Public employees versus the rest of us.
A lot of Californians are getting particularly outraged by this (spurred on by KFI radio provocateurs John and Ken) with the insanely generous pensions they see state employees getting, in which they get more than their highest salaries, with early retirement, while the state is going broke.
I wondered what a venture capitalist would want with pension boards. Reading on, it’s painfully obvious. They’re a source of easy money.
I wonder if we’re going to see a bunch of public pension fund scandals over the next couple of decades as they get cleaned out by scams, fraud, bad business deals, maybe even some looting by politicians looking for funding sources. I think it’s also likely that the generosity of many such pensions may alone empty a number of these funds.
I was somewhat astonished that you choose to com back to CA.
I want out of CA I think that this is going to get much worse before it gets better. CA has been driving the productive out of state for years and the bill will eventually come due.
I’m with Paul, surprised. You had very little good to say about the place.
Chickens, coming home to roost?
Glad I got out of California when I did. I never voted for this mess, and I dont expect to have to pay to clean it up – or even service it.
What’s worse is that it’s the people at the bottom who get hit the hardest: a friend of mine works IT for UCLA. He’s taken a 30% pay cut. Meanwhile, a local county supervisor is spending >100K to redecorate his office. It’s good to be the king.
Oh, in case it wasn’t clear, that’s 6 figures of taxpayer money.
The pension situation is really upsetting, because WTF can the taxpayers do about it? The spending situation is no better at the Federal level, so it’s not like moving to Texas would even help much it seems. I feel like an armed revolt + default is the only way this can end without all future generations going into debtors prison.
In MA here’s what happens. Public pensions like schoolteachers get free healthcare and are exempt from the state’s 6.25% income tax while private sector employees and retirees pay their share plus extra to fund the largesse.
Public servants usually have lower salaries than private sector employees in a similar position. They are “compensated” with a better safety net.
People who want public pension and insurance schemes to end are usually people who prefer to have that money available for them to invest buying Goldman Sachs stock.
“Public servants usually have lower salaries than private sector”
Except that in the age of Obama the number of federal employees making over 100,000 has increased 14%.
People who want public pension and insurance schemes to end are usually people who prefer to have that money available for them to invest buying Goldman Sachs stock.
That’s me in a nutshell. I’d rather have them doing that than pay for their retirement myself.
We had a woman leave us for Cali EPA. Her pay was tripled for starters and she was quickly promoted thereafter due to the need for experienced workers.
I wold rather buy the store brands than sacrifice my liberty.
I could not live in such an anti-civil rights state.
I may not feast but I doubt I shall famine.
Besides, our local Coal to Diesel plant should be coming on line about the time I retire at 55 and it will need an Environmental Director and I am gonna be their Huckleberry.
There aren’t that many people around here who can say Fischer-Tropsch and know how to read an NPDES permit or implement a GPP, etc…..
My brother, who is a guard for a state mental institution in the Mid-West, will be able to retire with a full pension of 75% pay after only 5 years next fall, with fully paid medical. I don’t blame my brother, but the taxpayers are taking it on the chin. And he makes a good amount as a state employee. Much more than the rent-a-cops.
“My brother, who is a guard for a state mental institution in the Mid-West, will be able to retire with a full pension of 75% pay after only 5 years next fall, with fully paid medical. I don’t blame my brother, but the taxpayers are taking it on the chin. And he makes a good amount as a state employee. Much more than the rent-a-cops.”
Thats insane! Was he prior-service military and did his service years count?