EU just ran post on the troubles that Costa Mesa is running into. Those troubles were planted DECADES ago.
So lets compare:
Non-safety Staff
PERS 2.5% @ 55
Safety Staff
PERS 3.0% @ 55
Non-safety Staff
PERS 2.7% @ 55
Fire
PERS 3.0% @55
The public has brought alternative approaches to the council over the years--no action by the council, other than taking on way bigger/stupider risks.
Just as a comparison for all those folks who work in less strenuous jobs in the private sector:
You also have defined benefits for part of their retirement. It is called social security.
Social Security Full Retirement Age is 67 years old if born after 1960. The earliest you can pull SS is 62. As the baby boomers draw down funds and rosy predictions fail to materialize, younger private sector employees who have been PROMISED the same retirement benefits will find that those promises can not be kept. A choice will have to be made, reduce benefits to current AND future retires or reduce benefits from future retirees. For some reason people think it is more fair to take something away that has been earned but never been held than to take away something that is already in someones hands.
City and state employees will go to the taxpayers for more money for their failed retirement funds at the same time the taxpayer's own social security benefits are getting pulled out from under their feet. We may be heading toward a society where only those who get lucky and get a government job get to retire.
LB notes:
No one ever took the $100 challenge to explain how we dodge a pension meltdown by doing nothing different.
Dear anon pension posters, this is the place to put your comments.
There is only one solution. It is painful for all sides.
ReplyDeleteBuy out their defined benefit pensions & convert them to defined contribution like the rest of the world.
It's the right way.
Why should we feel bad for the supposed pain the unions are starting to feel? Unions are supposed to be beneficial to society, not parasites. Members supported their corrupt and greedy leadership, and placed a huge strain not only on government finances, but on the efficiency of government programs, like education. Its time they join the real world with the rest of us.
ReplyDeletethe rank and file need to step up and elect union leaders who are less greedy.
ReplyDeleteHere is the NEA chief saying they have influence because they have money and lots of votes, not because they do the right thing for children.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiNIbbp67pE&feature=player_embedded
Famous quote from another national teacher's union boss
“When school children start paying union dues, that 's when I'll start representing the interests of school children.”
Even Bill Gates a big supporter of education has taken a shot at the greediness that is embedded in the unions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/us/19gates.html
End automatic raises regardless of quality of work and the inequity that results when two people do the same job and get paid differently.
End automatic lifetime salary raises to public employees for getting phony master degrees that don't result in better performance. It only reinforces the lesson that its not what you learn, its the piece of paper at the end that matters. C's get degrees, and my dog can get a C at a for profit U as long as he pays.
the City Needs to go bankrupt to reset the pensions to reasonable levels. Its the only way forward.
ReplyDeleteToday's payments of the 100k club not including Cottons:
ReplyDeleteHEISER, DONALD $12,021.51 $144,258.12 ENCINITAS
HILL, DARLENE $8,433.21 $101,198.52 ENCINITAS
ROMERO, ROBERT $8,425.96 $101,111.52 ENCINITAS
TUFTS, TALMADGE $9,605.67 $115,268.04 ENCINITAS
Lets Hope Donald keels over from a heart attack from eating all that yummie gourmet food dished up at the stations everyday.
You should see the huge list for the people pulling in over 90k!
http://www.californiapensionreform.com