前些时候，《纽约时报》有一个报道谈到：因为不满英国政府削减退休金，数万英国公务员在伦敦举行了大罢工。（New York Times: Public Workers Strike in Britain Over Pensions By SARAH LYALL, June 30, 2011）对此，读者有不少评论。下面是两位读者的评论（附上英文）。
读者Elliot：
美国也快有这种大罢工啦。（Coming soon to a state near you.）
读者Sierra：
退休金？什么叫做退休金？我似乎记得，我的祖父母在他们退休的时候有过这玩意。也许，这只是一个过去的梦想？
雇主老板告诉我们说，我们不需要那种令人讨厌的共产主义的退休金。老板说啦：他会教我们去开一个爱国的、美国的401K退休帐户。我们什么事情也不用做，老板在银行里的好朋友会管理我们的401K的钱。每个月，我都按时把一部分薪水放到我的401K帐户里去。可有趣的是，帐户里的钱并不涨。虽然我不会算那种2+2=5 的加法，但我上过美国的公立学校，我知道如果我不断地往咖啡茶里加糖的话，它应该会变得越来越甜。难道401K帐户不应该是这样的吗？天底下奇怪的事情真不少。我希望我们大家组织起来，跟老板讲一讲道理。但是老板说，工会组织令人讨厌，那是社会主义的东西，是不爱美国的做法；而且，这么做可能是非法的，我们有可能会蹲监狱。老板还说，如果我不喜欢我的工作，我可以走路 — 还有另外15个人正在等着我的这一份工呢；那些失业的人，决不会像我这种共产主义的、社会主义的垃圾人，唠唠叨叨地去议论401K的事情；那些找工作的人，愿意拿更少的钱而干我所干的同样的活儿。于是，我们屈膝求怜，做一个真正爱国的美国人；我们老老实实地干活，不再去想那些愚蠢的、不爱国的事情。
（Pensions? What are pensions? I seem to remember hearing my grandparents talking about getting one when they were old and grey. Maybe it was just a dream. My employer said we didn't need no stinkin' commie pension. They were going to do right by us in our old age and give us these patriotic American 401k accounts. We wouldn't have to do a thing as the boss's bankster buddy would manage the money for us. Funny thing, when I look at my statement, the amount is not going up even though I am putting money in with each paycheck. Now I'm not good with numbers 2+2 might equal 5, I'm not sure, I went to an American public school, but if I keep putting more spoons of sugar in my coffee, it gets sweeter. Shouldn't the 401k work the same way? I think somethin's starting to stink. Wish all of us here at the office could band together and stand up to the boss man. But the boss said that banding together would be stinkin' socialism and unamerican and was illegal; he could have us put in a private jail. He said if we were not happy we could leave because there were 15 people for each job and they would not be whining commie pinko socialist garbage or asking questions about 401k's. And they would work for much less that the princely sum we were getting paid. We did the patriotic, American thing and dropped to our knees and begged for mercy and that we would never think unpatriotic thoughts again. Silently, we went back to work and never thought such foolishness again.）
