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Pension Payments to Retirees Dropping 9.6 Percent Posted Friday, March 1, 2013 --- 2:54 p.m. MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Retired public employees in Wisconsin will see their monthly pension payments decrease by 9.6 percent starting in May. The Department of Employee Trust Funds announced the cut on Friday. It had warned in December that the cut could be as high as 13 percent.

The Obama Economy: Americans are drawing down their 401(k)s for nonretirement needs in record numbers, just as Social Security goes bust. This portends poverty for millions as the White House fiddles. Cat food, anyone? One out of four U.S. workers with 401(k) retirement savings accounts has been forced to cash them out or borrow from them at high costs just to stay solvent. The Washington Post, citing a report from financial advisory firm HelloWallet, said the withdrawals have drained $70 billion, or an astonishing near-quarter of the total $293 billion, in America's retirement accounts "undermining already shaky retirement security for...

Washington, DC Saturday, August 18, 2012 Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan will speak at a retirement community in Florida, Saturday. Ryan will be accompanied by his mother, Elizabeth “Betty” Ryan Douglas, when he speaks at The Villages, the world’s largest retirement community. His mother lives in Florida for part of the year and spend the rest of her time in Wisconsin.

President Obama on Monday reiterated his push to extend the Bush Tax cuts for the middle class but not the 2% of U.S. households making more than $250,000. But millions of middle class Americans are at risk of higher taxes if no action is taken before Jan. 1, notes Josh Brown, vice president of Fusion Analytics and author of The Reformed Broker blog. Specifically, Brown is concerned about the sharp rise in taxes on dividends and capital gains that will occur as part of the so-called fiscal cliff -- or "taxmageddon" if you prefer. If Congress fails to act, the...

I'm seeking additional comment pro/con regarding the Armed Forces Retirement Homes, especially in Gulfport MS. The website has ample information regarding history, application and views but I was hoping the ever helpful Freeper community had an up close and personal opinion on the operation of these homes. After all we (military) plunked $0.50 a month into them...they claim self sufficiency...

The president of the GM Retirees Association, Jim Shepherd, sent a scathing letter last week to GM CEO, Dan Akerson . The letter was in response to General Motors' decision to modify pension plans for non-union retirees. Mr. Shepherd stated that the non-union retirees wanted to express their "absolute consternation and disgust" and described the move by GM as not being only unfair but, "it is sheer irresponsibility and greed." So, on behalf of its many members, I now welcome the GM non-union retirees to the "Hosed by Government Motors Club." As I mentioned when I welcomed Canadian taxpayers to...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Cheryl in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where the Indianapolis Colts' flags are at half-mast. CALLER: (chuckles) Hi, Rush. RUSH: Hi. CALLER: Thanks for taking my call. RUSH: You bet. CALLER: I wanted to talk about the crony capitalism from a personal standpoint for myself. My husband was an engineer with Delphi, which is part of GM. And when the bankruptcy was taken care of and the auto bailouts and the whole thing that Obama's so proud of, what most people don't know is what happened to the salaried retirees from Delphi in the whole deal. The union people...

Military personnel costs for retirees versus active-duty service members are among the “most politically sensitive” competing interests within the fiscal 2013 Defense Department budget process, according to a new analysis from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Andrew Krepinevich, CSBA’s president, called personnel costs in the future years’ defense plan “the 600-pound gorilla,” and CSBA senior fellow Todd Harrison urged leaders to address the uncomfortable topic now. http://www.govexec.com/defense/2012/02/budget-debate-pits-military-retiree-interests-against-those-active-duty-analysts-warn/41141/

Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich's campaign attacked Virginia's GOP primary election system on Saturday for keeping him off the state's March 6 Super Tuesday ballot. The state party said that Gingrich, who lives in Virginia, had failed to submit the required 10,000 signatures to appear on the ballot. The Gingrich campaign responded that "only a failed system" would disqualify Gingrich and other candidates. It said Gingrich would pursue an aggressive write-in campaign, although state law prohibits write-ins on primary ballots. Gingrich campaign director Michael Krull said in a statement: "We will work with the Republican Party of Virginia to pursue an...

The payroll tax cut is a social security tax cut. The program is already deeply in the red because of congress spending all the money. Democrats want to end Social Security by stopping the funding of it. Why isn't it being advertised as this by Republicans.

