The retirees were promised too much in many cases.
Detroit public employees got rich of Detroit government mismanagement seems only fair.
Are they figuring in the effects of the Death Panels in the fiduciary calculations?
If not, the long term scenario is probably better than predicted. Every year sliced off the lifespan is a big plus for a pension plan.
While I think the individual retirees are the least guilty of the guilty parties, its still going to cost them something.
Union members nationwide should be asking themselves if the deal they’re getting is too good to be true.
If they won’t help their city, they are not good citizens.
Besides, who in TF retires after 20-25years of work, at 80-90% of their highest wage earned in a year or the top three highest years?
well they voted for it, now they can pay for it
It must end. Such debts are illegal under almost every state law. Budgets are not being voted on by currently elected councils but by benefits offerings of the past.
Harry Reid would refer to such sacrifices as “Patriotic.”
They could make it more enticing for these workers to accept these pension changes by sweetening the deal: Give each retiree a free Detroit home! They could have the option of buying it for their full market value of $1 or $2... but, because they are understanding ex-municipal employees... Homes for FREE!
Thank you Michael Schaus for not putting ‘tic’ on the end of the word Democrat in your title.
The government of Detroit and been anything but democratic for years and years.
I have real mixed feelings about hurting the retirees to ‘save’ the city. Looks to me like no amount of money can ‘save’ Detroit.
There is a lot of pressure for them to settle. It is bankruptcy. So if they don’t agree the judge can and will impose a settlement which may be less.
A 4.5 percent cut doesn’t sound too bad considering how they were over-promised in the first place.
A large majority of those ‘poor pensioners’ were also liberal public employee union members and partisan liberal democrats. They made the mess, both by the ways they did(n’t) their jobs and by the way they ran Detroit’s politics for at least the last 50 years. Nail the hypocritical whiners! Send a message to their ilk all around the country that consequences are possible.
The city of Detroit and the American auto manufacturers: Numbers one and two on the Hit Parade of Liberal spending failures.
Why don’t the retirees sue the Democrat Party? The Democrat politicians lived high on the hog and left the retirees holding an empty bag. The Democrat Party has lots of money. Heck, Obama is going to a dinner in Texas where all the Democrats there are paying $32,000 for the meal. How many retirees could be paid with that kind of money?
We shouldn’t even call the retired city employees of Detroit “retirees”. If they aren’t smart enough to go after the Democrat Party, then they should be called “suckers”.
I say "tough toenails!". I certainly didn't vote for your mayors and city councilmen who were in charge of your pension funds. I certainly shouldn't have to pay your squandered pension now.
Politicians and public sector unions sit at the table and trade favors using taxpayers’ money. Politicians get re-elected, unions get feather beds, and the taxpayers are stuck with the check after politicians and the unions have sated themselves.
Public sector unions should be against the law.
The biggest problem I have with this is it treats the retired manager sucking up $200,000 a year the same as a retired janitor getting $17,000 a year.
The cut should be 10% off anything over $35,000 a year, with a $100,000 hard cap. COLA’s should be kept until reaching the $35,000 level. I would bet that would save more money and would better represent what pensions are supposed to do, give retirees a respectable, moderate level of income.
At some point the hog trough becomes empty and all the piggies squeal they are still hungry.
4.5 percent cut
HAHAHAHAHA