It’s a good thing Calpers last week delayed a plan to post a database online displaying the specifics of all the pensions it administers. That delay should become permanent.

Posting unvarnished numbers like that without context would not inform the public, it would only open hardworking middle-class pubic servants to another round of attacks from Wall Street critics looking for their own political gain.

Let me explain what I mean. The details of pension payouts are already public information. Any Californian can find out how much a public servant is getting paid in their retirement. If they ask, here’s what they’d see:

But here’s what that kind of database would fail to show:

Californians have already said they believe public employees deserve the retirements they earn – teachers because they earn such small salaries and public safety workers because of the inherent dangers in their jobs. Public opinion polls show they strongly oppose further reducing current employees’ benefits.

So who exactly would benefit from a Calpers pension database being posted online? The answer: Wall Street. A new database would give wealthy investors who want to push average families out of defined-benefit pensions and into volatile investment accounts the ammo they need to launch a new wave of attacks.

Public employees don’t deserve another round of being beat down.