A zoning board in Fairfax County, Va., is standing firm in its decision to order a war veteran to destroy a tree house he built for his two young sons. County officials determined Mark Grapin, an Army aviation specialist, violated zoning regulations when he built a tree house in his backyard. “The boys wanted a tree house,” Grapin told Fox News Radio, explaining it was a promise he made to his 8-year-old and 10-year-old sons before he left for Iraq. “It was a commitment I made to the boys and, frankly, we should do our best to keep our commitments...

With our economy continuing to falter, the discussion of leveraging our nation’s vast energy resources to create jobs is taking on renewed importance. Despite a well-established link between energy production and job creation – just observe the unemployment rates of North Dakota (3.3%) and Oklahoma (5.5%) and you’ll see it – some have sought to downplay the economic opportunities provided by the development of our abundant offshore and onshore resources, while others strangely claim that the opportunities for offshore production have actually increased. For example, Duke University’s Bill Chameides recently wrote that “drilling activity in the [Gulf of Mexico’s] deepwaters...

Defense Department officials are bracing for potential spending cuts in a deficit-reduction deal approved by Congress that could have financial impact on Texas and states with military bases and personnel. Weapons systems, ships and aircraft could provide a target for a new congressional commission formed to find budget savings, but benefits and personnel reductions are also on the table. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned that the armed services must prepare for spending restraints not seen over the past two decades, and he called for a review that includes a reduction in personnel, military pay and retiree benefits. That could...

...the National Institute on Aging says that 2011 is a banner year in American demographics.-SNIP- Yet an increasing number of older couples from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are serving in a multitude of ways around the world. At last count, that number stood at just over four thousand retirees. Their “missionary” service, lasting from six months to three years, is as varied as relief work in Africa or Central America or staffing the church’s temples, employment centers and welfare facilities.-SNIP- These are selfless individuals whose approach to retirement means no small sacrifice. Like their young missionary...

Readers may recall the 1950s TV show, "The Millionaire," which portrayed stories of individuals who were given a "no strings attached" gift of money by an anonymous benefactor. Each week in one of the show's opening scenes, a man representing the wealthy benefactor, John Beresford Tipton Jr., knocked on an unsuspecting recipient's door and announced: "My name is Michael Anthony and I have a cashier's check for you for one million dollars." That TV program is scheduled to return next year as a reality show, and the new recipients will be the typical husband and wife who reach age 66...

DOD Proposes Tricare Increases: As expected, the Defense Department FY 2012 budget recommendation contains plans to raise Tricare enrollment fees for working-age military retirees — first by 13 percent, then by linking future increases to double-digit medical inflation. The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. is against both plans. "Asking someone to voluntarily give up 20 or more years of their youth on the simple promise of a pension and lifelong medical care for themselves and their spouses is a cost this nation and our government should be more than willing to bear," said VFW National Commander Richard Eubank....

Retirees Shocked By Lower Pension PaymentsPERF: Shortage Tied To Expiration Of Tax Cut UPDATED: 6:19 pm EST January 17, 2011 INDIANAPOLIS -- Thousands of retired state and local government workers were shocked on Friday when they discovered that their monthly pension checks were substantially reduced. Workers were especially unhappy that they got no advance warning they would be receiving less money, 6News' Norman Cox reported. The Public Employees Retirement Fund said the shortage happened because one of the tax cuts in the federal stimulus package expired. A notification sent to retirees didn't get to them until after payments had arrived....

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – San Francisco’s pension fund for retired city workers is even worse off than projected. The city will have to contribute around $600 million next year to pay for pension costs. Last year, the Civil Grand Jury caught flack from city workers’ unions for predicting that San Francisco would have to contribute 17 percent of retirees pensions. As it turns out, it’s even higher – 18 percent, according to Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, who sits on the City’s Retirement Board. That’s 4.5 percent higher than last year, and it’s now projected to rise to 26 percent in three...

#1 Illinois #2 Connecticut #3 Indiana #4 New Jersey #5 Hawaii #7 Oklahoma #8 Colorado #9 Kansas #10 Kentucky #11 New Hampshire

This struggling small city on the outskirts of Mobile was warned for years that if it did nothing, its pension fund would run out of money by 2009. Right on schedule, its fund ran dry. Then Prichard did something that pension experts say they have never seen before: it stopped sending monthly pension checks to its 150 retired workers, breaking a state law requiring it to pay its promised retirement benefits in full.

This year's Federal Employees Health Benefits Program open season starts on Monday, and runs through Dec. 13. Many federal retirees and those planning for retirement ask me, "Why do I need Medicare if I already have health insurance under FEHBP?" The fact is, in many cases it makes sense to have both FEHBP and Medicare coverage. That might involve switching to a different FEHBP plan in retirement that better matches with Medicare and your health care needs. Let's take a closer look at how Medicare might fit into your planning.

