Posted on 10/06/2010 5:54:43 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
PHILADELPHIA - Faced with deep budget deficits and overextended pension plans, state and local leaders are increasingly looking to trim the lucrative retirement benefits that have long been associated with government employment.
Public employees are facing a backlash that has intensified with the nation's economic woes, union leaders say, because of their good job security, generous health-care and pension benefits, and right to retire long before most private-sector workers.
The move to curtail retirement benefits for public-sector workers is fueled both by stark budget realities and by the resentment felt by private-sector workers who have seen their pay diminish in recent years.
Public employment was once viewed as less rewarding than work in the private sector, but that has changed. State and local government employees earn an average of $39.74 an hour in wages and benefits, about 45 percent more than private-sector workers, whose total compensation averages $27.64 an hour, according to the Labor Department.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Good cartoon, and so true!
Hmm ~ so how much is it lawyers really earn? We have over 100,000 of them in this county, and if they only make $27.64 per hour how is it they can justify those $200+ per hour rates?
That is a great cartoon and far truer then most of the country realizes.....for now.
If all the recently hired are youong(er), they don't have a real grasp on "the future" and are probably Marxists anyway, thus .. it doesn't matter.
If the workers are older, they too may be Marxist, but they see and comprehend more realistically their own mortality and may present a force against the gov't.
I was judging a marching band competition 2 weeks ago and 2 gentlemen were having a conversation about their long teaching careers when one said to the other in a horrified tone that teachers coming into the profession after 2012 will have to work until 62 to retire. I’m sitting there thinking “so what?” what do you think everyone else does???
They were truly horrified at the prospect and swore it would keep people out of the teaching profession.
Huge sweeping generalizations by the WAPO radical propaganda machine....the states that are not going bankrupt have not and do not overpay their workers (duh).
We don't need across the board FED intervention. The States that overpay need to make the cuts...period.
Inner city, Dem controlled, California and all the socialist States can erupt in riots when they make their cuts and it won't bother me a bit, they deserve it.
It is past time these "Public Servants" got a dose of reality.
We know several always-smug, never-paid-enough, retired-in-their-50’s “public servants”. We hope they get their just desserts. They are a bit too much.
One of the reasons for that retirement age is these jobs require people in the prime of health and fitness.
Going beyond that the federal government does not allow even federal police or firemen to carry a weapon "on the job" once they reach 50 years of age!
The military system is a bit more complex but for the most part people go in and get out before they hit 50 years of age. A special few are kept on as senior officers.
So, do you except police, fire and military personnel?
Or, do you figure out some way to keep them on the job after they reach 50?
Excluding school teachers from the computation you'll find that the retired cops and firemen make up a rather large chunk of the remaining retirement package costs so dealing with this particular problem is one you must ultimately face.
how does it feel to be on the receiving end of class envy, guys?
... and if you think it’s going to end with local and state, you’ve got another thing coming Fed worker (and I am one).
Whenever it comes up, I tell folks (esp. those in their 30s and 40s) not to count on that pension they were promised. These folks aren’t going to collect the pension or social security, so start saving now.
If that money isn’t in your name, it’s not going to be there at all.
Ageism. I know plenty of men in their seventies who would make excellent cops. And firefighters too. Not every firefighter has to suit up in the heavy gear and air packs.
Fur shur you are gonna' die!
You think the $200.00 per hour goes straight to the lawyers pocket? I guess the lawyer doesn’t have to pay rent, phone bills, salaries for clerical, dues, utilities, advertising, office supplies, phone bills, taxes, health care and retirement, etc. etc., like other businesses.
Now many folks have seen layoffs, and others know all about RIFS, then there are agency consolidations, and base closings, and all that sort of thing, but I saw them actually shut down Headquarters and the Regional Offices (administrative units located in the federal reserve cities).
So, what happens as an agency disappears under your nose?
Well, for one thing you first lose your computer systems, then the computer data bases, then the historic files (not previously sent to a federal records center), then current accounts, then old accounts, then new accounts, then anything of value anybody can carry off.
People who felt they'd been hired on a permanent basis, but were now losing their jobs FOREVER (which was the case but for about 75 people) made sure those losses happened.
Literally hundreds of millions of dollars worth of work went right down the drain.
I can imagine the same thing happening the second federal retirement for existing employees is whacked.
The answer, of course, is to make darned sure you clear the premises first! Then do a total restart.
Yeah, I went through one of those too ~ they created USPS to replace the POD ~ and boy was that exciting. That cost an extra billion bucks in the first couple of years.
Given the way they'd dealt with so many thousands of folks on the earlier POD shutdown USPS had to hire people into Headquarters without arrest record background checks!
Sure was smart.
Well, you get what you're willing to pay for.
They get ANOTHER job as a consultant, or manager at a security firm.
Your question is similar to justification for high minimum wage - “How can you expect a fast food clerk to earn a living wage”.
Well, they move on to the next job!
There should never be an expectation that you will have the same job in the same location your whole life.
That’s a fantasy.
Rather than make excuses for lawyer's high fees (which suggests you're a lawyer or have one in the family) you should have gone to the database behind the computation of the hourly rate to see what it was really based on.
Typically "professional fees" are not counted in these deals since, as it turns out, being a professional means never having to say you worked.
That’s why you should never give money to a capricious goverment to begin with.
For those that walk off with equipment or do damage, that’s what jail is for.
Most big government decisions pretty much follow from the "meme of the day" model. Buncha' people get together and say "cut their retirement" and that's the way it comes down.
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