in years past, they threatened to strike if they didn't get their way... well, they are on strike now
Posted on 12/23/2010 2:45:34 AM PST by abb
PRICHARD, Ala. — This struggling small city on the outskirts of Mobile was warned for years that if it did nothing, its pension fund would run out of money by 2009. Right on schedule, its fund ran dry.
Then Prichard did something that pension experts say they have never seen before: it stopped sending monthly pension checks to its 150 retired workers, breaking a state law requiring it to pay its promised retirement benefits in full.
Since then, Nettie Banks, 68, a retired Prichard police and fire dispatcher, has filed for bankruptcy. Alfred Arnold, a 66-year-old retired fire captain, has gone back to work as a shopping mall security guard to try to keep his house. Eddie Ragland, 59, a retired police captain, accepted help from colleagues, bake sales and collection jars after he was shot by a robber, leaving him badly wounded and unable to get to his new job as a police officer at the regional airport.
Far worse was the retired fire marshal who died in June. Like many of the others, he was too young to collect Social Security. “When they found him, he had no electricity and no running water in his house,” said David Anders, 58, a retired district fire chief. “He was a proud enough man that he wouldn’t accept help.”
The situation in Prichard is extremely unusual — the city has sought bankruptcy protection twice — but it proves that the unthinkable can, in fact, sometimes happen. And it stands as a warning to cities like Philadelphia and states like Illinois, whose pension funds are under great strain: if nothing changes, the money eventually does run out, and when that happens, misery and turmoil follow.
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Here in NJ these pensions are being paid to people who worked 30 years and often less; many of the people would never be hired today if the details of these future costs were included in the hiring process, or they would have been hired at lower salaries.
“When the host die, the parasite loses its food source. Yea, I know promises were made, but the host is dead.”
I suspect they will attach to a larger host (state or federal taxpayers); nobody will go near a municipality with this kind of debt hanging over it. Why get raped for services rendered 20 years ago?
I guess the unions who got the huge benefit packages for the public work force will step up to the pump and pay for the loses instead of shoving the dues down the political crap hole. Amen /s
Do you have or know of a more effective vehicle?
FRegards,
Dave
Here is a better answer. Sell gummint buildings and divide the proceeds with those who can make a claim. Let the politicians make their promises from open spaces.
Bump.
The key part in all of this is the age at which these folks were able to retire. Nobody should be able to collect a pension when they quit work in their 50’s, however long they’ve worked. I can only guess that they had more retired firefighters than active ones. It’s a recipe that many public worker retirement plans are facing. Raise the retirement age to that required for Social Security.
Govt workers and retirees need to understand we are broke and tapped out.
in years past, they threatened to strike if they didn't get their way... well, they are on strike now
Working stiffs, or fellow raciteers? In my town and all towns, the Police and firemen vote for bigger schools and higher teacher pay. The teachers and Firemen vote for new Police headquarters and more police. And the Police and teachers vote for new firehouses and firemen. The elderly vote for all three and a new elder complex.
This has been going on for decades. Since decades ago, the social service workers have joined the warm, taxpayer raped voting hot tub.
Yeah. Town workers, victims of voting themselves jobs and raises. /s
"Socialism works just fine until you run out of other people's money..."
I live in yonkers ny. The cops and fireman are killing everything with ot abuse.
That is what happens to private pensions that go broke and are bailed out by the federal Pension Guarantee Board. If I remember correctly, railroad and even air line pilots have gotten as little as 20 cents on the dollar. Even that is basically welfare paid for by mostly non union, no pension at all American workers.
I have zero sympathy for any govt worker whatsoever, beit cops firemen etc.
As it is, they are overpaid and should be happy what they have.
I think that’s accurate.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Margaret_Thatcher
A quote attributed to Margaret Thatcher goes along the lines of
“The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money [to spend].”
or
“Eventually, Socialists run out of other peoples’ money [to spend].”
There are a number of similar almost-quotes to be found on the Web, but I haven’t found any authoritative sources. She may, in fact, have made the statement in various forms at different times. QuicksilverT @ 15:44, 9 December 2008 (UTC)
Update: Margaret Thatcher, in a TV interview for Thames TV This Week [[1]]on Feb. 5, 1976, Prime Minister Thatcher said, “...and Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They [socialists] always run out of other people’s money. It’s quite a characteristic of them.”
The popular version seems to be a reasonable contraction.
“Under what Constitutional authority would the Fed gov’t take them over?”
Gay Military, Obamacare, GM/Chrysler, Stimulus bailout, etc...
They're expecting the federal government to bail them out, and the rest of the nation to foot the bill, sacrificing muscle and organs to make more milk until we all starve.
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.