THE VILLAGES — Renee Braun laughed as she read the introduction to the cover story in the September issue of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association magazine. “Yes, it should be The Villages,” exclaimed the Village of Summerhill resident who volunteers as the service officer for the association’s Orange Blossom Chapter 2234, serving The Villages and surrounding communities. “It definitely should be.” The Villages emerged as the “runaway favorite” among the 600 or so association members who responded to a magazine survey for a story on the best retirement communities.

A House panel has voted to give the military a 1.9 percent pay raise next January. That would be a half percentage point higher than what the Obama administration wanted simply to match private sector wage growth. The House armed services subcommittee on military personnel panel also endorsed increases next year in hostile fire pay and family separation allowance, enough to restore the relative value of these payments to what they were in 2004 when they last were adjusted. But the same panel said the money tap is off for expanding entitlements to reserve personnel, disabled retirees or widows. “The...

NEW YORK (AFP) – The sweeping reform of the US health-care system could exact a high price on some businesses and deprive two million Americans of health insurance, industry and union leaders say. President Barack Obama on Tuesday signed a final, adjusted version of the health care reform bill into law, capping a historic overhaul that extends health insurance to an additional 32 million Americans. Congress, controlled by Obama's Democratic Party, passed the legislation without a single vote from Republicans, .. On Friday, telecommunications giant AT&T said it would take a one-billion-dollar charge in the first quarter of 2010 to...

Entitlements: Social Security's chief actuary reports that the social safety net will run a deficit for 2010, nine years earlier than predicted. Put down that big gavel, Madam Speaker, we're about to hit the iceberg. No sooner had House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, carrying the gavel used when Medicare was enacted, taken a victory lap around the Capitol Building after passage of the health care bill than did the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration report that his part of the social safety net had a big hole in it and would run a deficit for all of 2010. Stephen...

Congress passed the bill without knowing what was in it. Barack Obama signed it without reading it. Now it looks as though the Associated Press reported on ObamaCare without comprehending its content. Readers will have to scroll far down to discover that the elimination of a key tax break that kept retirees on company prescription-medication plans will mean dumping millions of seniors onto Medicare — and that the AP ignored it until now: The health care overhaul will cost U.S. companies billions and make them more likely to drop prescription drug coverage for retirees because of a change in how...

Congress passed the bill without knowing what was in it. Barack Obama signed it without reading it. Now it looks as though the Associated Press reported on ObamaCare without comprehending its content. Readers will have to scroll far down to discover that the elimination of a key tax break that kept retirees on company prescription-medication plans will mean dumping millions of seniors onto Medicare — and that the AP ignored it until now: The health care overhaul will cost U.S. companies billions and make them more likely to drop prescription drug coverage for retirees because of a change in how...

State employee pension systems are facing severe shortfalls, and these growing liabilities threaten to drive many states deeper into the red, according to a new 50-state study released today by the American Legislative Exchange Council, the nation’s largest individual membership association of state legislators.

Entitlements: While a massive health care entitlement is fashioned in secret, another one, Social Security, is running deficits decades earlier than expected. We've been kicking the can down the road. We're out of road. As Bernie Madoff found out, any Ponzi scheme depends on a continuous inflow of new cash and new customers or the ever-expanding pyramid will totter and collapse. Social Security, dependent as it was on new workers paying the expanding benefits of retirees, is about to, much sooner than expected. As Ed Morrissey over at HotAir.com reminds us, Peter Orszag, now director of the Office of Management...

I'm a Defense Department retiree and received my annual annuity statement from OPM the other day. We didn't get a cost of living adjustment this year, but I noticed my monthly payment went up. Upon closer examination, I saw that OPM had arbitrarily reduced my monthly withholding. Evidently, the administration wants us all to think we got a raise, only to find out we will owe the extra money back in 2011 (after the elections, of course). I did a quick survey of my former co-workers and the same thing happened to them. This is very unusual, since withholding amounts...

Starting today, January 1, 2010, General Motors will be freed of billions in health care liabilities. Last May, as part of GM’s efforts to restructure out of court, they and the United Auto Workers union agreed to an amended version of the 2007 contract. Included in those revisions were for the union to take over nearly all of members’ health care costs. Prior to today GM was liable for nearly $2 billion per quarter in health care costs related to both active and retired UAW members. Starting today the UAW’s Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA) Trust will take over responsibility...

