Posted on 10/06/2010 5:03:07 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
California’s public pension crisis is a lot worse than anyone suspected and threatens to bankrupt the state if investment rates fail, says a report released today by the California Center for Public Policy.
The report says that the state’s tax-paid pensions have made defacto millionaires out of most of California’s employees by the time they reach their late 50s.
“Whether the standard is salary, working conditions, benefits or especially pensions, public employees in California receive compensation far in excess of what workers in the private sector do,” says the report. “It is illiberal and unjust.”
State public employees are among the highest compensated in the United States, says the study.
“Both the short-term and the long-term fiscal crises at the state and local government levels require change immediately,” says the study. “The status quo is unsustainable.”
The answer is to pay public employees fair salaries, benefits and pensions, not salaries, benefits and pensions greatly in excess of those in the private sector, the report advises.
(Excerpt) Read more at taxdollars.ocregister.com ...
Yet they will probably give Boxer another 6 years and deny Whitman.
It’s not worse than I expected.
One must consider that the employees had a social contract with the State. The worked at the jobs that they retired from because of the benefits, not because of the salaries. Now when the chickens are coming home to roost, the employee-retiree gets the blame not the ones that mucked up the state finances.IMHO
The union bosses and the political whores who sold California out for votes....
“It is illiberal and unjust.”
No. Its very liberal.
the state is bankrupt. tear that social contract up and throw it away.
There is no social contract with a looter. Govt employees are happy to rake it in while the private sector eats beans. I used to work for the govt so I will never fall for the lies they use to justify their corrupt extortion racket. F*** ‘em.
There the traditional relationships break down fairly quickly. Why? When it comes to bargaining for new contracts the public employee unions sit on both sides of the table. They, through block voting, can replace the employers at any time or maintain them in office.
Few people, if any, will ignore threats to their jobs.
California's predicament is just the leading edge of this nation wide problem.
My solution for the pension problem is the same as mine for social security. Just take the money available in the pension fund available for that month and give all the pensioners their fair share multiplied by a percentage that will keep the pension fund solvent. Maybe the percentage will be 80% for this year but when the state employees see that the projections for when they retire years from now is about 20% they will want this thing fixed.
Is this a viable and legal solution or am I crazy and deluded?
This will allow Illinois to shoot to the top slot for complete and utter mismanagement by way of corruption and stupidity! YEAH!!!
You are crazy and deluded.
When I was 16 I came to the conclusion that the whole pension system, both government and private sector, was unsustainable and eventually these governments and private companies that had these lucrative pensions were all going to go belly up. Frankly it was common sense. When you pay people not to work, eventually you will not be able to pay the people who work for you.
Frankly I'm amazed it took this long to get here. But we're here. Now what do we do?
And its not going to end well. For me to match a retired teacher I know, I'll need $2-3 Million dollars in 10-20 Treasury Notes to rival his package. Someone earning twice a teachers salary could never save so much. Transfer the pension funds to cover their FICA and Medicare that the pension plans got to SSI, and divide the rest, to date, as a cash pay-out, and be done with it.
“California’s predicament is just the leading edge of this nation wide problem.”
I see that same thing coming to Pennsylvania. Teachers, police, firefighters, even school crossing guards are all unionized. Case in point; in the 5 yrs he’s been retired, a former teacher has bought two new vehicles (SUV & expensive truck), done major renovations on his property and takes countless vacations (Hilton Head, Myrtle Beach, Vegas, cruises etc.) He has first class health care too. I’d compare his lifestyle with that of an investment banker I know. He was just an ordinary high school teacher, I can’t imagine what administrators get.
No one in the Private sector has a guarantee of getting their defined benefit plan retirement. The Govt limits how much you get if your company fails. We need to apply the same rules to the State and local govts. They are broke..their retirement funds should go to the USG and they should have their pensions adjusted downward to the statutory limits.
I agree completely. Tax payers are tapped out. Government retires with these giant pensions can live comfortably on much less then they’re getting.
Are you saying their salaries were low? I don’t believe it.
Are you saying that the promise to pay them full-pay pension (or near full-pay pension) for the rest of their lives is a promise that they should have had faith in?
Well... too bad.
Thank PeTe Wilson, Thank Moonbeam, Thank Gray.
They have shown what they think of leading the state by exercising fiscal responsibility.. and Moonbeam claims he can do it again.. lolol
and most voters are stoned and agree.
IMHO, this issue about public employee pension fund problems will be one of, if not the main issue that will ultimately lead to a class warfare between public employees who demand to get what they were told they were entitled to when they retire, and everyone else who is fed up with government raiding their pockets to provide the public employees what they demand. This is not going to turn out any way but ugly.
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