Posted on 02/08/2018 5:39:33 AM PST by sodpoodle
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit gave us an interesting glimpse of the future last week when it ruled on an obscure case involving government pension obligations.
Ever since the mid-1990s, police officers and fire fighters in the town of Cranston, Rhode Island had been promised state pension benefits upon retirement.
But, facing critical budget shortfalls over the last several years that the Rhode Island government called “fiscal peril,” the state legislature voted to unilaterally reduce public employees’ pension benefits.
Even more, these cuts were retroactive, i.e. they didn’t just apply to new employees.
The changes were applied across the board; workers who had spent their entire careers being promised certain retirement benefits ended up having their pensions cut as well.
Even the court acknowledged that these changes “substantially reduced the value of public employee pensions provided by the Rhode Island system.” So, naturally, a number of municipal employee unions sued.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Once again– that’s the Treasury Secretary of the United States saying that Social Security will run out of money in 16 years.
Fortunately these same financial shortfalls will not affect welfare, food stamps, free medical care and free college for moochers and illegal aliens.
There is always enough money for socialist handouts.
It’s those damn working class taxpayers out in flyover country who live past their retirement ages who are the real problem.
/s
Excellent synopsis...
There will be enough obese people to die young to save the SS system.
BTW, my wife just started her SS payments monday and I’ll be starting in two years, at 66. She was giving up very little by taking it out a couple years early. And it will take roughly 15 years before she reaches the “break even” point.
Sounds like they’re running out of other people’s money!
Comrade Stalin! What are we going to do about the problem of 40 million Soviet citizens that are starving?
Stalin: What problem?
During a recent visit to the nearby SS office, I noticed that of the 50 or so people there, only 6 of us appeared to be genuine American Old Farts. The rest were majority Hispanic in the 20 to 35 age range, with a smattering of Asians and Middle Easterners, perhaps no older than 50.
No wonder the system is going broke.
When the courts ruled that SS was not insurance but a tax it eliminated any control you may have had over what are its benefits by way of the political system. When they began willy nilly giving SS to individuals who did not pay into the system at all, even though the system was not going to be self sustaining, it screwed everyone. Now it is a welfare system, not an income security program. It was never a retirement system per se as it was designed to keep individuals from being indigent. Few grasp that concept. BTW, they are already “means testing” as some of the benefit is taxed based on your income. The monster on the potomac knows no limits in how to get into your pocket book.
Yes I have heard that about the SS office. It is the federal welfare office these days.
When one considers the earned income credits and SS for those who did not ever pay in, the Fed is now the sugar daddy for all the loafers and takers floating around thanks in part to our “if we allow for free immigration, they will come”.
I suspect that instead, they will just tax it more. That would have the same effect, but they can say they’re still paying what they promised.
Obama blocked social security COLA 4 or 5 times when he was President. Nobody cared.
How does “Tri-care for Life” work? What’s included; what’s not?
That was what was promised when we enlisted. But it took a guy with guts and money to make it come true in the 1990s (SCOTUS?).
The young immigrant class is there filing for disability. Many of them are too fat to work.
From my point of view, as a retired military member, "It Works." They have a web site that explains all the details, too many to list here. Depending on your location, many veteran's groups have help. Remember, it's for retired military members, not all vets.
States can’t print money. And taxpayers ain’t made of it. If public employees feel suckered, on their own heads be it. It was always too good to be true. If they didn’t know it, it was because they didn’t want to know it.
MUI is means testing is before you reach full retirement (67). After that you get the full amount.
At least now.
SS is exactly zero in my retirement plans. If it is still there (a few years from now) it will be a tidy little bonus that I can use for vacations or hats or something.
Anyone younger than 60 who includes SS in their retirement planning is NUTS.
This article appears to be more about investment management and the fact that govt workers cannot trust legislation to protect them.
“Last week the First Circuit Court issued a final ruling and sided with the state of Rhode Island: the government has no obligation to honor its promises.”
This was the money line of the issue of the court case. It essentially holds a long held principle, that one legislative body cannot be held to the decisions of previous legislative bodies.
I think the ramifications of the decision goes far beyond pensions.
I wonder how much faster pensions and social security are being depleted thanks to spousal benefits.
Now that they’ve legalized gay marriage, I’d expect a surge in that regard.
1. The article about Cranston is nothing but an infomercial.
2. DW and I saved, saved, and saved some more. We are going to be OK. But one of the real reasons is that we are old enough to have pensions. We are both retired, and that is a big deal.
3. In addition to saving, we were investors. Keeping retirement funds in a fixed-income “investment” seems safe, but is actually guaranteed to lose out to inflation.
4. We both had side jobs that we kept when we retired from out primary jobs.
5. The SS problem has been known for at least 30 years. If you are smart enough to read Free Republic, you are smart enough to provide for yourself.
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