Posted on 06/02/2012 3:14:29 PM PDT by WilliamIII
SAN JOSE, Calif.—Firefighter Brian Endicott got an early taste of the pension battle brewing here when a man at the grocery store angrily pointed to the steaks in his cart.
"Who do you think you are, wasting taxpayers' money on a meal like this?" the man yelled at 46-year-old Mr. Endicott, who was shopping for dinner with three other firefighters from San Jose Fire Station No. 1.
After the 2001 terrorist attacks, sympathetic residents of this affluent city gathered at the firehouse to offer flowers, cakes and pies. Today, public sentiment toward the men and women in uniform has widely shifted, as many locals are up in arms over escalating pension costs for public-safety workers.
In the current fiscal year ending June 30, San Jose's retirement obligations soared to $245 million, up from $73 million a decade ago, according to the city. For police officers and firefighters who have retired since 2007, the average pension is $95,336, making them among the most generously compensated in the state.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Life isn't fair, live with it!
That's crazy!
First step is kicking the Unions out of Government. They should have never been allowed in the first place.
Hard for heroes to wear out their welcome, but apparently not impossible.
How these people live is obscene! And the assclowns who promised them this life of luxury are all gone. It needs to end.
99 percent of govt workers, including cops and fireman are grossly overpaid and undersigned.
Making a vast generalization but due to the safety measures of the last few decades there are far too many firefighters and not enough fires. This is why they branched out into EMS. No firehouse did EMS 20-30 years ago, it was not macho enough. But they grabbed this biz (so to speak) so they would not be forced to look for work in the dreaded private sector.
It is embarrassing seeing so many firehouse chefs in TV cooking competitions. A sure sign they have too much time on their hands. They must spend time lifting weight because I saw lots of weight benches when they used to to keep the bay doors.
One firehouse has trucks parked out side that were obviously related to contracting. My guess being you get a fire code citation...Who better to remedy this than a fireman who knows the code enforcement guys?? And will fix it on his days off which are many because they tend to get 24 and 48 hour shifts at the firehouse. Even 3 day shifts with the rest of the week off.
A few years ago the Feds announced that they were investigating the Boston Fire Department's retirement fund.Figures showed that about a third of all retirements from the BFD were "disability" retirements.
Fraud...MAJOR fraud...being found in a Rat Party controlled taxpayer funded slush fund? Nah,I'll never believe it.
Their pensions should be equal to social security benefits.
How many people know that the MARINES pay for their FOOD?
I guess the other services do too.
have a hard time ginning up much hurahh for the retired firemen.... 50 yrs old and double dipping for the next 30 years...
Pay for his own food?? When I was in (Army...long,long ago) if you didn't live on base you got a separate maintenance allowance.Is that no longer the case?
Yes, work 20 years and be fixed for life. Plus the chance to double dip and hiring preferences.
And for officers, a chunk of that 20 years will involve holding a desk chair down.
“First step is kicking the Unions out of Government. They should have never been allowed in the first place.”
Roger that! And out of the schools too!
I would love to know what they declared on their IRS returns.....and if they paid taxes on income derived from those humongous pensions and disability checks---(in some states, retirement income is not taxable---but income derived from it is).
L/E needs to determine whether to file (1) criminal tax fraud charges (2) for deliberately misstated income, (3) for filing falsified documents, and, (4) possibly failing to declare and pay taxes on "income interest."
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L/E might also employ Bank Secrecy Laws if the pensioneers' bank accounts were used fraudulently.
REFERENCE Under the Bank Secrecy Act, banks are required to establish, implement and maintain programs designed to detect and report suspicious activity indicative of money laundering and other financial crimes.
“The Bank Secrecy Act was enacted to protect the public from harm by identifying and detecting money laundering from criminal enterprises, terrorism, tax evasion or other unlawful activities,” the special agent in charge for Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, explained.
NOTE WELL The "Bank Secrecy Act" was passed to protect the public from harm by identifying and detecting criminal enterprises, money laundering, tax evasion or other unlawful activities.
Under the Bank Secrecy Act, banks are required to establish, implement and maintain programs designed to detect and report suspicious activity that might be indicative of fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, embezzlement, and other financial crimes.
<><> Joint bank accounts might be used to facilitate the transfer of of govt funds. Govt monies may pay for personal and private expenses, credit cards, real estate sunsidies and vehicle purchases.
<><> To cover their tracks, fake invoices might be created to show that money deposited into accounts was being used for legitimate purposes.
The scheme might be advanced by issuing phony statements of payments from federal and state sources that actually covered the transfer of funds for govt employees own use.
<><> L/E is directed to get ahold of: (1) copies of checks, (2) wire transfers, (3) account statements, (4) invoices, (5) bills, (6) delivery tickets, (7) correspondence including e-mail, contracts, loan agreements, and, (8) any other books or records. L/E should also explore (a) monies paid to brokers, sub-brokers, (b) family members, (c) mortgage brokers, (d) financial managers, and, (e) real estate agents, brokers, and developers.
<><> L/E should scrutinize bank accounts for suspicious activites: (A) large deposits, (B) funds transferred from one account into another, (C) frequent requests for withdrawals.
<><> Bank records might also show diversions to secret LLC other accounts, to operate personal businesses. Govt fraud can also be facilitated by withdrawals, gift cards purchases, credit card purchases and intrabank transfers from govt accounts into personal accounts.
<><> A huge tipoff is whether bank withdrawals support luxurious lifestyle including payments for real estate, investment and stock holdings, jewelry, luxury vehicles, resort travel and gifts from luxury outlets for wives and mistresses.
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