Public Service: The Golden Rocking Chair

Though many Americans are worried that their poorly invested pension funds might go bust and leave them penniless in retirement, one class of employees has no such concerns: top federal officials. It’s not just that their benefits are guaranteed by the U.S. Treasury and thus protected from the economic shocks that have wrecked some company plans. Thanks to a generous cost of living index scheme that would be extremely rare in private industry — a plan that the U.S. Congress designed mainly for its own benefit — many former federal officeholders actually make more for not working than they ever did on the job. Some even outearn incumbents in the offices they once held. “Congressional pensions are typically two to three times more generous than those in the private sector,” says David Keating, who heads a watchdog group called the National Taxpayers Union. Much the same could be said of presidential pensions. This year, for instance, former President Gerald Ford will receive $20,000 more in his golf-oriented retirement than George Bush will draw as leader of the free world. Some examples of lavish retirement benefits: