs — those earning public pensions of more than $100,000. We write:
… In 1980, according to the Employees Benefit Research Institute, 39 percent of private-sector workers had a pension that provided a guaranteed payout at retirement; that figure is down to about 15 percent today. About 42 percent of those formerly covered by pensions now have 401(k) plans, which have been battered by the raucous financial markets. There has been little guidance from Wall Street, corporate board rooms or public policy makers on how retirees are supposed to get by with so much less; at the same time Social Security is under constant threat.The dearth of discussion — perhaps the spreading Wall Street protesters could add this complaint to their list — means more struggles for those on payrolls, leaving payrolls, or hoping some day to join one. If only our collective envy for the six-figure pension club would translate into retirement solutions for the rest of the working world.
Hank Williams Jr.: Reisman
Phil Reisman weighs in on the case of Hank Williams Jr., the country singer who made headlines last week when he compared President Barack Obama to Adolph Hitler.
