Posted on 02/23/2014 8:23:59 AM PST by Signalman
Thousands of retired and current Detroit workers face pension cuts as deep as 34%, and some say they aren't sure how they'll make ends meet if the plan announced Friday is approved.
"They have worried me from the day they started this mess. You sit on pins and needles all the time," said 69-year-old Donald Smith, who retired in 2005 after decades of work as a civilian detention officer and other general city jobs.
For Smith, the cuts could mean a loss of around $300 a month from his $889 in monthly pension benefits, even as he already struggles to pay for rent, groceries and medical bills. Between his pension and Social Security, Smith currently lives on less than $23,000 a year.
"If they go and cut that, how am I going to live off of that?" he said, "I can't live on what I get now."
At the same time, retirees could face increased medical bills due to proposed deep cuts to their retiree healthcare benefits.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
You are quite right. The paid Democrat liars that make up most of our “free” press think that the only reason for the First Amendment is because their opinions are so darned important.
OK, I guess we have been ‘talking’ at cross purposes.
And I don’t have wealth. You probably have a lot more than I do.
What I have is self sufficiency. I won’t describe it further, so publicly. But should the entire government collapse and society go completely feral, I can still live comfortably.
I didn’t spot the fact he retired at 60. Now I’m changing my tune. Screw you, Bub. Get back to work. My wife and I can’t even think about quitting work until age 67 at best.
And I’ll bet the assessment that he has no skills other than government bureaucrat-lackey paper pushing is spot-on.
California is not all like that. Back when social security was implemented counties, cities, etc. were given the choice of whether they would pay into it or not. In most of them the employees voted on it. I know this because my father in law remembered it well and voted for it. He was a county employee who paid into social security his whole life. He drew his pension and social security. The amount of social security he drew was based on his retirement income.
Hubby also was a county employee, a firefighter. He turned 62 in January and will receive his first social security check next month. He also draws a retirement pension and the amount of his social security is based on his retirement income.
That's exactly what Obama says.
Some of the problems with this scenario is the make-up of the union itself. This guy was probably either a Teamster or AFSCME member. He paid union dues every month, relied on his union to negotiate a contract and did his thing. As for those on the site saying he probably worked political patronage jobs...well unless there is proof... hold on.
His annual wages were probably pretty good with his highest years averaging over 50k a year. HOWEVER, his union president was making well over 250k, his business manager was making over 6 figures and the job he wanted to do was controlled by another union and he wasn’t able to bid on it. Kind of like a police officer bidding on a firefighters position.
His sole purpose was to pay dues so his local president had some “juice” with the National union (which had the same issues at a greater scale). Ever wonder how a teacher can make 80k a year, but the state president (who doesn’t spend a day in the classroom) knocks down close to 500k?
This guy worked with the expectation that his pension would be pretty decent after 20 years. That’s what his union told him. Unfortunately, his 401K portfolio isn’t looking quite as “fat” as his union hierarchy.
Ditto...hard to find a municipal or state pensioner who gets a check that small each month. I’m guessing he never advanced beyond an entry-level position, or has lots of money coming out for alimony, child support (yes, I realize he’s 69, but you never know), or back taxes.
In fact, the only retirees who get pension benefits on that scale are military retirees who leave the service as an E-6 after 20 years. Their monthly check (after taxes and deductions) is about $1600 a month.
On the other hand, it’s fairly easy to find retired public employees at the local, state and federal level who receive more than $100,000 annually. Lois Lerner’s pension as a “guvmint” lawyer is $115,000 a year; there are a number of retired cops in big cities and suburban communities pulling in that much, thanks to pension calculations based on their last three years of service, a period when their bosses (and the police union) make sure they maximize overtimes, to guarantee a bigger retirement check. I also recall an article about a woman who retired as a senior official with the BART system in northern California; her annual pension is worth more than $300,000 a year.
