Posted on 12/03/2010 9:14:47 AM PST by shibumi
-By Warner Todd Huston
There really is no excuse for any public servant to retire with a pension worth $1.3 million dollars of the people’s tax money. None. But that is precisely what happens in the City of Chicago according to Chicago’s Civic Committee.
Crain’s Greg Hinz reports that the Civic Commission sent an email blast out to its members late last week reporting that the typical Chicago Fireman who retires after 20 years of service will make $1.3 million in pension benefits. Cops make a bit less at $1.2 million.
These public servants can also retire at age 50, almost two decades earlier than the rest of us. This means that these retired city officers can potentially live one third of their lives or more on the public dime. After 20 measly years’ service.
Now, I certainly realize that cops have a high stress job. I also realize that both policemen and firemen can be called upon to put their personal safety, even their lives, on the line (though by no means do all of them do so). But these pensions are an impossible corruption of our system. No one deserves such luxury on the backs of the poor taxpayer.
Public employees unions have played their part in the suicide pact that our elected officials have initiated. This corrupt bargain was joined by our politicians in order to get handsome campaign contributions from the unions that dug deep into their pockets in order to get more favorable laws and regulations, ever richer benefits and pay scales, and permanent favored status from the pols. But the butcher’s bill is coming due, after all.
The public employee pension crisis is here. Will our elected officials have the guts to tackle it before there is utter collapse?
Since 20 years of service would put the average retiree at somewhere between 40 - 50 years old, the length of time used for calculating benefits would be be about 20 - 30 years perhaps longer. At thirty years, this is roughly equivalent to $40,000 per year in pension and benefit payments.
Do we really consider that to be excessive in today's economy for men who have risked their lives every day in our service?
If these were desk jockeys, maybe, but these men do an extremely hazardous job in one of the most dangerous cities in the nation.
Your thoughts on the subject?
chicago’s disgusting.
after teh way my wife and i were treated at their “international airport”,
we’re never be back.
For the police, I'll tack job performance onto why they are working in the most dangerous cities in the nation.
Tie benefits to performance/outcome like the rest of us.
Eventually the system politicians, judges, DA's, etc - would wise up from the pressure and make the changes that are necessary.
It may be less, depending upon how it's calculated.
I may be covered for $100,000 worth of medical work
but if all I use is $50.00 worth of linament for my bad knees,
is it still counted as $100,000 worth of benefits?
Would you care to compare/contrast that against our Military?
My neighbor is a retired LA cop. He sold his house in LA, moved into a new neighborhood with a $500K house, 3 new vehicles, 20 ft Bayliner, 5th wheel and is more than a little comfortable. He's making more as a retiree than he made working - and he has the good folk in California to thank for his good fortune.
Can’t you just post an excerpt?
You’re asking a lot to expect we will actually read....
Hard to say. A pension of 40K with benefits without periodic COLA would not be much 40 years hence. That is the deceptive context of the 1.2 and l.3 million figures being tossed around. If adjusted for COLA, no telling what their pension might be. Chicago can control it with the frequency and amount of COLA’s provided. A 40K pension for these occupations in Chicago after 20 years service does not appear much out of line to me even though I understand many private employees may not be as fortunate. But we are talking apple and orange jobs and the fact that the “right” private sector opportunity can offer substantially more in terms of compensation and retirement benefits.
Firefighters work a 56 hour week in most cities.
A 48 hour week in Washington DC.
Firefighters Life expectancy is shorter than the average.
I have friends who have lived 30 years under retirement, and I have friends who died a year later.
Can a Firefighter collect a million dollars in pension benefits? Yes. Do they all? No.
My Brother died last year at 66. He was retired for 10 years, from one of the busiest fire companies in the country.
A good example of this inequity are the National Guard troops from Minnesota who were the longest deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and who were promised a "bonus" of a few thousand dollars. It took special Congressional action to get it funded and of course after FICA, federal and state income taxes were deducted they got next to nothing. If anyone deserves million dollar pensions it is our military veterans who served in combat.
lol
Try retiring at age 50 from the private sector and paying for your own medical insurance. That alone makes them millionaires.
Excluding fireman, cops, and military (there are life expectancy issues in these occupations which may require subsidized retirement): why does any public employee receive a pension? The private sector has been systematically eliminating pensions for decades.
These people are retiring in their 50s, and collecting government checks equaling more than most people make every year...For the rest of their lives...
Government is gang raping the American private sector....
My teacher buddies have retired and they get something like 85-90% of their salary plus COLA. They did not pay into SSI and they paid something like 6-7% of their salary into this fund. That’s a REALLY nice gig if you can get it.
I agree that this can be a hazardous job. Probably moreso for the average firefighter than the average cop.
But consider that whenever either force is hiring, at least in my city, there are thousands trying to get into these organizations, and this situation existed well before the current recession. Also consider, that little to no previous education is required (compared to most other professions) and that training, both initial and ongoing, is usually provided by the public.
If these organizations were paragons of efficiency, effectiveness and unblemished performance, it might all be worth it. But it seems every day we here about the same utter incompetence, corruption and inefficiency that is displayed at every level of government organization - sometimes more - in police and fire departments, especially in major cities.
Perhaps it’s unfair to paint all police and fire personnel with the same broad brush, and I’ll admit to knowing some great members of these services, and being thankful that they exist. The system they are a part of creating, however, does little to compensate the best of their ranks, and corresponding little to weed out the worst, especially in large departments.
Cleaning up their collective acts would go a long way towards the public swallowing their above-average benefits.
Well, if the fed did not take out so much in Social Security, FICA, Medicare, etc., we all could retire with 1.2 million in the bank.
I have no pension.
I have no pension paid for by taxpayers.
The answer is ‘no’.
They can save their money for their golden yeaes just like I do.
You’re having a discussion with yourself?
That is over a lifetime for Goodness sake. They probably get around 2 grand a month for their pension. Sheesh, some of these folks probably will only get about 10 years worth due to all the smoke intake that they went through. You folks need to stop being selfish or jealous. You all act like you were forced into your job fields. Everyone has the same opportunity to do what they want after college and these folks decided to be firemen or cops....guarantee no 22 year old is thinking about pensions and all that at that age. They saw what firemen and police officers do and thought that is their passion and went for it. Sorry that some of you clearly took miserable jobs.
I was clearly speaking to the author and not you.
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