Free Republic

There was Sarah Palin again Monday, assuring Sean Hannity on Fox News that she was not going to be silenced, no matter what abuse might come her way. “Other people are facing much greater hardships and making greater sacrifices than I am in just engaging in debate,” said the woman who reportedly made $250,000 per episode of her recently concluded reality show. She added, several times, “This isn’t about me.” A lot of Republicans in Washington certainly wish that were the case. But as the new House majority begins its push this week to scale back the Obama agenda, it...

There’s a way to save Michigan taxpayers $5.7 billion without cutting a single program, eliminating any government job or touching public wages. That’s more than enough to balance the state’s budget, repeal the Michigan Business Tax, fix Michigan’s roads and still have money left over. Michigan can do all this through government employee perks parity. Compensation comes from wages and benefits like paid leave, employer-paid retirement contributions, health insurance and other benefits. In recent years, the cost of these benefits in the public sector has exploded while the private sector has been getting them under control...

Assembly bill would limit pension benefits for UC executives -- and othersBy Laurel Rosenhall Published: Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 3A The backlash is mounting against the 36 University of California executives who wrote a letter last month demanding higher pensions. Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, has introduced a bill that would limit the pension benefits available to highly paid workers in all public retirement programs – including UC's. **SNIP** Hill's Assembly Bill 89 would require all public retirement programs in California to adhere to the IRS cap when calculating benefits for employees who join the...

Today is the day to say thanks to an unsung group in the Air Force: civilian employees. The Air Force wouldn’t run as smoothly if it weren’t for those 173,013 dedicated workers. They perform an incredible range of duties, from managing information technology systems to maintaining aircraft. Civilian employees are going to face tougher times in the coming year. They’re looking at a two-year pay freeze that President Obama wants to impose to reduce the federal deficit. Some will fight that battle with the help of the American Federation of Government Employees, a union, and professional societies; others, though, have...

I'm looking for input relating to County level spending, specifically in CA if possible. For example: How does one assess the fiscal performance of a county/city or is that even possible? Do City and County employees participate in the SS program, in addition to receiving a pension from the City or County? What about School teachers? In my county, the road department is always whining about not having sufficient funding to fix county roads - is there a way (for a citizen) to assess performance at the county department level?

State and local government workers have reason to feel somewhat besieged. Declining revenues in many states have compelled politicians to take a hard look at expenses, and increasingly, the focus has been on salary and benefit packages promised to public employees. Research suggests that compared to the private sector, some state and local workers do earn more, but critics argue targeting public employees' wage and benefit packages and their collective bargaining power is an easy way to side step more basic issues such as the need for economic growth. Join us for a discussion of state budgets and public sector...

WASHINGTON — You paid your Medicare taxes all those years and think you deserve your money's worth: full benefits after you retire. Nearly three out of five people say in a recent Associated Press-GfK poll that they paid into the system so their benefits shouldn't be cut. But a newly updated financial analysis shows that what people paid into the system doesn't come close to covering the full value of the medical care they can expect to receive as retirees. Consider an average-wage, two-earner couple together earning $89,000 a year. Upon retiring in 2011, they would have paid $114,000 in...

UC executives threaten lawsuit over pension benefitsBy Matt Krupnick Contra Costa Times Updated: 12/29/2010 05:50:11 PM PST Some of the University of California's highest-paid employees have threatened to sue the UC system if it does not follow through on a promise to boost their retirement payments. In a letter to UC regents this month, 36 employees making at least $245,000 per year said many had turned down jobs at other schools or companies based on UC's promise. The university is in the midst of a pension overhaul to make up a $20 billion deficit caused by a 20-year hiatus in...

(snip) Relative job security with generous benefits that extend into retirement has long been part of the appeal of working for the government. But an eight-hour day in a drab Independence Avenue office building can look like a supremely privileged lifestyle when Americans in the private sector are panicked and furious over what has happened to their own salaries, health coverage and 401 (k)s. Add to that the growing view that the government has gotten too big and that deficits are going to swallow the economy, and you have all the makings of a backlash.

Except for those on Social Security and Medicare, government for most middle-class Americans consists mainly of schools, police, fire protection, roads and ambulance service. It's states and localities. How are they faring in the present economy? Conventional wisdom holds that they've been crushed by dramatic declines in tax revenues and have resorted to deep cuts in public services. Well, not exactly. To be sure, there are cases of severe cuts. Newark recently dismissed 13% of its police force. For two straight years, University of California has raised tuition sharply for its 220,000 students to help offset reductions in state aid:...

