A pension worth 4000€ a month

A Finnish green party MP Janina Andersson will not seek re-election in 2011, meaning she'll be quitting after 16 years in the job. Then she will be eligible for something called an MP's readjustment pension (any representative who quits after seven years in the job is eligible for this pension) which means she can cash in around 4000€ a month even though she's only 40 years old.

Now, she says she will apply for these benefits in case she can't find a job but of course anyone with her work history and connections could find a job. Also, she says she'd like to spend more time with her kids instead of working full-time but that merely begs the question that if raising kids is that lucrative, where do I sign up? The craziest thing is that in this article, she actually compares the 4000€ a month pension to ordinary unemployment benefits. Even if she were to consume only half of the benefits, she could be a millionaire in her eighties.

Of course she's not responsible for legislating the readjustment pension and in all likelihood she won't be drawing this special pension from the age of 40 until she's eligible for "normal" pension. But the system is rotten and it needs to be said out loud. So, can we get a competent, ethical MP to stand up and call for the abolition of this ludicrous special pension?