Posted on 02/21/2010 12:25:46 PM PST by jimbo123
They get an "A" in reading, writing -- and retirement.
There are 738 educators collecting city pensions more than $100,000 -- and three make more than $200,000, records show.
The $100,000-plus club makes up 1 percent of about 70,000 retirees in the city Teachers Retirement System, which doled out $3.8 billion in benefits in 2009.
It's the costliest of the five pension systems that threaten to suck the city dry.
"All the pension funds are ticking time bombs," said E.J. McMahon, a senior fellow with the Manhattan Institute think tank.
And the problem could worsen with the teachers union demanding raises of 4 percent over both of the next two years. This would add $5,600 a year to salaries of teachers now earning $70,000 or more. For every $1 pay hike, pensions go up 60 cents.
A Post Freedom of Information request to the TRS produced the list of the 738 highest-paid retirees -- who pull in a total of $84 million a year.
The 738 is more than five times the 142 retirees with pensions over $100,000 in the city's largest pension fund, NYCERS, whose 130,000 pensioners include transit, sanitation and other workers.
Ten of the retired educators have collected the generous payouts for 19 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
And now to retire in real estate depressed Florida . . . cha-ching!
Using the term teacher to describe employees of the NYC Department of Education is a misnomer. They should be accurately described as baby sitters, classroom watchers or custodians of illiterates. There is little or no teaching in NYC public schools.
Using the term teacher to describe employees of the NYC Department of Education is a misnomer. They should be accurately described as baby sitters, classroom watchers or custodians of illiterates. There is little or no teaching in NYC public schools.
This is a ticking time bomb in cities across the country and is the result of an unholy alliance between Democrat politicians and the public sector union. This will bankrupt many cities and counties across the landscape.
Why are the taxpayers being forced to pay these people while they are sucking us dry?
Check out California
“3,090 retired teachers and administrators receive pensions in excess of $100,000 from CalSTRS.
They’re all listed here
http://www.californiapensionreform.com/database.asp?vttable=calstrs
Source
http://beforeitsnews.com/story/18694/Search_the_CalSTRS_100,000_Pension_Club_database.html
John Stossel had an education special on Fox News recently. Guess what, New York public school students can't read or write, yet the teacher's union and education establishment are after the charter schools, who are teaching their students just fine, and the test scores prove the results.
70,000 retirees. 3.8 billion paid out. About $55,000 per year for pension. Not bad, not bad at all. It’s more than many make WORKING. Not to mention their benefits package and how that equates into the pension.
Making $100,000 a year in a government pension, is similar to a person in the private sector accumulating 2.5 Million dollars in an IRA/401K with their own monies set aside. Time to lock these people up.
I tell all young people to go get a government job...sit on the hands and complain for 25-30 years and then retire like a king/queen. Beats the heck out of working your arse off in the private sector with all the risks involved.
Right you are. How many of US will ever be able to do this? For that matter, how many of us with equivalent or better educations will ever earn this much per year for a job with what amounts to 12 or more weeks per year of holidays and vacations?
Because that was the contract the taxpayers’ representatives made with the teachers.
I don't know about NY, but my teachers did a damn good job, despite my juvenile resistance. They didn't succeed in making an Einstein of me, but they did teach me the meaning of a contract & obligation. Whatever pension they earned, they deserved. I do not blame them if the gov’t made a bad bargain.
Many private companies had “defined benefit” pension plans too, whether they had union workers or not. Most have since changed their pension to “defined contribution” plans, which leaves the employer owing nothing further when the employee retires.
Gov’ts must also rid themselves of the DB pension plans, & the unions, too. If the unions don't like it, too bad. If they strike, fire the whole lot of them. But WE owe these retired employees their pensions & they should be paid in full.
If the city, county, state, and/or Feds can't afford it, perhaps they can abolish the 90% of gov’t that does nothing productive or beneficial, & pay the pensions. That right there would immediately cut future pension obligations & significantly reduce the power of the unions.
“But WE owe these retired employees their pensions & they should be paid in full.”
Not when they are bringing the country to ruin they don’t.
I’m all for paying them every penny they are due, in highly-inflated non-inflation-adjusted dollars. Sure it will be painful for everyone, but the party’s over and it’s time to pay the band.
Second, to abandon these pensions is likely a death sentence for many of those deprived. Most are elderly.
Do you think it is reasonable to deny these pensions without first gutting our socialist gov’t of do-nothing bureaucrats? How about those lavish salaries & perks of our ruling class? Should they remain in place as pensioners starve? “Let them eat cake!”? Perhaps we should continue to feed the North Koreans, Afghans, etc. as we steal the livelihoods of old people. It would be stealing, you know.
Personally, I think that itself would bring our country to ruin.
FYI, I am not retired, pay lots of taxes, & do not have a defined benefit pension, but I respect the obligation we have to pay those pensions. I don't like it, just like I don't like paying bills. Too bad for me, & you.
I am thinking the same thing with the 401K; etc that have been stolen.
F those sweetheart labor contracts. They were fraudulently entered into by teachers unions and the Democrat hacks they were in bed with. I see no obligation to honor them
How well do you think you will fair in such a system? Will you be a thief or a victim?
All contracts have a moral aspect. This moral dimension is eroding more and more each year including for the marriage contract. Americans used to be moral and upright enough to where verbal contracts sealed with a handshake used to be sufficient most of the time
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.