Huge Battle Looms Over Public Pensions - Who Will (Who Should) Foot the Bill?

[abelenkpe]

Huge Battle Looms Over Public Pensions - Who Will (Who Should) Foot the Bill?

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/08/huge-battle-looms-over-public-pensions.html


Who Should Pay for the Trillion-Dollar Pension Gap?

Inquiring minds are investigating attitudes regarding who is responsible for this mess. Please consider comments to the above article on Who Should Pay for the Trillion-Dollar Pension Gap?

Pedrson: Oregon - August 6th, 2010 - 3:03 pm
For years public employees worked for lower wages for 30 years with the promise of more job security and a promised retirement benefit that has always exceeded the private sector overall. Now many public wages have gone down or are frozen (exception federal government) and we the retirement benefits are what public employees still can count on, despite the economic decline. In most cases these employees when they retire will continue to pay state and federal taxes which will still benefit the economy. Seems like jealousy on the part of those who went after the bigger salaries early in their careers in the private sector and now regret their decisions.

Mish:
That is complete nonsense. Not only are public union workers overpaid relative to the private sector, the union members have the gall to bitch about it. Prison guards and bus drivers with no more than high school educations are walking away in some instances with pensions approaching $100,000. With police and firefighters in major cities, $100,000 or close to it is norm. By the way, education is in and of itself a meaningless argument. Jobs are worth what the free market says they are worth, not what someone with a useless degree in sociology, history, or English thinks they should be worth. The problem is public unions have nothing to do with a free market.

Terry Podmore: Fort Collins CO - August 6th, 2010 5:45 pm
I am a recent retiree of Colorado PERA, having served 30 years as a faculty member at Colorado State University. What the state has done is a travesty to all existing retirees, having broken the promises of retirement security. As an individual, you make the best decisions you can based on the conditions prevailing. To have these conditions changed after the fact puts all current retirees at risk at a time of life where there are few options.

Mish:
Terry's attitude is typical of the attitude of those who could not or would not consider the risks of what they were doing. It is not the fault of taxpayers if the faculty at Colorado State University is not bright enough to figure out the system is unsustainable. Besides, did Terry take the job because that is what he wanted to do, or because of benefits? Either way, Terry has no complaint. In one case Terry would have done the job anyway, in another case he was not bright enough to figure out what was happening. Taxpayers have no responsibility to bail out people who cannot think.

Melissa: Chicago, IL - August 6th, 2010 - 3:44 pm
I'm still trying to figure out how anyone ever thought that allowing someone else besides themselves handle their retirement would be a good idea.

Mish:
Melissa is one of the few who gets it. Melissa has more on the ball than at least one 30-year faculty member of Colorado State University.

JRTC3: Upstate, NY - August 6th, 2010 - 4:28 pm
I am a retired member of the New York State Teacher's Retirement System. The money that I receive monthly is not a gift from the state or the taxpayers. It is money that I earned in my thirty years of service. It seems to me that taking that away from me would be stealing. That is wrong.

Mish:
No JR, you are mistaken. The money is a gift, and you did not do a single thing to earn it. Instead you joined a union ....

1. A union that got into bed with corrupt politicians
2. A union that stacked the school boards who fought for property tax hikes after property tax hikes - not for the kids - but to pad your greedy pocket
3. A union that threatened politicians if you did not get your way
4. A union that protects incompetent teachers from dismissal, even sexual predators who now sit in "black rooms" at full pay for doing nothing
5. A union that is supposed to consist of public servants but whose only concern is serving itself

Bribery, fraud, extortion, and coercion are the tactics of unions. Agreements "won" by such methods were not in any conceivable manner "earned". The amount of money you put in towards your retirement is peanuts compared to your benefits. All you really earned is what you put in (minus any accrued benefits won by bribing politicians).

Taxpayer money goes to union dues which in turn is used to elect corrupt politicians who are willing to suck every last drop of taxpayer blood just so they can get elected. Quite frankly the setup is disgusting.

Yes JR, you earned something alright: taxpayer contempt, for stealing taxpayer money, then having the gall to complain about it.

Peter: New York - August 6th, 2010 - 5:40 pm
The deal that public unions have is fundamentally corrupt. Politicians playing with taxpayers' money promising never ending employment, wage increases regardless of performance and ever improving benefits. Why? To get political contributions from the unions and votes from the members who have permanent job security.

Mish:
Peter certainly gets it

Linda C: San Francisco - August 6th, 2010 - 5:41 pm
Younger workers absolutely should NOT be responsible for the fiscal mismanagement and over-entitlement of previous generations.

Mish:
BINGO. Neither younger workers nor taxpayers on general should have to foot the bill for absurd promises that anyone with an ounce of common sense knew could not be met. If the public unions workers were too stupid or too greedy to figure that out and act on it, it should be their problem, and their problem alone to fix it.

The solution for cities is bankruptcy. If unions will not agree to major changes, then union members can see what their plan looks like after bankruptcy. States cannot declare bankruptcy, however, they can and should default if unions do not agree to major concessions.

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Love those Libertarians, don'tcha?
How would you counter this.....?

[abelenkpe]

1. Anyone? nt

[NC_Nurse]

2. Fuck you, Mish. Maybe these days public sector workers are making as

Much or more than others in equivalent private sector jobs, but that has only recently become the case. In the past, the benefits WERE the only thing that helped make a public sector job even close to private job pay. Now, of course, corporations have begun screwing their employees and decent pay and pension plans are not common in the private sector anymore. That doesn't mean you can cheat people who stayed with public service back when they made much less than they could have elsewhere.

I know, currently, you can't trust anyone to come through with a promised retirement plan. Those of us who have time to change course should definitely consider this, but for many retirees it's too late. These people have no shame trying to steal back what was promised.

[abelenkpe]

3. Mish has some serious issues with Unions.

For me, a promise is a promise and if workers were promised a pension they should receive it. End of story.

This guy is leading the assault on unions and has organized letter writing campaigns. His rhetoric makes FOX news look like wimps. We need to counter this insanity so any suggestions on how to do so would be greatly appreciated.