Retired Capistrano Unified School District Superintendent James A. Fleming could face jail if convicted on a felony indictment charging him with using school resources to track his political enemies. But that won't stop his public pensions from rolling in. Fleming collects $141,331 a year in California state teacher retirement funds, on top of the $64,068 pension he collects from working 27 years in Florida. Even if convicted on the 2007 charges, both his pensions will remain untouched. Fleming is one of 3,090 educators in the California State Teachers' Retirement System who make at least $100,000 a year in taxpayer-guaranteed public...

DETROIT (Dow Jones) Chrysler LLC's non-union salaried retirees will be represented by the Chicago law firm Stahl, Cowen, Crowley Addis LLC as the auto maker continues through the bankruptcy process. [snip] "On one hand, in bankruptcy Chrysler will seek to cut off every liability that it can," National Chrysler Retirement Organization President Chuck Austin said in the statement. "On the other, the United Auto Worker-represented retirees have protection and government support that salaried retirees don't have. Our goal is to assure balanced and even treatment for all retirees."

The assault against auto retirees, both blue-collar and white-collar, by the very powers that should be protecting them, is a betrayal and a cultural tragedy. It is easy to make an honest case that auto retirees’ healthcare benefits are being collectively stolen from them, when they need them the most. It is interesting that many of the insulated duplicitous governmental politicians, who have been using their political pulpits to crush the auto retirees’ healthcare benefits, were the same politicians campaigning for healthcare for all Americans in the elections just a few short months ago. These are the politicians running our...

4/10/2009 - CLEVELAND (AFNS) -- Retirees and annuitants may see a change in the amount of money they receive May 1 thanks to a new tax credit. Public Law 111-05, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, was signed into law by President Obama on Feb. 17. This act authorized a tax credit for most workers including recipients of retired and annuity pay, and will reduce federal withholding tax rates. These new federal tax rates were in place April 1 for the retired and annuity pay due May 1. The new tables can be found at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/n1036.pdf. People wanting...

Americans are getting more money in their paychecks and pension payments thanks to a tax change in the federal stimulus package, but retirees beware: A little-publicized quirk could lead to a nasty surprise at tax time next year. That's because although federal tax withholding is being reduced for everyone because of a tax credit in the stimulus bill, pension payments are not eligible for the credit -- meaning retirees could face an unintended tax liability as a result.

NEW YORK (AP) — A bankruptcy judge says Delphi can stop paying for health care and insurance benefits for its retired salaried workers. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain on Tuesday provisionally approved the auto supplier's request to cut off the benefits effective April 1. But he says the 15,000 affected retirees can form a committee to investigate if they have the right to negotiate with the company. The committee will present its findings at a March 11 hearing. Troy, Mich.-based Delphi Corp. has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since 2005. It says it needs to cut off the...

When Robert Dynes departed as president of the University of California, we hoped his pattern of outlandish compensation for his staff and others would depart with him. It didn't. It merely took another form, which became public in April when UC Berkeley Police Chief Victoria Harrison retired with a lump-sum package of $2.1 million and was immediately rehired as UC Berkeley police chief with higher pay than she had earned before her retirement. At the least, Harrison's rehiring broke the UC regents' rules, which limit retirees to one year of work and no more than 19 hours a week. It...

Senate Democrats mull adding retirees to rebate planBy Andrew Taylor Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Retirees living off Social Security are frustrated that they won’t get tax rebate checks through a bipartisan economic stimulus package before the House. Senate Democrats Friday began efforts to include them. The Senate is also considering an extension of jobless benefits to the $150 billion package of rebates and business tax cuts in a deal wrapped up Thursday between House leaders and President Bush. Bush urged Congress on Friday to quickly pass the package without any further spending. “I strongly believe it would be a...

WASHINGTON — The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Wednesday that employers could reduce or eliminate health benefits for retirees when they turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare. The policy, set forth in a new regulation, allows employers to establish two classes of retirees, with more comprehensive benefits for those under 65 and more limited benefits — or none at all — for those older. More than 10 million retirees rely on employer-sponsored health plans as a primary source of coverage or as a supplement to Medicare, and Naomi C. Earp, the commission’s chairwoman, said, “This rule will help employers...

