156-3-704
Now stand and fight
Politicians have repeatedly given in, usually sneakily—by swelling pensions, adding yet more holidays or dropping reforms, rather than by increasing pay. This time they have to fight because they are so short of money. But it is crucial that the war with the public-sector unions is won in the right way. For amid all the pain ahead sits a huge opportunity—to redesign government. That means focusing on productivity and improving services, not just cutting costs. (Indeed, in some cases it may entail paying good people more one reason why Singapore has arguably the best civil service in the world is that it pays some of them more than $2m a year.)
The immediate battle will be over benefits, not pay. Here the issue is parity. Holidays are often absurdly generous, but the real issue is pensions. Too many state workers can retire in their mid-50s on close to full pay. America’s states have as much as $5 trillion in unfunded pension liabilities. Historic liabilities have to be honoured (and properly accounted for, rather than hidden off the government’s balance-sheet). But there is no excuse for continuing them. Sixty-five should be a minimum age for retirement for people who spend their lives in classrooms and offices and new civil servants should be switched to defined-contribution pensions.

A. 어휘
give in 굴복하다. sneakily 몰래, 비열하게, 속임수로서.
swell-swelled-swollen 부풀리다, 팽창시키다. pension 연금.
crucial 결정적인, 중대한.
is won in the right way 올바른 방법으로 승리하다.
entail 포함하다, 필요로 하다. arguably 아마 틀림없이.
benefits 이득, 연금. parity 평형. absurdly 터무니없이.
generous 관대한. trillion 兆(조).
unfunded 일시 借入(차입)의, 단기의, 財源(재원)이 없는.
liabilities 債務(채무). balance-sheet 대차대조표. minimum age 최소연령.
defined-contribution pensions 定額(정액)各出(각출)연금.