Right. Generous retirement benefits for public sector employees are a trick played on taxpayers by politicians and those responsible for negotiating the contracts (those representing the govt, and unions representing current govt employees).

Most people think government employees are paid much less than they would be in the public sector, but that's because it's not obvious to most of us:

a. just how much it costs to fund a defined-benefit pension scheme, when asset yields are so low

b. how early people can retire with a 'full pension'

c. the low performance bar and difficult of firing a govt employee, even for cause