Either way, I don't think any public emp should be able to retire at 55 with a full pension and benefits. This is the reason cities/states are going bankrupt and it is only beginning.
Taxpayers can't afford to have their taxes increased when their raises don't keep up with COL. I'm sure you have read the middle class person hasn't seen a real increase since 1995, so they can't afford to keep paying your healthy benefits when you reach 55. If you want to retire at 55, take a reduction in pension like the private employee does and pay into your healthcare like the private retiree.
Full disclosure: I was one of those public employees and I receive a DB COLA'd pension that (for now, anyway) includes health insurance. I pay 30% of the premium.
During the inflation of the 1970's and '80's, when private industry employees were getting 10% or 12% raises to compensate for inflation, I got 1%, or perhaps 2%, or zip. The same happened in every other area that I knew about. That's one reason the comparison with private/public doesn't wash. One compensation was that I knew that I had a better pension plan than most in private industry. Now I'm hearing private industry people say they want to have their cake and eat it too.
And not every state, city or county mismanaged their pensions. The pension in the location I retired from is fully funded and doing quite well. But the headline "Local govt. is financially solvent!" doesn't make for selling papers or articles. The fact is, that's the rule, not the exception, as the articles lead one to believe.
And here in WV the state pension plan was heading for some serious shortfalls. The politicians got their act together and implemented a plan that will resolve that shortfall in the next five years or so. It helps that the state constitution requires a balanced budget.
What I'm reading is that some people believe it is fine to make promises, let people plan their lives as if those promises will be kept, and then pull the rug out from under them when it's too late for them to take any corrective action. Somehow that doesn't strike me as the right thing to do either. Where I come from people and institutions, and taxpayers, keep their promises.
When I was hired as a police officer in 1973 there was no union. We didn't need or want one. It wasn't until the paltry pay raises in the 1970's and '80's that a union was formed, mostly for that reason. It takes a huge amount of effort, time, and money to start one and that doesn't happen where employees are being treated fairly. I've often said the County was "penny-wise and pound-foolish" for that reason. My retirement income is 10% that it would have been without the union because the union negotiated for it, trading by giving up on some short-term benefits.
One other note on the "early" retirements for police officers and firefighters. Those are physically demanding young person's jobs. With some very rare exceptions you really don't want 60-year-olds in those positions. Where I worked, we had to pass a physical that included a stress test every three years up to age 30 or 35. Then it became every other year and at 50, every year. If you didn't pass the physical you were done.
And you wrote
There are servicemen who are in trouble now because they shot people overseas when "supposedly" they shouldn't have...not fair.
The same thing happens with police officers. It comes with the territory when you carry a weapon. So, by the way, does the high disability rate from on-the-job injuries.
When I retired and moved to WV one of the thoughts that came to me was that I'm glad I can still walk across the room and get a glass of water without being in pain. I know a lot of guys who can't. About 20-25% go out on permanent disability. And I went to eight line-of-duty funerals.
On this board we often write about taking risks in the financial sense. I took physical risks, and I won the bet. I earned it.