Cutting Public Retirement Plans

[SHRED]

Lost in the "knee-jerk-ism" of this topic is the fact that pensions don't just go to the recipient.
They are spent on local economies for day-to-day living expenses.
These pensions, that the reactionaries want to cut so badly, actually help the economy in direct ways by recirculating through our economy.

Forcing public employees into private sector "defined contribution" plans such as 401K's insures that public money will end up circulating in the gambling casino known as Wall St. and not in your community.

A couple of important links:

Out of Balance? Comparing Public and Private Sector Compensation Over 20 Years

Debunking the Myth of the Overcompensated Public Employee


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[dkf]

1. Where do you think pension funds are? It's in the damned wall street casino anyway.

[SHRED]

2. I hear you...

...but unlike a 401K that can be lost to Wall St. a defined benefit plan is guaranteed to the recipient.
This insures recirculation.

My understanding is also that CalPERS, for instance, is very diversified, secure, and due to it's size will be stable well into the foreseeable future.
These are the kinds of plans, much like Social Security, that I think help stabilize our future. In fact many public employees in CA forgo SS. CalPERS is it.

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[dkf]

3. These plans can collapse too.

The people that run them are only human after all. The only advantage a Pension Fund has is professional guidance and lower overall fees due to a larger pool. When pension funds lose money, same as your 401k, they need to adjust benefits too.

[Omaha Steve]

4. So do long time workers do less when a benefit is reduced after years of promises?

That seems fair. Oh I forgot. Do more with less, so that won't happen.

Public workers make less than private workers in the same field of work. Even adding in the other benefits we get don't bring us to the level of private workers: http://drummajorinstitute.org/library/article.php?ID=7583

Next year just over 10% of my gross goes to my public pension. That is double what is was 10 years ago. The stock market is the sole reason, just like everybody else knows. I'll pay more rather than cut my benefit.

Just what don't you like about a defined benefit pension for public OR private workers?

[dkf]

5. Bad news for public and private plans...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/10/AR2009101002360.html

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/money/retirement-planning/is-your-pension-secure/overview/is-your-pension-secure-ov.htm

[Omaha Steve]

6. My wife Marta lost her pension a couple years ago

Replaced with a 401K.

[dkf]

7. I lost my pension within a year after I finally got one.