PensionTsunami.com celebrates fifth anniversary
By Jack Dean
It’s not quite as momentous an anniversary to celebrate as the Apollo 11 moon landing, perhaps, but today marks the fifth anniversary of the launch of this project.
First came the PensionWatch e-mail list, which I began by occasionally forwarding news items and editorials to a handful of friends in Fullerton regarding the unsustainable cost of public employee pensions and benefits. I also started building a separate e-mail list of reporters, editors, columnists and bloggers who were covering the issue.
About a year later we launched the website, shamelessly swiping its name from an excellent editorial in the Orange County Register titled, “The pension tsunami is just offshore” which had been published — very appropriately — on July 20, 2004.
At times it has felt like the task of turning back the tide of public pension debt has indeed been comparable to putting a man on the moon, but after five years of hard work we’re beginning to see some small successes, and we’re definitely more optimistic than we were when we started.
And it’s all because of a growing army of aware, concerned citizens like you who visit the site regularly and forward links to your family, friends and elected officials. Thank you.
Jack Dean is editor and publisher of PensionTsunami.com, president of the Fullerton Association of Concerned Taxpayers, and a member of the board of directors of the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility.