“ More pensions, Platinum Health Care, kickbacks, and brothels. And no accountability. We rule.”
Posted on 10/16/2009 7:34:28 AM PDT by george76
As government at all levels struggles with declining tax revenue and increasing operating costs, the elephant in the room largely ignored is the monumental expense of public employee retirements. A recent study by a taxpayer organization points out the behemoth of a problem by noting the obvious: When government agencies increase employee pension costs, they tend to increase taxes to cover the added expense.
A study of municipal retirement systems shows that pricey pensions not only drive up costs, but ultimately also drive up taxes. This link between pensions and tax increases became apparent in a study of 17 cities in San Diego County, Calif. El Cajon leads the pack, spending almost one-fifth of its general fund on pension obligations.
Confirming the obvious, the study discovered that four of the five cities with the largest pension costs also have asked voters to approve sales tax increases the past three years. The cities studied spend an average of 10 percent of their general funds on pensions, compared with the 4 percent statewide average reported last year by a state commission.
This elephant-size problem can’t be ignored forever. When local elected officials finally understand they must curb these runaway pension expenses, they are likely to discover an even larger unfunded debt they also have ignored. It’s long past time for locally elected officials throughout the United States to acknowledge both elephants in the room.
(Excerpt) Read more at gazette.com ...
GROW GOVERNMENT and REWARD them with your hard earned PRIVATE sector money. It’s no secret that MOST, and I mean MOST people that work for the government would not be acceptable employees in the PRIVATE sector.
Government Unions are obscene and parasitical..
All over the country..
The “bluer” the state the bigger the retirement lotto winnings.
In NY.. convicted felons with a state pension get to keep the whole bag - even if the crime was against the people of the state.....
San Diego’s contribution to the reitrement plans is going to increase massively due to stock market losses and realestate losses by CALPERS. It will come straight out of money that is needed for roads and security.
There is no end in sight for this problem. We need to get govt employees on a defined contribution plan.
Just wonder....why would anyone want to yank the pensions of police, fire fighters....who are the majority of municipal govt pension recipients?
Sounds like the nattering nabobs of nitwit globalism are at it again. Going after police, firefighter pensions is sick, and abhorrently anti-American. These people have served our communities well....and risk their lives doing it. They earned their pensions (unlike failed bank execs who got bonuses from the taxpayer bailouts)
“ More pensions, Platinum Health Care, kickbacks, and brothels. And no accountability. We rule.”
That’s the way they do it in Texas. When the pension fund won’t cover the “13th checks” (bonus for pensioners), they take it out of the general fund.
If, say, my IRA didn’t do so well this year, I could try making up the shortfall out of my neighbors’ wallets. But I’d probably get caught and thrown in jail.
Stealing is wrong unless you’re the government.
Where do the state and city pensions rank on the priority scale when the money runs out?
Are they at number 10 being the highest priority of a communities spending priority? Or somewhere else on the scale?
Should property taxes be raised to make sure the city and county pensions be paid out at all costs? What happens if they have promised much more than can ever be delivered?
The problem I have is making public pensions sacrosanct while the government programs of Medicare and Social Security bleed red.
Why should any government expenditure like pensions be exempted from cuts, when my own private pension is not?
We need to place the burden of deficits we have on all aspects of the government budget, including those of government pensions.
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Many, like those in NYC, are written into State law and receive priority one status.
An opportunity exists to become an expert in municipal bankruptcy.
I often think about God’s instructions regarding the year of jubilee. There is no evidence any one followed this so He may done it himself.....................
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Apples and oranges. You (one would assume) manage the money in your IRA, I do mine. City/state/county employees do not manage their pensions. They sign contracts with the city/county/state at the bargaining table. The terms, including pensions, are a legally enforcable obligation.
It’s worse that that.
Government pension funds (in NY) are allowed to invest in the stock market. They get to keep the gains and the taxpayers are required to make up any loses. This results in the fund managers picking they most iffy stocks because they stand to make more money that way and there is no penalty for bad decisions.
You make a good point.
But I’m talking about the _bonus checks_ which Texas sends to pensioners at the legislature’s discretion. If the pension fund (funded by contributions made over the years of employees’ service) didn’t do well enough this year to warrant a bonus check, they take the money out of taxpayers’ wallets instead.
Government..at all levels is reaming us....
Pension bonus checks are absurd.
Excuse me, how's that reaming you??
We need to SHRINK GOVERNMENT and GROW the PRIVATE sector.
It’s becoming ridiculous.
“Should property taxes be raised to make sure the city and county pensions be paid out at all costs? What happens if they have promised much more than can ever be delivered?”
What happens is that you raise your taxes and/or cut your spending and pay the debts that you agreed and signed contracts to pay.
Public employees accepted employment based on promises of future pensions.
You buy an expensive car or home and decide later that you can’t make the payments and keep your current lifestyle, what do you do? You cut back on your lifestyle, earn more money and make your payments. Same deal here.
Have we made good on all private pensions at 100% for those that have failed? Don’t we run the risk of creating a superior class of employment where public pensions never fail, but private ones do?
Not trying to be contentious, but this has been rattling around in my head for a while.
From what I understand, using NYS as an example, The police and firefighters pensions are based on what they earned in the last 3 years of service with maximum overtime allowed. The NY Post ran a story earlier in the year exposing NYFD disablity benefits claimed before retiring. When you add pensions for 20 years of service with additional pensions for finding other positions in the public sector you find many of these civil servants (a NYC librarian in the Post story for instance) retiring on close to 200K a year. Nice work if you can find it.
Private pensions are backed by the full faith and credit of those who make them, just like government pensions.
Private pensions go bust when the one making the promises no longer has the assets to fulfill its commitments. If a government pension goes bust it would mean that that government no longer has taxing authority, real estate or other assets.
Well, lets all work for the government then.
“Well, lets all work for the government then.”
Heck of a deal.
We always seem to need more military, cops, firemen, and teachers.
I am retired military and a part-time farmer among other things. My daughter is doing much better financially in the private sector, lack of a pension notwithstanding, than she ever could do in any of the above occupations. As a side benefit she doesn’t have folks accusing her of having both front feet firmly implanted in the public feeding trough like her brother who is a cop.
I give up.
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