Phil Peterson, a retired Navy chief petty officer working for a major defense contractor in Greenville, S.C., got word last week that his company’s TRICARE supple-mental insurance plan, which covers all costs not picked up by Peterson’s TRICARE Standard benefit, must end by Jan. 1. Peterson is among tens of thousands of working retirees who will see their health costs rise because of a law Congress enacted last year. The law prohibits companies, as well as state and local governments, from offering health plans or other incentives to encourage military retirees who work for them to drop employer-provided health plans...

THE VILLAGES - Villager Dave Herrick and a thousand like him gathered at Lake Sumter Landing Thursday to see what presidential candidate Fred Thompson was all about. On the Republican ticket alone, there are so many choices in Florida's fast-approaching January primary that seeing a candidate in person could help make that important decision. "As a loyal Republican, this is a hard election," Herrick said. Once Thompson started speaking, the crowd of supporters seemed a bit more sold on the former Tennessee senator and star actor with a southern drawl. Enthusiastic backers from The Villages and surrounding communities endured summertime...

California may have to come up with an extra $47.9 billion over the next 30 years to cover health and dental benefits for its retirees and current state employees, Controller John Chiang said Monday. But Chiang said the state could cut that bill to about $31.3 billion if it dropped its pay-as-you-go approach, invested about $1 billion a year to help cover future retiree health costs and used the earnings to ease the impact on the state budget. "Our actuarial report shows that, annually, if we continue on the pay-as-you-go basis, we will accrue a liability of $3.59 billion a...

WASHINGTON — The federal government is targeting millions of retiring to replace the estimated one-half of their colleagues eligible to retire from federal service in the next few years, according to the Partnership for Public Service, an advocacy organization for federal careers. Maryland retirees, in particular, are prime candidates for the second career push because of their proximity to the many federal agencies with homes in both Washington and Maryland.

Public agencies must tell liabilities for workers When Charles Weis took over as superintendent of the Ventura County Office of Education in 1993, he took a look at the agency's employee benefits package and envisioned a potential train wreck far into the future. The agency was promising to pay the health insurance costs for employees after they retired, but it was putting no money aside each year to cover those distant financial liabilities and had no real idea of what those future costs might be. "I ordered the business office staff to buy out those in the program," Weis said....

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) said the solution to shoring up the solvency of the Social Security System may lie in a new approach to the draft. Rep. Rangel’s proposal to revive the military draft has been given little chance for passage in the upcoming congress. “The youth of America may just be too selfish to submit to the call to serve,” Rangel conceded. “But I was thinking, if we drafted the oldsters we might kill two birds with one stone.” Under Rangel’s new plan, those receiving Social Security benefits would be required to serve two years in the military. “War...

The pink plastic flamingo, a Florida-inspired icon that has been reviled as kitschy bad taste and revered as retro cool, is dead at age 49. The pop culture symbol met its demise after its manufacturer, Union Products, of Leominster, Mass., was socked with a triple economic threat -- increases in costs of electricity and plastic resin combined with loss of financing. Production ended in June, and the plant is scheduled to close Nov. 1, according to president and CEO Dennis Plante. Union Products made 250,000 of its patented plastic pink flamingos a year in addition to other garden products.

SAN FRANCISCO High in a downtown hotel, Nicaraguan folk dancers twirl in lacy white dresses, their bare feet tapping intricate rhythms on the wooden stage, giving their buttoned-down audience a bit of tropical warmth on a foggy afternoon. Their flounce and easy smiles before this roomful of travel experts are part of an effort to promote Nicaragua to Americans who might choose to retire there, attracted by its pristine beaches and colorful culture. And then there are the tax breaks and other incentives that baby boomers are likely to find even sweeter than the tropical fruits the dancers carefully balance...

Excerpt - NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Taxpayers owe more than $500,000 per household for financial promises made by government, mostly to cover the cost of retirement benefits for baby boomers, USA Today reported, citing its own analysis. Federal, state and local governments have added nearly $10 trillion to taxpayer liabilities in the past two years, bringing the total of government's unfunded obligations to an unprecedented $57.8 trillion, said the report late Wednesday. That is the equivalent of $510,678 for every household in the U.S., said USA Today. ~ snip ~

A delay in the release of money needed to operate the Air Force Personnel Center this fiscal year, coupled with a shortage in funds, has, in turn, resulted in the publication delay of the Afterburner, News for Retired USAF Personnel. The funds which would have been used to mail the issue planned for April were not released by Congress and higher headquarters as soon as needed and also were not as much as required to operate critical personnel functions. Thus, some monies had to be redirected. Providing that no other problems are encountered, the Retiree Services Branch is hopeful that...