When trying to convince dubious students of the benefits of social security when they are all too familiar with the costs, professors might well ask the question: “Who are you going to believe, me or your paycheck?” “Social Security is safe and can still pay the vast majority of promised benefits if nothing changes between now and 2037, and even then benefits’ cuts would range from 21 percent to 24 percent if reform is not undertaken,” University of Massachusetts economist Christian Weller writes in a report released by the Center for American Progress (CAP). “But Congress can take prudent policy...

Federal workers are preparing for a two-year freeze in pay, but they can also expect some positive changes to their sick leave policy in the new year. Starting Jan. 3, federal workers may swap up to 26 weeks of sick leave for unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act to care for family members sick with serious communicable diseases, including the flu. They may also use the benefit to care for an ill or injured family member serving in the military. In both cases, workers could receive up to 30 days of advanced sick leave if necessary, the...

Lima - Remittance flow sent by overseas Peruvians to their relatives in Peru reached US$ 635 million in the third quarter this year, Central Reserve Bank of Peru (BCR) reported Monday. This figure is the highest of this year representing a 3.9 percent growth over the same period in 2009. So far this year, remittances have reached US$1.83 billion. During the third quarter, remittances channeled through banks jumped 8.1 percent from US$266 million in the same third quarter 2009 to US$288 million in the same period this year.

1The notion that federal workers consistently earn higher salaries than comparable private-sector workers has become an accepted truth. Conservative think tanks, including the Cato Institute, make much of data that does not offer fair comparisons of similar public-sector and private-sector jobs or account for how experience and education affect pay. A pediatrician with a small practice in Des Moines and a doctor at the National Institutes of Health who is leading a team of 50 researchers trying to cure cancer both provide health care, for example, but we shouldn't expect that they be paid the same.

**SNIP** At the very top, the single most effective thing that they studied that Washington can do to reduce unemployment—the very top? Increasing aid to the unemployed. Why is that the most effective thing Washington can do? Because people who are unemployed are broke. So, if the government gives them money, they will turn around and spend it. They‘ve got to. They will spend that money instead of saving it, because they cannot afford to save it. And spending that money increases consumer demand, which is good for companies that supply that demand, which means those companies get more busy...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Divisions remain within President Barack Obama's deficit commission on politically explosive budget cuts and slashes in Social Security benefits, even as the panel's co-chairmen go public with a revised plan to tame the runaway national debt. The new plan by co-chairmen Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, to be unveiled Wednesday, faces an uphill slog.

Many federal workers would still get pay raises the next two years despite the limited salary freeze President Obama proposed this week for 2.2 million government employees. The president's proposal, if approved by Congress, would stop across-the-board pay hikes set for January 2011 and January 2012. But many federal workers will receive other pay hikes — longevity increases (called steps), promotions in grade, bonuses, overtime and other cash payments.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Unemployed Americans have collected $319 billion in jobless benefits over the past three years due to the federal government's unprecedented response to the Great Recession, according to a CNNMoney analysis of federal records. The cost of such benefits will be central to the heated debate in Congress in coming weeks over whether to extend this safety net for the fifth time this year. Lawmakers must act by Nov. 30 or two million people will start losing extended benefits next month.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Unemployment benefits for more than 100,000 people in both Kentucky and Indiana could run out in a matter of days if Congress doesn't act. Many people are filing for benefits, others are looking for jobs, but with the threat of benefits running out, tempers are flaring. In the time that a WLKY reporter was at the Louisville Office of Employment and Training, at least two people were escorted out. Right now, benefits are scheduled to run out Wednesday for people who have been jobless for more than six months.

Although the deadline to file for extended unemployment insurance is officially Nov. 30, many jobless have already filed their last claim for benefits. And since lawmakers aren't likely to extend the deadline anytime soon, many more unemployed Americans will run out of their extended federal benefits in coming weeks. About 2 million people are expected to stop receiving checks in December. Though President Obama on Tuesday called on Congress to extend unemployment benefits, lawmakers are still fighting over the expense. Sen. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, introduced a bill Monday night that would extend benefits through next year at a...