Yet, the only group of retirees being singled out for cuts (outside of basket cases like Detroit) are military members. It’s fine to pay six figures to a political hack like Lerner, but we can’t be overly generous to a retired Air Force TSgt, Navy/USCG PO1, or a SSG in the Army or Marine Corps who actually earned their pension.
Remember that retirement is not retirement, if you stay active it is a hell of a lot of fun.
I just retired at age 53 after 28 years on a working police dept. Working means busy, criminals, real crime. I had three duty related surgeries, one of which financially broke me. When I started I was told what the ‘deal’ was, I’d have to work for 25 years and be at least 48 years old to qualify for the MINIMUM pension. There were no issues with it back then. The “issues” with pensions started to pop up about 8 years ago, or so, as far as I remember.
I knew that even though I’d retire from the PD I was fully expecting to get another job and work into my 60’s. No question about it. That’s what the vast majority of guys did. I’ve been working full time since I was 17. I knew I couldn’t afford to fully retire with the minimum pension. I ended up staying 5 years past minimum. I would have stayed longer if there were jobs for old busted up guys like me but there are not. Stress and injuries took a toll on me. It was time.
When I retired I was quoted several prices for the healthcare benefits that I would have to PAY for, they were not included in my retirement. $1,600 to $2,000 per month for family benefits. I could not afford that. Although I paid into social security from other jobs what I receive from them will be cut.
I’ve never asked anybody for shit. I played by the rules given to me and I worked hard. I’ve never, ever voted for a democrat and I got out of the police union several years before I retired because they were puppets. And I made sure I let the union know why I got out too.
If my pension is taken there’s probably not a damn thing I can do about it and don’t intend on laying around crying about it. I’ll find another job and keep going.
I don’t believe everybody who worked as a civil servant is some kind of a moocher and living off other people. Had there been or had I been offered a different form of saving for my own retirement when I was hired I would have taken it.
You need 22 quarters plus they average it over your working years. He would have had years and years of 0 contribution during his public employment.
I know that some public employees are now being put into social security rather a publicly funded pension. That happened with NASA and other government agencies a long time ago.
The guy is still getting close to 2k a month. Maybe he has to do what the rest of us on a budget do.... try and find part time work and/or cut your expenses.
I mean come on it is not as if the cost of living in Detroit is huge.
I was thinking that ProtectOurFreedom was referring to private savings during his working years, not reductions in pension benefits.
These Democrat morons vote for this stuff then complain when it happens.
Costa Rica, you can live comfortably on as little as $800 a month though for retirement purposes you need something like $1300 a month like Social Security.
Colone dollar is like around 20 cents last time I looked.
No military, VERY GOOD healthcare, gringos welcome, actually its something like over 55,000 Americans are already retiring there.
My brother owns property there, loves it.
Right I think we have come to the understanding that this is a two parter with the guy being screwed on his pension but not thinking ahead if he really couldn't live on the pension and S.S.
No doubt you are, but why should you extrapolate from your personal situation and think others are the same, as you post suggests? Not everyone is in your situation. How would you enjoy slinging hash and banging asphalt shingles on a roof every day?
Not everyone has a desk job and doesn't engage in hard physical labor.
I love how most of you people are bashing this guy and basically calling him dumb and/or irresponsible. You don’t know his situation. He was basically promised this money for his work and not it’s going to be taken from him. It’s not really his fault. There are countless other city and government workers who are going probably to through this in the near future.
Retire....that’s not even in the cards and I’m 51... I have been a prudent saver and investor, and I don’t see how what
I have saved/grown is going to allow me and my wife to retire to anything but a mud hut. I expect my “nest egg” will be confiscated long before I hit 67 and leave me with a worthless pennies on the worthless dollar promissory note from Obastard.
At one time I was going to retire fat, drunk, and happy. Now, the best I can hope for is to die at my desk and hope that rigor mortis sets in before anybody notices so they can’t say I died in the ambulance.
In some states civil servants also pay into social security.
Yes, that is how I understand it too. But if he worked in the private sector before taking a job with the city of Detroit and worked 22 quarters, he could be drawing a SS check correct?
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