They could have simply paid me off, and I could have walked away with the money and invested it. My heirs would have been most happy.
Well, as it turns out the government LOST THE BET. It's time to pay.
Sometimes that happens when you cheat people with nickel and dime deals and then they don't die. It's not that I'm stealing anything from you ~ a deal is a deal ~ your representative sought to deprive me of rights and income ~ and he knew what he was doing.
You'll notice that in Wisconsin Governor Walker is NOT proposing to take away any "earned" benefits. The credit for retirement already earned stays right there. The proposal is to have the employees pay a pittance for their future retirement benefits.
Over the years I found Congress doing that to me regularly. Sometimes they'd want 7%, and other times 7.25% and even 7.8% ~ then it went back to 7.15% ~ notice though, they always wanted something. NOBODY in the federal government ever got the deal the people in Wisconsin got!
No the government did NOT make a bet... It played the pyramid game and succeeded with the populace - hey vote for me and I will raise your benefits. You know that politics was the motivating factor.
All of this was and is a scam from day one - we have just finally figured it out. At no time did any offering of benefits actually come with your taxes. You were happy to claim your extra benefits without looking to the future, as most did...